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[ymmv]

You're comparing games from different genres. It makes no sense.

Speaking of Killzone 2, if the hype machine that was said game couldn't help boost PS3 sales or even manage relatively successful sales itself, then Sony needs to seriously fire their advertising unit. If not then they might as well raise the white flags.

There's something seriously wrong with Sony's marketing. Guerilla Games did everything right with Killzone: the visuals are outstanding, it plays great, online multiplay is excellent, it has a 92 metacritic score. Sales are good but they really should have been better. The game should have done Halo/CoD like sales figures. I bet that's what everyone at Sony must have been expecting. But then again, this isn't the first time this happened. Uncharted should have had far better sales as well. The good news is that Uncharted kept on selling because of word of mouth and is now considered a classic. I suspect Killzone will be a steady seller too and reach 3+ million plus at least. (Uncharted has sold more than 2 million copies, the first Motor Storm game more than 3 million copies)

 

[deftangel]

I don't think Killzone 2 sales are bad per se, it just underperformed relative to expectations, more importantly Sony's expectations, I would venture.

Most people would have been laughed out of town for predicting Halo Wars to outsell Killzone 2 in any territory by any metric a few months ago. Calling it a failure is far too strong though, it's a good game and it's sold decently enough. I would suggest it's pretty telling that some 360 software has done better on similar/smaller install bases mind.

 

[legend166]

Yep, dollar figures confirm it - everything down pretty sharply from last year. I wonder if it will continue onto next month.

 

[tetrisgrammaton]

More then a few mistakes there.

lol all corrected

 

[Son of Godzilla]

Microsoft did a superb job hiding this fact. The promotional campaign and TV commercial do not indicate this is the case. :lol

The demo that sat on the front page of live for two months hid that? Really?

 

[schuelma]

I thought MadWorld could have sold 200k.

For reals? A black and white 5 hour beat em up? I dunno.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

So for the 1 billion dollar question

"What was a bigger waste of money?"
A. RARE
B. Guerrilla Games

Rare, definitely Rare.

Not only did MS have to buy the studio, they've also had to fund all of their underselling games.

 

[Kusagari]

I remember some people predicting the somewhat negative reaction to RE5's demo would cause sales to not be that great. So, much for that :lol !

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

So, Bioshock 360 sold better than KZ2 and to a smaller user base. That is amazing.

Well, it was a different time of the year.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

So for the 1 billion dollar question

"What was a bigger waste of money?"
A. RARE
B. Guerrilla Games

Rare has classics past, present and future dammit!!! :lol :lol :lol

 

[Thunder Monkey]

lol all corrected

tee hee!

 

[TheMissingLink]

GO GO MLB 09 THE SHOW!!!

Well-deserved!

 

[Cat in the Hat]

I'm happy The Show did so well. Thats a great series.

 

[JudgeN]

Last gen, maybe. You can't afford those kind of sales on a game that costs as much as KZ2 probably did.

How much did KZ2 cost again? People are assuming it was just this 60 million dollar game because it looks good. The game took 3 1/2 years to develop, announced 2005 was out of production by fall of 2008 (If I remember correctly). Not saying sales are great but people seem to be overreacting.

 

[sykoex]

305k for MLB09?? My lord, PS3 is a beast.

 

[Rapping Granny]

So for the 1 billion dollar question

"What was a bigger waste of money?"
A. RARE
B. Guerrilla Games

:lol

Well, I am out.

 

[jeremy1456]

Well, it was a different time of the year.

Which time of year tends to have better sales; Spring or Fall?

 

[Mamesj]

Puny earthlings, KZ2 was not the real savior. Just wait for Heavy Rain. The world is ready for a spiritual successor to Dragon's Lair.

 

[joey_z]

That isn't a catch-22 from a business perspective, only for fanboys. at the end of the day Sony HAS to go with their bottom line.

I think it could be argued that it's a catch-22 from a business perspective as well. Sony does not desire to be stuck in the situation they're stuck in and there's no conventional tactic they could employ that would ensure they beat the competition. If they choose to stick to the price point they've stuck with, then not only do they stand to lose out on possible profit but they also risk future market share.

The point is that this generation has now materialized into a predictable market as all generations eventually do. This means in order for Sony (in the current generation) to get out of the rut they're in they need to revitalize the Playstation brand with riskier moves. And let's not say it can't be done. Afterall, the market leader this generation is testament to that fact.

 

[Lagunamov]

The demo is a good point, but 90% of the buying public (that mass that bought 3.3 million units of Halo 3 launch month) hasn't been exposed to videos on the net/XBL and has no idea who Ensemble Studios are...were.

If you're suggesting the game sold really well even though it's an RTS, I'd point you to Halo 3's sales. The lower sales are already "priced in," so to speak.

Do you know inside xbox?

 

[Nirolak]

Rare, definitely Rare.

Not only did MS have to buy the studio, they've also had to fund all of their underselling games.

Actually Perfect Dark Zero sold 1.5 million, Viva Pinata sold 1 million, and Kameo sold 1 million as well. Only Banjo and Viva Pinata 2 didn't sell that great, and even then they landed in the 300k+ region which for budget titles is quite respectable.

This is in terms of the 360 only of course. I have no idea how their original Xbox titles did.

 

[Eric WK]

305k for MLB09?? My lord, PS3 is a beast.

:lol

Puny earthlings, KZ2 was not the real savior. Just wait for Heavy Rain. The world is ready for a spiritual successor to Dragon's Lair.

Wait, I thought InFamous was the next big Sony exclusive?

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

There's something seriously wrong with Sony's marketing. Guerilla Games did everything right with Killzone: the visuals are outstanding, it plays great, online multiplay is excellent, it has a 92 metacritic score. Sales are good but they really should have been better. The game should have done Halo/CoD like sales figures. I bet that's what everyone at Sony must have been expecting. But then again, this isn't the first time this happened. Uncharted should have had far better sales as well. The good news is that Uncharted kept on selling because of word of mouth and is now considered a classic. I suspect Killzone will be a steady seller too and reach 3+ million plus at least. (Uncharted has sold more than 2 million copies, the first Motor Storm game more than 3 million copies)

Their biggest injustice was done with Uncharted. How you can fuck up with a game like that is beyond me. They better not with part 2 or we likely won't see Nathan any longer.

 

[BuckRobotron]

Surprisingly strong RE5 for Xbox 360 numbers. Happy to be a part of it, a rare at-launch purchase for me.

Halo Wars I expected to hear do well after I had a group of delivery guys (furniture) seeing my 360 and some games and started asking if I had gotten Halo Wars yet (I haven't). A couple of them were especially enthused about it and Halo in general, including the books.

 

[Fuzzy]

Can we get a comparison of the first month for the third Pokemon game in each series? Please add the number of days they were on sale also.

 

[Y2Kev]

The demo that sat on the front page of live for two months hid that? Really?

I've already acknowledged it was a good point, but in terms of demographic targeting, people downloading and playing demos are not specifically who I'm talking about-- I mean, consider the volume moved of the third game.

For reals? A black and white 5 hour beat em up? I dunno.

I don't understand why black and white really would put anyone off.

 

[hulot]

Why are people backpedalling? 'Of course Halo Wars would do better than Killzone'? Imagine saying that before either game was released, when the forum was flooded with glowing eyes blubbering about some messianic resurrection of the PS3.

 

[Dash Kappei]

fuck, I've lost a gigantic pm because the forum 500'd on me >__<

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

There's something seriously wrong with Sony's marketing. Guerilla Games did everything right with Killzone: the visuals are outstanding, it plays great, online multiplay is excellent, it has a 92 metacritic score. Sales are good but they really should have been better. The game should have done Halo/CoD like sales figures. I bet that's what everyone at Sony must have been expecting. But then again, this isn't the first time this happened. Uncharted should have had far better sales as well. The good news is that Uncharted kept on selling because of word of mouth and is now considered a classic. I suspect Killzone will be a steady seller too and reach 3+ million plus at least. (Uncharted has sold more than 2 million copies, the first Motor Storm game more than 3 million copies)

How? How do people keep saying this? I see Killzone ads several times a day. I remember Sony uploading some kind of like interactive version of the commercial to PSN so people could literally zoom around in it and soak in the details. They CLEARLY put a lot of thought, money, and energy into that campaign and thought the visuals would stun everyone out of their seats.

 

[adamsapple]

Resident evil 5 =

 

[GhaleonEB]

 System         Mar'09      Feb'09       Mar'08       MoM Change      YoY Change
 360            330,000     391,000      262,000      -16%            26%
 PS3            218,000     276,000      257,000      -21%            -15%
 Wii            601,000     753,000      721,000      -20%            -17%

For the new page. I'm really surprised at the month over month drops for hardware. It's entirely out of step with seasonal norms.

 

[cedric69]

This means in order for Sony (in the current generation) to get out of the rut they're in they need to revitalize the Playstation brand with riskier moves. And let's not say it can't be done. Afterall, the market leader this generation is testament to that fact.

A "same generation turnaround" is unheard of by this time into the generation or am I mistaken?

 

[Nirolak]

fuck, I've lost a gigantic pm because the forum 500'd on me >__<

If you press the back button right after you hit the 500 you can actually get it back. You might still be able to if you go back far enough.

 

[schuelma]

I don't understand why black and white really would put anyone off.

I think it makes it look less accessable at least on first glance. Looking at the tv commercial, it was hard to tell what the hell was going on.

 

[AniHawk]

PS360 RE5's 1st month > PS2 RE4's LTD

 

[yella]

Did anyone else notice that the difference between PS3 and 360 numbers is made up of new PS2 buyers? Kinda interesting if you ask me. I hope Sony is noticing stuff like this, although the only thing that will help them right now is the one thing they probably can't afford to do...

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Which time of year tends to have better sales; Spring or Fall?

Fall, I'd imagine.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Actually Perfect Dark Zero sold 1.5 million, Viva Pinata sold 1 million, and Kameo sold 1 million as well. Only Banjo and Viva Pinata 2 didn't sell that great, and even then they landed in the 300k+ region which for budget titles is quite respectable.

I wasn't really being serious.

Neither is that much of a moneyhog. Unless KZ2 cost over $30 million to make.

 

[overthehill99]

I'm not surprised that RE5 sold that much, what I am surprise at is how it beat out Pokemon. Thats really amazing.

Then again Pokemon is the kind of game that is going to be selling to younger kids, and those kids really aren't going to be buying the game day 1, or maybe even week 1. Birthdays and holidays will come around and it will sell more and more. I doubt RE5 even makes it to the top 10 next month.

 

[Eric WK]

Why are people backpedalling? 'Of course Halo Wars would do better than Killzone'? Imagine saying that before either game was released, when the forum was flooded with glowing eyes blubbering about some messianic resurrection of the PS3.

They're backpedalling because they have no other choice. The quotes that could be dug up regarding KZ2 sales predictions/hype would make their heads spin.

 

[Cruzader]

So for the 1 billion dollar question

"What here is the biggest troll?"
A. me
or
B. me

fixed

 

[chubigans]

There was literally no hype going into Killzone 2's marketing/awareness campaign. Yeah, there was internet hype, fat good that did Snakes on a Plane and other internet-hype machines.

There were no Killzone 2 slurpees, no Killzone 2 banners and merchandising, no Killzone 2 brandings on sodas and chips, no Killzone 2 commercials two weeks before launch, nothing. I'm surprised it's doing as well as it is. SCEA completely failed the game from a hype machine perspective. Halo 3 is the only game I've seen that's had a massive ad rollout like KZ2 should have had.

Why would it move PS3s when PS3 owners aren't even aware of the game?

 

[Macho Madness]

- THE CONSOLE RACE REQUIRES JUDGEMENT!

 

[Mamesj]

:lol



Wait, I thought InFamous was the next big Sony exclusive?

i don't even know anymore

 

[Mama Robotnik]

This is some seriously disappointing NPD thread. Where's my compulsory Mamagif!?

Sorry, circumstances prevented me from making a new GIF for today's NPD. Its the first time this has happened in nearly a year of NPDs since I became a member. Will try and have something ready for next month.

On topic, some low results all round. Maybe a re-run gif is appropriate:

 

[The Librarian]

So, Bioshock 360 sold better than KZ2 and to a smaller user base. That is amazing.

That's disappointing to say the least.

 

[schuelma]

 System         Mar'09      Feb'09       Mar'08       MoM Change      YoY Change
 360            330,000     391,000      262,000      -16%            26%
 PS3            218,000     276,000      257,000      -21%            -15%
 Wii            601,000     753,000      721,000      -20%            -17%

For the new page. I'm really surprised at the month over month drops for hardware. It's entirely out of step with seasonal norms.

Yeah. I know its been said about 50 times now, but I gotta think the economy is starting to hit home a bit. I mean these are substantial drops, with some impressive software at the same time (well, except for Wii).

 

[Mrbob]

 System         Mar'09      Feb'09       Mar'08       MoM Change      YoY Change
 360            330,000     391,000      262,000      -16%            26%
 PS3            218,000     276,000      257,000      -21%            -15%
 Wii            601,000     753,000      721,000      -20%            -17%

For the new page. I'm really surprised at the month over month drops for hardware. It's entirely out of step with seasonal norms.

Perhaps gaming isn't as recession proof as everyone is predicting.

The fact of the matter is entertainment money is the last thing people cut off, so if one of the hottest industries is starting a downward spiral this isn't good for the rest of the economy.

 

[[Nintex]]

fixed

Wow, you got me, good going soldier!

 

[Skilotonn]

Resident Evil 5 nearly did a million on the 360 - good stuff for Capcom!

And is it true that Halo Wars' first NPD showing outsold both Killzone 2's NPD listings? Good stuff for Ensemble, once again, damn shame that they're gone...