Dishonored 2 retail sales down 38% on Dishonored

The latest UK game retail charts appeared this morning for all platforms and it comes with some interesting Dishonored 2 numbers.

Dishonored 2 is a major release for Bethesda and it has not managed to top the sales charts. The sequel entered the chart as a new entry in fourth place trailing behind CoD, Battlefield 1, and FIFA 17.

According to the numbers, Dishonored 2 has so far sold 38% less than the original Dishonored over the same time period. So why the reduction?

Since Bethesda changed their review policy to not release review code to press until one day before release, reviews have been slower to appear. The reduction in sales could be a positive sign that reviews do matter to gamers and relying on hype and influencers is not going to shift copies on day one.

There are however other factors to take into account. These numbers do not account for digital sales which are higher today than they were when Dishonored released in 2012 so they could even things out. Retail pricing in the UK is expensive and therefore digital sales should be higher.

It’s hard to ascertain if a change in review policy has affected the Dishonored 2 sales but Bethesda will be watching this closely.