"Farming Simulator 19 sold over 2 million copies"

[ekeenan]

This is the actual title found on PCgamer's site. Congratulations to Giants. I wonder what the numbers are between consoles and PC.

Note: I had to check to see if this was already reported. I am surprised this was not found since the article is about 2 days old.

Correction: Giants was mentioned in the article. Sorry about that.

[Airborne82nd]

Well, i actually reported the record breaking 1 million back in December...

viewtopic.php?f=963&t=137124&p=1068764#p1068764

So, yeah, it did well. I think it was John Deere that did it.

[this_is_gav]

So, yeah, it did well. I think it was John Deere that did it.

I doubt it. Some sales, yeah, but most current players would have bought it anyway. FS was built when there was only a single tractor brand in the game (Fendt then Deutz-Fahr) yet the game continually grew exponentially (as it still does). I think JD (and Claas) was more what existing players wanted rather than them attracting a host of new players.

I expect the new graphics improvements would have enticed more players (even if the style turned out to be a bit post-apocalyptic in the end - less Fallout and a bit more natural in FS2x please GIANTS).

I do know it drew some new girl players (and undoubtedly some boys too) simply down to now having horses in the game. I don't know how well that was reflected in the wider audience, but I wouldn't be surprised if a good number of new players were simply for that. Keeping many of those new players in the game long term will be a challenge though.

[Deadeye]

I agree with the above post. I don't think John Deere had anything to do with it. I think more exposure of the game led to more sales. The game has become increasingly popular over the years.

[Airborne82nd]

I don't know what exposure it got as compared to prior years. It was John Deere. Giants have t have known what it likely paid for the licensing that it would bring in many more players, and it did.

[Walrusman02]

Pretty sure i read somewhere on here Giants didnt pay for that license

[chedly_farms]

Lol, John Deere had nothing to do with it. John Deere on the FS19 cover in every Walmart in America beckoning "play me" to every Farmers kid that seen it, accounted for more sales than people want to give credit for. All you have to do is read forums and Facebook groups to see how die hard John Deere fans are. Elitists will say "what's the big deal? It's just a brand." Those people failed any marketing class they have ever taken.

And as far as if a brand sells a game, watch how many platinum edition copies they sell, if Claas is on that cover. European sales will explode.

[Jagtractor]

Every new game is out-doing the previous game for ages now. You can say this brand or that brand is helping along.
That previous comment about Claas improving sales is just off, as they already have fendt which just screams European.

The games success is its ability to make a concept for a farming game (which some people find very amusing when they ask you what you are playing) and make it fun and enjoyable that the true farmer can play, or the farmer without a farm can play, or the city kid who has a garden in the backyard, or someone who just wants to kick back and build a business empire and rule the land and exact his will upon the hired help to do his bidding.

The game is getting more and more recognition as i have told a number of people myself about it and they've started playing and are now hooked.

Deere might have brought in a few die hard fans. But those people are extremely few and far between. As anyone who has that much love for a tractor brand will probably already own a farm sim game.

It isn't the driving force behind the popularity that is growing about this game. Yeah us lifers are picky about what we like from next installment to next installment. But the word is getting around that there's not many games like this and thus the rise in sales is inevitable.

[iB055]

I will say for certain that John Deere played a big role in me purchasing this game. It was John Deere American Farmer that made me stumble opon FS13 to begin with. After watching some vids on FS13 I was hooked.

If not playing JDAF and searching the interwebs for the Deluxe version I may have never known about Farming Simulator.

Maybe not exactly what this discussion is referring to but on the same subject and now I own 2 copies of FS19.

[IceUul]

I am pretty sure that putting John Deere on that box increased number of sales a lot.

My first sim was FS17 and before that i did not know any other brands than Claas and John Deere, first one because futuristic look and color combination and
other one is just classic about the name and color combination. So far they are my favorite brands in real life.

Personally i bought FS19 because i liked FS17 and expected the FS19 will be better then FS17, also wanted to support the Giants Software.

[YoloDonkey]

Its for sure not only JD that brought new people to the game. It was for sure also other reasons, like more intense and agressive marketing, new features, "new graphics" etc.

[this_is_gav]

Lol, John Deere had nothing to do with it. John Deere on the FS19 cover in every Walmart in America beckoning "play me" to every Farmers kid that seen it, accounted for more sales than people want to give credit for. All you have to do is read forums and Facebook groups to see how die hard John Deere fans are. Elitists will say "what's the big deal? It's just a brand." Those people failed any marketing class they have ever taken.

And as far as if a brand sells a game, watch how many platinum edition copies they sell, if Claas is on that cover. European sales will explode.

I'm not saying JD had nothing to do with it, as you chose to ignore, but the impact of those sales is probably in the minority compared to other factors.

Farmer's kids would have undoubtedly bought it anyway and probably had previous games before too (or at least played their parents ones). Even non-farmers (like myself) got into the game well before anything other than a single brand appeared - it didn't need a recognised brand to sell it (as Deutz-Fahr's precence where I live is next to none). Nothing "elite" in stating that.

JD was something every existing player wanted (as well as all the other), but it's delusional to suggest FS19s increased sales are down to having John Deere was on the cover - the numbers touted look to be climbing at a similar rate to every other release.

[L2K Perma]

JD was something every existing player wanted (as well as all the other), but it's delusional to suggest FS19s increased sales are down to having John Deere was on the cover - the numbers touted look to be climbing at a similar rate to every other release.

Took a quick look at a sales chart from vg, while I'll say the numbers likely aren't 100% correct, since they show 19 as having only sold roughly 1.37 million copies, it's still interesting to see the data. According to them less than 10,000 copies of FS09 were sold, 170,000 for FS11, up to 1,450,000 for FS13, 2,570,000 for FS15 and 2,300,000 for FS17. These however have obviously sold what they will and thus FS19 may in all likelihood surpass FS15.

As far as pinpointing an exact reason, it's won't ever happen. Some people probably got it due to John Deere being in game, some probably got it for the horses, some probably got it to create their own farms with the placeable system, some for it because they played previous iterations and some got it due to word of mouth and some got it from the increased marketing and graphical improvements. All of these are factors so saying one thing specific did or did not contribute to the apparent increase in sales to be honest, would be wrong.

Note: Just to clarify, the second paragraph isn't pointed at you Gav, just my general thoughts on the increased sales.

[blue_painted]

I'm pretty sure that having John Deere on the cover must have sold more copies -- there are very few of us for whom JD is complete "meh" -- but I think also the placeable "make your own farm" attracted some more console players and casual PC players.

Personally, I'd rather get to a situation where more realism sold more copies, because it's sales that will drive GIANTS design and development decisions, but to achieve the initial sales you need something to catch the attention; be it a JD tractor on the product artwork or a Lexion 780 in a video.

One thing I'm fairly sure of: I bet the dog didn't sell one single extra copy!

[Farming Girl]

I agree with a lot of the above, I was an existing FS17 player and was very disappointed with the vanilla version, of course John Deer had an impact to the game initially, maybe not as much as some people give it credit for, I also think that the start from scratch mode to me was a game changer with the later addition terrain editor, i was always moaning in FS17 that we didn't have it, it gives far more scope and i think will attract a lot of players who like to design their own farm yard! Horses was in theory a good addition, however poorly executed, you would have thought they would have at least had a first person view, but to say its what attract the girls is a very outdated view, us girls love all animals! as far as future versions, making the animal husbandry a much more realistic and integral part of the game would be the way forward in my opinion. oh i have a list of things they could easily do, such as having sickness, so you need to call a vet, being able to move animals out to pasture in fields of your choice in the summer (which would count as fertilisation for the next season) and then just having them in sheds (for cows) and low fields (for Sheep). As we all know seasons will again be a game changer, its a shame that giants didn't have the for-site to work with realmus modding to incorporate it into the main game on release rather than as mod! I couldn't leave without mentioning contracts! i feel they should replace the existing system with contracts from big company's, either well know real ones (they could sell the idea as advertising) or fictitious ones, where you have to supply so many Litres of a certain crop a year/season/day and if you didn't reach this target you got a penalty or a bonus for selling good quality (fully fertilised Ect), if you had a daily or seasonal contract you would have to store it then deliver on time! just a thought