Ken Masters
Banned
Time for this gen to die
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April 2012 NPD Sales Results [Up3: Best selling game sold less than 236K, Kid Icarus]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Version 3.0
Member
Reallink said:
It's both of these, and a changing market.
But most importantly - now and always - is the state of software. This year's releases have been poor.
IdreamofHIME
Member
Freezie KO
Banned
Really? I missed this. When did this happen? Why?
What makes the Kinect useless crap?
Colonel Mustard
Banned
Oops. You're right.
It was being sold by Amazon last month around the 19th. Weird.
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=438440&page=100000
Edit: It was back in stock for a day.
I think a part of it was too many people complaining about "defects" when they arent so Amazon said fuck it
Exactly. Gamers are looking for something new and if Nintendo delivers with the Wii U MS and Sony will really be in trouble
Freezie KO
Banned
People only complained about defects with Nintendo hardware? And they still sell the 360?
Ugh no. The core gamers dont buy a 3ds, vita or ipad. I do own a tablet but i dont game much..beside social games but that doesnt really count.
We are still gaming on our ps360. The next gen systems just have to be super powerful and people will do the same thing.
Big problem is that the wiiu will not be much of a jump at all from the ps360.
Seem like no point unless it way more powerful which i highly doubt it will be...
Yeah, I'm sure they went back to Big N, and found them less then helpful as well.
Im sure supply constrained Wii for, like, seven years really pissed them off as well.
eidt - UFC fan, WTF?? Speak for yourself dude. Core games own All the systems.
Core Gamers does NOT equal - COD/Madden dudes.
Randolph Freelander
Member
Yeah.
Of course, next generation might very well be stillborn, when many people can't see the difference. We'll just cross that bridge when we get there. Have to euthanize this generation first.
Better games and sub-$150 consoles. That's the tried-and-true prescription. More the sub-$150 than the games, truth be told.
People would send a 3DS back because they didnt think the top portion clicked enough etc. So there was a constant stream of 3DS coming back for people to find the perfect one
I don't know how reflective of consumer spending NPD can claim to be anymore. I spent April playing Fez, Trials Evolution and The Walking Dead, so my contribution as recorded by NPD is zero. In the past month alone we've seen Trials Evolution and now Minecraft setting XBLA sales records and selling literally hundreds of thousands of copies in their first week.
Not saying it makes up for the precipitous drop in retail sales, but from a spend of about 50 dollars in the past month, I've gotten hours and hours of gameplay from XBLA. There was no need for me to buy a retail game.
Not saying it makes up for the precipitous drop in retail sales, but from a spend of about 50 dollars in the past month, I've gotten hours and hours of gameplay from XBLA. There was no need for me to buy a retail game.
outunderthestars
Banned
They also stopped carrying the Wii around that time. I think there must be some sort of business dispute. No way this is over screen scratches....
perfectchaos007
Member
Well it's either that or general interest in video games is dying. Lets hope it's what you said.
Well Nintendo could have a large head start ( 10 million? ) over MS and Sony if they both release their next gen consoles at the end of next year..
Father_Brain
Banned
This really depends on just how aggressive a push Nintendo is (capable of) making for the existing HD market. Multiplatform titles won't do much on their own.
Freezie KO
Banned
With the decline of brick-and-mortar stores, has this made any appreciable difference in Nintendo hardware sales since that happened?
WiiU isnt that game changer. Ninty's ship sailed.
Yeah I dont know what portion of sales Amazon can claim but I know they became my go to place for alot of gaming stuff since they give me a free prime account. Get too many benefits and no sales tax.
FieryBalrog
Member
It's not just the length of the generation though that's obviously a big part of it.
The market is diversifying. Console sales and retail sales make up an increasingly small part of the market. As long as NPD doesn't track digital (PC, consoles, handhelds, smartphones) it will be increasingly useless except at telling us that the retail market continues to shrink. Not just sales but also microtransactions, DLC, etc.
There's only so many gaming dollars to go around. Many more of them are getting soaked up in the digital space.
The market is diversifying. Console sales and retail sales make up an increasingly small part of the market. As long as NPD doesn't track digital (PC, consoles, handhelds, smartphones) it will be increasingly useless except at telling us that the retail market continues to shrink. Not just sales but also microtransactions, DLC, etc.
There's only so many gaming dollars to go around. Many more of them are getting soaked up in the digital space.
Yeah I had read that but I thought it was mostly due to Wii and PC which wouldn't have as big of an impact on NPD anyhow. The lack of noteworthy new releases in a month usually favors multiplayer games with strong word of mouth.
I would agree 100% if I had more confidence that new console hardware is actually going to make a big leap in capabilities. I'm not terribly interested in a PS4 or Xbox 720 that has roughly the same capabilities with a bunch of extra bullshit thrown in.
It does seem like publishers are stuck between two bad options though - new hardware will take a long, long time to match the install base of what is currently out there. But the audience for what is currently out there is supporting highly marketed tentpole releases and not much else.
It makes me wonder if we'll get a "God of War" this gen - a new IP very late into the cycle that becomes a big franchise. I don't think Sony is going to give "The Last of Us" more than the usual window of marketing they do now, so that probably will not be it.
Souldriver
Member
Yikes, talk about a horrible month.
The industry is definitely in a bad shape. Wonder if next-gen can turn things around, or if it's a more fundamental (economic) problem.
The industry is definitely in a bad shape. Wonder if next-gen can turn things around, or if it's a more fundamental (economic) problem.
UberTag
Member
So Xenoblade is part of that $307.2 million software sales figure but we won't know how much of that it contributed due to suppression? Good to know.
Thank you Gamestop for ensuring we'll never know well this title performed. <tips over magazine rack>
James Sawyer Ford
Member
This assumes Nintendo delivers with the Wii U.
And by "delivers", I mean, provides powerful enough hardware to entice the core audience. Which isn't looking likely given all of the developer reports.
If it's unlikely to sway the core, Nintendo is going to need to rely on recapturing the magic of the casual audience. I don't see that happening since the controller in the Wii U is just a tablet and not something revolutionary like the Wii Controller was at the time.
Microsoft and Sony will probably drop prices this year as well. So sales should only be marginally down from last year, if not flat. Which means they most certainly aren't in trouble. I doubt Wii U will sell 13+ million consoles during its debut year unless they can either strike lighting twice with the casual crowd or entice the hardcore crowd. Both seem a bit unlikely at the moment.
We're going to see a very smooth transition from this gen to next. Publishers can't risk exclusives. So you will see ported games that look a lot better on the PS4/720, but don't take full advantage of the hardware. Similar to PC ports.
I think that only the main publishers (Microsoft, Sony) will take risks by developing games that are genuinely exclusive to this generation and take full advantage of the hardware.
BuckRobotron
Member
The Prototype 2 TV ads seemed omnipresent so I would have have expected some sales impact from them, though all it really did was interest me in the Johnny Cash song.
Freezie KO
Banned
On a scale of 1-doom, where do you place their chances?
Rebel Leader
THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
Given the growth in arenas like mobile and f2p, I would propose any fundamental issues are more platform and business model centric than audience or economic centric.
NullPointer
Member
I'm just going to pretend these numbers mean Steam is gobbling up the market ;P
Rebel Leader
THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
To the blackboard young man!
Needs more "o"s.
clutch.as.it.gets.
Member
I agree and that`s also the problem Nintendo has to face with the Wii U. Their timing is golden but i don`t know if the Wii U is the answer.
Rebel Leader
THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
Binary Domain is actually the top selling game of the month! Superbrothers :Sword & Sworcery EP not far behind it!
I'd like to live in that world.
holy shit PSP
LQX
Member
Why can't the low sales be due to the games just not being that compelling? Look at some of the games released, Prototype 2, Kinect Star War.
It might be that people are just more wary of games they think are potentially shit rather than being fatigue with this generation of consoles.
It might be that people are just more wary of games they think are potentially shit rather than being fatigue with this generation of consoles.
PSP had a terrific first year in the US. A shame that Sony never bothered to maintain that momentum or had an answer to the DS Lite and NSMB.
I think their timing is great (the market around the current hardware is slowing) and they tend to price things well enough. I think their problem is that a lot of the Wii/DS audience is buying games on iOS and isn't coming back. They haven't been a primary destination for western development for ages, and that is where a lot of the games are coming from for both high end and lower priced casual stuff. If the system doesn't run UE4 and mobile developers aren't impressed with their digital distribution, where is the support coming from?
Big time Japanese third party franchises are increasingly sourced out to western developers. And their impact on the market isn't what it used to be.
This is a good point but evidence points to the fact that terrible games are selling just fine elsewhere. :-\
MikeE21286
Member
Holy yikes. Terrible numbers.
NullPointer
Member
By all means hurry up with the buggy hardware and mediocre launch titles. I'm getting sick of all these polished games releasing almost every month.