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NPD December 2012 Sales Results [Up2: Xbox 360, All Nintendo Hardware, NSMB Wii U]

Dalthien

Member
Since this is NPD and there are people with NPD datas right under their noses ( heh :D )...Do we have some numbers for Castlevania franchise in US? At least for Lords of Shadows and one of the last DS entries.

The last number I saw for LoS was ~350k (PS3+360 combined). That was about a year after release. The DS games topped out ~300k. Same with the PSP game.
 
The problem for the wii U when comparing its launches to previous ones last gen is that it is missing a few key things. The PS3 and 360 didn't sell huge numbers at launch but they were the default go to platforms for 3rd parties and that is how they turned things around. Nintendos line-up looks barren and it basically looks like 3rd parties are going to give it the cold shoulder. Nintendos 1st party is incredibly strong but i'm not sure it can compare to all 3rd parties combined (plus MS and sonys respective 1st parties).

You can't really compare to the wii either as it was supply constrained for like it's first 2 years. If the wii had more stock it would have sold it for sure. The wii launch was like lightning in a bottle, everyone was talking about it and the demand was huge (so much so that nintendo couldn't keep up).

WiiU isn't guaranteed to fail for obvious reasons (like only being on the market for 2 months) but it doesn't have the same things going for it that the wii/360/PS3 had.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
The last number I saw for LoS was ~350k (PS3+360 combined). That was about a year after release. The DS games topped out ~300k. Same with the PSP game.

Oh, thank you very much! I'm pretty interested to see how Castlevania 3DS will perform, so having some numbers for comparisons is nice. Can you even tell us how a Castlevania title usually debut? I know I'm asking maybe too much, but it'd be amazing to know that too, if it's possible.
 
True, but I can't imagine they set their expectations that low, right? Business decisions will need to be made and I don't think they'll be too favorable to the Wii U, at least in terms of bringing titles to the US/UK.

Low expectations for HW leads to a restriction on costs which leads to ports. Why do you think we see so many? It's definitely not laziness or any of that nonsense. It's to see what happens with the market first and to minimize risk. Some original stuff, sure, just because you want to take a lead position (ZombiU for Ubi, much like Red Steel, etc etc). But I know at least a few titles are in the black already, even with the current sales.

And you're right, business decisions will be made. However not one of the pubs can look at the 5 year market outlook and say "nah, we're good" and not support all the platforms for at least 2-3 years to see what happens (especially with what's happening in handheld). Plus, you gotta remember, the games that are going to release in 2013 are already fully funded and most of the games settled for release in 2014 are as well. So unless you're really sure the Wii U is toast, you're not going to file those costs as sunk. You're going to be patient and wait and hope for the best, because financial commitments have already been made.
 
All depends on the expectations and budgets set for those games. There were so many ports because they are lower cost and because no one was planning for another Wii-level success. Everyone's testing the waters and will look closely at what did well and what didn't and adjust from there.

ports are cheaper but filling the shelves with stock + inventory costs money and if they get burned because games don't sell, you can expect wiiU 3rd party support to drop.


+

this might be the worst NPD thread yet for info? I read them occasionally but with only 2 updates to the OP? sigh. really wish there was more information.
 
The last number I saw for LoS was ~350k (PS3+360 combined). That was about a year after release. The DS games topped out ~300k. Same with the PSP game.

Christ, how on earth is it getting two sequels with those numbers? Was it a big hit in Europe?

I'd consider that a good number for Mirror of Fate (though it won't come close), but for an AAA console release, that's awful.
 

dimb

Bjergsen is the greatest midlane in the world
Christ, how on earth is it getting two sequels with those numbers? Was it a big hit in Europe?
LoS shipped at least one million by just a month after the game launched, and supposedly the game preformed above Konami's expectations.
 

Dalthien

Member
Dracula X Chronicles sold that much on PSP?

Close enough to round up.

Oh, thank you very much! I'm pretty interested to see how Castlevania 3DS will perform, so having some numbers for comparisons is nice. Can you even tell us how a Castlevania title usually debut? I know I'm asking maybe too much, but it'd be amazing to know that too, if it's possible.

DoS opened at 77k back in Oct/05.
 

Spiegel

Member
Christ, how on earth is it getting two sequels with those numbers? Was it a big hit in Europe?

I'd consider that a good number for Mirror of Fate (though it won't come close), but for an AAA console release, that's awful.

We work for cheap here in Spain. Games developed outside of NA/UK seem to cost much less or there would be many more layoffs in Japan and the rest of Europe with how games developed there end selling.

Close enough to round up.

Thanks.

That's a pretty good number then. I thought I remembered the game bombing in the first month.
 

Ridley327

Member
Dracula X Chronicles sold that much on PSP?

That's actually pretty believable; it's been a mainstay of bargain bins for a long time, and that played a huge factor in how Circle of the Moon wound up being the best-selling game of the series up to that point.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Some more infos that can be extrapolated: NSMB2 was at 675k in October; after December, it's at over 1,450,000 units sold. So it's over 775k sold during November - December. Since in November it did better than Paper Mario (166k, given creamsugar's hints), it should have done around 200k in December and probably near 600k in December. This can give a sort of ballpark for titles under 9th position. And this also means Epic Mickey 2 lost at least 50%+ from Epic Mickey the first (1.32 millions)
 
this might be the worst NPD thread yet for info? I read them occasionally but with only 2 updates to the OP? sigh. really wish there was more information.
I'm afraid that our sources are going to get caught with their hands in the cookie jar if we get too greedy. Without creamsugar, NPDGAF would be dead.
 

Eusis

Member
Wait... what? Sony sure as hell alienated everyone with $599 and a crappy lineup of games!

Wow... talk about revisionist history, man.
And I think the "core gamers" angle is somewhat specious: a good chunk of core gamers weren't going to go near Nintendo whatsoever post-SNES, whereas another chunk was going to stick with them even in weaker periods (think I can count myself as one of those). Any in the middle will probably easily sway back with some decent titles, but that's all case by case as some may just be disillusioned while some simply grew tired of Nintendo entirely.

Third parties is a more serious one though, and it does seem Nintendo keeps having trouble with them. I suspect there's something about Nintendo's culture that makes it very hard to get third party support, especially outside of Japan, that doesn't really exist with Sony or Microsoft who can bound back even after bad periods.
 
Don't we always get an NPD number or too from Pachter each month?

Hell, you think he'd give us a few just to bring up his 'These numbers are accurate!' average by 2%-3%.
 

Dalthien

Member
Some more infos that can be extrapolated: NSMB2 was at 675k in October; after December, it's at over 1,450,000 units sold. So it's over 775k sold during November - December. Since in November it did better than Paper Mario (166k, given creamsugar's hints), it should have done around 200k in December and probably near 600k in December. This can give a sort of ballpark for titles under 9th position. And this also means Epic Mickey 2 lost at least 50%+ from Epic Mickey the first (1.32 millions)

Keep in mind that EM1 launched in Dec, whereas EM2 launched in Nov. Even so, the YTD for EM2 is still only about half of EM1 launch sales, and that's including the 3DS version in the total. And the 3DS version outsold everything except the Wii version - so yeah, EM2 took a big tumble.

Fun fact (for Nov+Dec 2012):

EM1 (Wii) > EM2 (360/WiiU/PS3 versions)
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
3DS SKU outselling everything except for Wii's SKU? I'd say this is another decent/good result for 3DS. But a bad result overall for EM2
 

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
I don't really know what RE 6 Archives and RE 6 Anthology are, but if you don't count those, RE6 did not break 1MM units in 2012
 

AniHawk

Member
paper mario had a good december. over time, it should at least beat the thousand-year door (it's already ahead of paper mario 64). super paper mario may be out of reach though. i think there's just too much mario on the 3ds in such a short span, and that it's going to always come in fourth behind mk7, nsmb2, and 3d land.

also, i'm not sure if it matters or whatever, but the wii u's attach rate was double what it was in november- not including the nintendo land bundle. overall attach rate is around 1.9:1.
 

Bruno MB

Member
And Capcom initially wanted to ship 7 million units worldwide of Resident Evil 6 by the end of the current fiscal year.
 

AniHawk

Member
no way. seriously?

lol what. THIS DESERVES ITS OWN THREAD.

I don't quite believe this.

archives and anthology are separate collectors editions. including those, re6 did break 1 million this year... but it took two consoles and the collectors editions to do it. re4 did about 250k less in its first three months on the two consoles it was on in 2005.
 

Curufinwe

Member
archives and anthology are separate collectors editions. including those, re6 did break 1 million this year... but it took two consoles and the collectors editions to do it. re4 did about 250k less in its first three months on the two consoles it was on in 2005.

RE 5 is a better comparison since it launched simultaneously on the same two consoles RE 6 did.
 

Ridley327

Member
I don't really know what RE 6 Archives and RE 6 Anthology are, but if you don't count those, RE6 did not break 1MM units in 2012

You know, it might be worth humoring Cliffy B. to see what his suggestions are for the series going forward, because those are catastrophically awful sales.

Man, I can't believe how badly Capcom whiffed the series in 2012.
 

Curufinwe

Member
You know, it might be worth humoring Cliffy B. to see what his suggestions are for the series going forward, because those are catastrophically awful sales.

Man, I can't believe how badly Capcom whiffed the series in 2012.

I feel like some pretty basic changes like a proper tutorial, putting the controls in the menu, and smoothing some of the roughest spots would have bumped the average review score up 10 points and really helped with word of mouth which must have been awful.
 

Ridley327

Member
I feel like some pretty basic changes like a proper tutorial, putting the controls in the menu, and smoothing some of the roughest spots would have bumped the average review score up 10 points and really helped with word of mouth which must have been awful.

As someone who has handled the trade-ins at our store, seeing as many copies as I did after the first week of release was a sight to behold.
 

AzaK

Member
I noticed the Miiverse communities grow quite a bit after Christmas for Black Ops 2, Assassin's Creed 3, Zombi U, Nintendo Land, and NSMBU. I'm assuming these games are all fine for the most part.

However, Warriors Orochi 3, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3 are all about the same. I imagine sales for these games are beyond disastrous? That really bums me out if that's the case and doesn't give me much hope for MH3U and Rayman.
Are the population numbers online enabled consoles that have popped the game in the drive, or favourite counts, posters or what?

Outside of Zombi U, almost no Wii U third party title was a decent bargain.

I bought Warriors Orochi 3 for 360 for $10 a week after it came out on the Wii U for $60.

The only difference was a PVP mode.
Exactly. Games like ME just seemed destined for failure at that price when the trilogy is out. Same I expect for batman but I obviously don't know..


I think nintendo has to do a better job working with broader publishers on securing content and helping to guarantee it becomes profitable
that's the never ending third party problem though right and it seems western third parties aren't interested, based on the list of games coming to each system this first 6 months or so.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
Are the population numbers online enabled consoles that have popped the game in the drive, or favourite counts, posters or what?

It's just the number of unique posters who have posted in the community. You don't even need to own the game. Using that to gauge sales is horribly irresponsible of me, but without hard numbers it's all I have to go by.
 
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