The Witcher 3 on PC outsold consoles combined since 2018

Yup CD Projekt released a new financial chart that shows sales split between the platforms. In 2017 The Witcher 3 sales on PC were tied with both Xbox One and PS4 combined but afterwards was surpassed. Even with the new Nintendo Switch version the PC version managed to outsell all the consoles combined in 2019.

With more proof of PC having strong sales, hopefully this deters CD Projekt from downgrading the game because of consoles.

The real story is the Switch version outselling the Xbox version in 2019.

Crazy Numbers! That is upwards of 25-30 mio copies they have sold in total! That’s almost gta numbers!!!

Also not to shabby with around 700.000 sales at full price on switch.

Congrats to them, but who cares if PC outsold console?

Yay? I mean as long as they are happy with how well their games sell on various platforms then I’m sure that they’ll continue to bring their games to those platforms. 🤷‍♂️

Cows told me for 5+ years this wasn't true...

Why don't they bring back the graphics that where downgraded on purpose for console parity now. I'm not a CD Projekt Red fanboy that gives them a pass but yet shames other companies when they do it.

But PC gaming is dead, and will be deader with the upcoming next-gen consoles!!!1!!!

They sold over 28 million witcher 3 units. They're going to pass the 30 million mark.

There are plenty of console games that outsell their respective PC versions. Did that ever matter to you?

Pretty sure that's because PC gamers are cheap when it comes to buying games. They don't value games at full price and are generally willing to wait years for a 90% discount. Add in last year's Netflix show popularity and you have the sales.

I'm actually still surprised that there were that many sales on PC considering how they love to pirate.

"PC GAMING IS DYING!"

-Everyone, all the time.

It's even more impressive when you consider the game is available, and has been available since day 1, on GoG with absolutely zero DRM.

The whole piracy argument is pointless; if you make a good product, people will buy it.

Dude, so many things.

Firstly, people are cheap in general, look at Black Friday in the States, and now in multiple countries. You assume they don't value games at full price, and i'll be the first to quash that, as I consistently buy solid, new games at full price.

As for your pirating comment, just do one and don't bother continuing that argument, unless you have meticulous data. Considering you didn't even give a max-min of PC gamers loving to pirate, and just went all in, it's just a jab.

On topic, damn, this game deserved the sales. I wonder how many bought through GoG (non-DRM,) as opposed to Steam. GoG has been hugely popular the last couple years. Personally, I bought through Steam, as I like to keep my library fairly central.

On a year on year sales basis sure, but on the total period ( 2015-2019 ) Witcher 3 sold more on consoles .

There are games that sell better on PC and vice versa. I have a lot of console centric friends who simply don't know or don't care about The Witcher, but have bought stuff like Fallout and Elder Scrolls.

I find it more to be a big game in the hardcore gaming community, which appeals to more PC gamers.

Also, judging by that charts, Witcher 3 still sold more on consoles overall. I'm too lazy right now, but looked at the chart and it appears it sold 7-8 million on the PS4 and 8-10 on the PC? Not by too much.

Eitherway, I'm just so happy this game has sold so much. My favourite this gen, a masterpiece.

@Telekill: Pretty sure the 2nd hand market doesn't give CDPR money too, but hey, PC gamers LOVE to pirate...

INB4, "2nd hand is different from piracy."

That's hardly something to brag since the complete sales are:

• PC: ~12 million
• PS4: ~ 10.8 million
• Xbox One: ~ 4.3 million
• Nintendo Switch: ~ 700,000
• Total: ~28.3 million

Which means that even when PC version has outsold consoles for the last 3 years it hasn't outsold total sales for consoles.

Also means that it got more revenue from consoles since it got more units sold at full price in them.

Sales HAH

What is with the ignorant generalizations some console gamers have towards PC gamers?

Oh wow, discounted price PC and consoles yet able to get 89% of shares compared to 11% full price on Switch. The game has a lot of buyers even in 2019 from the existing consoles.

I agree with your statement. Also, console gamers tend to move on much quicker with their products. So, Witcher selling more in the long run isn't necessarily great for CD Project since the biggest number of revenues will be in those initial sales. Since the gap isn't that big and you can buy the game now for less than $10, I'm guessing it probably generated more on the PS4.

He's right though as hermits love to pirate. Lets be honest here for a second, every hermit on here has at least pirated one game in their life including you, not that you will admit it, because you think you have some squeaky clean image on here lol.

Also hermits when it comes to buying games are cheap bastards, spends hundreds/thousands on hardware and buy games on the cheap.

Gorgeous game i love it

Quite damming.

CD Projekt have been impressively slick with their "pc gaming forever" shtick', but it's pretty obvious from the progression of the Witcher series they've been wanting to make a console style RPG all along, the fact this thing barely operated on a mouse/keyboard requiring a patch and still operated badly isn't something to be proud about.

Even many critics were fooled into the hype-train overlooking hugely glaring flaws, for which they should feel retrospective shame.

Props to their PR team, doing it again with Cyberpunk, no doubt soon to be a mechanically broken mess.

You're aware that PC supports all kind of controllers , I played this game for 4000 hrs cup and I used M&K the whole time , barely had a problem , dunno about you guys

True. but in case of cyberpunk, its first person so controls and gameplay will be better this time.

if it was third person, then i would assume bad.

Lol at it being downgraded because of consoles. When would folks accept that PC gaming holds the lowest spec.

Cyberpunk 2077 has more pre-orders on PC than consoles.

Wow Ps4 really dominated the first year, wow! Lol pc gamers waiting for that steam sale to loyally support their favourite developer!

PC in general generated more revenue per copy because it sold through GOG or Steam while the retail and console maker take a higher share for consoles. PC Games sold on GOG get 100% of the revenue at full price.

@NoodleFighter:

That game came in what 2015? Why would console gamers still buy that after 2018? Is anything that prove PC gamers waited until the game was at bargain price to get it.🤷‍♂️

PC digital sales generate more revenue per copy because when sold in places like GOG they get all the profit.

@godspellwh:

Still pc revenue are nowhere near to those of the consoles side, with a mere 5.2Bn!!!

So...Hermits need to do better!!!

Can't believe around 700,000 people voluntarily suffered through the Switch version.

All this talk on piracy, it goes both ways. Also about waiting to buy the games cheap, console users do the same damn thing. Hell in consoles, many people wait much longer to buy cheap than PC gamers do. Why anyone would pirate when CDKeys exist? Console piracy is just a tad harder, but far from impossible. Even on Xbox 360, its easier to pirate games and while PS3 is harder to pirate, pirated PS3 games exists.

If I really want a game, I buy it pre-order or the day it comes out, or the first chance I get... If I don't really care for a game on PC, I wait for it to go on sale and that way, when it turns out that I didn't really enjoy it, well at least it only cost me $10 instead of $60. So what's the issue of PC gamers wait to buy games cheaper? PC, mobile, consoles do this as well. At the end of the day, between PC & consoles, they both have their pros/cons, there is no clear cut winner, its all personal opinions.

@davillain-:

Sure you can look at it this way.

But the numbers show that within its first year of release, 68% of its revenues come from consoles and only 31% from pc!!!

Knowing that the bulk of money for any games is made within its first 2 years after, you can conclude that consoles lead the sales figures.

Global revenues show that clearly.

Piracy is everywhere, but all graphs show that consoles players spend more money on their AAA games than the pc side.

It's no mystery that 70% of all pc revenue are from the f2p model and this also doesn't help.

Unless there's a shift in this trend on the pc side, these numbers will remain the same imo.

It also made more profit on PC than consoles. It further proves that games continue to sell on PC long after the initial years.

INB4 an idiot come here and say games don't sell on PC.

EDIT: Oh wait, he's already here DC'ing it with his numbers that were proven wrong multiple times.

Good to know nobody cares about the impending death of consoles apart from a few 'niche' fanboys.

@pc_rocks:

Brace yourselves, PC_Clown, with no sources is back!!!

Long time no see!!! So any sources yet???

Console software sales tend to be more heavily front-loaded. Most of the sales usually come from the launch period.

PC software sales tend to have more legs. They're less front-loaded, but have more longevity over a lengthy period of time.

The most effective strategy for publishers to maximize sales is to focus on consoles during the launch period, and then shift focus to PC after the launch period.

@Juub1990: Is it? A game selling 1% better in its first year on one console than in its fifth year on another?

I mean, if it had sold better in its first year on switch than on its first year on xbox then yeah....but that didnt happen.

Another thing that makes this very bad for consoles future is that you need a hafty marketing budget in order to compete and then the associated logstic costs. Development is also tends to be costly on the console side.

PC has none of those overheads and word of mouth tends to do wonders on PC.

Sky rocketing production costs will further compound these issues. It's no wonder why even first party games are started to appear on PC.

Lets see, can I play The Witcher 3 on

PC: Yes

PS4: Yes

Xbox One: Yes

Switch: Yes

What is the issue again?

@Pedro:

Just numbers!!!

Would be nice to know what client store sold the most? GoG would be my best guess and Steam second place.

Fair view on the current PC situation. Yes piracy is everywhere around the globe, but as its as I said, consoles are hard to pirate which is why they tend to lead more sell figures then anywhere else. But in another way, PC exclusives such as Alyx, Total War: Three Kingdoms, & Disco Elysium proves the sells are on the rise on PC vs piracy. Will all this change when PS5/XSX release? Not really. It probably won't change for a long time.

@davillain-:

That AAA games exclusives are doing great on pc is a good start.

As PC gamers we should support that.

Piracy got nothing to do with a new gen, more with economic reasons.

The paradox is clamoring high end gpu while waiting for summer sales.

With no support from us no industry can flourish, and we will be going the f2p model route.

Which is such a shame for the most potent platform!!!!

70% source? lol

That's including the expansion packs. We don't know how much Witcher 3: Wild Hunt sold on its own.

@godspellwh:

Here :