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[Conrad Link]

Dragon's Dogma deserved more. Really love that game.

Hopefully it does ok worldwide overall.

 

[Mr. B Natural]

I commend the folks here with a good enough sense of humor to find levity with today's NPD. Seriously, it's the best medicine.

 

[AniHawk]

I've got 269k for GBA in May '04.

yeah i was expecting it to pick up the slack.

i'm thinking this has to be the lowest month since those relatively quiet days in 1998-1999 when it was the game boy and playstation leading the way with the n64 on the side. and those months had the excuse of there only being three living systems at the time.

 

[FLEABttn]

Or maybe the IP was just too old at this point.

Part of me thinks a complete reboot for it would have been better than calling it the third in a series. If only because the 14-20 year olds who would buy that kind of game today were 5-11 when the second one came out. Taking 9 years certainly didn't behoove Rockstar (or really anyone for that matter).

 

[Fjordson]

this might scare them off from doing non-open world games again.

This is what I fear. They pour so many resources into everything and pump out so much marketing, I wonder if they will shy away from anything that isn't their massive open-world stuff in the future. Which would be a shame, because that stuff has been pretty good so far (especially Bully).

It makes me wonder what kind of game Agent will be.

Part of me thinks a complete reboot for it would have been better than calling it the third in a series. If only because the 14-20 year olds who would buy that kind of game today were 5-11 when the second one came out. Taking 9 years certainly didn't behoove Rockstar (or really anyone for that matter).

Very reasonable point. Red Dead Redemption instead of "Red Dead Revolver 2" is sort of an example of that.

 

[Ridley327]

Part of me thinks a complete reboot for it would have been better than calling it the third in a series. If only because the 14-20 year olds who would buy that kind of game today were 5-11 when the second one came out. I imagine it a harder sell for a generally PC-centric game 9 years after the last.

It somehow worked like a charm with Fallout 3.

Is a straight third-person shooter really that unappealing to Rockstar fans?

 

[Pranay]

So was checking out the npd sales when GTA 4 was released @ april

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296026

Holyshit

360 and ps3 sales were that bad ?

its like those days you replace idevice with wii

 

[Pooya]

edit: already posted.

 

[FLEABttn]

Very reasonable point. Red Dead Redemption instead of "Red Dead Revolver 2" is sort of an example of that.

Which is why a part of me thinks that.

It somehow worked like a charm with Fallout 3.

Which is why a part of me doesn't. But I think the open-world first person RPG/FPS hybrid thing worked in its favor here.

 

[Tobor]

It somehow worked like a charm with Fallout 3.

Is a straight third-person shooter really that unappealing to Rockstar fans?

That's why I stayed away. I buy every open world Rockstar game.

 

[StevieP]

The US economy is built upon credit card transactions. I.e. paying with money you don't have yet. And bad economies have never influenced the entertainment industry, actually it's the other way around. The worse it gets, the more people want to be distracted by fun and pleasures.

Of course hardware sales go down seven years into the generation without any price cuts. And software sales aren't bad. We're in the middle of a big shift towards digital distribution and that simply isn't tracked by NPD. If the few numbers we do get from time to time are any indication the digital revenue more than makes up for what retail loses. We've had almost 2 million copies of Minecraft in May on 360. That's 40 million revenue. Times change, the industry as such is very healthy.

I don't understand how new hardware is going to fix the malaise?

Dev costs will go up further and I think it will be even more likely that we will see the same old safe, tired genres and IPs trotted out but now boasting actual 720p and some extra shinies.

Fixed.

That's what happens when you artificially extend the length of your consoles lifespan. The anemic E3 showing goes hand in hand with this: the 7th generation platforms need to be replaced, and fast.

It's not artificially extended. It's this long for a reason (hint: the hardware we started with)

man i really think it's super unhealthy for the industry to always be changing out systems every few years, because R&D for new generations of consoles is super costly and half of the developers and publishers in the world are going under

i'm genuinely not sure what the solution is anymore

How bout 5 year cycles instead of 7-8 for a start? With less bleeding so that price drops can actually be made without the node shrinks that just aren't coming/aren't cost-effective enough?

 

[donny2112]

Info links added for anyone who wants to work it out themselves:

360: 160K
PS3: 124K
3DS: 113.5K
Wii: 71K
PSV: >50K, <56.8K

1 2 3 4 5 6

As you can see, some of this is based on rough numbers from last May, so it's not exact.

I'm going with this for the predictions (gonna use 55K for PSV to keep it a 5/10 number). Thanks!

has it been said when it was ever this bad?

ms: 160k
nintendo: ~285k
sony: ~195k

total: roughly 640k systems sold for the month of may. that's including psp, ds, vita, 3ds, ps3, wii, and 360.

in may 2004, there were 548k ps2s, gamecubes, and xboxes sold. that was without the gba (can't find those numbers, but the gba was selling at or higher than ps2 levels at the time).

:lol :lol

Good point! Lowest I see is April 2002 with 659K between the 4 systems. Second lowest is January 2002 at 714K. This is an historic month folks!

:lol

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

yeah i was expecting it to pick up the slack.

i'm thinking this has to be the lowest month since those relatively quiet days in 1998-1999 when it was the game boy and playstation leading the way with the n64 on the side. and those months had the excuse of there only being three living systems at the time.

I bought Panzer Dragoon Saga in May 1998. ;__;

 

[AniHawk]

I bought Panzer Dragoon Saga in May 1998. ;__;

well at least you are wealthy now.

 

[Fjordson]

It somehow worked like a charm with Fallout 3.

Is a straight third-person shooter really that unappealing to Rockstar fans?

That's a good counterpoint, but I feel like Fallout 3 was playing directly into Bethesda's strengths. First person, open-world RPG, some people jokingly (some seriously) referring to it as "Oblivion with guns". It was a direct continuation of Bethesda's legacy with their past games. Whereas Max Payne 3 is almost the complete opposite of Rockstar's biggest titles.

 

[Dalthien]

yeah i was expecting it to pick up the slack.

i'm thinking this has to be the lowest month since those relatively quiet days in 1998-1999 when it was the game boy and playstation leading the way with the n64 on the side. and those months had the excuse of there only being three living systems at the time.

Yeah, I just checked all the way back to Nov/01 when Cube and XBox launched, and yeah - this is the smallest month in hardware units going all the way back at least to 2001, and possibly even a fair bit earlier than that.

And the last time the market sold less than a million units of hardware was back in May/06, until this year. We've gone below (and not even close) a million units three times already in 2012.

 

[grandjedi6]

Yeah, this generation is pretty much over. Even the Kinect wave seems about spent. Hopefully new systems can vitalize things.

 

[Kusagari]

It's blatantly made clear by Bethesda that all their games are stand alone. Don't forget that Skyrim does have Elder Scrolls V in front of it, and yet still reached heights far beyond that of Oblivion.

Really different situation than a game that continues Max's story, even if you don't really need to play the past games to understand what's going on.

It's a direct counterpoint to not only Elder Scrolls and Fallout, but every Grand Theft Auto game and Red Dead Redemption.

 

[jrDev]

So was checking out the npd sales when GTA 4 was released @ april

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296026

Holyshit

360 and ps3 sales were that bad ?

its like those days you replace idevice with wii

That thread was HUGE!!! :-O

Terrible sales this month...

 

[clutch.as.it.gets.]

People are over reacting to the economy causing the poor sales.

While the economy isn't the best it's deffinitly better than prior years. Stock market is up, Auto sales are up, home sales are slowly increasing, Apple products are selling like crazy, People are spending money.


We shouldnt expect big numbers with crusty hardware and poor software.

WiiU and next gen consoles can't come soon enough

Exactly.

People got bored with the old stuff MS and Sony are offering. They are doing their best to guide the gamers away from console gaming with the stagnation they offer. Of course people are leaving console gaming.
This generation went far too long and if they mess up the next gen consoles with weak hardware because they want to be cheap and instead want to fool people with Kinect and other useless gimmicks chances are good that the people that left are gone for good because of the poor and unexciting offerings available to them in the future.

 

[StevieP]

Exactly.

This generation went far too long and if they mess up the next gen consoles with weak hardware because they want to be cheap and instead want to fool people with Kinect and other useless gimmicks chances are good that the people that left are gone for good because of the poor and unexciting offerings available to them in the future.

Yes, forget mass market devices, which have always been the point of consoles. Let's get back to... doing the exact same thing that happened this gen with initially expensive devices that are difficult to cost-reduce, no initial hooks, and for 8 years. Again. Because that's going to work.

Smh... we need the mass market back for consoles to thrive!

 

[Card Boy]

Dragon's Dogma deserved more.

Capcom has screwed me over way too many times this generation, I'm not touching it. Never. Thing is i'm not actually missing out on anything since i have like 350 Steam games to amuse myself with. A good example of don't bite the hand that feeds you.

 

[Anth0ny]

yeah i was expecting it to pick up the slack.

i'm thinking this has to be the lowest month since those relatively quiet days in 1998-1999 when it was the game boy and playstation leading the way with the n64 on the side. and those months had the excuse of there only being three living systems at the time.

holy shit

these are historically bad numbers. can we expect things to pick up this month? is there anything significant being released?

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

holy shit

these are historically bad numbers. can we expect things to pick up this month? is there anything significant being released?

Spec Ops The Line will save gaming.

 

[Vanillalite]

So does everyone think we'll see price drops for the 360 and PS3 in the next 2-3 months? If so what will they price drop to?

PS: 3DS sales would be better if they kept that rush of games they had going. Post Icarus there's basically been Mario Tennis and uhhhh Mario Tennis.

 

[Kusagari]

holy shit

these are historically bad numbers. can we expect things to pick up this month? is there anything significant being released?

dat Gravity Rush obviously.

 

[iammeiam]

holy shit

these are historically bad numbers. can we expect things to pick up this month? is there anything significant being released?

I will die laughing if things are bad enough for Lollipop Chainsaw to chart. The industry will be truly doomed.

 

[Count Dookkake]

How many more years do we have in PS3's 10 year life?

 

[Synless]

Are you suggesting that games should cost more because they have a higher budget? "My game cost 100,000,000 dollars to make. Therefore, it should cost 60 dollars!"

Not at all, but what I am suggesting is that with more powerful hardware for developers to put to use, the higher the budget will be. It's the natural order of things as devices get more and more powerful. iDevices will not be immune to this either, it will change.

 

[Opiate]

Not at all, but what I am suggesting is that with more powerful hardware for developers to put to use, the higher the budget will be. It's the natural order of things as devices get more and more powerful. iDevices will not be immune to this either, it will change.

I agree, but that has nothing to do with the price. The price should not increase just because budgets have. If developers can't make money with higher budgets, that's their problem. Solutions: don't produce higher budget games, or find a way to make the higher budget work at lower price points -- because the high budget / high price point model is obviously not viable.

 

[Phoenician_Viking]

This low sales begs the question that a new generation could solve the sales downturn in the video game industry.

 

[Petrae]

So does everyone think we'll see price drops for the 360 and PS3 in the next 2-3 months? If so what will they price drop to?

PS: 3DS sales would be better if they kept that rush of games they had going. Post Icarus there's basically been Mario Tennis and uhhhh Mario Tennis.

PS3 could drop by summer's end to $200. Microsoft is in a peculiar situation thanks to its hardware subsidy program. If they drop the price of the 360, do the terms change?

 

[Boombloxer]

This should be Nintendo's biggest fear with the Wii U. If that Wii market doesn't exist anymore, or can't be bothered to spend $300-400 to play MORE Wii Fit and stuff like NintendoLand, they are fucked hard. Could be similar to how the bottom fell out of the plastic instruments market. They kept making more and more games and sets not realizing that for most people, one game/set was enough and they were good and then moved on to the next fad.

Smartphones and Apple are their biggest enemy.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in the next few years.

I agree, but that has nothing to do with the price. The price should not increase just because budgets have. If developers can't make money with higher budgets, that's their problem. Solutions: don't produce higher budget games, or find a way to make the higher budget work at lower price points -- because the high budget / high price point model is obviously not viable.

The separation is still happening. If you can't make the $50M game, iOS/PC are viable platforms.
There will always be a high-end market, just fewer games.

 

[Synless]

I agree, but that has nothing to do with the price. The price should not increase just because budgets have. If developers can't make money with higher budgets, that's their problem. Solutions: don't produce higher budget games, or find a way to make the higher budget work at lower price points -- because the high budget / high price point model is obviously not viable.

As with all things in the world with increased budgets the price to consumers gets higher. That is also another natural order of things. That said, I understand and fully agree with you.

 

[Petrae]

This low sales begs the question that a new generation could solve the sales downturn in the video game industry.

I recognize the argument but personally do not believe that new hardware will automatically fix the woes that ail the console sector.

 

[Kusagari]

I will die laughing if things are bad enough for Lollipop Chainsaw to chart. The industry will be truly doomed.

Lollipop Chainsaw selling more than Dragon's Dogma would be one of the most hilarious results ever.

 

[Count Dookkake]

As with all things with increased budgets the price to consumers gets higher. That is also another natural order of things. That said, I understand and fully agree with you.

This is not true.

Movies. Music.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Dragon's Dogma deserved more. Really love that game.

Hopefully it does ok worldwide overall.

DD is past 500k in Japan I believe, so that's certainly an improvement.

Still won't be enough for Capcom to greenlight a sequel though.

Dammit.....

Lollipop Chainsaw selling more than Dragon's Dogma would be one of the most hilarious results ever.

I would die laughing...

 

[Synless]

This is not true.

Movies. Music.

Weird, the last time I checked, movie prices went up quite a bit once try switched to bluray. Also, music budgets haven't gone up and yes prices have slightly raised on music. What was once $.99 for a song is now $1.29.

Plus the things the poster below me mentioned.

 

[Boombloxer]

This is not true.

Movies. Music.

IMAX 3D says hello.

3D says hello.

It's there. One trip to the movies with your spouse/SO/friends can easily run you $25-30+.

 

[Pranay]

This low sales begs the question that a new generation could solve the sales downturn in the video game industry.

Release a consoles when the console markers are not ready and face heavy losses ?

vs

Earn as much profit as they can selling at a high price ? and release the consoles when the time is right.


The sales of consoles in the first 3 months were really good tbh, and just a few months of really low sales doesnt mean they should release rush the next gen consoles when its not ready.

Europe sales are also higher then NA in the first 3 months

Rushing it and having a disaster will evenutally kill the device unlike previous gen.

Rather i think both MS and Sony will expiramenting with subscription based model and other DD stuffs etc

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

DD is past 500k in Japan I believe, so that's certainly an improvement.

Not quite, it's about 450k.

 

[Count Dookkake]

Lol at posters bringing up cost of 3D movies.

A ticket for a 200 million dollar movie costs the same as a ticket for a thousand dollar movie.

 

[Pranay]

Not quite, it's about 450k.

xbox version has sold 50k

 

[Synless]

Lol at posters bringing up cost of 3D movies.

A ticket for a 200 million dollar movie costs the same as a ticket for a thousand dollar movie.

But that's not always true when you go to buy the movie. Some come out full priced at $20, 25, 35, and some movies like Akira come out even more. The 3d versions of movies also cost more than the regular versions. You can't really argue this, There is a tier system and bigger budget films stay priced at the high end, it exists.

 

[Foffy]

It's not artificially extended. It's this long for a reason (hint: the hardware we started with)

I'm sure MS' E3 event looked like a very clear attempt at trying to pad some more time into the system, just like with Kinect. It was to extend the lifecycle, and this is coming back as these platforms have now stagnated to the point of being losing a lot of their sparkle.

Sure, it's perhaps a way to prevent us from jumping into another generation with super high costs, but most of this industry (even Nintendo's doing it, even if they're keeping their feet in the sand) are engaging in a technological arms race with no ceiling, where costs will only continue to rise, and there's not a easy solution for these companies to keep doing what they're doing forever. Some people won't be willing to pay premium prices, there's the issue with digital infrastructure, the nightmares of game streaming..there is a lot that makes the current games industry in quite a difficult situation no matter what happens.

 

[Unregistered007]

wow, I was expecting 210k + Xbox360.

How bad is the PS3?

 

[Conflict NZ]

A $400 box that plays the exact same games isn't a magical solution.

Atari said the same thing. Look how well that worked.

 

[Count Dookkake]

But that's not always true when you go to buy the movie. Some come out full priced at $20, 25, 35, and some movies like Akira come out even more. The 3d versions of movies also cost more than the regular versions. You can't really argue this, it exists.

Yeah, and there is little-to-no correlation between the film's budget and the cost of it on home formats.

I can argue this because I am right. Feel free to support your position with evidence.

Are you suggesting that AKIRA was more expensive to make than the average Hollywood film? Pardon me, but lol.

 

[Little Green Yoda]

This should be Nintendo's biggest fear with the Wii U. If that Wii market doesn't exist anymore, or can't be bothered to spend $300-400 to play MORE Wii Fit and stuff like NintendoLand, they are fucked hard. Could be similar to how the bottom fell out of the plastic instruments market. They kept making more and more games and sets not realizing that for most people, one game/set was enough and they were good and then moved on to the next fad.

Let's not go overboard with the dooooomed talk already. Worse case scenario is probably another GCNesque generation for them. You'd think with their warchest, Nintendo could potentially survive a PS3-level blunder and keep on ticking.

The big question is, what's the gaming landscape going to be like in 5 years time?