Digital console sales down in February as Evolve underperforms – SuperData

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare brought in the most digital sales via consoles last month, beating out the likes of Grand Theft Auto V as well as new releases including Evolve and The Order.

Games Industry reports on SuperData’s latest monthly digital console sales report, which shows a total of $233m earned by the sector during the month of Febraury – a year-over-year decline of 3.7 per cent.

Digital sales for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (including full game, DLC and microstransaction purchases) brought in $31.6m of the aforementioned total, while January’s winner Grand Theft Auto V dropped to the runner-up position with $29.7m earned.

Evolve was the top earner for new releases during the month, finishing fifth on the chart with $12.3m total. That said, the report casts a gloomy outlook based off the initial numbers.

"High price points for items and upgrades in Evolve’s in-game store proved overly optimistic, especially considering the initial purchase price of $60," SuperData stated.

"With the game’s strong emphasis on multiplayer gameplay, this tactic may have deterred the initial wave of consumers. Overall the game sold 192,702 digital boxed units in its first month, thereby negatively affecting its user base in the long term."

The statement undermines Take-Two president Karl Slatoff’s recent comments to investors that the company was "very pleased" with Evolve’s sales, in which he highlighted the game’s digital performance as particularly strong.

SuperData didn’t seem too impressed with the results of PS4-exclusive The Order either. The game finished ninth with $7.1m in digital sales, but the research firm doesn’t expect it to break the top 10 again due to complaints about its length.