Mass Effect: A Sales History - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 17 April 2012 / 72,225 Views
Welcome to the second new weekly feature, “A Sales History.” The other weekly feature is the “Top 10 in Sales.” Seb Parker had originally started this feature back in July, taking a look at the sales of video game franchises, such as Halo, Pokémon and Gran Turismo. As a weekly feature we will be exploring the sales history of the biggest franchises in the industry, to the most niche franchises.
Like with the “Top 10 in sales” and “USA Preorders” features, requests are always welcome. Now for the first article we will be taking a look at the Mass Effect franchise.
Sales Overview
As you can see from the graph above, the Mass Effect franchise is predominantly an Xbox 360 with the majority of its sales on that platform. The main reason for this is that first in the franchise was an Xbox 360 exclusive and was later released on the PC and was never released on the PlayStation 3. The franchise grew from the first to second game, and the third was just released last month and has already achieved the sales in the original. This shows the growth in the franchise to one of the biggest in the industry.
In the chart above, the Mass Effect franchise has achieved lifetime to date sales of 10.20 million, which puts it in the exclusive club of franchises that have sold 10 million or more units. Mass Effect 3 which has sold a combined 3.08 million units in just five weeks should reach the five million mark by the time it stops selling. Mass Effect 2 which still averages combined sales from 20,000 to 30,000 each week has an outside shot of reaching the five million mark.
Platform
More than 70 percent of the Mass Effect franchise sales have been on the Xbox 360, which has sold 7.29 million units across all three games. The first two in the franchise have sold very similar with the second just edging out the first. Mass Effect 3 which has sold two million units in just five weeks should easily pass the sales of the first two.
With the first game in the series not on the PlayStation 3, the franchise has received good, but not great sales on the platform. Mass Effect 2 did sell just over one million units on the platform, making it the 131 bestselling game on the platform.
The first Mass Effect is currently the bestselling one on the PC; however it will soon be passed by Mass Effect 3.
Predictions for Future Releases
While there is no future Mass Effect game announced at this time, looking at the current sales of the three games in the franchise, there is a good indication where the franchise is heading. Future releases will most likely be on the next generation of consoles, with the Wii U set to release holiday 2012 and the next Xbox and PlayStation 4 rumored to be released in the second half of 2013. With each release of the series every two years, the next game in the franchise will release in the first quarter 2014 at the earliest. This would make it one of the biggest releases in the first bunch of months for the next Xbox and PlayStation 4 if the rumors and current trends are to be believed. However a new engine will most likely be used. This could mean a release date during the holiday of 2014 or the first quarter of 2015.
With the possible release dates in mind and being so early in the next generation don’t expect initial sales to be equal to Mass Effect 3. The game whether it’s Mass Effect 4, a prequel, or a side game will most likely sell anywhere from 500,000 to 700,000 units in its opening week, but expect the game to have strong legs and to sell a similar amount as the first three games, three to four million, by the time it’s done selling.
