GT5 U.S. Sales Update: 560,500 Copies in December

Other January 13th, 2011 by Jordan

GT5 was off to a great start last month, selling over 5.5 million copies worldwide in just two weeks. Now, we’re able to catch a glimpse of the game’s performance in the United States thanks to fresh numbers from the NPD Group: 560,500 copies were sold in the U.S. throughout December.

It’s difficult to say if that’s particularly good or bad, though it clearly wasn’t enough to get GT5 into NPD’s “Top 10″ best selling U.S. games for the important holiday month. U.S. sales for the series have lagged significantly since the launch of GT4, which saw more than twice as many copies sold in Europe than North America. Though it’s still too early to call, it appears GT5 may still be unable to reverse that trend. At least we finally have GT Academy, though!

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Tagged

GT5 Sales NPD Group

102 Comments

Newest comments are displayed first.

January 21st, 2011 at 12:56 pm - #

SWD-Freshypno

Wow are you serious that’s not that many
but I bet Kaz is throwing his benjies in the air though
January 17th, 2011 at 4:46 pm - #

1er tigre

Wow only 560 000 copies in NA ! GT5 sales 520 000 copies in France only !
January 17th, 2011 at 2:25 am - #

Cynical Simon

100.
Copies sold in New Zealand!
January 16th, 2011 at 2:56 pm - #

Devedander

I think the overlooked issue is that the initial 5 mill in sales stemmed for years of preorder interest…. so to say it sold 5.5 mill in the first few weeks is a bit misleading when it relaly sold 5.5 mill in the first year (or however long it’s been availalbe for presale)
January 16th, 2011 at 2:52 pm - #

Robert

You guys have to realize GT5 is as close to real as you can get with a $50 game. A lot of people don’t like it because it’s not a kid’s game. You have to have some driving skill and patience and like to be challenged to be able to enjoythis game. That’s why it has not sold as well as those other games
- January 16th, 2011 at 8:21 pm - #
  
  mark
  
  That would make sense if it were not for a few flaws:
  1. Simply using a powerful car makes most races easily won without skill.
  2. If powerfull car method causes guilt, soft racing tires seriously reduce the skill required for most races.
  3. And if you want one of the easiest racing experiences ever in the GT series, use skid recovery, and other driving aids, for that total arcade experience….
  
  So no, skill and patience are not required, and plenty of kids can play it with no trouble. The problem is that after all the hype, it simply hasn’t met expectations, even if it is still a great game. On top of that, other games have gone past GT in a number of areas.
  For example, while I personally find GT’s physics to be the best, I much prefer the mechanical tuning concept found in FM3. Still just having engine tune levels 1 through 3 just doesn’t compare to being able to mix and match individual components in FM3. I find it disapointing that PD has simplified tunning rather than expanding like other games. PD needed to advance the concept and surpass other games, and they missed the chance. Given that, having been a fan of GT since GT1, I bought it anyway, but if I was new to the genre i’d probably just have stayed with FM3 and waited for cheap used copies of GT to show up.
  I suspect variations of this example have effected the sales negatively, though there are likely other factors has well, but who knows, after some patching, the sales might spike a few more times yet.
January 16th, 2011 at 9:12 am - #

Alvin23a

The money xbox uses on ads Sony uses on making the game. Forza could be a whole lot better if they didn’t spent all there money on ads.
January 16th, 2011 at 1:28 am - #

LeftyWright69

Man I sure would like to know how many competitors are playing or were registerd to play in the Academy Qualifier given the amount of units sold. If it was just 10% of the total sales that would be more then I was estimating.
January 15th, 2011 at 8:12 pm - #

Deathsarthe

The game does just enough to satisfy what fans of the series are left after the half decade wait, but not enough to gain anymore success than that.

It is unfinished and so far offers nothing exciting that other titles haven’t already explored.
January 15th, 2011 at 7:08 pm - #

Stu

The US is dominated by the 360 and generic FPS shooters. The rest of the world has more diverse tastes, hence GT5 selling 6m copies, not poor, not niche, in fact huge and far bigger than any other driving game.
- January 16th, 2011 at 12:56 am - #
  
  AGTFan
  
  True, GT5 sold significatly more than Forza3 in a shorter space of time (Forza is at ~2.2 million).
  
  However, sales might have been even higher if GT5 didn’t get so many mixed reviews from both GT oldtimers and people new to the game. GT5 has a metacritic score of 84, which is lower than Forza3′s 92.
  
  This means by large GT5 came short of people’s (or reviewers) expectations and it stands to reason the game lost sales as a result.
January 15th, 2011 at 9:18 am - #

brainfade

GT/PD and Sony shouldn’t worry too much about the US market, they’re blind to anything that isn’t an FPS or conventional licensed bullfraf game.
January 15th, 2011 at 9:01 am - #

Gulyo

Seriously, who the hell cares sales figures ???
January 15th, 2011 at 8:42 am - #

Praggia

Ok why are sales figures even newsworthy? It doesnt make a difference to anyone except PD and Sony. Pd is obviously aware of what the sales figures are and I would think they are not very impressed. People are making more informed choices these days, doing some research before making a purchase. So the Flak that GT has been getting since its release has definitely affected sales. If you wanna know how i can say that? Go back and research the sales data for GT4 when it was released…..
And lets face it……GT5 even though i own a copy, isnt PD’s best work sad to say. This was supposed to show the PS3 really flex its muscles but sadly its been a big let down. The Physics engine is awesome but there are too many other issues to overlook.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:43 pm - #

jasr73

Haven’t seen the numbers in Aust. yet but obviously they’re a fraction of the US numbers. I do think the PR was a little under done here tho. Sure there where some limited TV slots on the FTA channels, a few write ups in the main stream press and some limited presence on the side of buses and in the train stations. Oh and they had that thing at the Sydney Motor Show which virtually no one knew about; but by and large the PR was underdone for such an important title.

What’s more surprising is there’s been no second wave of PR that’s hit the mainstream here at all. I work in this space and budget permitting, normally you’d have the build up hype campaign and the launch program, and then you’d go again with another wave of above the line marketing to keep the sales momentum in top gear. Perhaps Sony felt it wasn’t required.

At the end of the day, it’s not like any of this really matters at all. Like speedthrill said; if you’ve got a heap of mates to play with on line and you’re having a good time, who really cares about overall numbers.

Provided PD’s made Sony some profit, they’ve got enough cash in the bank for ongoing Dev, can support the server network and keep the lights on, it’s a win.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:54 pm - #

ucwepn

Gamers torrent most of the shows they watch :p

Xbox is not a better console than the ps3 its just that they market it very heavily in every type of media also they engage in dirty anti ps3 “troll” marketing and bribery of news sites and reviewers and also the american market who are fiercly patriotic see it as “The american console” and if you buy anything else you are unamerican lol. Worldwide sales are more relivant in getting a picture on sony’s actual sales performance.
- January 14th, 2011 at 11:14 pm - #
  
  speedthrill
  
  Yep, for once, i find the truth on this news part of the board…
  
  XBOX is the only one with dirty market strategys…
  Really dirty.. You should try to find the movies where t10 dude tries to sell FM3 before anybody saw it..
  Was literally pointing fingers to a dude who is now part of history in the gameworld…
  
  He probably still facepalms himself about those early mistakes… :p
- January 15th, 2011 at 4:54 am - #
  
  BWX
  
  “the american market who are fiercly patriotic see it as “The american console” and if you buy anything else you are unamerican lol.” <— That's the dumbest thing I've heard in a while. There's no evidence this ridiculous statement is even remotely true. That's just some made-up B.S.
- January 15th, 2011 at 12:41 pm - #
  
  An American
  
  Hmmm, I bought my ps3 almost a year before my Xbox.
  I bought the Xbox because Sony wasn’t really putting out many games that interested me, but M$ was. I could care less about what country the companies are based in, or where the console is made.
  I guess that means i’m about to be raided by the A.B.P.C.E. (American Bureau of Patriotic Console Enforcement), arrested for treason, and be sent to gamer prison forever…….lol
January 14th, 2011 at 9:35 pm - #

Lawndart

Least we forget, the PS3 and Xbox are sharing a large part of the space that Sony pretty much owned in the PS1 and PS2 days… That means Sony got nearly all of the auto enthusiasts and really didn’t have much competition…

I know NFS used to enjoy HUGE numbers, 5-7 million in sales each version but when Underground came out it only made around 500 million in sales and even though that is HUGE numbers it was far below target and EA shut down their Blackbox studio…
- January 14th, 2011 at 11:12 pm - #
  
  speedthrill
  
  Lo what, underground made them high again…
  Without that, they couldn’t be where they are now….
  
  You do know about NFS Shift, wright?
  …
January 14th, 2011 at 9:23 pm - #

BubbleBelly542

Racing is not a top genre and it’s a ps3 exclusive so I’d called that pretty good. I wonder if that covers costs for development and advertising? I’m sure Sony helped with that.

What I am about to say is in no way Jordans fault: I wish something interesting would get posted about gt5. But thats up to PD not GTPlanet
January 14th, 2011 at 4:02 pm - #

Waltermydoinhere

So they’ve earned about $360 million and the product is still incompmlete?

=FAIL replay engine
=FAIL online penatly options (Auto-kick backwards drivers etc)
=FAIL full setup options. (Individual gear ratios?)
=FAIL Tire wear and ability to turn it off
=FAIL for not having a mirror on “bonnet” or “hood” view

I didn’t spend anytime thinking about this post or there’d be a LOT more issues listed.

I do enjoy the game, but it seems it’s falling just short in so many areas. What it “Could” be is what keeps me coming back.
- January 14th, 2011 at 6:54 pm - #
  
  Magic Ayrton
  
  You forgot =FAIL Engine sounds NUMBER ONE PRIORITY!!
  =FAIL No split screen replays or online replays
  =FAIL headlighs USELESS ON MAIN BEAM
  
  Kaz please look at a real car and actually replicate it properly.. stop trying to save stuff for your next title, because people aren’t stupid and will stop buying this re hashed rubbish.
- January 15th, 2011 at 2:52 am - #
  
  brainfade
  
  also… Kaz’s teeth = MAJOR FAIL
- January 15th, 2011 at 5:03 am - #
  
  BWX
  
  @Magic Ayrton —”=FAIL No split screen replays or online replays” <—You fail. There is online replays, you can save them. "=FAIL Engine sounds NUMBER ONE PRIORITY!!" <—You fail for having a failure of an audio system as I pointed out in response to your other post above.
January 14th, 2011 at 2:46 pm - #

Gulf_Porsche

Perhaps the low number is the result of wise(r) consumers actually reading the reviews before investing in GT5, as opposed to other, more popular games. This game has major problems and I’m disappointed in the fanboys who just don’t want to admit them.

As for the comments about strong “staying power”, that’s whistling past the graveyard. I am about ready to toss it and sell my collector’s edition: I am sick of grinding away race after race after race because I can’t win or buy the cars I need for various race series. A minor fraction of the game’s cars are available at the dealers’, and way too much of the — obviously — limited modelling time went to umpteen NASCAR sedans instead of other race cars . . . or even the multitude of missing tracks, for that matter.

Forget the “staying power”. Sales of GT5 are going to remain low until GT6 if released — and then after weeks of reading — hopefully positive — reviews. As Prelude was really GT5 Lite, GT5 is really the beta version of GT6, and we’ve paid to be the guinea pigs to watch as Kaz & crew work their away around the multitude of problems.

After +5 years, you would think that at least the single-player driving module of “the worlds greatest driving simulator” would be settled. Not so, and sales are just reflecting the mixed reactions — and massive frustration — that players are experiencing. It looks nice, sometimes, but it plays like a half-baked version of GT4, and I have better things to do with my time.
January 14th, 2011 at 2:27 pm - #

LoneWanderer

The reason GT5 didn’t sell well is because the little kids Sony tried to attract to the game instead went to buy Call of Duty: Black Ops.

The thing is that Black Ops is garbage, if anyone here has played it. It’s just the same game rehashed every year and is somehow building in hype.
January 14th, 2011 at 1:02 pm - #

crab

The whole “grind xp and money for 2 months” thing might have something to do with it.
- January 14th, 2011 at 11:09 pm - #
  
  speedthrill
  
  2 days, six races further, level 25 to 27, in total just an hour work…
  
  Earned: 6.7 million….
  
  AN HOUR WORK….