Seeing 360 Software sales so good...I have a feeling MS buys like 100,000-250,000 Copies of each 3rd party game and just burns them...they have the moneys and it makes 3rd party publishers more likeley to bring games over....
That is quite a loopy conspiracy theory. If MSFT wanted to throw away money to improve matters, they would just cut the damn price of the 360.
And when they want third party games, they buy the developer (like Rare) or money-hat them like they did with Bioware (Mass Effect), Rockstar (exclusive GTA DLC), and Mistwalker (Blue Dragon).
That is quite a loopy conspiracy theory. If MSFT wanted to throw away money to improve matters, they would just cut the damn price of the 360.
And when they want third party games, they buy the developer (like Rare) or money-hat them like they did with Bioware (Mass Effect), Rockstar (exclusive GTA DLC), and Mistwalker (Blue Dragon).
1. I don't know why they don't want to drop the price...honestly just don't know
2. If they buy the Developer...then the Developers just Quit/Leave the Studio and create a new one...a better one w/ all the money made...and then all MSFT has is the franchise.
So yeah my theory is believable...to an extent. I mean if they buy 100,000-250,000 copies and destroy them or do something else w/ them...it doesn't look suspicious...it just looks appealing to other 3rd party devs.
microsoft has to get to $50 with the current build of xbox 360, or possibly $299 with a build that actually works. sony has to get to $199 on the ps3. nintendo has to get to $99 on the wii, and it would be used exclusively for virtual console.
1. I don't know why they don't want to drop the price...honestly just don't know
2. If they buy the Developer...then the Developers just Quit/Leave the Studio and create a new one...a better one w/ all the money made...and then all MSFT has is the franchise.
So yeah my theory is believable...to an extent. I mean if they buy 100,000-250,000 copies and destroy them or do something else w/ them...it doesn't look suspicious...it just looks appealing to other 3rd party devs.
Well I have to admit i'm basing this partialy on very anecdotal evidence.
One of my sisters and her husband, both of them are very casual gamers and they had 0 interest in getting a 360 until they found out about GTA4.. Now they're seriously considering one even though I urged them to wait for the quality to improve or the price to drop. They're big GTA fans, but not hardcore gamers and they would never buy a 360 if it weren't for GTA. Another friend of mine who's also a big GTA fan, just bought a 360 specificly for that game even though he had intended to wait for a price drop.
Most of my predictions on GAf are based on this kind of anecdotal evidence and I've had mixed results, but i've done alright. I may be overestimating this time, but I think there is a HUGE demand for the next GTA and I think there are many hardcore GTA fans that haven't bought a 360 yet. I also think the ps3's price means that GTA's primary impact will be on the xbox.
Well I have to admit i'm basing this partialy on very anecdotal evidence.
One of my sisters and her husband, both of them are very casual gamers and they had 0 interest in getting a 360 until they found out about GTA4.. Now they're seriously considering one even though I urged them to wait for the quality to improve or the price to drop. They're big GTA fans, but not hardcore gamers and they would never buy a 360 if it weren't for GTA. Another friend of mine who's also a big GTA fan, just bought a 360 specificly for that game even though he had intended to wait for a price drop.
Most of my predictions on GAf are based on this kind of anecdotal evidence and I've had mixed results, but i've done alright. I may be overestimating this time, but I think there is a HUGE demand for the next GTA and I think there are many hardcore GTA fans that haven't bought a 360 yet. I also think the ps3's price means that GTA's primary impact will be on the xbox.
People have known GTA is on the 360 forever. There will not be any big jump in 360 sales unless they drop the price. They've almost exhausted the supply of customers who will pay $400 for a console.
People have known GTA is on the 360 forever. There will not be any big jump in 360 sales unless they drop the price. They've almost exhausted the supply of customers who will pay $400 for a console.
A lot of GTA fans aren't the types that follow game media very closley.
A large part of it's fanbase is very casual about gaming in general, but they're rabid about GTA and they're exactly the type of people that probably don't currently own a 360. Once the game is out there, it will be a very tempting proposition even if they don't lower the price.
I may be overestimating when I talk about 360 sellouts, but I'm certain that the game will be a major system seller. If MS actually does a price drop for the holidays, then it will obviously be even crazier.
1. I don't know why they don't want to drop the price...honestly just don't know
2. If they buy the Developer...then the Developers just Quit/Leave the Studio and create a new one...a better one w/ all the money made...and then all MSFT has is the franchise.
So yeah my theory is believable...to an extent. I mean if they buy 100,000-250,000 copies and destroy them or do something else w/ them...it doesn't look suspicious...it just looks appealing to other 3rd party devs.
A lot of GTA fans aren't the types that follow game media very closley.
A large part of it's fanbase is very casual about gaming in general, but they're rabid about GTA and they're exactly the type of people that probably don't currently own a 360. Once the game is out there, it will be a very tempting proposition even if they don't lower the price.
I may be overestimating when I talk about 360 sellouts, but I'm certain that the game will be a major system seller. If MS actually does a price drop for the holidays, then it will obviously be even crazier.
That's probably true about alot of GTA fans. They probably know that GTA4 is in the works, but they're nto really likely to buy a system for it until they see the commercial and go to the store and choose the console they like, or the one that the EB/Gamestop clerk has a bias toward.
Running guildies through an instance in WoW, that's how
Nintendo is dominating right now. Third parties are definitely preforming poorly on the Wii, but it's not clear how much of that has to do with them releasing shitty, quickie ports for the system; I'm guessing that has a lot to do with it. Once developers start putting some effort into their games I'm sure they'll preform better.
I'm surprised at the 360's poor sales. The horizon is definitely bright considering they have the best holiday lineup (sales wise); now the question is when are they going to lower the price?
And finally Sony. I don't like participating in hyperbole but I can't think of a better word to describe the PS3's US preformance than failure. What else can we say? Clearly people don't want the system at the price. Not long ago many on this very board were saying the system would dominate because of the name brand alone. Clearly that's not the case.
A lot of GTA fans aren't the types that follow game media very closley.
A large part of it's fanbase is very casual about gaming in general, but they're rabid about GTA and they're exactly the type of people that probably don't currently own a 360. Once the game is out there, it will be a very tempting proposition even if they don't lower the price.
I may be overestimating when I talk about 360 sellouts, but I'm certain that the game will be a major system seller. If MS actually does a price drop for the holidays, then it will obviously be even crazier.
I've got to go with Branduil here. Halo 3 is less than four months away and the 360 still had its worse month ever. The hype surrounding Halo 2 started pushing sale 9 months before its release. Something is going on. You can't blame these sales on a poor software releases, or anticipation of the Elite. If its not the price, the only other thing that would be cutting into its sales is the Wii.
Microsoft better be taking notes, this is how you fix your lagging sales!
Running guildies through an instance in WoW, that's how
Nintendo is dominating right now. Third parties are definitely preforming poorly on the Wii, but it's not clear how much of that has to do with them releasing shitty, quickie ports for the system; I'm guessing that has a lot to do with it. Once developers start putting some effort into their games I'm sure they'll preform better.
I'm surprised at the 360's poor sales. The horizon is definitely bright considering they have the best holiday lineup (sales wise); now the question is when are they going to lower the price?
And finally Sony. I don't like participating in hyperbole but I can't think of a better word to describe the PS3's US preformance than failure. What else can we say? Clearly people don't want the system at the price. Not long ago many on this very board were saying the system would dominate because of the name brand alone. Clearly that's not the case.
SO, from this thread I have learnt that the Wii is a fad that will soon will stop, that Microsoft, with its one console selling 155k won this month, that 3rd parties don't sell on the Wii (Or DS) and never will, and that Sony is a price cut away from selling 100milllion PS3s.
1. I don't know why they don't want to drop the price...honestly just don't know
2. If they buy the Developer...then the Developers just Quit/Leave the Studio and create a new one...a better one w/ all the money made...and then all MSFT has is the franchise.
So yeah my theory is believable...to an extent. I mean if they buy 100,000-250,000 copies and destroy them or do something else w/ them...it doesn't look suspicious...it just looks appealing to other 3rd party devs.
I agree that the 360 sales were pretty weak . . . but they were double the PS3 sales, so to say they are in the same boat as the PS3 is just wrong.
I've been thinking that MSFT would hold off until November before a price cut so they can get full-price sales from all the Halo 3 & GTA buyers. But they might want to reconsider that strategy and cut the price much sooner in order to put up a fight against the Wii.
I've got to go with Branduil here. Halo 3 is less than four months away and the 360 still had its worse month ever. The hype surrounding Halo 2 started pushing sale 9 months before its release. Something is going on. You can't blame these sales on a poor software releases, or anticipation of the Elite. If its not the price, the only other thing that would be cutting into its sales is the Wii.
Oh i'm not saying it will permanently fix the 360 sales problem. I'm just saying it will cause a huge, temporary bump that will probably last them through the christmas season and possibly allow them to mantain their US lead until sometime next year. The 400 dollar price is a big problem and any bump they get would be much better with a price drop.
I think that halo will have a smaller impact because a lot that fanbase probably already bought into the 360... It will also sell systems but I think GTA will sell more.
MS needs to drop the price either when Halo 3 comes out or GTA4 comes out. A casual gamer will not pass up a 360 premium at $300 when they walk into a store and see GTA4 advertised next to it for 360.
I'm a little amused watching all the discussions about software sales with what is essentially a mixed top 10 chart.
Most platform specific charts, top heavy as they may usually have the top 3 sellers selling only about 20-40% of all software sold for that platform. The games that don't rank tell a huge story too and we dont have anything to work with when it comes to those numbers.
all you people buying the psp, for the love of god buy some freaking software :lol
anyway now that the psp is doing quite well as well as the ps2, sony will probably use the profits from those to subsidize the ps3 a bit.
331k NDS POKEMON DIAMOND VERSION
314k WII MARIO PARTY 8
238k NDS POKEMON PEARL VERSION
227k WII PLAY W/ REMOTE
that's a enormous truckload of money for Ninty... they are spitting out impressing numbers every single month and that's so so so funny
I can't wait to see December's numbers! (and that's a lot of time...)
These are the numbers that everyone are ignoring. Despite the PSP and DS kicking ass, console software revenue is almost 4 times higher then portable software. Hell accessories are beating portable software in revenue. And that is ignoring every sale of Wii Play which goes to software instead of accessories.
The sad, scary fact of the matter is that if Microsoft (at E3) came out and said "The month Halo 3 comes out, we're dropping the price of the Core to 199$, Premium to 299$ and Elite to 399$!" While sales up to that point would DIE INSTANTLY....from the moment Halo 3 came out, you'd see a sales explosion that even GOD couldn't fathom.
These are the numbers that everyone are ignoring. Despite the PSP and DS kicking ass, console software revenue is almost 4 times higher then portable software. Hell accessories are beating portable software in revenue. And that is ignoring every sale of Wii Play which goes to software instead of accessories.
console game prices are also 2 to 2.5 times the price of portable software. I hate comparing by revenues, it doesn't give an accurate representation of units sold. publishers don't go by revenues, they go by units because they earn a certain margin with each unit.
I think MS will announce a price cut at E3 it has been almost 2 years since launch afterall.
They seem to have exhusted almost all potential buyers at its current price and they shot themselves in the foot with the Elite which has only confused consumours (no one likes buying an inferior model as they dont know if they need the Elite extras or not so they simply dont buy at all)
I don't think there'll be a loud 'explosion' of sales - Microsoft is ever going to need to hold the price to at least try and get their Home & Entertainment division profitable or drop the price to try and gain market share. They're not going to drop the price till after Halo 3, I think.
Anyway regarding 'Why isn't ___ on ___ yet', At least from MC, NPD the Nintendo fans have a point - you'd think ___ would come out on a larger userbase to sell to. Now the difference is that ____ won't think about putting ____ on ____ till they go through their cost-benefit analysis of doing ___ on ___, especially since they've already committed to ____ on not ____. So it puzzles me a bit on the flip side why you'd want ___ to be on ___ as it's like putting Dragon Quest IX on the Gizmondo.
console game prices are also 2 to 2.5 times the price of portable software. I hate comparing by revenues, it doesn't give an accurate representation of units sold. publishers don't go by revenues, they go by units because they earn a certain margin with each unit.
I doubt that is true, because they earn a greater amount on each higher priced game sold then they do on the lower ones. That is why the NPD traditionally goes that route, but for bragging rights GAF goes with pure numbers. When God of War sells a million units at 50 dollars it is a hell of a lot more signifigant to both the developer and the publisher then it selling a million more at 20 dollars. It is why they put the greatest hits games in puke green boxes and do not advertise them on tv. Development costs are an important thing to look at when considering the success of these products and revenues, but the whole units thing is just for comparing ball size.
