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NPD Sales Results for March 2009

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
joey_z said:
Didn't Microsoft pay Rockstar $50 million for extra content? Ouch.
Actually The Lost and Damned sold over a million copies. The poster you're quoting is referring to the DS game.
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
This one too - "There's no way to ever get that back, and the massive sales that would have benefited from it."

MASSIVE. SALES.

Come on, man. Just move on to talking about how InFamous is going to destroy Prototype and kick start sales.

Give me a freaking break. Don't even think about painting me as a fanboy. I think sales would have benefited massively if there was a massive campaign blowout like Halo 3. How's that fanboyish?

(for the record, InFamous will be crushed and wont chart at all, Prototype will do alright, and Heavy Rain wont do over 100k in it's first month.)
 

Rolf NB

Member
Updated
292mwie.png


edit: at this months' rate, the three systems are headed towards a 52.3:28.7:19.0 split.
 

Chrange

Banned
Cruzader said:
Are you saying Sony did infact market KZ2 well? Because thats an are they fail at, they have done it with previous games and KZ2 was the latest one. One thing that I like from MS over Sony is that they can market their games.

I picked up titles like Gears of War, Left 4 Dead, and Valkyria Chronicles without having heard of them...because I visit, like just about every single gamer I know...websites that review and preview games.

PS3 owners don't?

I could SWEAR Killzone 2 was on the cover of umpteen different magazines ever since E3 2005. That's not marketing?
 
Averon said:
This is probably going to be the case for every high profile PS3 game for now on. If it doesn't sell billion copies on NPD day, you going to have trolls saying " ha ha ha. It didn't save to PS3" or some trollish variation of that.

It's not GAF. Analysts like Pachter say this sort of thing all the time. Not saying that makes it accurate, but it's not just people pulling doo doo out of their poopies.
 

truly101

I got grudge sucked!
Considering the economic outlook in March was pretty pessimistic, no surprise that the PS3 would bear the brunt of that with its high price. All 3 sold less than February right? In any event, if Sony doesn't drop the price soon, they're going to have one hell of a time meeting expectations for 2009. April should be a bit better for all 3 consoles.
 

JudgeN

Member
Omar Ismail said:
People GROSSLY underestimate development and marketing costs.

100 people * $100K/year * 4 years = $40M right there
and for big budget titles marketing matches development costs.

O man we bringing out the fake and wrong salary numbers to estimate development cost.
 
Chichikov said:
The Wire was not canceled due to low ratings.
It ran its course, finished it stories and ended.

(I always wanted to post on an NPD thread, but fuck if I get down and dirty with the fanboys).

true but last 2 eps were cut because of budget constraints due to low ratings, sir. and welcome.
 
Once again, there's far more than enough PS3's out there for any AAA (or even a solid AA) title to sell just as well as it's 360 counterpart (or a system exclusive title), yet PS3 fans aren't supporting them the way they need to. I just don't understand it anymore. We occasionally see it here and there, but when a title should just be going gang busters in sales, it just does mediocre/lackluster sales.
 

.GqueB.

Banned
Stoney Mason said:
Why is PS3 software a slow burn compared to any other software?

As far as your other points I don't disagree. It's too expensive. It's always been too expensive. That's the joke.

When some of us said that though from day one we were told either that isn't true or that it will magically explode whenever a price drop happens.
Social stigma. I suggest...

And NONE of you will listen to me

you guys read the book Sway. You'll think its a book about gamers. Its explains that when people have made up their minds about something, its very hard to change their minds even when faced with cold hard facts.

For two years the PS3 had "no games" in the eyes of many gamers. TWO years. Its hard to shake that rather negative feeling a lot of people have about the PS3 because its so set in their minds. So people dont naturally go out and seek games on the PS3 because in the back of their minds theyre still thinking "It has no games". This is also why Multiplatform games are considered 360 exclusives.

There are many other questions that can be asked that are similar to this:

• Why do people only buy ipods when there are other cheaper better mp3 players on the market?

• Why do people still think the common cold is caused by the weather when it has been constantly proven otherwise?

I could go on and on (but I have to go to the bank)

Its all really there for you guys if you choose to stop and think things through.
 

AndresON777

shooting blanks
Agent Icebeezy said:
I think that the selling of GTA and Madworld or lackthereof is going to hold serious ramifications for those types of games on Nintendo consoles in the future.


Dude I hear talk about the wii everywhere and it's only 'wii fit is so fun I love the hula hoop game' or 'I love wii tennis'.

Also women rather play wii than watch tv because it's more interactive. It's a completely different market.
 

joey_z

Banned
Nirolak said:
Actually The Lost and Damned sold over a million copies. The poster you're quoting is referring to the DS game.

Haha. My bad. Does anyone know the percentages Microsoft and game developers pick up respectively from the revenue of a game?
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
Chrange said:
I picked up titles like Gears of War, Left 4 Dead, and Valkyria Chronicles without having heard of them...because I visit, like just about every single gamer I know...websites that review and preview games.

PS3 owners don't?

I could SWEAR Killzone 2 was on the cover of umpteen different magazines ever since E3 2005. That's not marketing?
No, that's not marketing. You really must live inside this bubble where all gamers read IGN/Gamespot and subscribe to magazines/buy them off the shelf.

I guess that's why we're seeing the surge of new gaming magazines lately! Wait...
 
billy.sea said:
Hopefully the DSi with its new users will bring Chinatown Wars to chart next month...


Do you really think that the DSi will bring in a substantial amount of new buyers? I always assumed the majority of the upgraders will be people who already own a DS, but have succumbed to the Ipod disease of having to buy every marginal upgrade a company shits out.
 

Scrubking

Member
Blu_LED said:
How is it not? Madworld is an amazing game, and from what I have heard GTA in one of the best handheld games ever made. Neither of them could sell more then 200K? Thats awful.

Has there ever been an M rated DS or Wii game that got into the top 10?

Because the idea that 3rd parties are eagerly standing by just waiting for sales data on one or two Wii games to bring or deny the AAA games is total BS. If that were true then the success of RE4, UC, NMH and WaW would have incited a flood of Wii game announcements and it hasn't happened.

I guess, but what about GTA? That game had the fucking Grand Theft Auto name attached to it. It blows my mind it didn't go over 200K.

Like I said in another thread. The game could be amazing, but you can't overlook the fact that the game resembles the old GTA games that no one cared about and were not popular. If the game looked like GTA3 or any other 3D GTA then there would have been much more interest.
 

mujun

Member
WinFonda said:
Killzone 2 sells 600k+ in NA and it's a failure.. on on GAF :lol

Also, since it probably needs to be said: KZ2 worldwide > Halo Wars worldwide.

a failure when compared to other games, no. when compared to expectations, id say yes.

why does it need to be said, what is the point?
 

deftangel

took a programming course
TTP said:
I have no idea how much it might have affected them, but I'm thinking Killzone 2 demo did more bad than good to sales.

Me too. Really enjoyed what I played at GC in Leipzig but the demo was terrible in comparison. On the other hand, playing MP at a mates was a lot of fun and I changed my mind again. Perhaps an MP demo would have been a better way to go.
 

Chichikov

Member
DevelopmentArrested said:
true but last 2 eps were cut because of budget constraints due to low ratings, sir. and welcome.
Really?
I was not aware of this fact.
It doesn’t really show, because the last two episodes are fucking fantastic.
 
Omar Ismail said:
People GROSSLY underestimate development and marketing costs.

100 people * $100K/year * 4 years = $40M right there
and for big budget titles marketing matches development costs.

Few companies in the industry have a 100k a year average salary. Many games only take 2 years to make. Few teams have 100 people in them. Only companies that can't run a development or bite off far more than they can chew make 40 million dollar games. Hell, Gears 1 took 3 years and had a team less than 50. Gears 2 took 20 months and had a team less than 100.

Marketing, Publsihing, Distribution, sure but game development alone isn't that expensive.
 

Averon

Member
chubigans said:
Give me a freaking break. Don't even think about painting me as a fanboy. I think sales would have benefited massively if there was a massive campaign blowout like Halo 3. How's that fanboyish?

(for the record, InFamous will be crushed and wont chart at all, Prototype will do alright, and Heavy Rain wont do over 100k in it's first month.)

Forgive me if my sarcasm detector is broken, but are you serious about that regarding InFamous? I can't possibly see InFamous not charting. I looks like a fun open-world game that should have appeal. As long as Sony doesn't do a stealth release, and it have decent ads (even of KZ2 caliber), it should have a better than decent chance of charting.
 

Cruzader

Banned
Chrange said:
I picked up titles like Gears of War, Left 4 Dead, and Valkyria Chronicles without having heard of them...because I visit, like just about every single gamer I know...websites that review and preview games.

PS3 owners don't?

I could SWEAR Killzone 2 was on the cover of umpteen different magazines ever since E3 2005. That's not marketing?

LOL

Sony started their KZ2 marketing way back in 05....:lol :lol :lol

Isnt that known as a teaser trailer?
 
ChrisGoldstein said:
Dude I hear talk about the wii everywhere and it's only 'wii fit is so fun I love the hula hoop game' or 'I love wii tennis'.

Also women rather play wii than watch tv because it's more interactive. It's a completely different market.


i still think alot of Wii users view it as a toy, not a video game system in the traditional sense. That is why the games with plastic junk packaged with them sell so well for it month after month.
 
Chichikov said:
Really?
I was not aware of this fact.
It doesn’t really show, because the last two episodes are fucking fantastic.

man! i fucked up.. no episode 13 is what i meant. but youre right. wire wasn't cancelled.
nevertheless my point that quality does not equate to sales and vice versa still stands!
 

Barrett2

Member
Y2Kev said:
Well, valve spent $10 million on marketing it. Just for that particular note. :D

Damn, I didn't realize L4D had that kind of advert cash behind it. Well, I guess lame marketing combined with insufficient marketing budgets will do it.

Plus, as someone with both consoles, the "isolation" I feel as I play my PS3 is so striking, the lack of effective community and online integration continues to amaze me. You feel so disconnected from the broader community, its not surprising more word of mouth doesn't spread.

Compare that with Halo 3, where I remember massive teamspeak chats with players talking about what games they were planning on getting next, etc....
 

Goldrusher

Member
2ajulae.png


PS3 + Killzone 2 in Europe: €399
PS3 + Killzone 2 in USA: $480*

* $399 + $59 + (average of) 5% sales tax​


Microsoft: bundles everything from Halo to Kung Fu Panda. Sales are good.
Nintendo: bundles everything from two year old Flash games to fitness instructions. Sales are good.
SCEE: bundles everything. Sales are good.
SCEJ: bundles everything. Sales are good.

SCEA: bundles nothing. Sales are bad.
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
It's not GAF. Analysts like Pachter say this sort of thing all the time. Not saying that makes it accurate, but it's not just people pulling doo doo out of their poopies.


Its Sony themselves who say such things also.

Sony Computer Entertainment America vice president of product marketing Scott Steinberg said:
"Starting with Killzone 2, we're going to arrest the momentum from competitors with titles like MLB 09: The Show, which some are calling the best sports title ever made," Steinberg told GameDaily.

Speaking of Killzone 2, Steinberg is feeling pretty good about the recent exclusive. So good, in fact, that he said, "It's an exclamation point that demonstrates the distance between the PS3 and other systems. The game is 40 gigs and could not be done on anything else. It will move people from the sidelines, and from what we've seen from blogs, will push 360 owners to try out the PS3. I think it's going to be a major launch for us and this historical PlayStation brand."
 
Finally people are buying the correct baseball game. 2k9 is actually down this year compared to last. As it should be.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K9 Mar09 205K
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K8 Mar08 237.1K
 

jibblypop

Banned
The sales this month can only be interpreted one way:

Every video gamer is a piece of shit with horrible taste in games and terrible body odor (except for GAF moderators and my mom)
 

Musashi Wins!

FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
lawblob said:
Damn, I didn't realize L4D had that kind of advert cash behind it. Well, I guess lame marketing combined with insufficient marketing budgets will do it.

Plus, as someone with both consoles, the "isolation" I feel as I play my PS3 is so striking, the lack of effective community and online integration continues to amaze me. You feel so disconnected from the broader community, its not surprising more word of mouth doesn't spread.

Compare that with Halo 3, where I remember massive teamspeak chats with players talking about what games they were planning on getting next, etc....

Um, IRC chat, hello?!?
 

knitoe

Member
The stuff about KZ 2 being not marketing doesn't fly. Doesn't make any sense that Sony would spend shit loads of money developing a game, but leave nothing left for advertisement. It was hype since 2005. There was enough stories, gifs and etc. written about it. And, I don't know how many times I saw the KZ 2 ad on TV. Think, Sony's problem are that their commercials / ads are all shitty. Remember the holiday ones. LOL. They need to hire a new agency asap.
 

Loudninja

Member
deftangel said:
That isn't right, it's just the price the future cashed out as since it didn't make the top 10.

Lost me a packet on there too.

Yeah got confuse when all there other so called predictions were right :lol
 

JB1981

Member
What is the KZ2 LTD sales in NA? I seriously thought the game would sell better. Jesus :(

Very happy to see good numbers for The Show. Thought RE5 PS3 would have shown a little better. But hey, at least some PS3 software is moving.
 
Rated-Rsuperstar said:
Finally people are buying the correct baseball game. 2k9 is actually down this year compared to last. As it should be.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K9 Mar09 205K
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K8 Mar08 237.1K
Its still kind of disgusting that 205k people are playing that game.
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
Averon said:
Forgive me if my sarcasm detector is broken, but are you serious about that regarding InFamous? I can't possibly see InFamous not charting. I looks like a fun open-world game that should have appeal. As long as Sony doesn't do a stealth release, and it have decent ads (even of KZ2 caliber), it should have a better than decent chance of charting.
I dunno; it might get overshadowed by Prototype and it's pretty tough releasing a new IP on the PS3 these days. I'd love to be wrong, but we'll see.

knitoe said:
There was enough stories, gifs and etc. written about it.
Sony invested 100k alone just for NeoGAF gifs!
 

Paracelsus

Member
.GqueB. said:
Social stigma. I suggest...

And NONE of you will listen to me

you guys read the book Sway. You'll think its a book about gamers. Its explains that when people have made up their minds about something, its very hard to change their minds even when faced with cold hard facts.

For two years the PS3 had "no games" in the eyes of many gamers. TWO years. Its hard to shake that rather negative feeling a lot of people have about the PS3 because its so set in their minds. So people dont naturally go out and seek games on the PS3 because in the back of their minds theyre still thinking "It has no games". This is also why Multiplatform games are considered 360 exclusives.

There are many other questions that can be asked that are similar to this:

• Why do people only buy ipods when there are other cheaper better mp3 players on the market?

• Why do people still think the common cold is caused by the weather when it has been constantly proven otherwise?

I could go on and on (but I have to go to the bank)

Its all really there for you guys if you choose to stop and think things through.

Then how do you explain the fact that everytime a famous (famous as in well-known on previous Sony platforms) IP, whether it's multiplatform or not, PS3 owners are there ready to buy it?

For me it's more like the fact PS owners aren't used to buy first party stuff (bar a very few exceptions), nor they plan to start now with the PS3, and that's that. It's just that now that the third party line up is 99% shared with the X360 and the userbase is way smaller everything is clearer.

The only new IP I recall selling well on PS3 too was Assassin's Creed. The reason I do wonder.
 
If you bought a PS3 you probably knew about Killzone2. It was only the biggest most hyped game for the machine since its reveal. The numbers have little to do with quality, just install base.
 
Rated-Rsuperstar said:
Finally people are buying the correct baseball game. 2k9 is actually down this year compared to last. As it should be.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K9 Mar09 205K
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K8 Mar08 237.1K

i agree with you. however if you only have a 360, you really have no choice.. wait for Bigs 2 but sim wise. nada.
 
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