Burnout Paradise sells 20k copies via PS Store

by Ross Miller { Oct 31st 2008 at 3:00PM }

In an earnings call yesterday, Electronic Arts revealed that Burnout Paradise had been downloaded over 20,000 times in the first three weeks of launch on the PlayStation Store. "In the future we see slower growth in the basic packaged goods business, and higher margins, greater growth and reduced cyclicality [sic] with these new direct-to-consumer businesses," said CEO John Riccitiello, who added that the company is investing $150 million in digital distribution.

At $30 per download, that amounts to $600,000 for the publisher (and Sony, who undoubtedly gets a share of that). Riccitiello also said that on average, $14.50 has been spent per user in The Sims 2 online store. For this fiscal year, EA expects $185 million in online revenue. Burnout Paradise "Party" DLC and Ultimate Box set are coming February 2009.

Tags: burnout, burnout-paradise, digital-distribution, dlc, ea, electronic-arts, online, playstation-network, playstation-store, ps-network, ps-store, psn

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Cutty @ Oct 31st 2008 3:12PM

It's posts like these that make me feel even worse for the recent job cuts at EA.

Bleu @ Oct 31st 2008 4:34PM

Fuck burn out and fuck EA. sorry I dont mean to anyone you its just what I feel towards this company. No disrespect intended fellas.

Bleu @ Oct 31st 2008 4:35PM

Fuck burn out and fuck EA. sorry I dont mean to annoy you its just what I feel towards this company. No disrespect intended fellas.

Kevlar @ Oct 31st 2008 4:57PM

@Bleu:

Without an explanation as to why you feel this way, you're nothing but a worthless troll.

Personally, the past year has shown a bit of reform from the "sequel, tie-in, sell-out, shovelware, take-over" EA we've known. Original, interesting and fun titles such as Skate or Dead Space shows there are plenty of chances for original IP to take the center stage, and it really reflects positively on the company.

I could say less of Burnout, but the fact remains it's a game that at least 20K people enjoy enough to buy through the PSN Store.

So until you explain your profane outburst, GTFO.

Replica23 @ Nov 1st 2008 12:44AM

I agree with Kevlar, EA has made huge strides to change the way it conducts business. To me the EA people loved to hate was a company trying to make money on games. The new EA is a game company trying to make money. The difference being the latter won't subjugate the quality of its titles for sake of turning profit. Making a great game will get you image, image will get you respect and adoration, both those will get you fans and fans are a loyal source of income. It's smart business and everyone wins.

Dan CiTi @ Oct 31st 2008 3:36PM

I know I bought it. I need to get a bigger harddrive soon.

giantenemycrab @ Oct 31st 2008 3:44PM

this makes me happy. I'm glad EA is getting rewarded for trying something new and better.

Dirty @ Oct 31st 2008 3:52PM

The future is now!

required @ Oct 31st 2008 4:44PM

which one?

Dirty @ Oct 31st 2008 4:46PM

The one with super mutants and giant enemy crabs!!

Kevlar @ Oct 31st 2008 4:59PM

We should attack their weak points for MASSIVE DAMAGE!!!

Titanium_Orchid @ Oct 31st 2008 5:32PM

pro tip: Their weak point is in the face

Matthew @ Oct 31st 2008 4:00PM

this shit sucks , I mean seriously I keep on hearing that "downloading is the future" but if you download a game you can't trade it in. when you download something you cant recoup any costs later. I, personally,am not into that. I like the idea of trading my games or selling them later. Downloading is better for companies since they dont have to manufacture or ship anything but it;s us who really lose. Unless there's a significant price difference in the beginning $60 (package) vs $40 (download), I say f that s

Dirty @ Oct 31st 2008 4:15PM

In my opinion selling and trading only benefits gamestop.... and they are the devil.

All your doing is renting a game if you buy it just sell it off later. If its not good enough to keep around, dont buy it.

Vidikron @ Oct 31st 2008 4:24PM

"All your doing is renting a game if you buy it just sell it off later."

That's stretching it a bit. Someone may have a game for several months or even years before selling it off. It would cost quite a bit to rent a game for that long.

Hashbrown Hunter @ Oct 31st 2008 4:29PM

Yeah I'd rather not rent it and forget to return it about 20 years later while playing my PSVIII. That would suck.

Dirty @ Oct 31st 2008 4:30PM

Hey Ive been there. Something new comes out and you want to gather up your old games up to sell to the devil just to save a few bucks. It just feels like such a waste.

My worry about digital distribution is that you cant rent anymore, most of my purchases recently have come from XBL arcade. Gamefly changed my life.

Matthew @ Oct 31st 2008 5:11PM

I do not deal with Gamestop, except buying something that's on sale cheap and new. There are various outlets where you can trade or buy games from other without going through a middle man. If it wasn't for my youth and stupidity I'd still have my super metroid mint. but luckily I've never been desperate enough lately to trade in most of my games, like FF7 or MVC2. Gamestop if for kids who don't know any better.

tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 31st 2008 5:22PM

Only thing I'm worried about is having for example an xbox original or a PS1 game or whatever on your drive and then they release a new console without backwards compatibility (it could happen...look at what sony's doing now) and all of a sudden you have a bunch of wasted money and useless games.

Sheppy (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Oct 31st 2008 9:32PM

You know, some people here have a point. This actually kills trade-in value. Of course finding a new copy of Burnout Paradise is increasingly rare, Gamestop gives you $7 for the copy you could have traded in, andthis version is infinitely more convenient launching from the XMB without swapping discs and as such, a better proposittion for the same price and the money actually supports a developer that has done a fucking phenominal job of supporting their fans rather than a CEO that says used games bought through their website have no warranty. It's a bad idea all around.

IF you're the kind of guy who keeps a rotating cast of games rather than 5 years down the road saying "fuck, I'd love to play some Burnout Paradise right now." And even if you did say that, you have no copy of Burnout anymore because digital distribution sucks.

Perhaps the only disadvantage is in the fact that these purchases future is uncertain in the next generation but by that same token, there's no rule saying you HAVE to trade in your old hardware to get new. I mean, Gamestop was giving what, $45 for your used Xbox at 360's launch? And you paid how much for it? This disposible hardware mentality will bite you in the ass years down the road when you stop and think "man, I'd love to play some Crimson Skies.... OH FUCK, I sold it. What's it going for on Ebay?"

=Curve= @ Oct 31st 2008 4:02PM

For everything they've given us, a lot of it for free, Criterion (and in part EA) deserve your patronage.

Although the game is far from perfect, at a $30 price tag, there is absolutely no reason why people would pass this up.

Besides, a purchase of this game is a purchase for more FREE dlc. EVERY major DLC up to this point has been free, and the motorcycle update would've cost at least $5-10 if they sold it. If this system is successful, then maybe others will copy it.

Justin @ Oct 31st 2008 4:35PM

While I like the game, and bought it, I don't get buying online for the same price as a retail disc. At least with the actual disc I know it's in my possession, I can play it at any time on any PS3 I may come across, and in the future it will still be available for me.

But people are buying-- for the same exact price-- a download that may disappear if your HD crashes (I assume you can redownload it, but how many times? And into infinity?), takes up space, etc...

If the game was $30 in stores or $20 online I'd kind of get it-- but at the same price, give me a physical copy every time.

Sheppy (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Oct 31st 2008 9:37PM

Three Points.

1. Any PSN purchases aside from Warhawk can be installed on up to five different PS3 systems and infinite number of times.

2. You lose the portability of the title, true. Which sucks, but what you gain is awesome.

3. Ever turn on a system, see what's in the tray and rather than switching discs to something you really want to play, you just browse what games are installed? As a man who has 16 purchased games in my XMB, there is something utterly brilliant about having a native library. If a retail disc and Digital Distro copy both exists, I'll trend towards the DD version just because of that. But I'm also the kind of man who adds to his collection rather than trade for bottom dollar.

crummer @ Oct 31st 2008 5:21PM

nice. great game that deserves eyeballs on it.

joystiq @ Nov 1st 2008 8:37AM

http://12tb.com/lookup/VideoGames/11846801/B000MUW98O/Burnout_Paradise

Bones3D @ Nov 1st 2008 9:34AM

It's refreshing to finally see people realizing that digital-only distribution of content isn't quite the amazing thing it's cracked up to be.

Sure, things like having the game right this minute or being able to launch a game without a disc might be cool initially, but what about 6-12 months from now? Might be nice to have an option to unload that title for some cash towards the next big thing.

Unless game publishers start offering to buy their games back from you at a later date, you might as well be tossing your entire paycheck into a black hole each time you buy a digital-only distribution copy of a game.

You never know when you might need to cash in on your belongings to avoid long-term financial hurt. None of that digital-only distributed content is going to reciprocate the favor of your initial purchase.