Sony’s big PS5 exclusive hasn’t had a huge launch, but it’s still easily managed to beat Concord’s global sales in two days, just in the UK.
Astro Bot might be the best PlayStation game in years, but it has seemingly had a significantly smaller launch compared to other Sony exclusives, such as God Of War or Spider-Man 2.
That’s not a surprise though, considering the nature of the game and character, and especially since Sony doesn’t even count Astro Bot as a ‘major’ title on the PlayStation 5 release slate.
What is perhaps surprising is that Astro Bot, based on early launch figures in the UK, is struggling behind fellow PlayStation 5 exclusive platformer Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, despite reviewing better.
According to GamesIndustry.biz’s Christopher Dring, Astro Bot’s physical sales in the UK in its first week are ‘about a third lower’ than Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Dring, however, states that he expects Astro Bot to be a more consistent seller in the long term.
‘Astro Bot’s UK sales (physical-only so far) aren’t huge,’ Dring wrote on Twitter. ‘Opening week is about a third lower than 2021’s Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, but I expect a longer sales tail for Astro.’
In a dismal reflection of Concord’s sales, he goes onto state that Astro Bot ‘sold more copies in the UK in just two days than Concord sold worldwide’. Concord was shut down by Sony last week, one week after it launched, in light of low player numbers.
It’s important to note that these numbers for Astro Bot only apply to physical copies in the UK, which is only a small sliver of the overall picture – but it should be indicative of the robot platformer’s general appeal compared to other PlayStation franchises.
Indeed, as a single-player, family friendly game its percentage of physical sales would likely be higher than an online shooter like Concord.
Astro Bot has, however, topped the UK retail charts for the week ending September 7, 2024. According to Gfk data, it toppled Star Wars Outlaws to take the number one spot, and beat the likes of Hogwarts Legacy, Elden Ring, Armored Core 6, and EA Sports FC 24.
It’s difficult to gauge how much Astro Bot needs to sell in order to be considered a success by Sony, but considering it was made by a much smaller team and presumably at a lower budget compared to the likes of Spider-Man 2 or God Of War, a modest success might be enough to secure a sequel.
Astro Bot’s future might be safe though based on recent comments made by PlayStation CEO Hermen Hulst, who stated that the family market is a ‘really important’ focus for the company.
Asked on the official PlayStation podcast whether Sony is now considering putting more resources behind family friendly titles, Hulst said: ‘I think it’s massively important that PlayStation Studios develops games in various genres, and the family market I think is really important for us to focus on.
‘It’s interesting that [Astro Bot creative director] Nico and I at the beginning of [Astro Bot] talked a little bit about, you know, platformers. So many great ones have come out of Japan, and I was kind of joking with him like… some of those best games [are] coming out of the country that you operate out of – Let’s see that as the bar.’
Along with Astro Bot, Sony is set to launch family friendly romp Lego Horizon Adventures later this year across PlayStation 5, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
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