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NPD Sales Results for November 2014 [Up3: NPD Data Error, AC:U #5]

So given Sonic's result, combined with Alien's results last month, I think we're at the point where Sega doesn't have any notable retail brands left in the West.

Well, there's Football Manager which still does big numbers in PAL countries.

But yeah, that's pretty much it. You know you're fucked when the reality kicks in that "hey, we would have been better off publishing Bayonetta 2."
 

PhatSaqs

Banned
Not sure they will be in December though...
Amazon has been among the worst spots to buy a PS4 in December so far (Walmart still has the GTA V/ TLOU bundle, and Gamespot has had several promo bundles which apparently sold very well up until Wednesday).

They seem to routinely run out of PS4s. Hasnt meant much as its still been in the top 10 all year until November. Amazon wins until they fail us. Hell i used their monthly chart to predict 360 CoD being tops lol,
 

Jonnax

Member
Have you been reading any news with Xbox, investors, and the CEO? Phil is doing a joint presentation with Nadella in January, they bought Minecraft where Phil led the negotiations courting Notch at dinners, and Nadella has publicly said gaming is one of the most important hobbies in today's culture. Microsoft is okay with Xbox as it fits into their bigger strategies and increases their brand.

I agree. I think that's a big reason why Microsoft will keep Xbox. It's the only thing which makes them 'cool':

  • Windows is boring compared to OSX to the general consumer, and Windows 8 was not received well at all.
  • Office is boring
  • Windows Phone is a joke compared to Android and IOS
  • General public doesn't care about servers, Azure and other business stuff

Xbox is the only thing that consumers are fans of and have people having positive feelings towards Microsoft. It's would be crazy to sell Xbox.
 

Bgamer90

Banned
Pretty much all the bundles are sold on on PS4. I believe only the destiny bundle that includes the Astro Headset, and the standard console are available from amazon.

No consoles to sell = makes a chart useless

Multiple bundles of the Xbox One are sold out too. This therefore makes the picture of December clearer/more straightforward than November -- fewer SKUs to wonder about.
 

Beefy

Member
Well, there's Football Manager which still does big numbers in PAL countries.

But yeah, that's pretty much it. You know you're fucked when the reality kicks in that "hey, we would have been better off publishing Bayonetta 2."

The new FM is terrible tho, they messed up the menu badly.
 

shanew21

Member
I agree. I think that's a big reason why Microsoft will keep Xbox. It's the only thing which makes them 'cool':

  • Windows is boring compared to OSX to the general consumer, and Windows 8 was not received well at all.
  • Office is boring
  • Windows Phone is a joke compared to Android and IOS
  • General public doesn't care about servers, Azure and other business stuff

Xbox is the only thing that consumers are fans of and have people having positive feelings towards Microsoft. It's would be crazy to sell Xbox.
Surface is another
 
This thread is a salty goldmine. Its just the sales of massive corporations people.

I actually enjoy the pride gamers have in their favorite platforms; "fanboyism." There's storied histories to get caught-up in. As-long-as it's good natured ribbing and not inordinately personal, I say it's all in good fun. It's no different than pro sports: NPD is game day!

I mean, at-least game platforms aren't heavily subsidized with regional tax dollars.
 
Microsoft kind of screwed Insomniac over. They probably could have sold quite a bit of white SO bundles during November/December if they hadn't made them so goddamned limited.

The bundle was too limited, but they did a lot of PR/marketing for it, I'm still seeing TV ads in the UK and its not like its an old title, its been out 2 months they can still bundle it.

Considering they've been asking about a sequel already in surveys, it seems like its performance might not matter that much anyway.
 

Minions

Member
Multiple bundles of the Xbox One are sold out too. This therefore makes the picture of December clearer/more straightforward than November -- fewer SKUs to wonder about.

Having only the console remaining without "free" games means people will shop elsewhere.... which makes amazons "listings" a bad indicator of actual demand.
 

VeeP

Member
I'm curious where Microsoft will go from here.

Permanent price drop?

Raise back the price?

If they raise the price I think will see sales slow down by a very good amount, until they drop it permanently.
 

Bgamer90

Banned
Having only the console remaining without "free" games means people will shop elsewhere.... which makes amazons "listings" a bad indicator of actual demand.

Were they a bad indicator last month then for the Xbox One? COD bundle kept selling out on Amazon even though some stores still had them (probably due to its higher price).

I definitely see your point about free game bundles but Amazon selling out of a certain SKU has never been a problem in terms of matching NPD ranking thus far.
 
Having only the console remaining without "free" games means people will shop elsewhere.... which makes amazons "listings" a bad indicator of actual demand.

I think the general consensus is that, with absolutely nothing changing for MS sku-wise, no new software releases, and Sony's bundles being very limited, all signs point to December being a repeat of November.

Obviously with the new year MS cannot bundle Assassin's Creed indefinitely at $349, so there will be some new variables if/when they announce their SKU shift.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Well, there's Football Manager which still does big numbers in PAL countries.

But yeah, that's pretty much it. You know you're fucked when the reality kicks in that "hey, we would have been better off publishing Bayonetta 2."
Oh right, I think of that as more of a digital heavy game, but parts of Europe are still retail heavy for PC.

And yeah, taking last month's Bayonetta 2 at 68K and this month's Sonic U at less than 25K... well, that's certainly... something.
 

quetz67

Banned
MS's game isn't in the start or mid of the year, they wake up from a slumber guns blazing in time for the holidays. That is, unless Sony price cuts around E3...

Yeah, top ten things MS doesn't care about:

January
February
March
April
May
July
August
September
Europe (continental)
Japan (any longer)
 
Considering they've been asking about a sequel already in surveys, it seems like its performance might not matter that much anyway.

Isn't it the other way round?

It's because it's performance isn't strong that MS's analyzing the retention level of the franchise amongst buyers.

Whether or not a potential sequel can achieve an 'Uncharted 2' trajectory where sales of the second game catapulted significantly beyond the first game.
 

PhatSaqs

Banned
Having only the console remaining without "free" games means people will shop elsewhere.... which makes amazons "listings" a bad indicator of actual demand.

The regular PS4 is in stock at Amazon and nets you a free digital game of choice from PS store.
 

Ingeniero

Member
I'm curious where Microsoft will go from here.

Permanent price drop?
Raise back the price?
If they raise the price I think will see sales slow down by a very good amount, until they drop it permanently.

I think they will keep the price drop. Market share, brand image and pressure on rivals is more important for them than cashing in right now imo.

Love your Avatar!
Thanks m8.
 

Lethe82

Banned
Well, it could have sold more this month. That was what we got last month.

It was all systems though.

That's amazing. Did Colonial Marines actually kill the IP, or was it also a combination of people just not being as into the 'isolation' concept as everyone thought. I guess it makes sense if video gamers would be more geared towards an Aliens approach over Alien.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
That's amazing. Did Colonial Marines actually kill the IP, or was it also a combination of people just not being as into the 'isolation' concept as everyone thought. I guess it makes sense if video gamers would be more geared towards an Aliens approach over Alien.

I feel it's a pretty hard sell at $60.

Even Amnesia, which was a pretty cheap game to begin with, didn't really take off in sales until it hit the ~$5 mark.

A lot of customers essentially walk into a store and have GTA or CoD or a number of other games with 500 tons of content in popular genres sitting next to Alien and go "Which one do I want to spend $60 on?" and it's not a hard question for them.

Five Nights at Freddy's started taking off around this time too so I imagine a lot of people got their horror game fix for $3 from that as well.
 

nannasin

Neo Member
Did Sunset Overdrive do that poorly? :( dammit, best game of the year doesn't deserve that!

I think SSOD probably did decently well for MS.

1) one it is an exclusive and hard for exclusives to compete with Multiplatforms on the NPD I would assume.

2) it came out at the end of october so its numbers are split between two months.
 
I actually enjoy the pride gamers have in their favorite platforms; "fanboyism." There's storied histories to get caught-up in. As-long-as it's good natured ribbing and not inordinately personal, I say it's all in good fun. It's no different than pro sports: NPD is game day!

I mean, at-least game platforms aren't heavily subsidized with regional tax dollars.
I never thought about it that way. As long as people understand that the best selling console doesn't necessarily mean the nest console. If the playstation never won an NPD till the end of the generation it doesn't mean it the worst. If the Xbox starts and continues lose like usual it doesn't mean its the best or worst.
 
I'm curious where Microsoft will go from here.

Permanent price drop?

Raise back the price?

If they raise the price I think will see sales slow down by a very good amount, until they drop it permanently.

They will keep the price as is, likely just not be giving away constant free games as they are now.
 

vinnygambini

Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
So given Sonic's result, combined with Alien's results last month, I think we're at the point where Sega doesn't have any notable retail brands left in the West.

Atlus?

But yeah pretty much, their franchises are mostly dead, especially Sony. They ran that IP to the ground. I remember SEGA commenting on Sonic's performance back in the Gamecube era saying that they had disappointing results, I can't imagine what they think now....
 
Isn't it the other way round?

It's because it's performance isn't strong that MS's analyzing the retention level of the franchise amongst buyers.

Whether or not a potential sequel can achieve an 'Uncharted 2' trajectory where sales of the second game catapulted significantly beyond the first game.

iirc, they were asking people what they wanted in a sequel, not whether they should do one. I can't imagine Insomniac would be sitting around now twiddling their thumbs waiting to find out if MS wanted a sequel or not (this is how MS lost a RealTimeWorlds Crackdown sequel, because they waited too long).

In the past MS have signed 2 game deals... I suspect its already in development.

Also, when Phil commented on sales in launch week he said they were good or something (he wasn't prompted to respond so no reason why he had to bring it up). Perhaps it just didn't need to sell like other AAA titles do
 

Azlan

Member
They will keep the price as is, likely just not be giving away constant free games as they are now.

I agree with your prediction. Raising the price back up would really hurt sales for the next few months post holidays. I think many consumers pay more attention to the base price than to the amount of extras.

One bundled in game and the current price ongoing is my bet.

Edit: Nice! With this extremely insightful post, I am now a member. Heh. I shed my filthy junior skin.
 

Spiegel

Member
I thought the GTAV bundle would had a higher % of sales.

Only 340/840? I was expecting Sony to ship 500k of those at least for black friday.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I think the general consensus is that, with absolutely nothing changing for MS sku-wise, no new software releases, and Sony's bundles being very limited, all signs point to December being a repeat of November.

Obviously with the new year MS cannot bundle Assassin's Creed indefinitely at $349, so there will be some new variables if/when they announce their SKU shift.

I don't know.

- Xbox at $349 with AC double pack
- PS4 at $399 with your choice of 1 game out of four recent releases

Thats a closer contest for December than

- Xbox at $329 with AC double pack, and $50 GC at some places, and MS giving you a free game earlier in the month

- PS4 at $399 with no games for most of the month, and then bundled with GTA/TLoU for one week



and MS' early November weekly numbers will have been skewed by October buyers holding off, so even discounting Black Friday, MS December weekly volumes will be relatively lower
 
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