Destiny was helping console digital sales even before it came out

Destiny is such a massive success that it didn’t even need to hit store shelves to boost the industry.

Publisher Activision’s online sci-fi shooter, where players team up to take on missions fighting aliens, reached revenues of $500 million on day one, but it was already generating cash well before that. The title debuted for preorder on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in late August, and that helped digital gaming reach $819.6 million last month, according to industry intelligence firm SuperData Research. This reveals the importance of presale, where gamers can purchase and download a product before it’s out so they can start playing right when it unlocks on launch day. It is also evidence that players are continuing to warm up to buying non-physical copies of games, which have lower margins for publishers and can’t enter the secondary market.