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[wonderfuldays]

Nintendo’s Wii™ console has crossed the 35 million sales mark in the United States, according to the NPD Group. More than 454,000 Wii consoles sold in February to put Wii across the 35 million mark faster than any other console in U.S. history.

It can't break 45 million units sold sooner enough for Next-Wii annoucement.

 

[pharmboy044]

Well at every retailer in the United States it is 60$.

And what about people who paid 80 or >100$ for special editions? The average selling price of the title is 60$ or perhaps even more.

You're just pulling this number out of you ass.
I've seen plenty of sales for blops sometimes as low as $39.99.

 

[Arpharmd B]

What were people expecting out of Killzone? I understood the dissapointment at KZ2's lukewarm reception back in the day, because they were touting the game as the second coming of Christ back then.

People saying it's a dud are clearly retarded. 300k is nothing to sneeze at. The game, much like Sony's stable of 1st party greats, is a solid seller. It's not Halo or Gears of War, never was, never will be. But it's not a failure either. Clearly it makes money for Sony.

Sonys strategy this gen is to build it's brand on the backs of it's strong 1st party lineup. While none of them are massive, Halo like successes, they clearly make money and help sell Playstations. So they are successful.

 

[supermackem]

Those are amazing numbers for Microsoft. The primary reasons the X360 keeps selling is because of it's affordable price, immense selection of software and it provides you with 95% of the same games from the PS3 with comparable graphics.

This, it makes sense to people with kids wanting a games machine. Ms has done a good job with the brand name xbox 360 in the usa a very good one which also helps along with as you say the price of the machine and the games on it.

 

[Sydle]

Oh my @ 360 and MvC3.

Yeah MS has been getting a lot of flack over it's lack of hardcore exclusives around GAF lately. IMO they shouldn't have cut loose all their first party studios. While their strategy is currently working, and they are making serious cash, I wonder if that decision will come back to bite them in the ass. Right now it's looking all good for them, but they clearly need more studios to support their two platforms right now. I wonder if we will see any big studio purchases in the future like we saw with Rare way back when.

You know what kinda strikes me too, mentioning Rare for a moment. This is probably their most important studio right now. Kinect really needs another AAA title like Kinect Sports. I'd say Kinect Fit is probably in the works.

MS has been brilliant this gen. The only thing they should change, they needs to consider building up a strong 1st and 2nd party to help push both platforms. They have the 3rd party support.

Rumor is that it was canned along with all their other Kinect projects except Kinect Sports 2. I would love a Rare made Kinect Fit game...or just about anything from them.

 

[Arpharmd B]

You're just pulling this number out of you ass.
I've seen plenty of sales for blops sometimes as low as $39.99.

Whatever ok then I'm wrong, most people waited for sales on the game. No one bought at 60$ everyone got it on Amazon for 33.99. Sorry, my bad. Let's move on.

 

[Arpharmd B]

Oh my @ 360 and MvC3.



Rumor is that it was canned along with all their other Kinect projects except Kinect Sports 2. I would love a Rare made Kinect Fit game...or just about anything from them.

Me too. Your Shape was awesome, but it was rather bare bones. I want a fitness game that really tracks my progress, and has the Rare charm. Oh well. Really kind of bummed, another Sports title already? How about something original. Rare still has the talent. That sucks.

 

[supermackem]

Killzone 2 was $45 million on the low end.

http://www.digitalbattle.com/2010/02/20/top-10-most-expensive-video-games-budgets-ever/

You're kidding yourself if you think Killzone 3 cost less than that.

Wait isnt that because it was the cost of a brand new engine and the time spent on making it?, i would guess kz3 is running on more or less the same engine as kz2 just tweaked leading to it costing less than starting from the ground up with kz2.

 

[Arpharmd B]

This, it makes sense to people with kids wanting a games machine. Ms has done a good job with the brand name xbox 360 in the usa a very good one which also helps along with as you say the price of the machine and the games on it.

The 360 get's a lot of flack here on GAF for some reason. I was almost ready to make a thread about it. Basically I think now with Kinect the 360 is the all around console to own (if you can only afford one console) this generation. All my opinion of course. The platform doesn't have any real weaknesses other than a current lack of 1st party exclusives at the moment. This wasn't the case until this year, really, with their primary focus now on Kinect though. With good reason, clearly it's a big money maker for them.

Wait isnt that because it was the cost of a brand new engine and the time spent on making it?, i would guess kz3 is running on more or less the same engine as kz2 just tweaked leading to it costing less than starting from the ground up with kz2.

Yeah, what's that dude smoking. Killzone 3 undoubtedly cost a lot less to make than Killzone 2. Killzone 2 also was like 4 years in the making.

 

[Sydle]

Me too. Your Shape was awesome, but it was rather bare bones. I want a fitness game that really tracks my progress, and has the Rare charm. Oh well. Really kind of bummed, another Sports title already? How about something original. Rare still has the talent. That sucks.

The creative minds at Rare haven't been in charge in a long time.

Oh, and I take back what I said about wanting anything from Rare...I'm not ready for another Kinect Sports any time soon unless it's drastically different.

 

[C4Lukins]

We can talk shit about MS first party and how small it is, but when comparing to the PS3, despite their lower output they have dominated.

There was an article that I am a not going to link to or try to find, that stated that Halo 3 outsold all PS3 exclusives throughout a few years of the PS3 being out there. I think it included the first two Motorstorms, the first two Resistance game, Uncharted, LBP, the first two Ratchets on PS3, and maybe even Metal Gear. And that is not including Gears of War which I think sold an average of 5 million with each game. Nor Fable 2 and 3 which each sold a couple of million. And outside of Gran Turismo which had done quite well but fallen off quite a bit, I bet there are more Forza owners this generation then their biggest competition. Even games like GRAW which most of us have forgotten were easily defeating what Killzone 3 is doing now, or even Crackdown and its sequel were competitive with the bigger PS3 1st party games in their first month.

You do not bomb because you were number 7 against combined sales of other games, you bomb because you are a huge budget exclusive game that cannot sell 500K copies quickly and you cost ten times more then low budget dance games that are making you their bitch.

A game like Killzone 3 needs to sell at least a few million before you can call it a success. Bulletstorm was also a failure by the way. I doubt Epic is happy with its performance.

 

[Huff]

Me too. Your Shape was awesome, but it was rather bare bones. I want a fitness game that really tracks my progress, and has the Rare charm. Oh well. Really kind of bummed, another Sports title already? How about something original. Rare still has the talent. That sucks.

Not really. But that topic is over done.

I'd just like some games for kinect. Did MS know Kinect would keep selling without any games coming out for months?

 

[Huff]

We can talk shit about MS first party and how small it is, but when comparing to the PS3, despite their lower output they have dominated.

We all talk shit because now we have less cool, original games to play. No one ever doubted that a shitty dance game would sell 100 Billion copies, but most of us don't want to play that shitty dance game.

MS is like that small awesome indie band with a unique and cool that "sold out" to a major label and all of the original fans hate their new sound.

 

[LOCK]

I would do terrible things for a DQ7 remake.

I would too. Actually I would be disappointed if we didn't get some sort of DQ release this year.

If SquareEnix was smart and was trying to build the user base they would have another DQ game released this summer, and release DQ10 this fall. Even if the first mention of DQ10 was just an announcement I can't see them taking that much longer to make the game for the Wii, especially when they have DQ8 as some sort of groundwork at least graphics and engine wise. This fall will be three years since it was announced.

Nintendo could have this lineup in my perfect little world (Japan of course)
July: Rhythm Tengoku Wii
August: DQ spinoff or remake, Pandora's Tower
September: Fatal Frame 2
October: Kirby Dreamland Desire
November: Legend of Zelda:SS
December: Pokemon spinoff, DQ10

March 2010: Wii HD with Pikmin 3 and Wii Sports World Challenge (lol)

 

[C4Lukins]

We all talk shit because now we have less cool, original games to play. No one ever doubted that a shitty dance game would sell 100 Billion copies, but most of us don't want to play that shitty dance game.

MS is like that small awesome indie band with a unique and cool that "sold out" to a major label and all of the original fans hate their new sound.

Between XBLA and PSN even ignoring remakes we are seeing a huge reemergence of a ton of genres that were lost on consoles for years.

Brawlers, shooters, 2D platformers, puzzle games, and just general retro games. And that is just DLC between the two systems.

 

[Huff]

Between XBLA and PSN even ignoring remakes we are seeing a huge reemergence of a ton of genres that were lost on consoles for years.

Brawlers, shooters, 2D platformers, puzzle games, and just general retro games. And that is just DLC between the two systems.

I thought we were just talking about first party? I don't disagree with any of that above.

 

[C4Lukins]

I thought we were just talking about first party? I don't disagree with any of that above.

Yeah I tend to lose focus with the original point and scurry into other corners of the industry.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

KZ2 did 323K in Feb 2009 with so much more hype build over the years.... KZ3 did 279.9K and that's without the bundles numbers.... and it's already considered bomba with LBP2 which already sold nicely in it's first month?

I really don't understand how some people think :\

 

[BowieZ]

It can't break 45 million units sold sooner enough for Next-Wii annoucement.

If we take Reggie's remark at face value, it needs to rake in 10 million by the end of May 2012 (to reach 45 million) if they plan to have a 'conversation' about Wii 2 at next year's E3.

That's 15 full months of NPD data to gain 10 million.

Let's say there are a couple of great games, a price drop, and maybe some new colors towards the end of this year and/or early next year. And considering February was up YOY, all signs point to 2011 -- at worst -- falling pretty closely behind 2010 (but likely to be about the same or maybe even better).

So if we add some very conservative estimates up (YOY drops for each respective month):

March - 400K
April - 250K
May - 310K
June - 350K
July - 220K
August - 210K
September - 210K
October - 210K
November - 1.1 million
December - 2.1 million
January - 250K
February - 370K
March - 190K
April - 160K
May - 160K

= 7 million

Which would bring the total to 42 million by E3 2010.

I expect 43-45 million, though, to be in the realm of "very likely".

 

[TheOddOne]

Xbox 360 - 535,000 (+27%) [Top Console, 360's Best Non-Holiday Month Ever]

 

[gundamkyoukai]

Good sales for xbox 360 and Wii.
As for PS3 Sony could do a price drop but they want to make as much money as possible .
That most likely is how it going to be for them the rest of this gen.

COD is just crazy .

 

[TheOddOne]

KZ2 did 323K in Feb 2009 with so much more hype build over the years.... KZ3 did 279.9K and that's without the bundles numbers.... and it's already considered bomba with LBP2 which already sold nicely in it's first month?

I really don't understand how some people think :\

Yep, by their definition Bulletstorm is super bomba.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

It can't break 45 million units sold sooner enough for Next-Wii annoucement.

It will be there before E3 next year, and that's where we'll get the announcement. Possibly even soner - like on 3/31/2012.

Spoiler

I should really keep a bookmark of this just in case I Nostradamus it.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

There was an article that I am a not going to link to or try to find, that stated that Halo 3 outsold all PS3 exclusives throughout a few years of the PS3 being out there. I think it included the first two Motorstorms, the first two Resistance game, Uncharted, LBP, the first two Ratchets on PS3, and maybe even Metal Gear.

It wasn't an article, it was a tweet by someone who works at Microsoft.

It was also referring solely to US sales, which is - by far - Halos biggest market.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

I hate how in this generation anything that doesn't reach the 450,000 mark in its debut month is considered a bomba if it isn't a low budget indie game.

Not every game has the budget of Red Dead Redemption.

 

[Lebron]

And the MS money train keeps on rolling

 

[legend166]

If we take Reggie's remark at face value, it needs to rake in 10 million by the end of May 2012 (to reach 45 million) if they plan to have a 'conversation' about Wii 2 at next year's E3.

That's 15 full months of NPD data to gain 10 million.

Let's say there are a couple of great games, a price drop, and maybe some new colors towards the end of this year and/or early next year. And considering February was up YOY, all signs point to 2011 -- at worst -- falling pretty closely behind 2010 (but likely to be about the same or maybe even better).

So if we add some very conservative estimates up (YOY drops for each respective month):

March - 400K
April - 250K
May - 310K
June - 350K
July - 220K
August - 210K
September - 210K
October - 210K
November - 1.1 million
December - 2.1 million
January - 250K
February - 370K
March - 190K
April - 160K
May - 160K

= 7 million

Which would bring the total to 42 million by E3 2010.

I expect 43-45 million, though, to be in the realm of "very likely".

please. stop. doing. this.

 

[Watchtower]

I hate how in this generation anything that doesn't reach the 450,000 mark in its debut month is considered a bomba if it isn't a low budget indie game.

Not every game has the budget of Red Dead Redemption.

That's because it is. I just had in depth discussion on this topic in the Kinect 10 million thread, and looked it up.

It seems your "average" PS3/360 game takes anywhere form 15-30 million dollars to make. That's average. And apparently consoles exclusives are actually a bit cheaper to make than multiplatform titles. High end games reach around 50 million.

So for example game like Killzone is typically an above average development cost investment. Some are saying it's closer to the prequel cost(apparently around 45 million) while others are saying it's much cheaper. Without knowing for sure you can just go off this. For a 30 million dollar game, it requires roughly 1 million units of sales just to cover development costs. Which means if Killzone falls closer to the higher end like its predecessors(30 mil or above), and less towards the bottom end.....than 1 million units(world wide of course) may not even break even.

Which is why a number even as high as 450k can be considered a bomb. While a completely different game selling that same number can be considered a wild success(say if development cost was less than 10 million)

Years ago you didn't have that problem because most games cost a lot less to develop and were pretty close to each other. So you could easily say any game that crossed say 100k made money. You didn't have to worry about it. Now that's not the case because development costs of different games vary tremendously. A game could sell 2 million copies and be considered a bomb and failure if it cost 60 million to develop because it means it just broke even. Crazy, but true.

EDIT: And just to add to your initial statement if you take the lowest end of the spectrum which is 15 million for a PS3/360 multiplatform title, then 500k is actually about the magic number it needs to cross for it not be considered a total bomb. I will say this though. I think GAF does put too much emphasis on what's a bomb based on initial month of sales, especially now that we no longer get good software numbers outside of the top 10. Even though software is front loaded, most games that are on the edge of profitability and are deemed bombs, do go on to cross that mark comfortably over a period of 1-2 years selling at snail paces world wide. Those small sales add up.

 

[CozMick]

Sony , just do yourselves a favour and pull your shit out of the States. They clearly don't appreciate AAA titles, spend you money elsewhere (like the UK ) or infact just start churning out shovelware, that's the new in thing apparently.

 

[Kinspiracy]

Sony , just do yourselves a favour and pull your shit out of the States. They clearly don't appreciate AAA titles, spend you money elsewhere (like the UK ) or infact just start churning out shovelware, that's the new in thing apparently.

In this equation is Killzone 3 a AAA title? Because the copy I bought seems decidedly un-AAA.

 

[TheOddOne]

Sony , just do yourselves a favour and pull your shit out of the States. They clearly don't appreciate AAA titles, spend you money elsewhere (like the UK ) or infact just start churning out shovelware, that's the new in thing apparently.

Everything not on the PS3 is shovelware?

 

[gamebroker]

And outside of Gran Turismo which had done quite well but fallen off quite a bit, I bet there are more Forza owners this generation then their biggest competition.

And you would lose that bet. Even in your wettest of dreams, assuming everyone who bought Forza 3 didnt buy Forza 2, Gran Turismo 5 has, in nearly 4 months already surpassed both those titles' YTD sales.

 

[NemesisPrime]

Wow.. that is an unexpected amount of 360s. They really are on a roll.

Kinect and the incredible XBLA are the reasons for this I would like to believe

 

[CozMick]

In this equation is Killzone 3 a AAA title? Because the copy I bought seems decidedly un-AAA.

Including KZ3 and GT5, LBP2, Uncharted 2, GoW3 etc.

Month after month I laugh at these charts, because actually it's quite embarrassing.

But that's not to say it's just PS3 titles, Alan Wake etc sold poorly while the shitty titles sold a shit ton.

 

[Kinspiracy]

Including KZ3 and GT5, LBP2, Uncharted 2, GoW3 etc.

Month after month I laugh at these charts, because actually it's quite embarrassing.

But that's not to say it's just PS3 titles, Alan Wake etc sold poorly while the shitty titles sold a shit ton.

AAA multi-plats often fail to grab big numbers on the PS3 as well. I'm not sure it's a rejection of what you consider to be AAA titles as much as its a rejection of the PS3 as the go-to console for any games other than Uncharted. Sony screwed up big time with their launch and they're still feeling the reverberations of that. It's not all that surprising. Your blaming of gamers for Sony's f*ck up is amusing though.

 

[CozMick]

AAA multi-plats often fail to grab big numbers on the PS3 as well. I'm not sure it's a rejection of what you consider to be AAA titles as much as its a rejection of the PS3 as the go-to console for any games other than Uncharted. Sony screwed up big time with their launch and they're still feeling the reverberations of that. It's not all that surprising. Your blaming of gamers for Sony's f*ck up is amusing though.

And the rest of the world?

Microsofts and Sonys big titles sell elsewhere.............

 

[Speevy]

I wish LBP2 had charted again. The game is a giant step up from its predecessor in terms of what people are able to make and play.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

Including KZ3 and GT5, LBP2, Uncharted 2, GoW3 etc.

Month after month I laugh at these charts, because actually it's quite embarrassing.

But that's not to say it's just PS3 titles, Alan Wake etc sold poorly while the shitty titles sold a shit ton.

What ??
GT5, GOW3 and UC2 are over a million plus is the US, that's not bad number when looking at there over all sales.

Still i think it's time to put KZ to rest or get them to make a new IP.
LBP should be fine it's done by a small team and budget can't be that big .

 

[Watchtower]

If we take Reggie's remark at face value, it needs to rake in 10 million by the end of May 2012 (to reach 45 million) if they plan to have a 'conversation' about Wii 2 at next year's E3.

That's 15 full months of NPD data to gain 10 million.

Let's say there are a couple of great games, a price drop, and maybe some new colors towards the end of this year and/or early next year. And considering February was up YOY, all signs point to 2011 -- at worst -- falling pretty closely behind 2010 (but likely to be about the same or maybe even better).

So if we add some very conservative estimates up (YOY drops for each respective month):

March - 400K
April - 250K
May - 310K
June - 350K
July - 220K
August - 210K
September - 210K
October - 210K
November - 1.1 million
December - 2.1 million
January - 250K
February - 370K
March - 190K
April - 160K
May - 160K

= 7 million

Which would bring the total to 42 million by E3 2010.

I expect 43-45 million, though, to be in the realm of "very likely".

Well prior to these latest sales, fall 2012 certainly seemed like a good time for Nintendo to launch the successor at least in Japan. But if this means a new permanent increase for the Wii, 2013 could be just as likely.

Wherever it may fall I'm betting we see all 3 next gen systems launched and in gamer's hands no later than the end of 2014. It just a matter of when Nintendo pulls the trigger. If they go 2012, I see MS being forced to go 2013. Sony may still hold out but I doubt even them are willing to give Nintendo a 2 year start and MS another year start again.

Can you imagine the mud slinging and craziness around here if they all 3 launched worldwide during the same year? That would be insane.

 

[[Nintex]]

I still don't get why Guerilla gets EU funding to develop mediocre shooters. There's plenty of smaller Dutch devs building way cooler stuff who could use the money to expand and get noticed.

Well prior to these latest sales, fall 2012 certainly seemed like a good time for Nintendo to launch the successor at least in Japan. But if this means a new permanent increase for the Wii, 2013 could be just as likely.

Wherever it may fall I'm betting we see all 3 next gen systems launched and in gamer's hands no later than the end of 2014. It just a matter of when Nintendo pulls the trigger. If they go 2012, I see MS being forced to go 2013. Sony may still hold out but I doubt even them are willing to give Nintendo a 2 year start and MS another year start again.

Can you imagine the mud slinging and craziness around here if they all 3 launched worldwide during the same year? That would be insane.

I'd say 2012 for both MS and Nintendo. MS is loaded right now and they want to ride this wave of growth. They're not going to wait like Nintendo for sales to fall flat and Sony will be occupied with the NGP.

 

[Celine]

LTD Software:

Call Of Duty: Black Ops: 13.7 Million
New Super Mario Bros. DS: 9 Million
New Super Mario Bros. Wii: 8 Million

Good god.

Amazing sales for MvC3.

 

[Speevy]

On another note, I'm not sure if I should be sad that the best selling game of all time is CODBLOPS, or happy that it isn't some casual game.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

So for example game like Killzone is typically an above average development cost investment. Some are saying it's closer to the prequel cost(apparently around 45 million) while others are saying it's much cheaper. Without knowing for sure you can just go off this. For a 30 million dollar game, it requires roughly 1 million units of sales just to cover development costs.

Which means if Killzone falls closer to the higher end like its predecessors(30 mil or above), and less towards the bottom end.....than 1 million units(world wide of course) may not even break even.

Which is why a number even as high as 450k can be considered a bomb. While a completely different game selling that same number can be considered a wild success(say if development cost was less than 10 million)

It was released late into the month and it has all its life left to reach that million, not to mention there are other territories to boost its sales.

I'm not saying that the game will end up being highly profitable or even break even. But calling it "bomba" is severe hypebole. Bomba is like Bionic Commando or Dark Void. Killzone 3 is merely "under expectations".

 

[TheOddOne]

I still don't get why Guerilla gets EU funding to develop mediocre shooters. There's plenty of smaller Dutch devs building way cooler stuff who could use the money to expand and get noticed.

Yeah, give the money to Davilex!

Spoiler

No

.

 

[Neki]

I'll be surprised if MK9 handily outsells MvC3. I'm expecting same numbers, but people are citing the MK brand as being very strong, so we'll have to see. I'm willing to eat crow if MvC3 gets raped sales-wise though, should be fun.

 

[Speevy]

LBP should be fine it's done by a small team and budget can't be that big .

It can't be that small either. Granted, I have no idea what it cost to keep the LBP online universe up and running, but these guys make and maintain a crapton of content.

They're responsible for more DLC than any console game developer if you discount the music games.

 

[Haunted]

I'm sure Sony is working hard

Spoiler

to keep the PS3 HW number from being released.

Impressive showing by Microsoft.

 

[[Nintex]]

Yeah, give the money to Davilex!

Spoiler

No

.

Two Tribes, Interwave Studios, Triumph Studios etc. plenty of indie devs who could use the funding that aren't backed by Sony.

 

[NemesisPrime]

I still don't get why Guerilla gets EU funding to develop mediocre shooters. There's plenty of smaller Dutch devs building way cooler stuff who could use the money to expand and get noticed.

Don't worry... De Blob guys are Dutch no?

 

[Watchtower]

It was released late into the month and it has all its life left to reach that million, not to mention there are other territories to boost its sales.

I'm not saying that the game will end up being highly profitable or even break even. But calling it "bomba" is severe hypebole. Bomba is like Bionic Commando or Dark Void. Killzone 3 is merely "under expectations".

Like I said in my edit. GAF tends to put too much emphasis on initial first month sales, when most games like Killzone which may be on the edge of profitability, could actually go on to cross that mark quite comfortable over 1-2 years.

Most also make the huge error of comparing development cost to US game sales. A 30 million dollar game doesn't have to sell 1 million units in the US to break even. It just has to do that world wide.

So if you add up world-wide sales for Killzone, depending on actual development cost(15-45 million is a huge swing) it may already be on the edge of recouping its development cost in its first month. That's something most developers would be pleased with, leaving any sales from here over the next 2 years as pure profit(even if they sell slowly and in small amounts each week).

If Killzone 3's budget was 15 million than it's easily at net right now between NA and Europe. If it was 45 million, it may never even break even as it would require 2.5 million world wide to get there and it likely wouldn't reach that number even 2 years from now.

Without actually knowing what development costs are, no one should put a whole lot of faith when some around here are saying a game is a "bomb". They're using the term more to describe "below expectations" or not matching the hype.