Why does Bethesda treat sales numbers as top secret? I can see no clear advantage to doing so, and actually some disadvantage - can't get bragging rights if you do hit a home run. I do not see how it gives any advantage, and as for competition, as far as RPGs are concerned, it is no longer an issue: there are so few good RPGs released in the last few years that there really is no competition for the consumers $$.
In the last few years, I can count the number of good RPGs on my fingers: Bioshock 1/2, Dragon Age 1/2, Mass Effect 1/2, Witcher 2, Oblivion, Fallout3/N.V.

I could think of 1 more reason, which would actually have a financial benefit to Bethesda, but since that would be illegal, I left it out of the poll

If you can think of more reasons, let me know

My guess? They're a private company and aren't required to release financial info. I suppose sales numbers would be similar to releasing an approximation of that info. :shrug:

They don't have to, so why would they?

It's a conspiracy. Clearly, they don't want us to know that PC sales actually account for 90% of their profit, so they can continue to slowly transition TES toward a World War II multiplayer shooter and still blame it on the popularity of consoles.

Because "Honey, I have to work late at the office again" sounds a lot better when the wife thinks the company isn't doing so well.

I thought the conspiracy was that Beth made 120% profit on PC versions and 100.25% profit on console versions.

Just to note, even though Zenimax Media Inc is not a publicly traded business and you cannot access their financial statements, you still have the right not to buy their products if you think they svck.

I am interested, however, in what you mean by "bragging rights".

:facepalm: Two of those are not even RPGs

That says a lot about the current state of the genre, huh? :biggrin:

I don't care? As long as Bethesda is in business and can afford to continue releasing games i'm happy.

They don't have to. The only reason anyone would want the financials is so that they can try and trump some argument in the console wars threads. What about their sales figures is going to help them in any way? Unless of course they are trying to impress a pretty contract out of another company, like Steam.

There is absolutely no reason for them to tell you or me what their figures are. Mostly because they don't want anyone trotting around on these boards yelling "SEE? SEE?"

Don't lump everyone in one category

Some of us (ie, me) would like to know purely for the sake of curiosity. I don't care which platforms sells most, I'd just like to know what the sales distribution is like. Also curious about digital vs retail sales for PC.


The first part of this I agree with. They've no obligation to release sales data.

exactly my point - there really ain't much competition these days (for pc RPG games)

thank you all for pointing out the obvious - and here I was waiting for the police to close in on Bethesda and make them release the data :facepalm:

Although they don't have to, it does add to the overall impression of Bethesda being unnecessarily secretive and rather paranoid; which is a bit tedious, really.

Sales data can also be used against them in a court of law should someone feel that they are breaking a pre-existing copyright or trademark. Keeping those financials in house not only prevents console wars, but can also make things harder on anyone trying to claim damages from copyright infringement.
All in all, though, since they aren't publicly traded they are under no obligation to release their sales figures - and frankly I can't necessarily blame them for refusing to do so. One a good year it might give you bragging rights, but on a bad one it can also cause people to start going into a speculation frenzy if the sales margins decrease more than it is perceived they should. Better to save yourself the headache and keep the financials in house, than to release them.

If they got into a lawsuit, the figures would be subpoenaed anyway, the very first thing.

Well as already said they aren't obligated to and they have nothing to gain from it so why bother.

I know a few people with that attitude, too. I generally avoid them whenever possible.

I know a number of people who think companies should spill every detail of what they do regardless of importance.


I try to avoid them.

Come on, Oblivion and Fallout weren't that bad.

Can you elaborate on why you feel this way?

Bethesda has issued numerous press releases about sales for various titles over the years, pretty much in line with what every other publisher does.

If you are asking why public websites and blogs that publish videogame retail sales don't have information about PC digital download sales, that has nothing to do with Bethesda. Those sites get their information from retailers and retail sales reports issued by companies like Nielsen and NPD.

Digital sales platforms like Valve, Gamersgate, D2D, etc., simply do not provide those websites with their private sales information. This is the same for games they sell from all of their publisher clients, not only Bethesda.

Poll has stupid answers, didn't bother casting my vote.

Why would you want to see these numbers in the first place if it has no direct relation to you?

I guess they have better things to do with their time like developing and publishing games rather than releasing pieces of paper to the public that holds no value to anyone besides the company.

People want to see them because they like to think companies are always in some giant conspiracy to get them in some way.

They want numbers as "proof" and when the numbers don't give them the proof they want they say the company "lied"