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NPD March 2011 Sales Results [Update 2: Super Street Fighter IV 3D]

D

Dedication Through Light

Member
Spiegel said:
If that's correct

3DS sales

01. SSFIV - ~95k
02. Pilotwings <47.5k
03. Lego Star Wars
04. Rayman
05. Tom Clancy Ghost Recon
06. Super Monkey Ball
07. Nintendogs+Cats G
08. Ridge Racer
09. Steel Diver
10. Nintendogs+Cats F
Click to expand...

So Capcom shipped 1 mln SFIV 3D's and only a 10th sold in the US? Their shipment VASTLY exceeds demand, maybe word of mouth will spark more sales in April, but it seems they dont ever need to do another shipment. Steel diver could have done more if they priced it at app store levels.
 
D

dallow_bg

nods at old men
Dedication Through Light said:
So Capcom shipped 1 mln SFIV 3D's and only a 10th sold in the US? Their shipment VASTLY exceeds demand, maybe word of mouth will spark more sales in April, but it seems they dont ever need to do another shipment. Steel diver could have done more if they priced it at app store levels.
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same thing.
 
S

seady

Member
markot said:
Sell 10 units at $100 bucks or 100 units at $10 bucks >_<? Whats the diff?!
Click to expand...

Revenue probably the same. But popularity and awareness of the brand will be massively different.
 
A

AbsoluteZero

Banned
lawblob said:
A little anecdotal observation. A few days ago I was waiting at a traffic-heavy Best Buy for 40 minutes waiting for an incompetent employee to get something out of the back inventory for me. It was interesting, out of the tons of people walking through the video game aisle, not a single person even looked at the 3DS section. It was odd.

I also question how much a few N64 remakes will move the needle this summer. It will be interesting to see hardware sales next month. DS had a huge month in part because of Pokemon, but three months from now what if DS is still smoking 3DS in hardware sales?
Click to expand...

I was nearby the 3DS demo unit the other day when a couple walked up, kinda squinted for 30 seconds, then shook their heads and walked away. I don't think they realized you could pick the system off the base or knew of the existence of the 3D Slider.
 
M

markot

Banned
I dont think steel diver, or a game like it, was ever going to a big hit. Its why Nintendo sat on it for so long.
 
V

Version 3.0

Member
AbsoluteZero said:
Only took, oh, I dunno, five years?
Click to expand...

I'm sure he meant how quickly it declined from selling at record-setting levels to fairly poor levels, not how long from launch it took to hit that decline.
 
C

C4Lukins

Junior Member
Slow start for the 3DS which I did not expect. I thought it would kill it right through the gate. But the original DS was a bit of a failure to begin with which some people seem to ignore. It was not really until the DS Lite where it shot up into crazy zone of sales and became a true success.

I do think Nintendo fucked this up. They made so many iterations of the DS that I imagine the average ignorant consumer sees the 3DS as a 3D DS and not as a new more powerful system. They needed to explain better to people that this is a new handheld, and not just another iteration on the DS. Hell 3D Gameboy would have expressed this idea better.

As for the Wii. 290K is only bad by Wii standards. It is amazing to see people look at a 290K non holiday month and see it as a failure. The 360 and PS3 would have been happy with those numbers through about two thirds of their life cycle. It is the dropoff that makes it seem bad, but for a third place console in March that does not have major third party support outside of super casual bull shit, and is dependant on first party games that are 6 months to 4 years old, those are impressive numbers.

The 360 is reaching its peak in what the fifth or sixth year now, that is pretty amazing. Sony is not giving us numbers because they are losing to the 360, but from all indications they had a great month as well. It is looking like at this point that this generation will produce 3 of the top 5 selling consoles of all time, and it is really hard to talk shit about any of them outside of maybe Sony just because of the dropoff they have had in market share. So cheers to everyone.
 
C

C4Lukins

Junior Member
Dedication Through Light said:
So Capcom shipped 1 mln SFIV 3D's and only a 10th sold in the US? Their shipment VASTLY exceeds demand, maybe word of mouth will spark more sales in April, but it seems they dont ever need to do another shipment. Steel diver could have done more if they priced it at app store levels.
Click to expand...


Fuck it is a new system, and only 400 thousand at the time those numbers were produced actually own the system. They were probably expecting better 3DS sales, but being the go to game at least in the US for a new system is not a bad spot to be in. It will have legs. It could very welll be the Call of Duty 2 of the system. Not bad for a stripped down console port for a handheld that probably took minimal effort.
 
J

jamesinclair

Banned
Flying_Phoenix said:
I'm very glad to hear of the 3DS's not performing up to expectations.

The system was overpriced and had a pretty shitty game line-up.
Click to expand...

Not only that, mediocre games for $39.99? Pilotwings isnt even half what Pilotwings 64 was.

I hope new releases are back to $29.99 by June.
 
J

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
Spiegel said:
If that's correct

3DS sales

01. SSFIV - ~95k
02. Pilotwings <47.5k
03. Lego Star Wars
04. Rayman
05. Tom Clancy Ghost Recon
06. Super Monkey Ball
07. Nintendogs+Cats G
08. Ridge Racer
09. Steel Diver
10. Nintendogs+Cats F
Click to expand...

you missed samurai warriors
 
K

kinggroin

Banned
C4Lukins said:
Slow start for the 3DS which I did not expect. I thought it would kill it right through the gate. But the original DS was a bit of a failure to begin with which some people seem to ignore. It was not really until the DS Lite where it shot up into crazy zone of sales and became a true success.

I do think Nintendo fucked this up. They made so many iterations of the DS that I imagine the average ignorant consumer sees the 3DS as a 3D DS and not as a new more powerful system. They needed to explain better to people that this is a new handheld, and not just another iteration on the DS. Hell 3D Gameboy would have expressed this idea better.

As for the Wii. 290K is only bad by Wii standards. It is amazing to see people look at a 290K non holiday month and see it as a failure. The 360 and PS3 would have been happy with those numbers through about two thirds of their life cycle. It is the dropoff that makes it seem bad, but for a third place console in March that does not have major third party support outside of super casual bull shit, and is dependant on first party games that are 6 months to 4 years old, those are impressive numbers.

The 360 is reaching its peak in what the fifth or sixth year now, that is pretty amazing. Sony is not giving us numbers because they are losing to the 360, but from all indications they had a great month as well. It is looking like at this point that this generation will produce 3 of the top 5 selling consoles of all time, and it is really hard to talk shit about any of them outside of maybe Sony just because of the dropoff they have had in market share. So cheers to everyone.
Click to expand...



They need to strip Alberto's tag and give it to you. Amazing post.
 
F

flyinpiranha

Member
C4Lukins said:
Slow start for the 3DS which I did not expect. I thought it would kill it right through the gate. But the original DS was a bit of a failure to begin with which some people seem to ignore. It was not really until the DS Lite where it shot up into crazy zone of sales and became a true success.

I do think Nintendo fucked this up. They made so many iterations of the DS that I imagine the average ignorant consumer sees the 3DS as a 3D DS and not as a new more powerful system. They needed to explain better to people that this is a new handheld, and not just another iteration on the DS. Hell 3D Gameboy would have expressed this idea better.

As for the Wii. 290K is only bad by Wii standards. It is amazing to see people look at a 290K non holiday month and see it as a failure. The 360 and PS3 would have been happy with those numbers through about two thirds of their life cycle. It is the dropoff that makes it seem bad, but for a third place console in March that does not have major third party support outside of super casual bull shit, and is dependant on first party games that are 6 months to 4 years old, those are impressive numbers.

The 360 is reaching its peak in what the fifth or sixth year now, that is pretty amazing. Sony is not giving us numbers because they are losing to the 360, but from all indications they had a great month as well. It is looking like at this point that this generation will produce 3 of the top 5 selling consoles of all time, and it is really hard to talk shit about any of them outside of maybe Sony just because of the dropoff they have had in market share. So cheers to everyone.
Click to expand...

Dang, that's pretty spot on.

I am pretty surprised about the 3DS sales though I won't lie. I didn't expect it to come out of the gate with ridiculous numbers but I did expect it to at least outsell each console singularly. I guess it might be shipment numbers but I see a lot on the shelves.

I like the handheld and I have high hopes for it in comparison to how much fun the DS was but I wonder if it will have the same success. Hell, I wonder if Nintendo in general can continue with the absolute runaway success they've had with the gaming market this generation, handheld and console.
 
J

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
fernoca said:
Samurai Warriors is not at the Top 10 at the OP, I guess he took the list from there.
Click to expand...

Did that list come direct from NPD? cause even if you combined both nintendogs, something's amiss
 
C

C4Lukins

Junior Member
kinggroin said:
They need to strip Alberto's tag and give it to you. Amazing post.
Click to expand...


I have had my moments of complete stupidity. I have been a fanboy of PC, Nintendo, Sega, MS, and Sony throughout my life at various moments. I was a super hater of the Wii, but while I still do not like it, I get it now. I understand why people enjoy it and I do not hold it against them like I once did. And when it comes down to just simple business I can remove myself as a gamer and the games I want to play. And I love gaming and I love the discussion of it, and I am finally beyond the fanbotism of it. And if you have a historical knowledge of how systems have performed in the past, it is hard to have an intelligent discussion with people who are singularly routing for their company of choice.

The DS was initially a bit of a bomb. Anyone who followed it from its inception knows this. I do not remember the initial lineup outside of that subpar Metroid game, but there was nothing there. It was Brain Age, Pokemon, and Nintendogs that initially catapulted it and the DS Lite. The original DS was a chunky unattractive piece of shit. Again this is only half a decade ago but people seem to ignore it because how huge it became. The DS Lite changed that, and a bunch of unique games did so as well. I am just ranting now, but you cannot claim a failure so early in the life of a system.
 
T

TheUnknownForce

Member
Based on 3DS launch software sales, I see two things.

1) Pokemon ate at their sales HEAVILY.
2) There wasn't a game which screamed "BUY ME DAMMIT" to consumers.

I see at least two of the launch games having long legs, particularly SSFIV3D and Pilotwings and possibly Nintendogs+cats. For now, I think the system just needs something to grab gamer eyes to buy. Zelda should be a good starting point for those on the fence.
 
D

Dedication Through Light

Member
TheUnknownForce said:
Based on 3DS launch software sales, I see two things.

1) Pokemon ate at their sales HEAVILY.
2) There wasn't a game which screamed "BUY ME DAMMIT" to consumers.

I see at least two of the launch games having long legs, particularly SSFIV3D and Pilotwings and possibly Nintendogs+cats. For now, I think the system just needs something to grab gamer eyes to buy. Zelda should be a good starting point for those on the fence.
Click to expand...

Well SSIV 3D sold to one fourth of the buyers (but probably only a quarter or an eight of its US shipment alotment), so it was the game that screamed buy me to consumers...its just Street Fighter and that isnt a series for most consumers.
 
Acheteedo

Acheteedo

Member
01. SSFIV - ~95k
02. Pilotwings <47.5k
Click to expand...

That's abysmal, and perfectly highlights the real issue with the system launch, it's not price or the quality of the product, it's a launch lineup.
 
R

REMEMBER CITADEL

Banned
C4Lukins said:
It is looking like at this point that this generation will produce 3 of the top 5 selling consoles of all time, and it is really hard to talk shit about any of them outside of maybe Sony just because of the dropoff they have had in market share. So cheers to everyone.
Click to expand...

That's probably true, but let's not forget the two main factors contributing to such a development:

- This generation had no overwhelming leader on all fronts. Wii is the main success story of this generation, but it's not nearly the same beast that PlayStation and PlayStation 2 used to be. Not only were they leaders in practically all main market segments, but their sales eclipsed the sales of their closest competitors by ratios of 3:1 and 4:1 respectively (even more in PS2's case, but I'm only looking at sales up to the start of this generation). Wii, while being far ahead of both PS3 and Xbox 360, did not outsell them by even a ratio of 2:1, and it's probably going to go further down in the following years. Owing to a number of factors, the distribution of sales was much more even this time around.

- This generation is the longest yet since the Atari days. Had this generation ended in 2010, as a normal 5-year generation would, Wii would be the only console breaching the Top 5 (maybe Xbox 360 as well, the fight between SNES and the 360 would be really close). Rising costs of development, high entry points of HD systems, new exploitable sources of revenue (digital distribution of content) and the global economic crisis have all contributed to this generation already lasting 5.5 years and still going strong. Even though we can probably expect Nintendo's new system in 2012, this generation is going to have an exceedingly long tail.

And of course, there's the third, natural factor of gaming becoming more mainstream and attracting more people.

But as you say, the bottom line is the same: relatively good times for everyone.
 
m.i.s.

m.i.s.

Banned
Yes Boss! said:
Pinning hopes?

Mario Kart was always big but this gen become a monster...one of the top five biggest game franchises with somethong like 50 million copies sold just on Wii/DS. Game will sell systems. Even a fraction of the sales of Wii/DS Kart will be massive.
Click to expand...

Unless the machine itself sells below expectations (which it has done so far on launch in all three key markets). The bottom line is I just don't think the 3DS will appeal to everyone that bought a DS; similar to how GBA was not for everyone who originally bought a Gameboy and Tetris. I think Nintendo will also face considerable resistance to 3D gaming, particularly on a small screen. You either "get it" or you don't. Hence, if someone has initially rejected 3D gaming on a portable, no amount of advertising or PR is going to change their minds.
 
R

Red UFO

Member
M.I.S. said:
Unless the machine itself sells below expectations (which it has done so far on launch in all three key markets). The bottom line is I just don't think the 3DS will appeal to everyone that bought a DS; similar to how GBA was not for everyone who originally bought a Gameboy and Tetris. I think Nintendo will also face considerable resistance to 3D gaming, particularly on a small screen. You either "get it" or you don't. Hence, if someone has initially rejected 3D gaming on a portable, no amount of advertising or PR is going to change their minds.
Click to expand...

No it hasn't? The hardware is selling fine, it's the software that's struggling.
 
E

Effect

Member
flyinpiranha said:
Dang, that's pretty spot on.

I am pretty surprised about the 3DS sales though I won't lie. I didn't expect it to come out of the gate with ridiculous numbers but I did expect it to at least outsell each console singularly. I guess it might be shipment numbers but I see a lot on the shelves.

I like the handheld and I have high hopes for it in comparison to how much fun the DS was but I wonder if it will have the same success. Hell, I wonder if Nintendo in general can continue with the absolute runaway success they've had with the gaming market this generation, handheld and console.
Click to expand...

By only being on sale for a week? At the end of of a month? Considering it launched on a Sunday and most people I believe go to stores on Friday and Saturday, the most likely time it would have gotten bought would have been that next Friday and Saturday. You also have to figure most people spend their money on those days as well which is why Sunday launches are bad. So really the most days that could have been counted could be limited to two or maybe three days at the most and not the full week.

Nintendo could have done better, a LOT better in how they launched this no doubt. However I think it's to early for doom and gloom just yet. Give it a few months. That this isn't near a big holiday gives them a bit of room for sales to pick up. I'm curious as to what April and May look like though. If there isn't any improvement there then worrying should start.

I agree though they should be as blunt as possible by showing in commercials this isn't just another revision of the Nintendo DS. By as blunt as possible I mean showing footage of a DS game and then showing footage of a 3DS game and actually putting up the worlds "A whole new generation of system" or something similar. Be direct as possible. Stop allowing Japanese marketing to control how it's marketed outside of Japan.
 
P

Pureauthor

Member
Red UFO said:
No it hasn't? The hardware is selling fine, it's the software that's struggling.
Click to expand...

No it's not doing fine hardware wise. Launch-aligned, it's tracking behind the PSP in the US and behind both the PSP and the DS in Japan.

Then you realize that the PSP and the DS were both supply constrained at launch. The 3DS most certainly isn't.
 
R

Red UFO

Member
Pureauthor said:
No it's not doing fine hardware wise. Launch-aligned, it's tracking behind the PSP in the US and behind both the PSP and the DS in Japan.

Then you realize that the PSP and the DS were both supply constrained at launch. The 3DS most certainly isn't.
Click to expand...

Then I apologise!
 
J

jax (old)

Banned
Acheteedo said:
That's abysmal, and perfectly highlights the real issue with the system launch, it's not price or the quality of the product, it's a launch lineup.
Click to expand...

I think Nintendo miscalculated the "premium early adopter price"? Too expensive for a country still in recession - there's a reason why in Australia it sold best; we weren't really impacted by the global financial situation as much.

We'll see what happens in the following months. I also dont' think its the launch lineup. People are going to buy it just because. And it didn't move.

Price.
 
C

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
Red UFO said:
No it hasn't? The hardware is selling fine, it's the software that's struggling.
Click to expand...
Hardware is not selling fine. It's a bad launch. With the sell-through it has we go for a low shipment this quarter. Don't be surprised if Nintendo doesn't seperate DS from 3DS at its financial report.
 
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