My take on NPD Numbers :
- Wii/PSP/DS/PS2 : i won't comment, not interested in those platform.
- 360 : in line with predictions. goos hardware sales. will it be enough to maintain its lead in 2008, as it has to make up loosing ground in the other markets ? Not sure.
- PS3 : my good surprise of the month. It sold OK, but at last it limited the loss of ground.
It's good than AC/COD4 sold well on it, it's good for third parties.
Uncharted / Ratchet : no one should ever rejoice that those 2 titles are not top performer sales wise. They deserve it and it's good for the industry that good games sell and not bomb.
For UT3/Crysis : those games bombed hardly but it was kind of expected for different reasons :
- The FPS scene is very crowded.
- They are PC bound
- Crysis requires a supercomputer to run properly (playstation 3 ? ahah)
So for those reasons, this is what i recommend to first party / third party :
- Choose genre that have a wild appeal
- Remove from your list genres overcrowded or too competitive (FPS, MMO,
- Get some main characters that generates tons of buzz.
- Good graphices sell definitely.
- explore uncharted genres.
=> conclusion : do a mid-budget porn-game and you'll sell much more than a random fps. By the way, when does sony / ms allow for such games (they could do it since they could distribute it via network, especially on psn that accept bigger games).
=> concl