37% of Astro Bot players have never purchased a Sony game before

It’s no secret that Astrobot is making waves as not only has it sold 1.5 million copies since its release 9 weeks ago, but 37% of gamers have either never purchased a Sony title or haven’t done so in the last two years. Developed by Team Asobi, the platformer has seen huge success in this short period, and fans now know how beloved the title really is.

Sony recently released sales data that showed not only the number of Astrobot sales, but also the user characteristics which provided fans with the knowledge that a A whopping 37% of players were entirely new users of the platform. While selling that number of copies is a major milestone for developers, knowing that their title has brought countless new users to Sony’s platform is another big win.

Astro Bot was expected to be a success

Sales and revenue numbers have fans asking questions

While fans often hold out hope that their favorite titles will become big hits, it’s often a big shock when some do so as well as they do. Astrobot have in such a short time. However, this appears to be the opposite of the case here. In fact, fans are wondering why the title has sold “only” 1.5 million copies, and not many, many more.

A Reddit thread posted by Cute Dead Monster celebrating the large sales volume in three months brought several fans discussing how they think the numbers should be higher. Commenter BenSlashes states, “I’m surprised it’s not much more. Normally every kid should say “daddy, can you buy me this game?” Others shared this sentiment, saying they almost wish it sold more, just so they could get more content from the developers.

Our take: Platformers may not be as popular as they used to be

Has the genre become less popular over time?

Taking another look at the original Reddit post, it appears some fans think the reason Astrobot not selling more copies is due to the fact that the new generation doesn’t like platform titles so much. Previously, fans were used to games like those of Mario franchise and Sonic the Hedgehogboth based on platforming, collecting small items and defeating some enemies along the way. With games like Call to action and Fortnite taking center stage, the genre may not be as popular as it once was.

Even if the idea that platform games are not as popular as they were in the past is true, the amount of sales in such a short period of time should be celebrated by any developer. The fact that Astrobot not only did it sell almost 2 million copies in 9 weeks, but it also brought in a huge amount of new users along with those sales, it’s a huge milestone to achieve. Hopefully the success of the title continues and the developers continue to release new content for Astrobot fans.

Source: Reddit, NeoGAF, X, Family pictures