Ghost of Yotei, the newest game from game developer Sucker Punch Productions, has surpassed the two million unit sales threshold in approximately three days since its launch on October 2. The initial success makes the new PlayStation 5 exclusive a monumental financial achievement for Sony Interactive Entertainment and puts the early performance of the sequel to almost on par with its record-breaking 2020 counterpart Ghost of Tsushima.
This substantial sales figure translates directly into exceptional early revenue. Assuming all copies sold were the standard $69.99 edition, the game has already grossed an estimated $140 million. Since Ghost of Yotei is a first-party exclusive, Sony is not required to pay platform fees on these initial sales. Since Sucker Punch co-founder Brian Fleming testified the budget for Yotei was similar to Tsushima’s reported $60 million expense, the title has managed to break even on its front-end investment somewhere in the neighborhood of twice over. Discounting the presumed huge worldwide marketing budget, achieving such a break-even in less than 72 hours is an incredibly bullish indicator of market demand.
Although sure to be strong, Ghost of Yotei’s release lags behind the record-setting performance of the first game. Ghost of Tsushima had already sold 2.4 million copies in its opening three days, making it the highest-selling first-party original intellectual property to that point on the PlayStation 4. Interestingly enough, though, Tsushima had released at the end of the PS4 era to compete against a different competitive field than its follow-up. Yotei’s success to two million units in terms of how close in time it was to other top holiday releases demonstrates the lingering power of the IP and the strength of the product.
Comparison to the performance of the original title is still extremely relevant to Yotei’s long-term market prospects. Ghost of Tsushima on went on to exceed 13 million copies sold globally through September 2024, a figure strongly augmented by a phenomenally successful porting to the PC platform. While Sony remains silent on announcing a like-for-like release for the sequel, the publisher’s new habit of parporting prestige first-party exclusives renders a Ghost of Yotei PC version a question of when, and not if. This future expansion of the market is expected to keep, if not surpass, the staggering lifetime sales record of its hugely popular original.
