Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can. Made a game, out of sight, its sales outpaced Arkham Knight. Look out, here comes the Spider-Man.
It’s no secret the PlayStation 4 exclusive Spider-Man is one of the best-selling games of 2018. The game sold 3.3 million copies during its first three days alone, outpacing other highly-anticipated titles such as God of War. However, if I told you Spider-Man’s sales numbers surpass every other superhero game to date, you’d probably look at me as if I suddenly sprouted four extra arms. Rest assured, though, Spider-Man is that popular, but don’t take my word for it.
Enter Mat Piscatella of NPD Group. Basically, NPD is a market research firm that analyzes and predicts market and industry trends, and Piscatella is the company’s resident video game industry expert.
According to Piscatella’s latest tweet, Spider-Man is “the fastest selling superhero game in US history.” No, seriously.
Bonus November 2018 Video Game market sales data update from The NPD Group – Over the first three months in market, Marvel's Spider-Man is now the fastest selling superhero game in US history. Congrats again to @insomniacgames! pic.twitter.com/TRiOJY1M05
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 20, 2018
Regrettably, Piscatella doesn’t give any actual sales numbers, let alone how sales are divvied up between physical and digital copies. This is problematic since we do not know how (or even if) these sales numbers were affected by the Limited Edition Spider-Man PS4 Pro bundle, which included a copy of the game.
Moreover, Piscatella doesn’t explain what he considers a “superhero game.” We normally associate the term with video games that let players explore levels while punching criminals and wearing capes. Does he consider Injustice 2, a fighting game, a superhero game since it stars a roster of recognizable heroes and villains? What about Lego DC Super-Villains, which plays like any other Lego DC (or Marvel) game but stars supervillains instead of superheros? We just don’t know how Piscatella classifies a “superhero game.”
Regardless, any news that Spider-Man sold well is good news. After all, we at Twinfinite love the game. We gave it an Editor’s Choice award in our review, and the game was first runner-up for our Game of the Year 2018.
Spider-Man’s sales demonstrate that modern, single-player video games can be financially successful by simply being spectacular, no microtransactions or multiplayer modes necessary.
