The Witcher 2 - GOG sells 35k, Steam 195k

This is an interesting one from the business side because Steam sales figures are extremely rare. In an interview at Eurogamer that coincides with CD Projekt's "Investor Day", Marcin Iwiński says GOG sold 35,000 digital copies of The Witcher 2, while Steam moved 195,000. Apparently all the others added together amounted to a mere 10,000. This mix is interesting but it also flies in the face of other claims that digital is outstripping retail with the game having sold 1M altogether - possibly the strong sales in Eastern Europe might skew that:

Top was, of course, Steam. More than 195,000 units were sold through Valve's digital platform. All other digital distribution outlets combined sold approximately ten thousand units.
In total, The Witcher 2 sold nearly a quarter of a million units digitally.

More information.

35000 copies on GOG is sadly not high number.

Maybe game sold better in Retail because people like to have box when it commes to RPG games ?

The GOG number compared to Steam doesn't surprise me. For most, why would they bother with GOG when they can go straight to Steam.

The retail sales is very interesting. I knew they would be significant, but I didn't think it would be that significant.

Originally Posted by Scrav
The GOG number compared to Steam doesn't surprise me. For most, why would they bother with GOG when they can go straight to Steam.

It surprises me. Why buy from Steam when you can have something that's completely DRM free and doesn't require you to start up another program in order to play it?

Because most people either don't give a shit about DRM or don't perceive Steam as the DRM it is.

Maybe people aren't aware GOG even exists. Steam is much more popular. This may explain such a low number thru GOG.

On the other hand, even the 35k on GoG get them a significant part of their investment back.

Originally Posted by Gorath
Because most people either don't give a shit about DRM or don't perceive Steam as the DRM it is.

Yep. I don't really give much of a shit about DRM. And I kind of like Steam as a game launcher, really. I did buy on GOG, though.

I think STEAM has now reached the status of a game drive-by shooting for Joe Average.

Those who don't identiy it for what it is (I won't name it to prevent a flamewar, but you know what a software is called that prevents you from using your bought software the way you want it) have the client running like friggin facebook. And if sth interesting comes up it is their way of buying. Sad but true.

Retail boxed on the other hand still wipes the floor with all DD services combined - that is sth very satisfiying and comforting for me.

I like steam, I love gog, but I still want boxed versions the most.

Just adding to the WTF regarding the GoG numbers, I guess it's mostly ignorance.

Originally Posted by sakichop
I like steam, I love gog, but I still want boxed versions the most.

If you have a look at the latest numbers by EA and ActiBlizz it's quite easy to predict that retail will become unimportant for them, and maybe even discontinued for some product on certain platforms, within a few years.
So in 5 years it's quite possible there won't be a retail version for certain products.

I like steam, I'd rather use GOG for the drm free but for me it comes down to price, plus you buy a couple games on steam its going to be running anyway. With origin i find to be a huge pain in the ass to have running, EADM (the client before) used to allow you to install and you could turn it off.

In my opinion I love downloadable games I much rather have that than a box anymore. (CDs in the drive is annoying)

The presentation of the Witcher 2 retail box swayed me

I love Steam, but went GoG to help them maximize their profits. I've got several games on Steam, even if I have hard copies too.

I hear a lot of people saying they buy from Steam so they can have all their games in one place. Steam makes it pretty easy to add any game to their game list. Personally, I use my desktop for all my game shortcuts… but I think a lot of folks aren't real interested in bothering with alternate methods. They know Steam so they use that.

Though right this minute Steam is in a pretty bad way.

I picked it up the other day at a Best Buy for $29… not sure if it was incorrectly marked, but it was marked down. Last copy there. I swear, downloading the updates took almost as long as installing the thing off the disk. I'm going to post some impressions in the appropriate forum.

35,000 is still excellent in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Scrav
The GOG number compared to Steam doesn't surprise me. For most, why would they bother with GOG when they can go straight to Steam.

The retail sales is very interesting. I knew they would be significant, but I didn't think it would be that significant.

Why woould i bother with bloatware, when i can go straight to GOG?

The only problem I have with steam is that as new their prices are almost double compared to retail. Why would I pay double to get digital?