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[SykoTech]

Nice to see that all the people here that were so certain that Twisted Metal would bomb were wrong. Despite car combat being a "dead genre" and receiving poor advertising as usually from Sony, it did pretty well. Game really delivered, so it's good knowing that it wasn't ignored. The feeling is a little bittersweet though since Eat Sleep Play is pursuing casual games now and Jaffe left the company.

No surprise that Revelaitons bombed. Resident Evil may be an extremely popular brand and all these days, but the audience simply isn't on the 3DS. It wasn't going to sell that well regardless of brand recognition and high reviews. I don't think Capcom should be too worried though. With ORC and RE6 both coming out and on more appropriate platforms, the Resident Evil brand should still manage to perform well this year.

No SSX, but it only had like a day to sell. Hope it does well in March though.

 

[kfpkiller]

FFXIII debuted at what, 1.3 million its first month? You don't see selling a third of its predecessor in its debut month anything but a disaster?

FF X-2 opened at 402k

 

[Dragon]

Well what did X-2 sell compared to X? That would be the real comparison, wouldn't it?

I'm sure someone will pull those numbers but I doubt it's as drastic a difference. X-2 is a silly game but was well received by fans and coming after a game that did well critically as well as sales-wise and is now receiving an HD version.

 

[Nirolak]

Sorry, sorry, was playing Dota.

I'll go update this in a moment.

 

[Metallix87]

Considering the 225 included pre-orders, I don't think they'll achieve that. We'll know next month if Sony mentions a month to month % increase.

I'd say there's no hope they'll achieve that. It's not necessarily a terrible performance, but the system won't hit 500k in March.

 

[Saiyar]

But mainline Final Fantasy games aren't supposed to have anything in common with one another and VS XIII follows the same/similar lore as XIII. So I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one.

From a sales perspective Vs XIII has to be changed to XV. The XIII name is just too tarnished at this point.

 

[CartridgeBlower]

FF X-2 opened at 402k

Bingo.

So basically XIII-2 sold right in line with X-2...yet supposedly that means it was a terrible flop.

 

[Agent X]

seriously it officially came out on the 22nd so thats where the 4 days comes from the FEB will be included

So what you're trying to say is that if it only "officially" came out on the 22nd, then they would not be counting any "unofficial" sales before the "official" release?

That's exactly why we need clarification.

 

[Stumpokapow]

FF X-2 opened at 402k

While true, that was also 3 years before the generation waned, on a significantly smaller install base, on a single console, with a lower development cost, and it got to 1.6 million in the US in the end--something that isn't even remotely possible with 13-2 (especially given FF13's poor legs compared to FF10's legs)

People think their dislike of x game (isn't tied to FF, either) means it bombed/needs to die/whatever. There has been plenty of good thoughtful posts about the reality around 13-2 by others in this thread but that can't change someone's opinion.

Yeah Kagari is a big FF hater, FF13 in particular.

 

[frankie_baby]

So what you're trying to say is that if it only "officially" came out on the 22nd, then they would not be counting any "unofficial" sales before the "official" release?

That's exactly why we need clarification.

its npd, they are counting sales for february, all vitas sold in february will be counted

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Short of getting an updated Vita number, I'll probably use 225K for the Vita for prediction results. That'd make this month's hardware totals ...

360: 426K (42% of console sales)
PS3: ~360K (from math)
3DS: 262K
WII: 228K
PSVita: 220-230K (NPD PR, Nintendo PR, math)
NDS: 135K


PS3 Twisted Metal - 221K


Can a mod update the OP?

PSV number is about 10k too high by my reckoning.

 

[BassForever]

Even if we assume FEB isn't included, how many more sales are we expecting to add? Do we have any idea how many FEB were sold/available?

 

[bigtroyjon]

Article about results, only thing I didn't see mentioned

Game software sales were $485.7 million, down 24 percent. NPD estimates consumers spent another $500 million to $600 million on digitally disributed games, rentals, subscriptions, add-on content and used games during the month.

 

[donny2112]

PSV number is about 10k too high by my reckoning.

Someone with access to numbers confirmed the range, so it should be good. Vita is 25% of January's numbers, and with Nintendo's PR this month, we can back fit Wii, 3DS, and NDS numbers for January, just leaving PS2/PSP as unknowns. The range comes from the uncertainty in those two for January.

 

[Skiesofwonder]

:lol @ at anyone thinking the FEB sales are not included. Why in the hell would they NOT be included? FEB 22nd was the official release so therefore Vita has "4" days of sales.

 

[Fantastical]

Why are people acting like RE:R ever had a chance at making the top 10?

 

[Metallix87]

Why are people acting like RE:R ever had a chance at making the top 10?

Because it did have a chance? Anything can have a chance of charting.

 

[timetokill]

No surprise that Revelaitons bombed. Resident Evil may be an extremely popular brand and all these days, but the audience simply isn't on the 3DS. It wasn't going to sell that well regardless of brand recognition and high reviews. I don't think Capcom should be too worried though. With ORC and RE6 both coming out and on more appropriate platforms, the Resident Evil brand should still manage to perform well this year.

The audience has to be built, and if it is, Capcom will reap the rewards. Such is the case with all platforms.

 

[donny2112]

Question:
Were the FEB sales included for February's Vita total?

Answer:
If they were sold at a tracked retailer in the NPD monthly period, they were tracked. The only way they would not be included is if someone forgot to add them together with the systems sold after Feb. 22. NPD definitely tracked their sale, though.

 

[Basch]

Was hoping to see numbers for XIII-2. Only game I really care about this month. Maybe Golden Abyss, but I'm still relatively early into that game. Think Square will make a XIII-3? I'm sure they're seeing quite a return with this one. They're using the same engine after all.

 

[maabus1999]

Bingo.

So basically XIII-2 sold right in line with X-2...yet supposedly that means it was a terrible flop.

Installment base needs to be accounted for but I agree it isn't horrible, but can be said to be disappointing in an age of much higher software sales.

 

[Kagari]

FFX-2 reached 1.6 million LTD... I don't see 13-2 getting anywhere near that considering 13 itself is at 1.8 million.

 

[Opiate]

The audience has to be built, and if it is, Capcom will reap the rewards. Such is the case with all platforms.

I'm very skeptical that the audience can be easily built on the 3DS, however. I feel that much of the audience we're talking about (Dudebro / early 20s males) are very averse to handheld and portable gaming. If there is one audience who seems particularly and emphatically tied to their 50'' Plasma TVs, it is the Dudebro audience.

That does not mean that building the audience would be impossible, just that it's a more difficult task for a system like the 3DS than it is for a system like the PS3.

 

[mclaren777]

Ugh. I need to stop looking at NPD data because it only makes me sad for the state of this industry.

 

[Skiesofwonder]

Why are people acting like RE:R ever had a chance at making the top 10?

I think people are more concerned at the <135k. If it sold over 100k then it had a decent opening but anything less would be disappointing. Either way I imagine it should have strong legs.

 

[donny2112]

I'm very skeptical that the audience can be easily built on the 3DS, however.

Yeah, handhelds won't be replacing consoles in the West, anytime soon. Much better picture, by the way. Not as menacing.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Someone with access to numbers confirmed the range, so it should be good. Vita is 25% of January's numbers, and with Nintendo's PR this month, we can back fit Wii, 3DS, and NDS numbers for January, just leaving PS2/PSP as unknowns. The range comes from the uncertainty in those two for January.

No worries. Thread moves too fast to follow on a mobile and I missed the confirmation.

 

[Cipherr]

Besides being the next game of a huge franchise?

Whats with people pretending RE:Revelations was RE:6? I noticed this back in the Media Create threads around launch too. People were like "RE:R should do at least 600k or so or its totally bombing" when those are the numbers the MAINLINE entries do, not the spinoffs.

 

[burgerdog]

FFX-2 reached 1.6 million LTD... I don't see 13-2 getting anywhere near that considering 13 itself is at 1.8 million.

Did they seriously think that they were going to sell enough to make a sequel and justify that "to be continued" ending? So stupid, they're probably scrambling to make the Lightning dlc a full on closure episode now.

 

[Stumpokapow]

FFX-2 reached 1.6 million LTD... I don't see 13-2 getting anywhere near that considering 13 itself is at 1.8 million.

FF13 First Month to Final Sales: +35% (1.33 million to 1.8 million)
FF13-2 with same +35% figure: 472k
FF10-2 First Month to Final Sales: +300% (0.4 million to 1.6 million)
FF13-2 with +300% figure (which absolutely isn't going to happen): 1.4 million
FF10 LTD in US ~2.5 million. FF10-2 to FF10 sales ratio: 64%.
FF13-2 assuming same sales ratio to FF13 as FF10-2 to FF10 (which absolutely isn't going to happen): 1.15 million

 

[Basch]

Ugh. I need to stop looking at NPD data because it only makes me sad for the state of this industry.

A lot of sales come from digital content. NPD is only tracking physical. Granted, physical is probably vastly larger than digital sales, but I'm sure Steam, XBL, and PSN help out a lot.

 

[kfpkiller]

Why are people acting like RE:R ever had a chance at making the top 10?

Why wouldn't it have a chance?
It's considered a mainline game in a franchise where the last game sold more than a million units in its first month.
And it launched with no competition on 3ds.

 

[Brazil]

:lol @ at anyone thinking the FEB sales are not included. Why in the hell would they NOT be included? FEB 22nd was the official release so therefore Vita has "4" days of sales.

FEB numbers are the new digital sales.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

FF X-2 opened at 402k

That's actually...not that big of a drop off. But I agree with above, it's never going to sell 1.5 million in the US.

Handheld sales at 500k combined with the biggest games floating around 100k is decent, but really concerning for this market considering the DS used to do this by itself.

Software still sucks shit, Mass Effect 3 and Street Fighter x Tekken better put some asses in seats or everyone is going to bail out for the Wii U and smartphones before the end of the year. Raccoon City, Armored Core, Ninja Gaiden, Tales of Graces, and Silent Hill are going to bomb oh so badly.

I think people are more concerned at the <135k. If it sold over 100k then it had a decent opening but anything less would be disappointing. Either way I imagine it should have strong legs.

RE5 didn't have particularly strong legs in the states, did it?

Edit 3:

Is this the first month on record where digital sales > retail sales overall?

 

[frankie_baby]

Whats with people pretending RE:Revelations was RE:6? I noticed this back in the Media Create threads around launch too. People were like "RE:R should do at least 600k or so or its totally bombing" when those are the numbers the MAINLINE entries do, not the spinoffs.

when all is said and done i'll probably post a healthy woldwide ltd for a resi spinoff though it would help if we knew what it launched at in the us

 

[maabus1999]

Saw someone quote Anita Fraser say that without Vita, sales increased 62% and increased 87% with it implies that it comprised 15% of February sales after doing a bit of algebra.

Assuming zero sales for PSP and PS2, that works out at around 212k.

Assuming 75k sales for the PSP/PS2 yields about 220k.

Decimals matter at this level, so make sure you use the actual 15.4%

 

[Sammy Samusu]

I'm expecting Capcom to report good numbers for Resident Evil Revelations (I MUST BELIEVE).

Mercenaries shipped 400k in less than one month.

http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/data/pdf/explanation/2011/1st/explanation_2011_1st_01.pdf

 

[ZZMitch]

Props to Amalur! I am really excited for a sequel!

 

[Fantastical]

Because it did have a chance? Anything can have a chance of charting.

Um, really? Okay, let me rephrase. -_-

Why are people thinking that realistically RE:R ever had a chance? Even with the RE name it's a 3rd party M-rated horror game on a Nintendo handheld trying to sell in North America. Nintendo built the audience in NA on Mario and Mario Kart.

Why wouldn't it have a chance?
It's considered a mainline game in a franchise where the last game sold more than a million units in its first month.
And it launched with no competition on 3ds.

360/PS3 and 3DS markets are extremely different in North America. Keep in mind that Capcom also reduced the price by $10 before it released which was the first sign that preorders were not where they wanted them to be.

 

[SykoTech]

I'm very skeptical that the audience can be easily built on the 3DS, however. I feel that much of the audience we're talking about (Dudebro / early 20s males) are very averse to handheld and portable gaming. If there is one audience who seems particularly and emphatically tied to their 50'' Plasma TVs, it is the Dudebro audience.

That does not mean that building the audience would be impossible, just that it's a more difficult task for a system like the 3DS than it is for a system like the PS3.

Yep, couldn't have said it better myself. I guess if they were to advertise it to hell in back, they could build up a decent audience on the 3DS. But I don't think they could ever hope to come even close to how well the series performs on the PS3 and 360.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

FFX-2 reached 1.6 million LTD... I don't see 13-2 getting anywhere near that considering 13 itself is at 1.8 million.

I think it should be said that the majority of the masses hadn't been introduced to the Bioware and Bethesda RPGs yet. They make the preeminent RPGs now. I get every FF at launch, but that is me. I grew up playing their Secret of Manas and Super Mario RPGs. The Square I grew up knowing is different than the Square now.

 

[rockx4]

:lol @ at anyone thinking the FEB sales are not included. Why in the hell would they NOT be included? FEB 22nd was the official release so therefore Vita has "4" days of sales.

Not surprised people are saying that. I still remember when people were saying 1.2m didn't include launch units, and only FEB bundles due to "misleading wording" lol.

 

[Nirolak]

Okay, OP updated.

 

[Kagari]

I think it should be said that the majority of the masses hadn't been introduced to the Bioware and Bethesda RPGs yet. They make the preeminent RPGs now. I get every FF at launch, but that is me. I grew up playing their Secret of Manas and Super Mario RPGs. The Square I grew up knowing is different than the Square now.

FFX was also very much loved by fans whereas FFXIII was not.

 

[Stumpokapow]

RE5 didn't have particularly strong legs in the states, did it?

Looks like opening month was 1523k and and lifetime is 2600k+ (I don't think the lifetime figures include gold edition, someone with access can verify this for me).

 

[frankie_baby]

I'm expecting Capcom to report good numbers for Resident Evil Revelations (I MUST BELIEVE).

Mercenaries shipped 400k in less than one month.

http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/data/pdf/explanation/2011/1st/explanation_2011_1st_01.pdf

thats shipped worldwide, its pretty likely that revelaitions has SOLD noticably more than that so far

 

[SteeloDMZ]

when all is said and done i'll probably post a healthy woldwide ltd for a resi spinoff though it would help if we knew what it launched at in the us

Revelations is not a "spinoff game".

 

[frankie_baby]

Revelations is not a "spinoff game".

to the buying public if you dont stick a number on it its a spin off

 

[Petrichor]

Wait, so 221k is good for a major AAA first party console exclusive now?

So was too human a massive success then?

 

[maabus1999]

Okay, OP updated.

That 218K number I came up assumed no PSP/PS2 sales (which is of course incorrect). After giving an assumption range including possible PSP/PS2 sales (218-230K), I believe Donny and the rest of the crew decided on using 225K for Vita sales.