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NPD Sales Results for March 2015 [Up1: Nintendo numbers, PS4 placing]

Well we can always talk about the third console curse.

Xbox One, PS3, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, Atari 5200. All failed to be leaders in their respective generations.



Oh man I remember this show from years back. Used to watch it a few times!

I'm kind of terrified that we might have a 6th console curse considering how the Wii U is going.

Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, and Freakazoid were excellent shows. I wish they made more of it and less rugrats and spongebob.
 
Do we know this for sure? I hadn't seen anything

Yeah, I had a look at all the trailers, and there's no indication that MS or Sony was favoured specifically. Both had the reveal trailer dropped at the same time and the main video promotes the PC cover of the game instead of either one.
 

EGM1966

Member
In the USA the Xbox One version likely sold the same or a bit better.

Worldwide it's a different story.



You are mistaken.
Thanks for the reply. A bit better doesn't sound like the deal's working out particularly then. I'm of the view that for third party shooters the general audience is probably not that loyal - they'll go with the popular console I suspect vs staying loyal gen to gen.
 

le.phat

Member
How much more ahead it for sure isn't a 3:1 ratio like Ff. It's pretty evenly split. The exclusive advertising doesn't seem to be worth it. And this month COD sold more on PS4. Hardline has also sold more on X1. Exclusive advertising with established multiplats seems like a losing endeavor.

@bgamer90 if all that association doesn't reflect in a large sales gap in COD I just don't think it's worth it. Better to spend the money promoting a new ip.

You seem to forget that these marketing deals have a global impact, so im not sure why we are using NPD results as a thermostat to figure out wether or not they have impact.
 

Kyoufu

Member
If Microsoft has lost CoD marketing rights it's because they're being outsold 2:1 worldwide, so it's bad business for your DLC map packs to only reach the smaller portion of consumers for the first 2 months.
 
I can't see how Deus Ex would be less attractive than games like Sunset Overdrive, Dead Rising 3 or Ryse.

Sony doesn't really do timed exclusives so yeah I doubt they would be interested at all.

Sony has literally done 100 such deals in this gen alone. Or do indie games not count anymore?
 

Xando

Member
Which is exactly what Microsoft had at the Xbox Launch when EA were cosying up to them.

They let FIFA and Assassins Creed go and have seemingly invested elsewhere.

When you consider they have/had marketing deals for:

Watch Dogs
Destiny
Battlefield: Hardline
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Alien: Isolation
The Elder Scrolls Online
Far Cry 4
Grand Theft Auto 5
Project Cars
Batman: Arkham Knight
Metal Gear Solid 5
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Star Wars: Battlefront

Their marketing team is working overdrive.

I wonder whether Bethesda will stick with Microsoft for Fallout 4

Don't they also have Just Cause 3 this fall?
 

gaming_noob

Member
If Microsoft has lost CoD marketing rights it's because they're being outsold 2:1 worldwide, so it's bad business for your DLC map packs to only reach the smaller portion of consumers for the first 2 months.

Love this. If only this will help MS realize they need to build more long term first party studios.
 

W.S.

Member
Which is exactly what Microsoft had at the Xbox Launch when EA were cosying up to them.

They let FIFA and Assassins Creed go and have seemingly invested elsewhere.

When you consider they have/had marketing deals for:

Watch Dogs
Destiny
Battlefield: Hardline
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Alien: Isolation
The Elder Scrolls Online
Far Cry 4
Grand Theft Auto 5
Project Cars
Batman: Arkham Knight
Metal Gear Solid 5
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Star Wars: Battlefront

Their marketing team is working overdrive.

I wonder whether Bethesda will stick with Microsoft for Fallout 4
Their Battlefield, Alien: Isolation, and Shadows of Mordor marketing seemed barely noticeable to me compared to Destiny, Watchdogs, Batman, and a few others on that list.

Metal Gear is usually associated with Playstation for several reasons though so I find that there's less of a need to market that heavily for their platform anyway.
 

gtj1092

Member
You seem to forget that these marketing deals have a global impact, so im not sure why we are using NPD results as a thermostat to figure out wether or not they have impact.

Um wouldn't that further prove the point since COD sales more on PS4 than X1 world wide. And the sales in the 360/PS3 era were pretty close when you looked at world wide sales of COD despite the MS advertising.

Also I acknowledged that the advertising has some sway and especially with new ip's but I don't think the few extra sales one gets from exclusive advertising huge multiplats is worth it unless there is a bundle associated with it.

My main point from the beginning was that COD and FF aren't the same when it comes to brand aassociation with PS and Xbox. COD has a much closer sales split compared to FF.
 

A.J.

Banned
I'm kind of terrified that we might have a 6th console curse considering how the Wii U is going.

Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, and Freakazoid were excellent shows. I wish they made more of it and less rugrats and spongebob.

Well the Wii U is their 3rd disc based console. It could be a new 3rd console curse.
 
the
Considering the install base deficit, if CoD sells more on Xbox it shows that there is brand association. It isn't on the level of Final Fantasy and Playstation, but it is there

Yes worldwide it's a different story, but this is about the US market. Personally I don't see the point in nabbing exclusive advertising for games like CoD, Battlefield, GTA and Assassin's Creed. They release so regularly and everywhere that people aren't fooled into thinking it's an exclusive. Better off with newer or returning IP's like Titanfall, Destiny, Watch Dogs and Battlefront.

But it doesn't.....US <> world. Also, in the US, the gap is small and as far as I know sales were neck and neck, Worldwide is a different story with ps4 having a significant advantage over x1 in sales. Don't see this association much anymore to be honest.

Why are people assuming Sony has COD marketing? It could just be MS no longer has it, doesn't mean sony does.

PS: YAY account finally got verified, took months.
 

Apathy

Member
Which is exactly what Microsoft had at the Xbox Launch when EA were cosying up to them.

They let FIFA and Assassins Creed go and have seemingly invested elsewhere.

When you consider they have/had marketing deals for:

Watch Dogs
Destiny
Battlefield: Hardline
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Alien: Isolation
The Elder Scrolls Online
Far Cry 4
Grand Theft Auto 5
Project Cars
Batman: Arkham Knight
Metal Gear Solid 5
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Star Wars: Battlefront

Their marketing team is working overdrive.

I wonder whether Bethesda will stick with Microsoft for Fallout 4

What games is Microsoft marketing aside from FIFA , Madden, witcher, ac and the division?

Also the MKX marketing is weird. People are saying Sony has it, but Microsoft is sponsoring the ESL MKX tournaments and the little ads between matches last week had the Xbox logo at the end of them with no mention of PC or ps4 ports in them at all.
 
If Microsoft has lost CoD marketing rights it's because they're being outsold 2:1 worldwide, so it's bad business for your DLC map packs to only reach the smaller portion of consumers for the first 2 months.

You're forggetting about the Xbox 360 which has the largest COD fanbase.
 

Shahed

Member
But it doesn't.....US <> world. Also, in the US, the gap is small and as far as I know sales were neck and neck, Worldwide is a different story with ps4 having a significant advantage over x1 in sales. Don't see this association much anymore to be honest.

Why are people assuming Sony has COD marketing? It could just be MS no longer has it, doesn't mean sony does.

PS: YAY account finally got verified, took months.
I did say worldwide is a different story! However even in the US, there is an install base bases difference of about 700k roughly I believe. All else being equal, PS4 version of Cod should outsell the Xbox One version via an equivalent ratio. The fact that it doesn't shows there is brand association in the US at least, even if it's not as large compared to other brands or translate worldwide
 
I did say worldwide is a different story! However even in the US, there is an install base bases difference of about 700k roughly I believe. All else being equal, PS4 version of Cod should outsell the Xbox One version via an equivalent ratio. The fact that it doesn't shows there is brand association in the US at least, even if it's not as large compared to other brands or translate worldwide

Source? Didn't think we had sales numbers. Why all the focus on the US?? Publishers are most likely looking at total sales not just 1 region.
 
How do you know this??? The fanbase is moving to a new gen and sales between ps3 and 360 were neck and neck worldwide. Isn;t the rumour black ops 3 is current gen only?

I'm not claiming to know sales, but we know that Call of Duty has the largest fanbase on the Xbox 360. Mainly due to the fact that those games are really big heavily in the United States. The Xbox 360 has the biggest userbase of consoles out of all three consoles last gen in the U.S.
 

Chris1

Member
How do you know this??? The fanbase is moving to a new gen and sales between ps3 and 360 were neck and neck worldwide. Isn;t the rumour black ops 3 is current gen only?
AW 360 sold more than xb1 and ps4 in its debut NPD, don't know if it's still in the lead but regardless that's a huge portion of the fan base. Not sure if it's current gen only but I doubt it, this is Activision we're talking about and considering it's pretty much the only game that isn't selling better on next/current gen, I reaaaaally doubt it will be next gen only.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
Source? Didn't think we had sales numbers. Why all the focus on the US?? Publishers are most likely looking at total sales not just 1 region.

I believe he's talking about PS4 and Xbox One install base in the USA where yes, there is a gap of more than 700,000 units in favour of PS4.
 
I'm not claiming to know sales, but we know that Call of Duty has the largest fanbase on the Xbox 360. Mainly due to the fact that those games are really big heavily in the United States. The Xbox 360 has the biggest userbase of consoles out of all three consoles last gen in the U.S.

In the US.....why does only US matter? Publishers care more about total sales and I don't think there is much difference in sales Worldwide between the 2.

We don't know it has the largest fanbase on 360, especially not now with users moving to a new generation.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
Ah ok, didn't know that. Still Worldwide it would be a lot different, I think that's more important then just the US.

Worldwide the gap is likely to be around ~9 million ish. (My estimate, not an official number)

I also assume the reason the majority of people are talking US only is because this NPD thread tracks US only sales.
 
In the US.....why does only US matter? Publishers care more about total sales and I don't think there is much difference in sales Worldwide between the 2.

We don't know it has the largest fanbase on 360, especially not now with users moving to a new generation.

Because Call of Duty does by far most of its sales in the U.S.
 
Still doesn;t mean the difference in the gap in the US is not made up from the gap for ps3 worldwide. Also with there being a gen transition it is even harder to say that.

The gap worldwide for the PS3/360 doesn't necissairly mean that they are buying COD. Lets be real here the U.S. is the biggest market for COD and the Xbox 360 by far. They have a big enough bite of the pie to have the deal make sense and package that with money from the deal with Microsoft I'm sure they are ok with their deal.
 
The gap worldwide for the PS3/360 doesn't necissairly mean that they are buying COD. Lets be real here the U.S. is the biggest market for COD and the Xbox 360 by far. They have a big enough bite of the pie to have the deal make sense and package that with money from the deal with Microsoft I'm sure they are ok with their deal.

Doesn't answer my question, we do not know where the biggest fanbase is WW period. 360 won;t be relevant much longer for sales, same with PS3. Black ops may be current gen only.
 
One thing I think that you guys are missing with these 'marketing deals' is that they're really good at maintaining a mindshare for a console. If every couple of months a new game is getting TV ads with the PlayStation symbol at the beginning and the end, that's putting the system in people's minds constantly. Batman? Oh cool, yeah, PS4. Metal Gear Solid? Looks neat, and it's on PS4. Battlefront? Wow, this looks great - PS4 has all of the big games.

Sony could go out and shoot its own campaigns every few months, of course, but I imagine it's easier/cheaper for it to just partner with the biggest games. And its mutually beneficial: publisher gets additional advertising dollars for their game; Sony gets additional advertising presence for its console.

I do, however, agree with bgamer90, that Call of Duty won't move the needle much for Sony - it's very much an 'Xbox' game these days. I hope they haven't spent too much money on that actually, because I think one thing they've done VERY well this generation is partnering with unestablished IPs like Destiny and Watch Dogs, and that's enabled them to give the impression that they're genuine exclusives.

EDIT: That's all IF Sony has the deal with CoD in the first place. I'm not convinced myself.
 
Doesn't answer my question, we do not know where the biggest fanbase is WW period. 360 won;t be relevant much longer for sales, same with PS3. Black ops may be current gen only.

I think we can use enough data to take an educated guess but ok if you're not comfortable with that than that's ok. And I'm not arguing with you on the next gen part, I agree with you. I will say that I would not be surprised if we see some form of Call of Duty on the previous gen consoles this holiday though.
 
I think we can use enough data to take an educated guess but ok if you're not comfortable with that than that's ok. And I'm not arguing with you on the next gen part, I agree with you. I will say that I would not be surprised if we see some form of Call of Duty on the previous gen consoles this holiday though.

Fair enough, I hope it is current gen only, I think it is time to focus on solely current gen going forward.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
I think we can use enough data to take an educated guess but ok if you're not comfortable with that than that's ok. And I'm not arguing with you on the next gen part, I agree with you. I will say that I would not be surprised if we see some form of Call of Duty on the previous gen consoles this holiday though.

In the US certainly. Xbox 360 has the largest Call of Duty fanbase.

Worldwide I wouldn't be too sure about.
 
Wouldn't be surprised if the CoD deal is just a regional deal, just like the MS FIFA deal.

Even though MS has FIFA marketing in US/UK/PAL regions, from what I can see, that's not the case in Asia/Japan. There's official FIFA bundles and marketing for PS4 here.

Which is kinda smart for EA to do. There's no reason for EA to basically damage their FIFA marketing in MS's tier-3 countries, and MS clearly doesn't care to have marketing of FIFA in those regions too.

Or it could be just be an unfounded rumour. Remember, we had the same rumour last year when CoD was shown at Destination Playstation.
 

Elios83

Member
Microsoft losing the exclusive marketing rights for COD would be more a symbolic thing of the Xbox brand passing the torch of a certain target audience to Playstation even in the US but it wouldn't have a concrete impact. It's a well known franchise on both consoles and it sells amazingly well on both.
For Sony the deal with Star Wars is much more important, they have a chance to make it the new Destiny so be prepared for a 15 minutes demo during the upcoming Sony conference LOL.
I wonder who's gonna take Assassin's Creed this year, last year Ubi went with Microsoft but the reason behind it were mainly the bundles Microsoft promised Ubi to make bundling the game with every console, this year Microsoft doesn't need Assassin's Creed also things with Unity didn't go well...(to put it nicely :p) and with sales going down copared to BF Ubisoft might not be so pleased so who knows.
 

Intrigue

Banned
Worldwide the gap is likely to be around ~9 million ish. (My estimate, not an official number)

I also assume the reason the majority of people are talking US only is because this NPD thread tracks US only sales.

I think I saw a chart or something from you saying something like 35ish% of sony PS4 sales are US based, while remaining is 65% is rest of world?

Would be interesting to see a comparison of RotW and US for both xbox one and ps4


A lot of discussion here about US, which is more "easily" tracked, but if we are talking maybe 40% of world wide, its the biggest individual market but its still not even 50%
 

Shahed

Member
Source? Didn't think we had sales numbers. Why all the focus on the US?? Publishers are most likely looking at total sales not just 1 region.
I think read that number in this thread somewhere. 720k was the number actually. Not sure how correct it is but it seemed about right. And yes I agree with you worldwide is far more important. There's far too much relevance placed on the US market in my eyes. Even in other threads there are mistakes people who wrongly believed the Xbox One outsold the PS4 over the holidays when in fact it was the opposite quite comfortably because they get confused between NPD US and worldwide.

However this is a US NPD thread that discusses and analyses sales data for the US, just like the Media Create thread for Japan, and the PAL chart for other regions. So it's no suprised when US talk is the focus in a thread like this
 

Bold One

Member
There is no way.

No way, MS lets COD marketing slip, especially now

0rEBY2b.gif
 
There is no way.

No way, MS lets COD marketing slip, especially now

0rEBY2b.gif

Well Phil has mentioned about building their IP and this is Halo year. The push and confidence on this title is on point. On COD, MS only have to maintain tournament and DLC and let Sony run with release marketing like with ESL, MKX and MS partnering which in turn means your console has unlimited marketing due to tournaments every year
 
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