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NPD October 2012 Sales Results [Up3: NBA, MoH, NSMB2 + History, Pokemon, RE6]

Petrae

Member
Is the game industry as a whole really contracting or is it just consoles that do?

Mobile is on the move upwards, but that's in part because it's still relatively new and smartphone & tablet ownership is booming at the current time. That's still a segment of the video game industry, even though sales are not currently tracked by the usual sources.

The console sector is the area most likely to contract given competition from mobile and PC both. It won't be a fatal contraction, but it will be significant as at least a fair amount of the casual crowd who saw Wii as the next best thing have moved on to other forms of gaming and/or entertainment. There will still be a decent-sized core consumer-driven console market for Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony to fight over-- but their focus needs to be (at least in part) on retention, IMO. Losing too many members of that demo would make things a lot tougher.

Contraction is NOT doom and gloom. It's part of a cycle after so much market expansion over the last generation or two. With so many ways to spend free time now, it's a formidable challenge for console-makers to get consumers to part with $300+ for consoles and $60+ for games. We're arguably seeing this trend now, and I believe that it remains as the next generation finally gets underway.
 
Retail console crowd isn't exactly dispelling stereotypes with how XCOM bombed. The game wasn't cheap to make. (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-06-firaxis-xcom-is-a-very-very-big-budget-game)

Dishonored though did fair better. Wonder if it's going to have legs and if Bethesda will be satisfied with sales. It might have done enough globally to get another chance and expect to build on the numbers.

Take2 already said it was profitable, It was always going to sell more on PC
 

Hammer24

Banned
Contraction is NOT doom and gloom. It's part of a cycle after so much market expansion over the last generation or two. With so many ways to spend free time now, it's a formidable challenge for console-makers to get consumers to part with $300+ for consoles and $60+ for games. We're arguably seeing this trend now, and I believe that it remains as the next generation finally gets underway.

Exactly. It spices the upcoming new gen up even more, as it´ll be interesting to see how the hw manufacturers rise up to this challenge.
 

Petrae

Member
Especially digitally.

Exactly.

That's the problem, unfortunately, that we wrestle with every month in trying to analyze and/or discuss software sales. XCOM is a great example of how we're only seeing one side of the sales story with NPD/physical. As long as publishers don't/won't share their sales data with NPD or anyone else, we're left to analyze what info we do have... and wing it for the rest.
 
He mentioned bundles because someone mentioned Forza does well in Europe, which it does because it's bundled out the wazoo. It's the standard pack in game in the UK.

Actually, both FM4 and Horizon still regularly chart in the UK, week after week, and that doesn't include bundled copies.
 

Pranay

Member
Gathering some numbers from previous npd thread first month sales

[Notable Games] Bold games are exclusives

Above a million
Diablo 3 - 1 mil
Mass Effect 3 (360, PS3, PC) 1.3 Million
Madden NFL 13 - Over 2.55M
Borderlands 2 (360, PS3, PC) Take Two Interactive - 1.48M

Above 500k to 750k
RE 6 > 800
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (360, PS3) 582K
NCAA Football - 600k


Above 300k to 500k
Dishounred - 460.2K
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heores . - 450K
Max Payne 3 (360, PS3, PC) - 440K
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (360, PS3) Ubisoft - 400K
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3, 360) - 350k
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (360, PS3, PC) - 330K
MLB 12: The Show PS3


200k to 300 k
Darksiders 2 (360, PS3, PC) THQ - 247K
Twisted Metal 2012 (PS3) Sony - 221K
Street Fighter X Tekken (PS3, 360) - 240~
Mario Party 9 (Wii) Nintendo - 230K
Prototype 2 (360, PS3) Activision Blizzard 236K,
SSX 2012 (360, PS3) -
 

Hero

Member
It oursold the late port to a seriously struggling platform, not to say SFxT did well overall but comparing to the Vita version doesn't say much

A late port of the two most popular fighting game franchises with added features and extra characters sold a fraction of a Japanese no-name sidescrolling beat 'em up featuring scantily clad female characters.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Now that I think about it

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City released on 20th March, 2012. NPD March 2012 datas through 31st March 2012. 11 days, 582k sold

Resident Evil 6 released on 2nd October, 2012. NPD October 2012 datas are through 27th October, 2012. Over 800k sold.

If they were counted for the same number of days, they'd be pretty near O_O
 
Q

Queen of Hunting

Unconfirmed Member
how come borderlands is so low ? i thought it was meant to have had alot of pre orders an sold well yet its ranked lower than dishonored
 

JaxJag

Banned
Retail console crowd isn't exactly dispelling stereotypes with how XCOM bombed. The game wasn't cheap to make. (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-06-firaxis-xcom-is-a-very-very-big-budget-game)

Dishonored though did fair better. Wonder if it's going to have legs and if Bethesda will be satisfied with sales. It might have done enough globally to get another chance and expect to build on the numbers.

Honestly, at this point a 50 to 60 person team ain't all that big.

Not with some big budget games having teams of upwards of 1,000 people.
 
Honestly, at this point a 50 to 60 person team ain't all that big.

Not with some big budget games having teams of upwards of 1,000 people.

I don't think 1000 is there yet, outside big budget MMO's anyway. The biggest are in the 400-600 range and as I understand it that mostly an influx in the final year after the basic work was done by a smaller team.
 

pelican

Member
The PS3 really is struggling. And that is with the new, new slim sku out in the wild too.

Good to see Dishonoured do well. Never easy launching a new i.p these days in a crowded market.

It is a shame to see Forza Horizon not in there, it is a bloody good game.
 

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
I'm impressed at Dishonored.

It didn't beat Army of Two, but it did at least match the performance of Dante's Inferno despite the market falling apart.

you have been sceptical about its perfomance for no reason since its reveal, I don't know why.
 

Saty

Member
How did the console versions help Xcom? 114K copies? That's nothing. Removing 360\PS3 version would have reduced the budget and made the game safer financially. 2k tried it with Civ and now Xcom. Evidently, the retail console market doesn't care about these genres and the 360\PS3 versions most probably aren't holding their own weight.
 

Eusis

Member
The PS3 really is struggling. And that is with the new, new slim sku out in the wild too.
Usually these new models do best if they're cheaper, or at least are a huge improvement over the old ones (usually shows up in handhelds more). This costing either the same or more and mainly just bringing a flip top lid... yeah, it's really not any wonder sales aren't dented by it.
 

Pranay

Member
Hardware -

360 : PS3


Jan - 270k : ? [Nothing released this month]
Feb - 426 : 360k [Best month and also it had most number of games released i think]
Mar - 371K : 337K [PS3 Came close to 360 due to mlb 13
April - 236k : 175 [1 game released, doom starts]
May - 160K : 130 [Worst month this year considering it had releases]
June -257K : 190
July - 203K : 140 [nothing released]
August 193k : 141 [ bad month]
September - 270K : 200
October - 270k : ?

If any one can fill the ps3 stuff would be cool to see difference growth between ps3 and 360
 

JaxJag

Banned
I don't think 1000 is there yet, outside big budget MMO's anyway. The biggest are in the 400-600 range and as I understand it that mostly an influx in the final year after the basic work was done by a smaller team.

Hmm... GTA4...

In an interview with the Times Online, Benzies also said that more than 1000 people worked on the title for a period of over a three and a half years.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/gta-iv-most-expensive-game-ever-developed
 
How did the console versions help Xcom? 114K copies? That's nothing. Removing 360\PS3 version would have reduced the budget and made the game safer financially. 2k tried it with Civ and now Xcom. Evidently, the retail console market doesn't care about these genres and the 360\PS3 versions most probably aren't holding their own weight.
They probably got more media coverage because of the console versions which might have helped push overall sales.
 

Pranay

Member
Usually these new models do best if they're cheaper, or at least are a huge improvement over the old ones (usually shows up in handhelds more). This costing either the same or more and mainly just bringing a flip top lid... yeah, it's really not any wonder sales aren't dented by it.

Agreed.

Usually new model is useless if their is no price cut,

I think Sony should had a price here in us this year itself.
 

Petrae

Member
The PS3 really is struggling. And that is with the new, new slim sku out in the wild too.

Here in the US, definitely it is. Any momentum that PS3 had earlier this year has evaporated. Perhaps PlayStation All-Stars helps a little, but it probably won't be until God of War next year-- if even then-- that sales start to noticeably improve.

Think about this: In order to break even with November (894K) and December (948K) from last year, that's over 1.8 million consoles that need to be sold. I don't see any indication that this year's number comes anywhere close. I'm thinking somewhere between 1.3-1.4 million for Nov/Dec combined is the best the PS3 will do.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Code of Princess being around 20k might be ok.
Though I don't really know what to compare it to.

I remember things like Devil Survivor doing 27k in its first month ( released on 23rd June, 2009), or Muramasa doing 36k, released at the beginning of September 2009. Given it's a niche game, it shouldn't be a bad result.
 

JaxJag

Banned
People will probably think this is a stupid opinion.

But I think PSN is a big reason the PS3 isn't doing better. XBL just feels like a community, your friends list is pushed to the front, not to mention a party chat system that allows you to always chat with your friends. on the PS3 your friends list just feels kinda buried, and as I mentioned no party chat.

All of my friends bought a 360 over a PS3 because of XBL. I think in North America a console's online service has become a big console seller.
 

Busaiku

Member
I remember things like Devil Survivor doing 27k in its first month ( released on 23rd June, 2009), or Muramasa doing 36k, released at the beginning of September 2009. Given it's a niche game, it shouldn't be a bad result.

Yeah, I'm just basing it on the fact that it's a niche Atlus game, and it's already better than what the Japanese game debuted at.
Though it does have a lot of voice acting, so it might have cost more.
 
Usually these new models do best if they're cheaper, or at least are a huge improvement over the old ones (usually shows up in handhelds more). This costing either the same or more and mainly just bringing a flip top lid... yeah, it's really not any wonder sales aren't dented by it.

It's better value because of the bundled games but I find it isnane that they also didn't also have a non bundled super cheap version like in the EU
 
People will probably think this is a stupid opinion.

But I think PSN is a big reason the PS3 isn't doing better. XBL just feels like a community, your friends list is pushed to the front, not to mention a party chat system that allows you to always chat with your friends. on the PS3 your friends list just feels kinda buried, and as I mentioned no party chat.

All of my friends bought a 360 over a PS3 because of XBL. I think in North America a console's online service has become a big console seller.

I think its the pricetag on the console, kinect, aswel as advertising CoD 360 version really helped push the console.
 

Pranay

Member
People will probably think this is a stupid opinion.

But I think PSN is a big reason the PS3 isn't doing better. XBL just feels like a community, your friends list is pushed to the front, not to mention a party chat system that allows you to always chat with your friends. on the PS3 your friends list just feels kinda buried, and as I mentioned no party chat.

All of my friends bought a 360 over a PS3 because of XBL. I think in North America a console's online service has become a big console seller.

The PSN of today should had been like that 4 years ago.

I think its too little and too late for PS3 to be catching up to 360.

Also a killer fps game would had done wonders as well few years along with the first point i made.

The only thing which can help ps3 is a price cut and exclusives to atleast do better then what it is doing now
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
It appears to be to keep funding sequels to games that do poorly like Lost Planet and Dragon's Dogma.

Are Capcom the new Take Two or something? :/

The next few years will be interesting for them with RE6 tanking and a seemingly smaller focus on outsourcing their IP in the future.
 

Petrae

Member
People will probably think this is a stupid opinion.

But I think PSN is a big reason the PS3 isn't doing better. XBL just feels like a community, your friends list is pushed to the front, not to mention a party chat system that allows you to always chat with your friends. on the PS3 your friends list just feels kinda buried, and as I mentioned no party chat.

All of my friends bought a 360 over a PS3 because of XBL. I think in North America a console's online service has become a big console seller.

There are many reasons for the fall of the PlayStation brand here in the US. High pricing. PSN troubles. Exclusives that haven't resonated with the masses. I'm sure there are others.
 

Pranay

Member
There are many reasons for the fall of the PlayStation brand here in the US. High pricing. PSN troubles. Exclusives that haven't resonated with the masses. I'm sure there are others.

Do consoles geneally sell low during april and may ?
 

Hero

Member
How did the console versions help Xcom? 114K copies? That's nothing. Removing 360\PS3 version would have reduced the budget and made the game safer financially. 2k tried it with Civ and now Xcom. Evidently, the retail console market doesn't care about these genres and the 360\PS3 versions most probably aren't holding their own weight.

I don't think you can look at it so black and white. I'm sure X-Com being on consoles helped give it exposure in magazines and sites that it wouldn't have gotten if it were PC only. I'm sure Take Two also factored the cost of putting it on 360 and PS3 and had that baked into the cost of development. I would find it hard to believe that they would lose money having released it on the HD twins even only selling 114K copies. Even if it were, I doubt it would be that big of a loss that didn't warrant them taking a risk and testing the waters of how a RTS type game would sell on the market today.
 
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