The Switch's early days were full of amazing stories from indie game developers, with the console being regarded as one of the best places to generate sales for your beloved creations. As fans of the console hoovered up every delightful indie the Switch had going, many games saw huge boosts in sales, slowly but surely driving more and more developers to the console as a result.
Of course, as well now know, this has led to a situation where it's not uncommon for us to see around 25-30 new games release every single week on Switch. It's a crazy number of games for one platform to hold, and some fantastic titles which would have prospered in the early days of the console's life are now being lost thanks to the avalanche of competitors around it.
As such, it's particularly interesting to see this up-to-date sales report from Thimbleweed Park developer Ron Gilbert. Thimbleweed Park arrived on Switch in September 2017, bringing its classics-inspired point-and-click goodness to Nintendo's platform just a few months after its initial launch on Steam and Xbox One. The chart below shows how the game has performed across all platforms during its entire time on the market.
As you can see, the Switch version of the game is just leading the way in terms of sales, closely followed by Steam. Interestingly, Gilbert notes that in the last quarter, the Switch version did three times as well as the Steam version, and describes the Sony sales as "perplexing". It certainly is strange to see the console with the largest install base offer the lowest number of sales, particularly considering Europe is where Thimbleweed Park sales are apparently strongest, but you can't really argue with facts.
If you're interested, you can check out Gilbert's full report here.
Before you go, though, let us know your thoughts on this data in the comments. Does anything about the chart surprise you?
[source grumpygamer.com]
Comments 37
I really enjoyed this game, more of the same please!
I got it on my Switch and had a blast!
@hatch I also own a PS4 and I use it to shoot stuff.
Never in sales...
Isn't the Switch the lowest install base as well?
Inb4 certain folks try to spin this as a Sony positive or downplay it completely.
Wow, though. Even Microsoft Store/XBox pulled in 10%? I wish there was a further breakdown as to which side did what. I thought folks generally dislike the Microsoft Store. It'd be interesting if it's mostly XBox sales.
Would be interesting to know unit sales in addition to the $ value.
A combination of the right audience and great timing.
Lovely to see a quality title doing well although I realised a couple of hours in that this game wasn't for me.
Just from the chart steam is loosing steam(pun) here. If a 3rd party game can cut that much into steam that's all the more telling.
I don't enjoy playing Indies/smaller experiences on my TV. I wonder if thats why PS4/XBO sales are so small? If an Indie is not on Switch (formerly Vita), I probably wouldn't play it
@masterLEON that would be Xbox sales. PC would be reflected with Steam.
I wonder if this released first on XBO, and thats why PS is so low?
Doesn't surprise me to see the Switch and Steam well on top as they're the platforms that indie games thrive. And this style of game is especially suited towards handhelds. Definitely surprising to see it selling almost 3x as well on Microsoft's system to Sony's though. Wonder what's behind that.
@BenAV
"These are all LTD (Life to Date) numbers, so Steam, GOG and Xbox had a lead, which makes the Switch all the more impressive."
A quote from the developer's page on this. More proof that Switch is killing it.
I bought it on an eShop sale and then double dipped via Limited Run Games because I wanted it physical.
This isn't number of copies sold it's money made. So given that games on switch tend to be priced higher than on other platforms is be interesting to see how many units generated that money.
My feeling is that Devs are flocking to switch because the profit per sale is massive compared to the other platforms.
@Sabroni "My feeling is that Devs are flocking to switch because the profit per sale is massive compared to the other platforms."
Actually some actually said this. So it's not a gut feeling but reality. The portable nature of the Switch help get more sales.
Great game! Bought it for Switch. I think Indies are the key to the system's success.
That’s especially crazy considering how many people have Steam and how frequent the killer sales are.
No luv 4 indies on PlayStation. :<
It's perplexing that something like this isn't doing well on PS4?
@Al_Godoy
what kind of ammo does a ps4 shoot?
i have this game. it's fun. i think i may have bought it on steam a long time ago but i don't remember. i bought the switch version anyway.
I wonder if it's just how things are presented on the PlayStation store. A few years ago they had a big push for Indies but these days Sony don't seem too bothered about them and I rarely if ever see these prominent on the store, where as on the eshop everything seems to get equal billing when released.
Well that and the majority of PS4 owners are only interested in FIFA and whatever the latest online shooting game is
@carlos82 I agree, I have never seen a store as fair and straightforward as the eshop.
Steam: You fight like a dairy farmer!
Nintendo: How appropriate, you fight like a cow!
Really happy to hear that Nintendo players have taken to Gilbert's signature snark, and the deliberately and awkwardly Wes Anderson-esque throwback style of the graphics, that Gary Winnick provides.
This could be support for the theory that the Sony store is terrible.
To beat Steam is rather impressive! I'm waiting for a discount.
This reminded me I need to get Grim Fandango this week, heavy discount in Americas
Loved this game. They need to make another.
Conclusion: Nintendo players tend to be videogame connoisseurs who seek out the quirky, innovative or characterful.
Well, the platform that leads sales isn't the Switch but the PC. Steam and GOG are both stores on which you buy the PC version of the game. PC counts for 36,5%.
Also, is the game available on the Microsoft PC store as well? And are both Xbox One and PC sales on the Microsoft stores calculated under "Microsoft"? It would make sense, as it's a bit strange that the Xbox One market, which is similar to the PS4 market in some way, is about 3 times bigger. Not impossible though. I don't even know if it's available on the Windows store, so what do I know?
The thing we know though, is that sales on Switch are much bigger than the other two consoles of this generation combined. Although, they are still smaller that PC sales (Steam + GOG).
I’m part of the Apple share, although I haven’t played much of it.
I doubled dipped on the Switch version like I'm sure many others did. Picked up the eShop version then the Limited Run Games physical copy.
Sony, 3.5% ..?? No Vita support, that’s why!
It’s been on my watchlist for a while, waiting for a sale
Bit disappointed woth the GOG results :/
GOG is brilliant.
PS4 vs Xbox and Apple vs Google are interesting as the sales are dramatically lower on the platform with dramatically larger installed bases. Switch is perhaps the biggest story of them all, in that regard, as I think it is the smallest installed base across all of these platforms except maybe GoG.
Google and Apple do pretty well as neither of them cater to the game industry or developers in the traditional sense very much. Just, "here is a store where you can sell software to the most prevalent devices in existence." (yes, they give support in fits and starts, but not much more)
None of that is backed by numbers, so if anyone has them, I'm interested.
@Realnoize need a glass of Koolaid there to cool the jets down. Steam and GOG are different services trying to tie both together is grabbing for straws.
@SwitchForce
I don't consider this grabbing for straws as both are stores you buy from to play the game on the same PC platform. Granted, PC is different than consoles because you have multiple stores to buy your games from, but ultimately both Steam and GOG (and even Windows Store, Green Man Gaming, EA Origin and so on...) are part of the same PC platform.
You could have separate numbers for GOG and Steam for analysis purpose, but ultimately, these should've been categorized as the "PC" platform.
I'm just curious about the rationale behind separating sales from different vendors despite the game being for the same platform (PC). Unless the idea was to compare digital stores between themselves (which seems to be the case), and not necessarily the platforms. Although I find that not as relevant as a breakdown by platform.
@Realnoize They are for PC but different servers so that would list them as different. I doubt GOG or Steam would like if you called them the same so separating them is how you make real comparisons to what people are using.
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