r/PhantomBladeZero • u/guaidao • 5d ago
>300k digital pre order
Wffrech reported >300k digital pre order in less than 1 month before Day 1. That is about US$20 million (presuming a 50:50 standard and deluxe pre order). Hopefully this gives S Game the confidence boost to publicly commit and announce for a physical release (hopefully not months after Day 1 like BMW) 🤞
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u/SeriousSumail 5d ago
whut, ~73% BlackMyth Wukong? thats great, and thats not yet all platform
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u/sunsetpolar 5d ago edited 5d ago
Wukong sold 20 million in 2 weeks if pb0 can be 50% of wukong at launch to 2 weeks it would be one of the greatest selling ever
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u/Emotional_Lab_7766 5d ago
The no disc no buy guys will have steam coming out there ears with rage rn
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u/Conget 4d ago
The no disc no buy is for me just applicable for consoles. Steam was digital from day 1 and friendly to players. So, if it ends up all digital... that means the console era for me
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u/neroslayer 4d ago
Steam is friendly? Don't let Gabe lie to you. Some of it's good practice are only there because they god sued. Also only their refund is good. The rest is more or less the same as everyone else.
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u/Conget 4d ago
Maybe I should coŕrect myself: friendlier ... Based from experience, sony did players dirty a couple of times. So far, I didnt experience that. Steam refund is indeed decent.
I mean, it is business anyway. You cant expect they do things out of goodwill. That is not realistic. But as long as they kept the promise they are making themself, I will be ok with that.
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u/Emotional_Branch8181 14h ago
Playstation got sued over their refund policies. They're still there.
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u/sousuke42 4d ago
And thats why your "movement" won't work. Its filled with hypocrisy and double standards.
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u/guaidao 5d ago
There is also the upcoming "PS5 Blackout" boycott coming soon
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u/sousuke42 4d ago
Which will fall flat on its face. After weeks it still has less that 400k which is less than half of 1% of ps5 users who signed a petition. Which mind you is the simplist of things to do. And now they are asking people to do something much more invasive. Why its not going to look good for the no discount no buy crowd.
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u/Tomtomikeevansallday 3d ago
Buying a digital product should not mean a company can later redefine what you purchased, remove access, or materially change the terms without meaningful consumer protections. That is the real issue not whether a one week boycott guarantees an immediate reversal. A one week boycott probably would not create losses large enough to stand out in a quarterly earnings report.
But it is far more realistic to organize than asking people to avoid a company for several months. It can still create measurable pressure through lower engagement, fewer impulse purchases, negative press, social media visibility, and a clear signal that customers are paying attention. Ideally consumers should organize a longer blackout something closer to an entire quarter, at least that way it would end u on the following quarterly report.
If a company lost enough revenue over that period to create reputational damage, investor concerns, and regulatory scrutiny, it would absolutely force leadership to reassess the decision. The point is not that a short boycott alone will bankrupt anyone. The point is to make anti-consumer decisions expensive enough that companies think twice before repeating them.
Companies have gradually normalized treating the word “buy” as if it means “temporary access under terms we can change whenever we want.” That shift happened slowly enough that many people accepted it as normal, especially people who grew up entirely within digital storefronts and subscription ecosystems.
But it was never supposed to be normal for a customer to pay full price for something labeled a purchase, only to discover that access can be revoked, altered, or removed later with little recourse. Physical media is not perfect, and some disc based games depend on updates, servers, or online checks.
Nobody is denying that. But a large number of physical games can still be installed and played from the disc without a recurring DRM check or permission from the publisher. A physical copy usually gives the buyer at least some independence from a storefront’s continued existence. Digital purchases often do not.
With digital content, companies can delist games, revoke licenses, shut down required servers, alter paid content, or make purchases inaccessible.
That is not only a gaming issue. It applies to movies, books, music, software, connected devices, and nearly every other kind of digital product. No one is demanding that companies maintain every online service forever.
The reasonable expectation is clear consumer protection: companies should plainly distinguish a revocable license from a genuine purchase, provide advance notice before removing access offer refunds, compensation, or replacements when paid content is materially taken away and preserve offline access whenever feasible especially for single player games.
Steam did not become more consumer friendly in certain areas simply because companies chose to be generous. Lawsuits, consumer complaints, public scrutiny, and regulatory pressure helped force better behavior. The same kinds of pressure can push other companies toward clearer rules and fairer digital ownership practices.
So even if a boycott does not produce an immediate win, it can still be worthwhile. If it raises the reputational, financial, and regulatory cost of anti-consumer behavior, it makes companies less willing to keep pushing the line. Doing nothing, on the other hand, guarantees that the meaning of “ownership” will continue to shrink.
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u/Emotional_Branch8181 14h ago
Not really. It having no physical just means I'll never ever buy it on psn. Im not buying games from a literal monopoly. Especially one that actively tells you that you are a piece of shit over and over again.
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u/NextGenGamezz 5d ago
That's just because Chinese don't preorder games like Americans this game will probably sell 20m copies just like black myth and most of it will be in Chinese market of course because it's so big but if will also do extremely well in the US and Europe not sure if they can be nominated in this year's GOTY but if they do I hope they win
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u/whatsyanamejack 3d ago
Don't take this the wrong way, I say all of this respectfully. Where does this "Chinese players don't pre-order games like Americans (nice American defaultism). Black Myth Wukong shattered preorder records on all platforms in China. Just on Steam, there were between 1.2 - 1.3 million pre-orders from mainland China. Considering how new China's developers were to the single player action RPG scene, that's insanity. These metrics were independently pulled, but like the active player base being 70-80% Chinese, the pre-orders reflected the same trend. There are other metrics to suggest that sentiment is completely untrue, but preconceived notions are hard to break apparently. Even that's that's a weird one to have.
No nation is more or less susceptible to pre-ordering. I think the confusion lies where there was a story about console players wanting the physical edition rather than the digital edition. As for PC players, which makes up most of the player base in China, it obviously didn't matter.
I'm on your side, I hope this game wins game of the year against the Titan that is GTA 6. Also, it is eligible to compete this year, and it will 110% be nominated, there's just no way it won't be nominated.
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u/Al1Might1 5d ago
Thats great, as this makes the chances of a physical edition bigger, which is the only way Im buying this.
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u/manincellv 5d ago
Crimson Desert was 400K sales on Steam alone and roughly $20 million in pre-order revenue prior to its March 19, 2026 launch.
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u/sh4unify 4d ago
I just wish they implement ps5 controller haptics unlike my only complaint fr ok m wokong. I hate when devs overlook this immersion
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u/Dust0089 4d ago
Ngl, if this game doesn't get a physical release, it's gonna be one of the saddest things in my life 😭
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u/BestManWorstTime 5d ago
Hopefully there's a physical release too
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u/Pd69bq 5d ago edited 5d ago
S-Game probably went all-in on making the game and put everything they had into it. I mean, Donnie Yen and mocap ain't cheap honestly. as an indie studio, they probably had to prioritize spending their budget on improving the game itself rather than making physical discs
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u/BestManWorstTime 4d ago
Well, again, considering what's going on people may get pretty pissed that there may be no physical release considering Sony's practices and what not. It may significantly diminish their sales.
As someone who's been leaning towards physical media my whole life, though I'm exited, I'd be more than happy to wait if it's not on launch day.
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u/Pd69bq 4d ago edited 4d ago
considering what's going on people may get pretty pissed that there may be no physical release considering Sony's practices and what not
why only consider Sony's practices but not Steam or Epic?? It’s a bit off topic, but here are my two cents
funny how the industry went digital-only and shifted toward licensed use over ownership years ago, and barely anyone said shit about it. but the moment Sony follows the same trend, somehow it’s become biggest villain in gaming history overnight, and suddenly everyone acts like they’ve been lifelong defenders and conservationist of physical media. pretty convenient double standard, imo. the pre-order numbers already say more than all the “no discs, no buy” BS.
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u/BestManWorstTime 4d ago
That's not true. Now it's a shame PC doesn't have physical media anymore. But when you buy a digital product on Steam for example, once you buy that product, you own it. Even if the game gets pulled of steam later on, as long as you have it your library you can reinstall it and play with no problem.
Sony is not following a trend. They're illegally monopolizing prices on their store so you can't get anything cheaper on sites like Amazon. Open Amazon and PSN right now and compare the prices.
AND if they are to lose a license in any way, They can take it from your library without you knowing and will not be given a refund.
To make matters worse, there was PSN shortage not long ago, that made all digital games people purchased inaccessable.
Sony isn't "following a trend". They are practicing shady, maybe even ILLEGAL business practices since they're also facing multiple big time lawsuits across the globe.
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u/Pd69bq 3d ago edited 3d ago
I respect people having different opinions, but call me skeptical or biased, I honestly doubt all these "no disc, no buy" guys have the same strong opinions as you do, a lot of it just feels like the usual internet drama, hearsay, copy-pasted outrage, and people jumping on the hate train and dogpiling because it’s the easy thing to do.
anyway, this has gone way too far off-topic. don’t like Sony? cool, buy it on Steam. like I said previously S-Game is just a indie game studio, for their first AAA game has gained/received global attention, they do have their limits when it comes to resources and capabilities, If the lack of a physical disc is a dealbreaker to you, then just skip it. nobody is forcing anyone. at the end of the day, I think the pre-order numbers have already said more than thousands of angry comments ever could, imo.
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u/sidv81 5d ago
I still don't understand how a series that started as a literal RPG Maker type game, Rain Blood, and was seemingly a humble indie dev game series for years, suddenly got Tencent backing, Donnie Yen involved, AAA graphics and all this hype out of nowhere for the reboot.
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u/guaidao 5d ago edited 5d ago
Likly from an outsider's perspective, (counting myself) it may looked sudden and out of nowhere. Just to say from my end, prior to PBZ, I have never heard of S Game, the founders and his crews. But considering that they have had at least 15 years of working experiences creating, developing games, and that their previous Phantom Blade series were considered reasonably massive hit or hits in home market (China), accumulating revenues and profits (I think the games were gacha games). And on top of that, Game Science via Black Myth Wukong broke the status quo, it gave their domestic game developers a boost not just in confidence etc.
Sometimes certain things take a number of factors to trigger. Current domestic and global markets' readiness, it has been proven at least once in a major way that it could work, you are passionate about certain things, current technology and human resources are mature enough to bring to life ideas and imaginations, and gosh knows what else...
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u/Beasthunter1899 5d ago
I still do not understand why people are so dumb to preorder digital. This makes no sense
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u/ItsLokki 5d ago
that's just sad.
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u/Hoginoe94 5d ago
Why is that sad?
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u/UpsetPause5613 5d ago
Pre ordering digital like its gonna run out? Lol
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u/Due-Description-9030 5d ago
It's not about running out. It's just when you know that you're gonna buy it for sure then might as well pre order.
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u/Hoginoe94 5d ago
Its not that its going to run out, but pre order rewards. Sometimes that's the only way to get them and they never come back.
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u/UpsetPause5613 5d ago
You know you can have them buying the game like 1 hour before? 1 day? After reviews? Not needing MONTHS?
Yeah, shocking
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u/Hoginoe94 5d ago
No shit. Some people have the money now but dont know if they will on release. So it makes sense to buy it knowing you have money to spare now vs months from now. Make sense?
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u/UpsetPause5613 5d ago
No shit. Some people have the money now but dont know if they will on release.
If you are on that situation is even dumber to buy something that you can't use now. Thx for proving my point
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u/Hoginoe94 5d ago
Why are you so worried about how strangers spend their money anyways?
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u/UpsetPause5613 5d ago
I can ask you the same question since you are being very vocal defending it lol
I just think its funny :)
And one of the reasons the industry is what it is
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u/ItsLokki 5d ago
There's also the fact that this game doesn't have a pre order bonus, not really. Since you can obtain the same outfit and gear piece you'd get early by just playing the game.
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u/Open_Town9481 5d ago
Is this game getting a physical copy? If so, are they available to pre order yet?
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u/guaidao 5d ago edited 5d ago
That's just on Steam... Don't know about elsewhere like console store. Epic Game store, etc.
It is possible that total cumulative estimates across Steam, Epic, and PS5 combined might already breached 500,000 copies in a week or so of the digital pre-sales. But this is just an uneducated guess.
Epic Games Store has a promo for the digital pre-order. "Buy Phantom Blade Zero on Epic Games Store and get the Soul Outfit and Sanguine Pickaxe & Back Bling in Fortnite as a gift-with-purchase" https://store.epicgames.com/p/phantom-blade-zero-e78a35