NPD Sales Results for February 2015 [Nintendo Numbers, Majora's, MH4, ~XB1]

Regarding The Order, I think people are forgetting that profit margins for first party titles are nearly twice as high as third party, Sony is the publisher & they own the platform so they don't have to pay any licensing fees. So if a third party game needs to sell 1.5 million to be profitable, a first party game with a similar budget would need to sell ~750k to be profitable.

Not that it matters to me anyway since I haven't played the game & I'm not invested in it, I just thought that everybody was glossing over that fact.
 
Every once in a while, this industry shocks me in a good way. Most certainly would not have expected Majora's Mask -- Majora's Fucking Mask the number-one selling game in February, 2015 -- or Monster Hunter to chart as they did, but it's great to see. Pleasantly surprised that Capcom's insistence on turning Monster Hunter into a North American "thing" seems to be working out, even somewhat.

This isn't talked about enough, but yes, Capcom's producers are very smart to not give up on Monster Hunter in America.

The smart money told them to stop a long time ago, that MH would never succeed in America, that it's a Japanese series with a Japanese mentality that can't find a foothold in this new, modern game industry. And 300k isn't the biggest deal in the world, they're at least at the ballgame, which very few people could have predicted five years ago.

I think one question to consider now is this - what do you do with Monster Hunter in America now? We forget that this is MH4 2nd Edition. We didn't get MH4 The First. Is this the new gameplan for America, wait for the revision and release that? Or release the first one, then release the revision? Is that something that will fly in the west?

It's at the ballgame, now there's a lot more questions that need to be answered about the future of the series outside of Japan.
 
Sony will maximize profits with PS4. The company really needs make money and they are in a comfortable position this gen.

I expect only a $50 drop on second half of the year. $299 with first hardware revision.

Agreed. Sony recently detailed their plan for FY2017 and set themselves some pretty aggressive targets.

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Targeting to double game business margins from current 3% to 6% by FY2017 < In order to achieve such margins said they will emphasize more on PS+ and digital (increasing ARPU)


Really don't see them focusing much on hardware, software is where the money.
 
All this talk about Battlefront... yet i somehow get the feeling that it will end up getting delayed...

There is no chance that their big Star Wars shooter misses Christmas.

Especially with the movie coming out in mid-December. The game will ship completely broken if they have to get it on shelves in time.
 
So the numbers are held for ransom. Maybe we should try to free them. :P

I get them charging for the numbers. It takes a lot of work to get all the info. It also takes working with retailers, possibly even paying them fees. Its hard to hold it against them for charging for the info.
 
Almost 300k for the opening of a new MH game... who whould have though that. The game might reach the million mark in the West alone before the year ends.
 
Microsoft has Halo 5 and CoD, so this Battlefront deal with Sony makes sense.

Even with that I think Sony needs a big exclusive now that Uncharted 4 was delayed. MS is bringing big guns for holidays.

I don't think Sony is planning to win. Just minimizing the loses.
 
I knew MH would do well once they added a proper online component and released it on a relatively healthy system. It needed online to have any chance of decent survival.
 
not sure why do you guys think that Bloodborne wont sell more than 200k... it has potential to do a lot more, a lot of hardcore gamers on PS4 right now, Bloodborne is a perfect fit.
 
I get them charging for the numbers. It takes a lot of work to get all the info. It also takes working with retailers, possibly even paying them fees. Its hard to hold it against them for charging for the info.

They used to release number for hardware + top 10 software publicly years ago. Numbers even used to get posted on popular sites like Gamespot and IGN

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/np...illion-halo-3-sells-482-million/1100-6184847/

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sept-us-game-sales-nearly-flat-ps3-beats-wii-360-npd/1100-6237093/

They stopped releasing numbers to public not because of money, but because publishers themselves asked them to do so.
 
Bloodborne and the Order are so weirdly timed.

Why did Sony release two Victorian-themed hardcore games right next to each other? Which one was this supposed to benefit? Why did the one that was going to clearly review worse come out first?
 
There is no chance that their big Star Wars shooter misses Christmas.

Especially with the movie coming out in mid-December. The game will ship completely broken if they have to get it on shelves in time.

They're probably just going to slap Star Wars on their Battlefield engine. That might mean 900p PS4, 720p XBO again. But yeah, that game won't get delayed. No matter what. It's one of those licensed "must release on time" games.
 
Bloodborne and the Order are so weirdly timed.

Why did Sony release two Victorian-themed hardcore games right next to each other? Which one was this supposed to benefit? Why did the one that was going to clearly review worse come out first?

Well I mean releasing your worse product first makes sense if you assume that people wouldn't care as much about The Order if it had released after Bloodbourne.
 
Is this good for a Monster Hunter game in North America? I hope so; I've been playing MH4U with some friends online and it's pretty great. Would be nice if Capcom had a little more confidence for this series outside of Japan. A Wii U release would be pretty excellent, too...
 
The Order was scheduled to release holiday 2014, but it got delayed.

It's not like they came from different publishers and games don't have to come out by a certain date or they'll no longer be fresh.

The only thing I can think of is that they couldn't delay either past the financial year, but it's such a weird grouping. Someone didn't think this through.
 
They're probably just going to slap Star Wars on their Battlefield engine. That might mean 900p PS4, 720p XBO again. But yeah, that game won't get delayed. No matter what. It's one of those licensed "must release on time" games.

I would hope Dice could make some improvements in 2 years. I didn't expect much from Hardline.
 
It's not like they came from different publishers and games don't have to come out by a certain date or they'll no longer be fresh.

The only thing I can think of is that they couldn't delay either past the financial year, but it's such a weird grouping. Someone didn't think this through.

The delay for The Order is irrelevant, considering it took 5 years to make.
 
It's not like they came from different publishers and games don't have to come out by a certain date or they'll no longer be fresh.

The only thing I can think of is that they couldn't delay either past the financial year, but it's such a weird grouping. Someone didn't think this through.

It doesn't matter. No one is going to pass on Bloodborne because it has a similar aesthetic to The Order 188:.
 
The delay for The Order is irrelevant, considering it took 5 years to make.
I very much doubt it was in full production for 5 years. Just because they started on it 5 years ago doesn't mean that it was actively developed for 5 years. It was likely shelved for a while considering RADs other output.
 
Spreading titles across the whole year is the smart thing to do instead of just release games on holidays. It´s smart that Batman is releasing in June. It takes advantage of no big games coming out at the same time or soon after.

Well, it's not a Ninja Gaiden quality, but it's a solid game.

Of course not. GOW is a much better game ;)
 
Yes, we could be looking at the next Unity.
Or to be more brutally accurate: DICE's next game after Battlefield 4.

I hope this trend of greasing the wheels on third party train wrecks goes away in 2016. Reward the publishers that are putting out finished products.
 
I thought I've been playing Bloodbourne all this time but I've just checked after reading your post and it turns out I've been playing The Order.
 
I very much doubt it was in full production for 5 years. Just because they started on it 5 years ago doesn't mean that it was actively developed for 5 years. It was likely shelved for a while considering RADs other output.

It was still in preproduction as of E3 2013.
 
There is something to be said for smart brand distinction.

A TPS and RPG are pretty distinct. Do you really think that people who plan on buying Bloodborne won´t do it because because it´s in the same setting as the Order 1886?
Different genre make the distinction not the setting. Besides it´s how the 2 games will be marketed.
 
A TPS and RPG are pretty distinct. Do you really think that people who plan on buying Bloodborne won´t do it because because it´s in the same setting as the Order 1886?
Different genre make the distinction not the setting. Besides it´s how the 2 games will be marketed.
Setting fatigue is real for sure, but given the huge differences in genre, aesthetic, etc, you're right. I don't see any meaningful overlap.
 
Ground can't be lost before the Fall if the gap doesn't get as big as last year's.

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I don't know about August or September. August could see another Madden bundle (cheaper than PS4 unless PS4 gets a price drop by then) and September may see the release of Halo 5 (possible if MS doesn't want it to go against shooters in October/November).

Halo vs MGS in Sept? :lol
 
A TPS and RPG are pretty distinct. Do you really think that people who plan on buying Bloodborne won´t do it because because it´s in the same setting as the Order 1886?
Different genre make the distinction not the setting. Besides it´s how the 2 games will be marketed.

It's why Nintendo tries not to release two 2D platformers at once or how most third parties don't try to release two shooters at the same time.

It's just a dumb little thing that is probably not going to affect the sales of Bloodborne at all, but it's bad scheduling. There are degrees between "This doesn't exist at all" and "This is apocalyptic and will tank the game."
 
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