I feel like when this was asked when NPD started grouping SKUs, NPD said no.
But why else would the order in which the consoles are listed change?
NPD January 2012 Sales Results [Up2: MW3 Sales, (Down ~50% Over BLOPS, But Still #1)]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
But why else would the order in which the consoles are listed change?
I know this. But I still care. Why shouldn't I? I'm happy for you guys when the games you love sell. I might not want them to because I want to see the developer do something different, but I'm happy for you guys nevertheless. I think it's great when somebody finds something they can attach to.
UberTag
Member
Since when has the videogame industry ever claimed it wants to be considered on the level of other forms of entertainment?
I thought these companies were simply in the business of wanting to make money. If they get treated like a joke in the process, so be it.
I'm sure THQ would rather be profitable within a joke of an industry, a joke of a sales tracking firm only out to sell overpriced subscriptions and a joke of a journalistic community who aspire to be nothing more than unpaid PR vehicles than be non-profitable and facing bankruptcy within an industry that's taken seriously full of integrity, professionalism and transparent sales figures.
I thought these companies were simply in the business of wanting to make money. If they get treated like a joke in the process, so be it.
I'm sure THQ would rather be profitable within a joke of an industry, a joke of a sales tracking firm only out to sell overpriced subscriptions and a joke of a journalistic community who aspire to be nothing more than unpaid PR vehicles than be non-profitable and facing bankruptcy within an industry that's taken seriously full of integrity, professionalism and transparent sales figures.
NPD are the only ones that bother tracking video game sales so they can do whatever the hell they want. And the companies themselves have no reason to release numbers that make them look bad.
Until someone else challenges NPD, we're never going to get a change.
Xilium
Member
A while back in one of these threads some people said they proved that wasn't the case but I think it might have just been a typo. From what I can see, they seem to be ordered by sales. There's no other reason to have their order vary they way it does.
BishopLamont
Banned
Anyone in the video games industry who rely on NPD data gets nothing out of top 10 sales and hardware sales data only. They'll pay up for the whole she bang. NPD are just being assholes, plain and simple. They're angry at the leakers and is letting that anger out on everyone else. Fucking shitty. Nintendo/Sony not putting out any numbers via PR is pretty shitty too, but I can understand why, (they're "losing").
This means they sold 21.5 million COD games, yes thats BLOPS, MW2, MW3, etc etc, worldwide, last year.
This is NPD being NPD. The other major video game markets don't seem to have this problem. I'm not sure what it would accomplish either way. Nobody had to do any extrapolation to figure out Call of Duty and Just Dance were going to sell a lot in January (or at least "a lot" relative everything else in a down market).
I'm really surprised publishers other than Activision are not kicking the doors down for a new hardware cycle. There are risks involved, but at this point, what people are willing to buy right now has been so clearly defined that you either have to copy it or risk having a new and interesting product flop. It doesn't seem like increased development costs are going to help, but at the same time, what would a company like EA do with a BF4 on the same hardware?
If Nintendo can price Wii U well and get it to sell well out of the gate, they might be in a good position with third parties for the first time since the 90's. These are all publicly traded companies. All of the hardware that is out there now is a more comfortable target, but they cannot afford for sales to be down every month. Things seem to be drying up for companies that don't have the biggest franchises that can be pumped out annually. Then again, it is unlikely anything that would come up with a new system this year would be as big as GTA V, Halo 4, etc. Publishers have got themselves in a weird spot where the hardware cycle has gone on for so long but the pricing is still like what you'd expect for systems that have only been out for a year or two.
Not trying to be a dick but this thread is about U.S sales. Same conversation has been had a million times. There are specific threads about global sales. Same thing applies in Media Create threads and the Euro sales threads.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Okay, thanks.
arrogantly-ignorant?
If they ever would, it would be directly to him and not for public consumption, most likely.
At least, Nintendo gave us numbers for some of their titles and 3DS total through IGN. Sony gave us NOTHING. Only the effectiveness of a promotion "Play Us". Absolutely NOTHING. It was better when they talked about LBP2's ranking on Metacritic.
frankie_baby
Member
Do we actually have any reason to trust this random blog though?
Cygnus X-1
Member
The entire industry is sinking because of lack of new consoles.
Unfortunately Sony has decided not to provide numbers since NPD change their formula, and they're sticking to it. Also PS3 is down yoy so there's not much to brag about.
Maybe next month they will disclose their Vita launch numbers...maybe
frankie_baby
Member
Unfortunately Sony has decided not to provide numbers since NPD change their formula, and they're sticking to it. Also PS3 is down yoy so there's not much to brag about.
Maybe next month they will disclose their Vita launch numbers...maybe
Unless of course it sells lower than the 3ds does
Unfortunately Sony has decided not to provide numbers since NPD change their formula, and they're sticking to it. Also PS3 is down yoy so there's not much to brag about.
Maybe next month they will disclose their Vita launch numbers...maybe
Ok, but they're exaggerating now. Next month, to not talk about Vita's launch, they'll say something about how much the lack of online in Modnation Vita is a revolutionary choice.
Not necessarily.
Unless it isn't the number one platform overall I'd say. Just beating the 3DS in the US in the launch month is not a really impressive achievement also considering that this month 3DS is probably <200k.
There is also a lack of new game experiences and big releases. If the current gen can't offer anything more than annual episodes of COD and AC while Nintendo abandoned the Wii...it's no wonder that things are declining and people are waiting for something new. Also prices are inusually high for platforms in their fifth, sixth year on the market.
Btw 2012 has a great lineup overall and with price cuts I think that PS3/360 will have a good second half of the year.
They'll probably say stuff like:
-Fastest selling PlayStation hardware
-90% sold of the original shipment, more shipments soon.
As far as I know, there's no number for shipments in the US. So they can technically say all that and "sound impressive".
Kinda like the "90% decline of the 3DS". Sounds "big", except when you see that the Xbox 360 had a similar decline over December. If anything is a "problem" after selling so much in December.
Games industry isn't just retail console game industry. I think more and more is spent in digital distribution (Steam, iOS, Facebook, free2play-pay2win games etc.), so overall probably remains the same over the years. It's the part of the market GAF has no interest, though.
The entire industry is sinking because it's priced too damn high. Plain and simple. We aren't even getting value priced games like previous gen. Everything releases at $60 even if it's worth nowhere near that. I'm looking at you rayman. Systems need to be $50 to $100 less and games need to be releasing at 40 to 50 on the regular for triple a and 20 to 40 for anything else. When I look at games like uncharted, god of war 3 or saints row 3 or some of the 2d stuff like sonic and rayman, graphics are not the problem. There won't be some huge jump next gen. Just cut the damn prices already.
Petrae
Member
That's mine. I was wondering why traffic increased this morning.
Unfortunately, with seals on numbers not publicly revealed, I cann't be more specific than offering this point of reference for others.
As for retrocide's concern: The YOY loss is a minimum for each facet.
Not really surprised by the decline. Consoles are still $50-$100 too expensive. No one likes playing $60 for games. Lack of any real game changing software. The annual CoD/AssCreed/Madden is getting kinda tiring.Until new consoles come, there's not a whole lot to get excited for.
Petrae
Member
Exactly. It's a "No good news, no news at all" policy. Disclosing weak raw numbers would just get the general public talking about Nintendo weakness overall. The company doesn't need any more challenges to deal with, so it's a selective process.
Same can be said for Sony PR, as I mentioned earlier in this thread. On one hand, the PS3 was the #2 best-selling piece of hardware for the month-- but on the other, the number was off considerably from a year ago and Microsoft is still dominating the PS3 here in the US.
airmangataosenai
Member
I guess this explains the quiet price drop for the 3DS.
Petrae
Member
Could be, I suppose, but I believe that it's a preemptive strike against the Vita. It's a limited promotion in terms of length (just before Vita release) and scope (targeting GameStop) with intent to possibly make consumers think twice before dropping $250+ on a Vita.
A crater in January isn't new, and, like the other hardware platforms, there was nothing new and notable for software releases on the 3DS last month.
Nope. The fact that it was only for one week, across select retailers, before the launch of the Vita...explains it.
If January sales had an effect on sales, then all of the would've received some price-drop ; since they all saw big declines over December.
Isn't it supposed to last only until 12.2?
If the 3DS can't maintain doing good numbers after the pricedrop + Mario + Kart, I can't even begin to imagine how badly the Vita is going to do at 250$ + required memory card.
Also Nintendo should be worried too because outside of Japan they don't have an appealing lineup and NSMB won't be released until the end of the year, probably.
Also Nintendo should be worried too because outside of Japan they don't have an appealing lineup and NSMB won't be released until the end of the year, probably.
Nah, there's nothing to worry at..yet.
When the DS lite launched, which marked the "relaunch" of the DS and was released on June 2006; made for 1.6 million in sales for the "DS family" in December 2006 (and their biggest month yet).
How many it sold in January 2007? 239k.
And was outsold that month by: Wii-436k, PS2-299k, 360-294k and the PS3-244k.
Surely Nintendo wasn't worried about that.
Petrae
Member
Vita *should* get a jump out of the gate from typical early adopters and hardcore Sony fans. For these groups, price is rarely an object. There are at least some consumers who fall outside of both of these circles who are impressed with the Vita's tech and have also expressed interest in buying at launch. Speculating outside the launch is the tough part. How will mass market react to the comparatively high asking price for Vita entry as opposed to the 3DS, which has a growing software library including Nintendo's generally popular IPs?
As for 3DS panic, it's unfounded right now. Yes, upcoming software is a bit light, but I think that Nintendo needs to focus on filling the retail channel with software. If we see retrogression for hardware sales continue through, say, the rest of the quarter, then we can discuss concern. For now, 3DS is coming off of an impressive Q4 and I think it's best to wait and see instead of raise any flags.
I'd even say the numbers for 3DS are not bad, considering two things.
1)adoption for new hardwares in USA is much slower than elsewhere. Even DS with the Lite...it didn't peak in 2006. No, it peaked in 2009, with 3.31 millions sold in December. And it was still selling a massive load with the 3DS already launched ( pre-price cut ). Wii as well peaked in its third year on the market. And I'm talking about hardwares already at a mass price, since 360 and PS3 peaked much later than their debut, but also due to being so high in price at their launch. Numbers become bigger and bigger due to the lineup becoming bigger and better, and long sellers picking up forever, at least the Nintendo ones.
2)the actual economic situation in US seems pretty rough. And we saw it when almost all consoles decreased from November: the Black Friday deals attracted most of the Holiday buyers for how they were convenient. Only 2 consoles escaped from this: DS for... being DS, and 3DS, due to Mario Kart and massive advertising. And now, a sharp decline for every one.
About the lineup: well, NSMB is gigamassive, but it's true that so far it's one of the few huge relevant title for 3DS scheduled this year. The other one is Animal Crossing. But what else? Considering what said by Iwata, probably we'll have a pretty good lineup of first party at least for the last four months of the year. And maybe there's a third party title which could join them: Kingdom Hearts 3D, for having Disney in it. But the last one is a complete jump in the darkness...
1)adoption for new hardwares in USA is much slower than elsewhere. Even DS with the Lite...it didn't peak in 2006. No, it peaked in 2009, with 3.31 millions sold in December. And it was still selling a massive load with the 3DS already launched ( pre-price cut ). Wii as well peaked in its third year on the market. And I'm talking about hardwares already at a mass price, since 360 and PS3 peaked much later than their debut, but also due to being so high in price at their launch. Numbers become bigger and bigger due to the lineup becoming bigger and better, and long sellers picking up forever, at least the Nintendo ones.
2)the actual economic situation in US seems pretty rough. And we saw it when almost all consoles decreased from November: the Black Friday deals attracted most of the Holiday buyers for how they were convenient. Only 2 consoles escaped from this: DS for... being DS, and 3DS, due to Mario Kart and massive advertising. And now, a sharp decline for every one.
About the lineup: well, NSMB is gigamassive, but it's true that so far it's one of the few huge relevant title for 3DS scheduled this year. The other one is Animal Crossing. But what else? Considering what said by Iwata, probably we'll have a pretty good lineup of first party at least for the last four months of the year. And maybe there's a third party title which could join them: Kingdom Hearts 3D, for having Disney in it. But the last one is a complete jump in the darkness...
Vita in my opinion will follow the footsteps of other platforms like PS3 and 3DS.
There will be a decent launch (>300k) because of early adopters then the lack of games and relatively high price will make sales collapse. Then Sony will be forced to save it in time for the holiday season with a price cut to 199$ (and 249$ bundles) and big games (like COD,AC and hopefully for them other big surprises).
frankie_baby
Member
I wouldn't be surprised to see (or not see going by the no numbers trend) a sub 200k launch for vita
Considering 3DS did around 1.600.000, and it dropped almost 90%, it should be a little more.
Around 170k maybe is more accurate.
test_account
XP-39C²
I think that the 3DS did around 1.5 million in December. "Around" could be + - that number.
walking fiend
Member
'dat' 3DS drop; I mean, WOW! 
And, eh, I think it doesn't really matter if it has sold 150K or 180K, when it has dropped by around 1400K...
And, eh, I think it doesn't really matter if it has sold 150K or 180K, when it has dropped by around 1400K...
It's not gonna happen. More special editions like we saw a few years back but raising prices will kill the industry. They can't use the excuse of dev costs seeing as pc assets already use more geometry and better textures.
Scarecrow
Member
Don't underestimate greed.
This industry has a habit of making dumb, unsustainable decisions. So, no, I wouldn't put it past them at all to try to raise prices again.