They already canned half of Radical when Spider-Man 4 was killed by all parties; outside of a miraculous Skylanders-esque resurrection of Crash, I can't imagine any reason that Activision would hold onto the rest of them.
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April 2012 NPD Sales Results [Up3: Best selling game sold less than 236K, Kid Icarus]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
They already canned half of Radical when Spider-Man 4 was killed by all parties; outside of a miraculous Skylanders-esque resurrection of Crash, I can't imagine any reason that Activision would hold onto the rest of them.
*cringe*
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
Well, this gen had a good run.
I would say this price point.
samus4ever
Banned
Time for a new gen. Seriously.
Japan=New U.S.
AHA-Lambda
Member
Omg D:
No it's really not, it sold worse at launch than its predecessor and activism had higher expectations this time round.
Whelp. That's that.
May brings some hope for sales, but I honestly don't see things getting much better until fall. This gen is cooked.
fuck thats just...DEPRESSING. DEFUCKINGPRESSING.
Petrae
Member
Console video gaming? Maybe. The best days are arguably behind it.
Otherwise, people still do want to play games... just on other platforms. PC, mobile, social, etc. Video games in general are just fine. Digital sales and delivery are probably fine, too, given what we've seen from earnings reports.
Numbers look bad, but there are factors to consider. What came out in April that could fairly or favorably compare with Mortal Kombat or Portal 2? I don't think anyone should have expected Kinect Star Wars, Prototype 2, or The Witcher 2 to move 750,000+ copies.
Hardware is facing saturation, more for the X360. As Microsoft and Sony have decided to extend this console generation by another 12-18 months, negative YOY comparisons should be expectations-- not surprises. Price cuts are bandages, not cures.
3 (FE and SRWZ) games did that in Japan last month. Mario Party 9 also sold more than 236k in April. Says alot really.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
tbf, yeah, the software sales suck, but there's literally nothing of note that released this month.
They are leaving all of "our" money on the table. And its a substantial amount.
Look at how so many posters here are supporting Kickstarts with $100+ donations, or buying indie games or PHYSICAL Dreamcast releases.
That is ALL money that would have gone to B and C tier releases, crazy ass localized JPN games, etc last generation, and none of that money is being tabbed by NPD.
Also, its time for NPD to start counting downloads, it fucks a lot of stuff up.
The Antitype
Banned
Silly me, I thought the problem with sales this month was the lack of any great, big releases, not the lack of a new $400 system for me to buy.
Too many awesome looking games on the horizon for me to bother with stuff like Prototype 2 OR worry about buying a new console. I'd rather see developers continue to max out the current crop.
...this is so wrong XD
This x 100.
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
I'm not sure that the price is the main problem. Dramatic price drops close to release are getting pretty common but the sales of mid tier titles never seem to pick up.
Someone at NPD is a fan and the results were too soul crushing? :-(
AHA-Lambda
Member
Oh I didn't know that :/
Yeah expect closure then, bobby is ruthless after all
Btw, can someone seriously tell me how in a soft retail market where only the biggest games can float anymore that damn RE:ORC made ANY money?!
Plinko
Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Wow.
Ok, do we know exactly where DS was after 14 months?
SatelliteOfLove
Member
I wonder if there was a sharp drop-off in volume. If the numbers slowly trickle down thru the low 6-digits and high 5-digits, it's not as disasterous, at least for small titles.
God knows.
Clearly doomed. Clearly.
God knows.
Clearly doomed. Clearly.
The Antitype
Banned
Yes, better graphics will fix everything.
Considering that after 14 months the DS already had its second holiday, that's pretty good.
Or maybe until and if NPD states otherwise the reality is that Xenoblade was tracked.
Rated-Rsuperstar
Member
Nothing surprising when you look at the barren release list that was April. But everything will be normal again when Diablo 3 conquers the world.
slaughterking
Member
Hey, so did Fire Emblem Awakening. Awesome!
it's not just graphics, it's the EXCITEMENT that surrounds generations
Stupid pricing decisions, more like. As the lull threatened last gen, a lot of games started lowering their introductory MSRPs to $40 rather than $50 to goose sales, and it was much the same in gens before that. This gen, though, we're much further along in the cycle and still no one seems to be willing to budge from $60 debuts, and to top it off, the average game's add-on DLC seems to be ramping up its total cost and frequency as the gen wears on, rather than slowing down. Effectively, seven years into the gen, games are getting more expensive rather than less.
Then there's the inevitable GOTY editions that offer the game and all the DLC at 1/3 the price it would be for day-one purchasers... If the industry is trying to condition people to buy games at release, they couldn't be doing a worse job of it.
Stripper13
Member
The only silver lining from sales results like this - is that perhaps some decision makers at Sony/Microsoft are shitting their pants and deciding to fast track their next gen launch. I'm hoping Sony aims for ASAP and it forces Microsoft's hand. This gen is feeling old as fuck.
It was a really damn weak month if you weren't into RPGs or digital downloads.
That being said, you would have expected there to have been some forward momentum for the big sellers from March, but outside of Mario Party 9 and MLB 12, no one showed up for that party.
New Software isnt going to solve it. This isnt a problem of the consoles nor the the other platforms. Its the problem of branding. Until its fixed in all Facets of the business yall screwed.
Haunted
Member
I said goddamn.
UberTag
Member
You are correct, sir.
Rebel Leader
THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
Plinko
Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Again, aren't the next generation games going to just be the same games with better graphics? I'm not quite sure how that's going to fix poor software sales.
The industry is waning because it's being cannibalized by cheaper forms of entertainment.
They need to lower prices.
BassForever
Member
Guess we aren't going to get Vita numbers anytime soon
The Antitype
Banned
So lets all get excited for over-hyped launch games that everybody agrees are no good down the road?
Nah. Let's just have developers spread out their AAA stuff over the course of a year, so we don't have shitty Aprils, and then October and November way too busy.
Plinko
Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
I don't believe it's going to be top 10 but if NPD actually comes out and says they don't track exclusives it's going to get crazy in here.
Have to agree.
When the xbox 360 came out people jump from game to game as a group it seem every time a new game came out early in its lifetime.
How else would Pilotwings ever get any sales?
While I don't welcome a new generation because the higher costs of production will likely kill off more studios, the fact is that this generation has reached its saturation point. Despite more consoles being out in the hands of more people than ever, sales have kept up; they've stagnated or gotten worse. There's a serious enthusiasm gap that isn't there any more.
We've seen everything we need to see from this generation's major titles and that's having an effect on things. Plus the juggernauts are such big tentpoles with so many features that they are literally sucking the air out of the room for other titles that can't compete.
Plus the weak economy took a couple of years to ripple into the games industry, but we're also seeing the effects of people prioritizing things ahead of gaming; instead of maybe getting multiple games, they're flocking around a handful of AAA titles to satiate them and nothing else.