A million sales in a little under a month is a strong showing for the latest Star Wars game, and with most of it on Steam that appears to be where we are with Zero Company, which arrived a month ago today on 27th August. Numbers appear to show that of that million, 69.9% came from Steam (generating around $50m), 19.9% from PlayStation and 10.2% from Xbox and Xbox PC. A strong start, and well-timed as the saga will soon follow up with Galactic Racer next week, which has equally strong advance word and looks set to do big numbers as well. With EA now a private company there’s no requirement to release official sales figures, but you have to assume that the company and Bit Reactor will be pleased with this solid start. Alinea Analytics’ Rhys Elliott took a look at the numbers, and made an interesting observation regarding the location of those sales.
One thing limiting Zero Company’s sales, as with many Star Wars games, is that it’s only really popular in the West. Of Zero Company’s players, 90% are in North America or Europe, with under 5% in Asia.
On Steam, the Chinese user reviews sit at 57% positive (versus an 82% global average), with many pointing to the lack of VO and localisation options. Star Wars has never had the pull in Asia that it has in the West, of course. But skipping proper localisation compounds that.
Given Bit Reactor’s history in the genre, it’s no surprise that a chunk of Zero Company players have engaged with XCOM in the past.
On Steam, 28% of Zero Company players had previously played XCOM 2
And 6% played XCOM: Enemy Unknown on Steam.
On PlayStation and Xbox, 32% had previously played XCOM 2
Star Wars fans showed up in full … force, too. On Steam, 32% played Star Wars: The Old Republic, 24% played Battlefront 2, and 24% played Fallen Order.