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NPD Sales Results for February 2009
- Thread starter EviLore
- Start date
beef3483 said:
And there is where the game will most likely sell well after a few months (just as every Sega game does when it drops $10-20). We will see it hit $39 soon and if not then its because its selling well (Sega knows when to subsidize the price to get it moving)
People here whine and cry about it but that is how Sega does business, nobody cared that Sonic and the Secret Rings sold most of its product when it dropped to $29 or when Mario and Sonic Olympics moved up the charts when Target and Best Buy initiated a $39 special promotion
NASCAR Kart Racers is in the Top 10 because its a excellent Mario Kart clone and retails for $39, Lego Star Wars Wii is in the Top 20 because its $19.99, Jillian Fitness is $39.99 as is My Fitness Coach
Shaun White shot up the charts when Target ran their special edition at $39.99 and then it sold so well they price dropped the PS3 and 360 versions to a similar price point to get them moving
GAffers need to learn the difference between a price drop to get stock moving in a bad economy and a price collapse to get rid of excess stock for a bomba
Segata Sanshiro
Member
My god, Balance Board of the Dead sounds like such a good idea. I'd get a balance board for that.
AndresON777
shooting blanks
RBH said:
Awesome commercials?
Grecco said:
Well Lego Batman and Lego Indy were also charters for Wii but they do not show up in the Top 20 or the Top 10 Wii
So yes the $19.99 is a factor, otherwise it would reason that the other two Lego entries on Wii would be at least somewhere near since they sell on the PSP
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
markatisu said:
No I think it's that nobody bothers to really read when you chime in. Your effort is there, but it's more of a struggle to try really hard to be right. It's admirable, I suppose, but a bit tiring.
I'm glad Overkill is selling well overseas, but the fact reminds that 45k isn't even going to cover the marketing expenses Sega has spent on the title prelaunch. This title was meant to be more frontloaded, it's the way the publisher choose to take it to market. To say 'wait for a price drop' is a bit of a stretch, do you really think the accounting and finance team at Sega is going to create different success metrics just for their M rated Wii titles? Their ROI must have been pretty bad the first month. And the constant comparisons so their non-marketing ports is quite far from an apples to apples comparison: Overkill is meant to capitalize on that foundation and grow the segment, not repeat its trends.
Hopefully it will have long legs, but it's still a poor start and certainly the inserts for Conduit and MadWorld aren't getting the initial impression levels they had hoped. I'd be real curious to see what their shipment numbers are, but it's sad they werent able to excite the userbase like they intended
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
ChrisGoldstein said:
Have the commercial been pretty sweet? I dont have cable so I haven't seen anything. Wouldn't surprise me though the marketing department MS uses has been phenomenal for them this gen.
Grecco said:
I am talking about charting the last two months, Lego Indy did not chart Top 10 Wii or Top 20 anything (lately). Lego Batman also charted for Wii like Indy did when it came out
But there is no specific reason why Lego Star Wars Wii would continue to chart and the other two do not outside of price (which is why it has constant raincheks and ad space in Target and being pushed in the R Zone at Toys R Us at the checkout counter)
Lego Batman charted on the PSP and PS2 this month
http://blog.wired.com/games/2009/03/february-2009s.html
Segata Sanshiro
Member
Note the use of present tense.Grecco said:
Spiegel said:
I understand this and was not implying the PS2 or PSP version of Lego Batman outsold the Wii (because I dont think they have), I am saying the reason that Lego Star Wars Wii is selling more than the other two versions of Lego Wii games is because of its price
Someone asked a few pages back why Lego Star Wars Wii was still in the Top 20 of all NPD even though its so old, I was answering that with the fact its priced at $19.99.
I was using the PSP and PS2 as an example of how popular Lego Batman is (because both systems also have Lego Star Wars) but its price tag on Wii is keeping it behind Lego Star Wars Wii in charting position and sales
AndresON777
shooting blanks
BruceLeeRoy said:
They're good at reaching their target demographic. I watch a lot of sports and comedy central on directv and that is when I usually see the commercials. Many of the commercials are for multiplatform games but they only have the xbox logo at the end.
The new RE5 commercial is probably the best video game commercial I've ever seen. The red elite 360 is pimped out at the end too.
Alcibiades
Member
A lot of people are excited, but not enough to shell out $50 for a light-gun game. The gameplay is too simple and just doesn't fit the full-price bill for many. As awesome and refreshing as the presentation is, the game is still just a casual game (in terms of gameplay not in terms of grindhouse atmosphere which is definitely hardcore) that didn't take the budget, time and manpower of something like MadWorld to develop.John Harker said:
I definitely want to buy the game, but $50 (and even $40) is a bit much to pay for light-gun game. I really hope the game sells well, but it's understandable that $50 is a bit much for a game releasing right alongside Tenchu, Deadly Creatures, and just weeks before MadWorld and Rune Factory - all well-received "core" games released close together. If a Wii-only hardcore gamer had enough money for only one or two, something is gonna need to get sacrificed.
I can afford one or two right now (I just don't have time) - but if I had to choose I'd go with Deadly Creatures first, and MadWorld second.
People point to the success of Umbrella Chronicles and Nerf N-Strike, but those are special cases. Many people didn't even know Umbrella Chronicles was a rail-game, it was a "test" game, and it came after the well-received RE4: Wii Edition. The game had a lot of things going for it, so people shouldn't confuse solid sales for this as love for light-gun anything (and even then at least in the US it never matched the sales of RE4).
N-Strike came with an Nerf-toy accessory and is really a major non-gaming brand name for kids that just fit the bill as a Christmas present during the holiday season.
The best HOTD: Overkill had was a legacy of solid sales with 2 other Sega light-gun games released as budget prices - which isn't really much to sell on with a full-priced game. It wasn't necessarily a mistake to release it at $50 because sales should be OK as the game drops in price, but it's going to have to be a long-term seller.
Expect better things for MadWorld which seems to have had a bit more marketing and is getting even better reviews. Although they are both very short games, the fact that MadWorld is a 3rd-person beat-em-up gives it more complexity and depth than HOTD:Overkill and for a comparatively larger portion of the "core" gaming segment on Wii probably justifies a $50 entry.
Alcibiades
Member
Low price is helping as you said, but even if all 3 of them were at $20 right now, Star Wars in general is just a bigger name than Batman and Indiana Jones, especially in the gaming world. Star Wars games have always been well-received on Nintendo consoles and this is no exception.Spiegel said:
You have the budgets (don't forget advertising) of Madworld and HOTD? Please share.Alcibiades said:
I don't see Tenchu or Deadly Creatures lighting up the charts, either. Not that I would really expect them to, given the lack of advertising, but that just highlights that all the advertising spent on HOTD was for nothing.
Rlan said:
Look at the title of the game man. It is silly.
No matter how good it is/could be somebody browsing the PSP section isn't going to gravitate toward a came called "Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero?". It's very cheesey and plus it's a niche game to begin with on a platform where people don't really buy games.
John Harker said:
I think your pushing it buddy. Lets keep our feet on the ground here. Overkill isnt a fucking Mario/God of War/Halo Wars esque release, its not going to cost anywhere near as much, and we arent talking some 20m dollar ad campaign like Lost planet had either. Your seriously bloating this waaaay out of proportion. In month 1 no less.
Link
The Autumn Wind
I think third parties just waited too long. After 2+ years of releasing nothing but minigames and kiddie crap, do they really think now they can just start putting out some "core" games and they'll just sell? Most of the audience for these games moved on a long time ago. Expect similarly disappointing results for Madworld and The Conduit. The real loser in all this is Sega, because they have put genuine effort into their Wii games. Unfortunately, as we've all learned, Sega alone cannot keep a console afloat.BrodiemanTTR said:
Japanese publishers all talk about how they want to appeal to a "Western audience," which really means the HD consoles (ironically, since the Wii does better than either in the west, too). I'm not sure if it's just brain damage or a flimsy excuse to brush off Wii development. I'd assume the latter.GreyMatter said:
MoogPaul said:
SO3 became a greatest hit in about a years time, but its sales weren't frontloaded either. I find SO4 to be a better game than SO3 overall (despite catgirls and terrible VA, SO3 had that too). I think it will sell okay over time and I think it came out the last week in November. Some people here put waaaay to much stock in the NPD top 10 and really don't consider how some games sell fairly well over a given period of time. I bet SO4 hits 1 million sold by this time next year if not less.
SEGA is releasing a 1) light-gun game, 2) third-person action-adventure, and 3) FPS on the Wii over a 5-month span. Hopefully, they'll each receive comparable levels of advertising (personally, I wouldn't mind if the FPS got a little more 
), but it'll be an interesting experiment for the types of games that sell on Wii. (We already know light-gun games sell well, but this is an attempt to sell a full-priced light-gun game.)
), but it'll be an interesting experiment for the types of games that sell on Wii. (We already know light-gun games sell well, but this is an attempt to sell a full-priced light-gun game.)
Alcibiades
Member
heh, obviously not, but just looking at the games, one seems more polished and by the nature of the gameplay (3rd-person beat-em-up vs. on-rails light-gun) I assume one took more resources to create...Zachack said:
no "core" games are lighting up the charts, but it certainly didn't help that in a such a short span, 5 well-received "core" games have been released at full price... They could have been spaced out a little better (for example December and January were pretty empty for Wii unless you count the panned Castlevania Judgement) and maybe even come out at $40 considering that normally the only games that do really well at $50 are big-budget blockbusters (even Namco, which releases Tales of Symphonia for $50 on GCN, released the followup on Wii for $40 - although that may have been because they knew it wouldn't be as well-received as the first)...
farnham said:
If Crisis Core's debut sales are any indication, SE might show a significant amount of success on the PSP as well with their future releases (Dissidia, Birth by Sleep, Agito, 3rd Birthday). Of course, whether or not it was just Crisis Core riding on the coat-tails of FFVII or if there really is a dedicated SE market for PSP owners, we'll see later this year.
Cheebs said:
That really depends on if SO4 can garner a decent length of legs (which I'm highly doubtful of) and exactly how much it sold Feb. If it approached 80k or something, I could see it barely squeezing by or near 100k. If it sold like sub 60k or something, then yeah.
It's already at something like 300k and has yet to be released in Europe. But 500k represents a huge decline (50%+) from SO3. It's tough for a lot of Japanese series to show positive growth game over game, but it does happen (DMC3 to 4, MGS3 to 4, RE5's initial release (not considering RE4's later Wii version)...and few show the kind of decay that Star Ocean is showing (50% is absolutely huge).truly101 said:
I'd be extremely unhappy with these sales. I'm sure Square managed to stuff some copies, but retailers are probably recoiling a bit after TLR and IU. Director's Cut is probably coming.
Not my fault people have short attention spans and can't stay with a topic.
No Wii title has ever been designed to be front loaded except for SSBB and Mario Galaxy, the system does not work that way and you should know that. Every single Wii title that has ever sold a decent amount has done it over time, you don't like that fact then do not develop for the platform.
DS is the EXACT same way, nothing will ever change that because the audience is more expanded and relies on a month over month.
John Harker said:
You're way too eager to see gloom and doom where there is none. Yeah the game didn't have a great opening, but a game's success isn't determined by one month of sales. You also seem to be ignoring the fact that the game is selling very well in the UK and who knows where else.
I'm sure Sega is quite happy and will be very happy when it's all said and done.
You also seem to be trying to make some sort of connection with Sega's other games because they had an insert in Overkill. Sorry, but Madworld's and The Conduit's success don't hang on Overkill or a little ad insert.
Y2Kev said:
Are you talking about percentage of decay from the previous title's initial release to the current title's initial release? In that case SO4 had no hope of ever matching that seeing as how SO3 was released on a system that everyone has versus a system that few people have in the country that would drive the most sales. S-E pretty much has to do a PS3 version, at least in Japan, though maybe not NA.
No, it's extremely rough SO4 estimated LTD vs. SO3 LTD. You're saying you think it could hit 500k worldwide. Depending on how low the American sales were and the European launch, it could happen-- so I used that figure. I don't think it will sell a ton beyond that, do you? So SO3 is over a million and SO4 we're saying could top out at 500k. I included a hypothetical Japanese director's cut rerelease.truly101 said:
And if Square was going to do a JP PS3 version, I would guess they'd bring it out here too. I can't really think of a lot of instances where that doesn't happen-- maybe the Tales of Symphonia PS2 port.
Count Dookkake
Member
Segata Sanshiro said:
No love for Wario Strong Man Fitness?
Tears.
lowlylowlycook
Member
Have the results from the prediction thread been posted yet?
Star Ocean 4 had absolutely nothing going for it. No word of mouth whatsoever, no marketing, no press coverage, no buzz, a fatigued, overserved market who had just received a flood of RPGs only a few months prior, a heavily competitive release month with several high-profile, eclipsing titles....literally nothing going for it.
Beyond that, you have the fact that Tri-Ace's recent track record is anything but impressive. Star Ocean 3 left a bad taste in many peoples' mouths, the PSP remakes gathered next to no attention, and Infinite Undiscovery released as an extremely poor game that shied a lot of people away from Tri-Ace in general. As a developer brand, Tri-Ace is certainly not going to carry a product anymore.
So what does that leave? The game would have to stand on it's own merits. And, frankly, nothing about Star Ocean 4 really stood out in any meaningful way. It had absolutely no hook that was going to draw attention to itself from what I could tell, and without favorable market circumstances or developer brand power, it desperately needed one.
Of all the things that happened in the February charts, Star Ocean 4 doing poorly is really not surprising at all.
The more interesting topic of discussion, imo, is whether the announcement of PS3 being the official Evolution/tournament version of Street Fighter was the catalyst for higher proportional sales for that version of SF4. If true, it could indicate a much higher interest-level and sales presence of the "SRK crowd" than I would have personally thought to exist....
Beyond that, you have the fact that Tri-Ace's recent track record is anything but impressive. Star Ocean 3 left a bad taste in many peoples' mouths, the PSP remakes gathered next to no attention, and Infinite Undiscovery released as an extremely poor game that shied a lot of people away from Tri-Ace in general. As a developer brand, Tri-Ace is certainly not going to carry a product anymore.
So what does that leave? The game would have to stand on it's own merits. And, frankly, nothing about Star Ocean 4 really stood out in any meaningful way. It had absolutely no hook that was going to draw attention to itself from what I could tell, and without favorable market circumstances or developer brand power, it desperately needed one.
Of all the things that happened in the February charts, Star Ocean 4 doing poorly is really not surprising at all.
The more interesting topic of discussion, imo, is whether the announcement of PS3 being the official Evolution/tournament version of Street Fighter was the catalyst for higher proportional sales for that version of SF4. If true, it could indicate a much higher interest-level and sales presence of the "SRK crowd" than I would have personally thought to exist....
hemtae
Member
John, you're just full of it. You're cherry-picking whatever argument is the most pessimistic.John Harker said:
These sales don't support either part of your argument. You're already making baseless assumptions about Sega's expectation, as if they have no idea how other light-gun games have performed in the past. But then this talk about 'first month ROI' is utter nonsense. That 'first month ROI' is completely dependant on their initial shipment, which is in no way influenced by these sales. Sega made their money before NPD ever counted one sale. Poor sales only effect later shipments. You also claim that Sega had expected this game to be 'more front loaded,' but if that were true their accountants would actually then be less worried about later shipments.
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