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

gaming_noob

Member
The Microsoft war chest is why the Zune beat the iPod, and why we all use Windows Phones, and...lol.

That argument needs to die.

Microsoft's war chest should be used to create a better tech team. If their next console isn't more powerful than Sony's I think they may as well bail out of the videogame market.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Microsoft's war chest should be used to create a better tech team. If their next console isn't more powerful than Sony's I think they may as well bail out of the videogame market.

That was twice as egregious i agree. I was expecting MS to come out of the gate strong with atleast a 2.5 TFLOP GPU and a super strong CPU because that's what Cliffy B and the rest of the guys at Epic(MS's buddy last gen) were begging for with all their tech demos and bragging about UE4.

But instead they didn't even try. They spent a paltry amount of money on the overall costs, and what money they did have, was a useless camera nobody cared about that added a hundred to the overall unit cost.

I was understanding of Sony not being able to loss lead anymore because of their financial reality and what they learned from PS3, but for all of MS's "war chest" talk, they are far more cheapskate considering how much money they have in the bank.
 

erawsd

Member
So is it accepted that PS4 pulled out another 80k lead over Xbone in Feb? What's the latest?

Looking at the release schedule, this looks like continuing next month (Bloodborne) and all the way til September at least. I bet MS wishes these months didn't exist as they got no software advantage outside Holiday period.

Yeah, I could def see that. MS really doesnt have anything in this half of the year except a marketing deal with Witcher and I doubt a PC centric, single player rpg is going to have much influence over the market.
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
wow, great reaction for Nintendo from the N3DS launch! good to see the portable side of gaming being able to stay relevant in the West, also with breaking record debut for Zelda (on portables, at the top of the chart) and MH (in general).
Still strong PS4 performance.
Wii U still low, but at least it seems less dead than before, and considering that there was no price cut, I woner if N will note how they were ate least be able to increase their performances thanks to great software, such as MK and Smash. Good amiibo sales too.
 

JaggedSac

Member
Also the "war chest" means nothing if stakeholders/shareholders don't feel at all confident in pushing money into a division that loses money hand over fist in a market that they can't see the ares of growth in. I'm sure tons of outsiders would like to see nothing more than the Xbox division destroyed and MS invested into the way bigger money makers like emulating apple or mobile phones or something like that

Hand over fist? Financial reports don't paint that picture.
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
Assuming that every November, Sony allows Microsoft to undercut them with price and value? Sure. I find it unlikely that Sony won't do more to counter in upcoming holiday seasons though.

I would have agreed with you a week ago.

But with uncharted delayed, I'm not so sure anymore.

I have a gut feeling we're gonna have a repeat of holiday 2014. Except this time Ms is gonna have Halo 5 and tomb raider.

We'll see what Sony has for e3, but right now it seems like nothing, which is even worse than last year. At least last year they had lpb3.
 
Microsoft's war chest should be used to create a better tech team. If their next console isn't more powerful than Sony's I think they may as well bail out of the videogame market.
They appear to be making money 91st the moment why would they leave. Just cos another company is temporarily making more?
 
Mistake of letting Microsoft catch up (slightly) in the US, Microsoft biggest market where they should have destroyed them if they were serious.

I have a feeling that will happen this year.

Sony will win every NPD up until November again, accruing possibly a 1.2m gap, and MS will try to perform another holiday blitz, likely with some Halo 5 bundle.

Until then, Sony will likely ride the $399 train, then right on top of Halo 5, I think Sony will announce an official drop to $299, utterly mercy-killing the competition and solidifying their grip on NA.
 
Hand over fist? Financial reports don't paint that picture.

Sadly the Microsoft financial reports don't paint any kind of picture. They have completely obfuscated division level operating profit to the extent that it is now impossible to see whether Xbox makes or loses money.
 

redcrayon

Member
Conventional wisdom dictates that they ditch Nintendo and the fanbase they have built up on Nintendo systems to make a super high budget PS4 game.
It's probably going to happen too.
Depends on what deal they have with Nintendo- I imagine they are contributing an awful lot of the marketing expenses overseas. Seeing as Nintendo are likely to release another handheld and Sony aren't, and they don't want to split the player base, perhaps it makes more sense to continue to release a portable version of MH5 on Nintendo's next handheld, and then follow that up with a console/handheld multiplat version of the later expanded edition for the west. A bit like Toukiden, perhaps. Anything they can do to help people play together across WiiU/3DS or PS4/Vita would be cool too, letting console and handheld players hunt together would be in the interest of the franchise long term.

It's interesting to see Monster Hunter gradually getting it's teeth into the west. It's been limping after that prize like a wounded Great Jaggi for so long :D
 
Fuck, I'm just glad that this isn't another "the data I cherry-picked shows that the current consoles are selling less than the last gen did, RIP CONSOLE GAMING" NPD thread.
 

JaggedSac

Member
Sadly the Microsoft financial reports don't paint any kind of picture. They have completely obfuscated division level operating profit to the extent that it is now impossible to see whether Xbox makes or loses money.

Well, the two divisions that Xbox is tallied in, haven't been in the red recently as far as I can recall. Hand over fist would imply that scenario. Especially when that would rely on other things in the divisions to prop it up. But then again, maybe Surface Pros are doing just that.
 
MSFT PR Report:
MSFT PR Report:
“Xbox One’s fan base continues to grow with record February sales in the U.S. for Xbox One and 84 percent more consoles sold compared to January 2015. In February 2015, fans spent an average of 74 hours on Xbox Live in the U.S. – three times the amount of hours the average user spends on social networks*. And, Xbox Live set new records, quadrupling global gaming hours on Xbox One and Xbox 360 in February 2015 compared to February 2014. We are grateful to our fans for choosing to play on Xbox One. Offerings and experiences will continue to expand with Xbox One and 'Halo: The Master Chief Collection' available together for $349, new games launching this month including 'ScreamRide' and 'Ori and the Blind Forest,' hundreds of new ID@Xbox games in development, and plans to make gaming even better on Windows 10 and Xbox.” – Mike Nichols, Corporate Vice President, Xbox Marketing, Microsoft

So is this 84% increase just for the xbox one? Or does it include the 360?
 
Microsoft's war chest should be used to create a better tech team. If their next console isn't more powerful than Sony's I think they may as well bail out of the videogame market.

Microsoft's war chest is offset by their greed. The mandatory Xbox Live Gold subscription model gave them hundred of dollars for each console owner. They pocketed some and used the rest to buy limited time exclusivity on many third party games. Now Sony has that same revenue stream and the advantage is negated. Are they going to cut their profitability to increase their market share? Too late this gen.
 

driver116

Member
I have a feeling that will happen this year.

Sony will win every NPD up until November again, accruing possibly a 1.2m gap, and MS will try to perform another holiday blitz, likely with some Halo 5 bundle.

Until then, Sony will likely ride the $399 train, then right on top of Halo 5, I think Sony will announce an official drop to $299, utterly mercy-killing the competition and solidifying their grip on NA.

They'll likely have Halo, Forza, TR and maybe FIFA bundles. These will sell incredibly well.
 

Occam

Member
What's so funny about MS PR?
They sold better compare to same month last year, without any big exclusive, that's some positive news right?

What's funny is that they have stopped using real numbers and providing an actual frame of reference a long time ago.
X% better means nothing. They might as well not post anything. What they are doing is frankly ridiculous.
 

Man

Member
Microsoft's war chest should be used to create a better tech team. If their next console isn't more powerful than Sony's I think they may as well bail out of the videogame market.
All signs pointing to Sony letting Mark Cerny head the PS5 design as well (he wants to!). Looking at the open-source libraries used to build the PS4 OS and the elegance of the hardware... coupled with Vulkan API being ready and Sony getting VR experience with Morpheus. The PS5 will likely be hard to beat on the day of its release.
 
The Microsoft war chest is why the Zune beat the iPod, and why we all use Windows Phones, and...lol.

That argument needs to die.

I know right? I keep hearing that ms could beat the ps4 with all the money they have. Yea like they beat Apple on the iPod, iPad and iPhone. iPhone alone is making more money than all of Microsoft combined. I'm sure that iPod (lol) is making more money than sony.
 

Oregano

Member
Depends on what deal they have with Nintendo- I imagine they are contributing an awful lot of the marketing expenses overseas. Seeing as Nintendo are likely to release another handheld and Sony aren't, and they don't want to split the player base, perhaps it makes more sense to continue to release a portable version of MH5 on Nintendo's next handheld, and then follow that up with a console/handheld multiplat version of the later expanded edition for the west. A bit like Toukiden, perhaps. Anything they can do to help people play together across WiiU/3DS or PS4/Vita would be cool too, letting console and handheld players hunt together would be in the interest of the franchise long term.

It's interesting to see Monster Hunter gradually getting it's teeth into the west. It's been limping after that prize like a wounded Great Jaggi for so long :D

Well Nintendo distributed and advertised everything since Tried so they are obviously supportive.

Tri U already had cross play and cross save. Of course if Nintendo's next systems work like iOS/Android that will be solved for them.

EDIT: It's important to note that MH4U still grew from 3U despite being 3DS only.
 
I know right? I keep hearing that ms could beat the ps4 with all the money they have. Yea like they beat Apple on the iPod, iPad and iPhone. iPhone alone is making more money than all of Microsoft combined. I'm sure that iPod (lol) is making more money than sony.
*sigh*

SSD tech needs to hurry so we can get iPods with iPod Classic storage space so I can stop worrying about the day when my 160GB Classic's platter drive fails.

The 16GB Nano and 32GB Touch just won't cut it.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Let's get a bit deeper into those amiibo numbers

Amiibo shipment WW up to December 31st, 2014 - 5,700,000

33l.jpg


Amiibo shipment in US + Canada up to December 31st, 2014 (63% of overall) - 3,591,000

This is a pie chart indicating the regional shipment breakdown of amiibo from its launch until the sixth week of this calendar year.
As you can see at a glance, the sector in red representing the U.S. and Canada accounts for a significant portion: 63 percent. The sell-through proportion of the total shipment is approximately 70 percent in each of Japan, U.S. and Canada, and Europe while it reaches 90 percent in Australia

Amiibo sell-through in US + Canada up to December 31st, 2014 - 2,513,700

Hypotesis (backed by older data): Split between US and Canada for sales: 90% - 10%

Amiibo (hypotetical) sell-through in US up to December 31st, 2014 - 2,262,330

Amiibo sell-through in US up to February 28th, 2014 - 3,500,000

Amiibo (hypotetical) sell-through in US in Jan-Feb - 1,237,670
 

jcm

Member
Did we get any hints of the last-gen numbers? Are PS3/360/Wii so negligible they aren't worth discussing? At this point of the last generation PS2 was still very successful (352K in February 2008). The legs of the seventh generation consoles have been surprisingly (to me) bad.

In happier news, the Powerhouse™ has roared into the lead against the PSP! Can't wait to see if it can compete this year.

Code:
           3DS 2015    PSP 2009    NDS 2009
January          74         172         511
February        395         199         588
 
Ah the hypothetical war chest makes a returning mention. All of Microsoft's money means nothing if they don't have a clear vision. I still believe they don't have a clear vision as to what they are trying to market.

The longer that the PS4 stays in the black, the better it will be for Sony to safeguard. Theoretically, nothing can stop the Microsoft war chest. That doesn't mean you go all-in early, when you have a clear advantage and are actually making money in your financially troubled company. Sony shareholders may not be thoroughly impressed with Sony "stomping" Microsoft if the company is financially unhealthy. Hell, Microsoft shareholders supposedly weren't happy with the Xbox division bleeding money and they have a war chest.

The assumption that Microsoft "putting the foot down" will automatically mean Sony can do nothing is equally short-sighted.

I don't think MS knows where they are going with the Bone either. The question is whether Sony taking a financial hit in the here and now (or more accurately, last Holiday period) by value matching the XB1 would reap longer-term benefits as it would have stopped MS gaining a foothold in NA again.

Let's not forget before MS took its own financial hit to claw back some marketshare, Sony was looking like running away with the US market. Because Sony instead sat back and ate up profits, the talk is now not about them running away with the lead, but instead how much Xbone can shrink the gap this year. Either way, I'm not saying Sony's strategy over the Holiday period was wrong, just that there is an argument for why letting MS cut the gap could prove to be misguided.

That was twice as egregious i agree. I was expecting MS to come out of the gate strong with atleast a 2.5 TFLOP GPU and a super strong CPU because that's what Cliffy B and the rest of the guys at Epic(MS's buddy last gen) were begging for with all their tech demos and bragging about UE4.

But instead they didn't even try. They spent a paltry amount of money on the overall costs, and what money they did have, was a useless camera nobody cared about that added a hundred to the overall unit cost.

I was understanding of Sony not being able to loss lead anymore because of their financial reality and what they learned from PS3, but for all of MS's "war chest" talk, they are far more cheapskate considering how much money they have in the bank.

I think that is slightly wide of the mark. Sure, they didn't spend astronomical amounts on the R&D of the hardware, but make no bones about it, the Xbone is a billion dollar product if you look at marketing costs, software development, software partnerships, etc.

The main reason why I believe the console's sales should be seen as absolutely woeful is precisely because of its budget. We're looking at only 10.5-11m sales after 16 months on sale worldwide despite $billions investment. Compare it with other products with budgets in the same ballpark (there aren't many), and you'd be looking at something like the iPad which enjoys 5x the sales each year.
 
3DSus leading as it should, the best platform to game on. Tons of great, exclusive games.

Then we have the best Zelda game selling incredibly well, and Monster Hunter appearing on a mainstream chart with 300k sold in 2 weeks.

What kinda dream?

ibsk7T0eM03HvT.gif
 

Apt101

Member
The talk on Sony price drops - they still have that huge bundle out there, which kind of helps to reduce the price. I just ordered my nephews one from Amazon, for $399 they're getting the console and three games: TLoU, inFAMOUS, and Killzone. It's not huge considering a few of those games can be had for like $25 each, but still.
 
$299 with no exclusive ? against Halo and TR? good luck with that.

People been saying the PS4 has no games for a long time and it is still selling damn well. Cut the price by $100 and even without games it will sell. Hell MGSV comes out in September! Most people associate Metal Gear with Playstation anyway!
 

Catdaddy

Member
MSFT PR Report:

“Xbox One’s fan base continues to grow with record February sales in the U.S. for Xbox One and 84 percent more consoles sold compared to January 2015. In February 2015, fans spent an average of 74 hours on Xbox Live in the U.S. – three times the amount of hours the average user spends on social networks*. And, Xbox Live set new records, quadrupling global gaming hours on Xbox One and Xbox 360 in February 2015 compared to February 2014. We are grateful to our fans for choosing to play on Xbox One. Offerings and experiences will continue to expand with Xbox One and 'Halo: The Master Chief Collection' available together for $349, new games launching this month including 'ScreamRide' and 'Ori and the Blind Forest,' hundreds of new ID@Xbox games in development, and plans to make gaming even better on Windows 10 and Xbox.” – Mike Nichols, Corporate Vice President, Xbox Marketing, Microsoft

g4oaeih.gif
 
Well, the two divisions that Xbox is tallied in, haven't been in the red recently as far as I can recall. Hand over fist would imply that scenario. Especially when that would rely on other things in the divisions to prop it up. But then again, maybe Surface Pros are doing just that.

Microsoft only reports gross profit at the division level, it is basically impossible to know whether their hardware division makes money as operating costs are not included in the figures.
 

Portugeezer

Member
Sony will be outselling the XB1 in North America all year at $400 until the holiday season, then I think they will do some deals if not drop the price by $50 (which is reasonable after 2 years).
 
$299 with no exclusive ? against Halo and TR? good luck with that.

No but the question is this: will those games encourage Xbox fans to spend three times the amount of hours the average user spends on social networks? If not, they can pack it up, PS4 won't need any exclusives to counter.
 

Man

Member
The PS4 at $299 will be unbeatable even if lacking a major fall exclusive (but hey! At least it has a great spring exclusive in Bloodborne!).
I'm not saying this will move units but most likely Sony will position Uncharted Trilogy Remastered w/UC4 Beta as their November title (aping last years Master Chief Collection).
 
No but the question is this: will those games encourage Xbox fans to spend three times the amount of hours the average user spends on social networks? If not, they can pack it up, PS4 won't need any exclusives to counter.
You sound like Mike Nichols, my favorite Corporate Vice President of Xbox Marketing*

*Microsoft
 

Javin98

Banned
Assuming that there will be no exclusives released on PS4 this holiday season (there will likely be at least one) and Sony drops the price to $299, I can easily see a PS4 and MGS5/Batman Arkham Knight bundle for $299 and a PS4, TLOU:R, Bloodborne and The Order 1886 bundle for $349 during the Black Friday week and possibly going into December as well. Just my two cents of course. I could be WAY off
 

Pociask

Member
Sorry if this has already been discussed, but did anyone else find this bit of the Nintendo PR report odd?

Life-to-date sales of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and amiibo have surpassed 1.5 million total units and 3.5 million figures, respectively, an attach rate of nearly 2.5 amiibo figures per game unit sold.

I know that the amiibo's have primarily (only? Not sure when the Mario Party amiibos launched) been for the Smash Bros. line, but does it even make sense to talk about a Smash Bros. Wii U / Amiibo tie ratio? Presumably the market for amiibo's is Nintendo fans, not Smash Bros. Wii U owners (or even if you're going to use a more narrow definition, you'd have to include Smash Bros. 3DS). Anyway, the sweet Toon Link sitting on my desk tells me I can't be the only one that has an amiibo but not the new Smash.
 
Assuming that there will be no exclusives released on PS4 this holiday season (there will likely be at least one) and Sony drops the price to $299, I can easily see a PS4 and MGS5/Batman Arkham Knight bundle for $299 and a PS4, TLOU:R, Bloodborne and The Order 1886 bundle for $349 during the Black Friday week and possibly going into December as well. Just my two cents of course. I could be WAY off

Idk about MGS5, but everything else you said seems reasonable.
 
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