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[BLaZiN PRopHeT]

He means like, single 'SKU".

oh i see what he did. my bad

 

[Rolf NB]

SSBB did extremely well, but has everyone forgotten about Halo 3?

I thought that opened with 2.5 million units, hence the "new biggest entertainment launch". Was it actually more than Brawl?

 

[Flakster99]

Interesting quote from the simExchange.

Both platforms underperformed the markets expectations, leading us to believe that the Wii and DS had directly taken market share from these two consoles.

The Wii and DS competing and taking away market share from the PS3 and 360. You don't say.

 

[MobiusPigeon]

i'm starting to think that MS is going to hold the price drop until the MGS4 release.

 

[legend166]

Amazing sales for the Wii. The three punch attack of SSBB, Mario Kart and Wii Fit is going to be insane. 500k for next month, 600k for April.

The 360 sales are very dissapointing, but it gets a slight pass just because it's software sales are still fantastic. However, Microsoft should have cut the price. It should be $250 at this point. However, they'll cut it $50 just before Madden and it won't have any impact and they'll wander what's going on.

PS3 sales are worse than the 360 sales, by even more than the 5k which we see. The 360 has it's software sales to lean on. PS3 has...it's BluRay sales maybe? Price is still way, way too high.

 

[mysticstylez]

I thought that opened with 2.5 million units, hence the "new biggest entertainment launch". Was it actually more than Brawl?

It doesn't really matter cause GTA 4 is gonna shit on everything else as far as "biggest entertainment launch" is concerned.

 

[HK-47]

Interesting quote from the simExchange.



The Wii and DS competing and taking away market share from the PS3 and 360. You don't say.

But teh next gen doesnt complete with Wii. I know this cause they have MOAR SPARKS!

 

[LOcKY]

it will be interesting what 1UP has to say about these numbers. Congrats to Nintendo who concentrate on games and nothing else unlike the other two

 

[jakncoke]

I'm going to have to go with "because Hot Shots is fucking awesome" as the proper answer.

this.


Golf is fucking boring but the thing with HS is it's arcade golf and that's what's the fun derives from.

 

[C4Lukins]

i'm starting to think that MS is going to hold the price drop until the MGS4 release.

The fact that they have not announced it yet makes me think that it will not happen before GTA4. They may do it a week or two afterwards though. They may not have the supply out there right now that they want when they do a pricedrop.

 

[CoG]

Anyone maintain a Google Docs spreadsheet of historical NPD HW data? Could be very useful.

 

[Sean]

I thought that opened with 2.5 million units, hence the "new biggest entertainment launch". Was it actually more than Brawl?

That was Halo 2's first day sales (2.4m) IIRC. Halo 3 did 3.3 million in the first week I believe.

 

[domokunrox]

I bought Hot shots golf on day 1, and shame on any PS3 owner who hasn't done the same. Its a goddamn excellent game!

 

[jakncoke]

I bought Hot shots golf on day 1, and shame on any PS3 owner who hasn't done the same. Its a goddamn excellent game!

I am doing so with my first paycheck so +1 for the game.

 

[Opiate]

See, this is why I don't get this idea that Free DLC helps support the game in the long run. CoD4 charged for maps and they're still in the Top Ten. Burnout is being very generous indeed, and that's great for us, but I still don't see how it makes sense from a business stand point to do active development work, after your game has sold in retail, with no direct compensation for it.

I absolutely agree. Free DLC and maps sounds great to us, but companies have to get their heads on straight.

Game development cost is so high these days (with no cap in sight) that new revenue streams simply must be found. I'm sure Burnout Paradise did fine, but I'd also assume its profit margins are very notably lower than previous iterations, with flat sales and much higher development costs.

It would of course be nice if the AA games like Burnout could still be sold for 49.99 like last generation, with no additional costs attached; but these games have gone from 5-10 million development cycles just 7 years ago to 15 million now (both approximations, of course), and simply raising the price of games 10 dollars isn't going to cover those additional costs.

 

[Hellsing321]

An oldie but a goodie

And

At Smash Bros.

 

[charlequin]

If you want to know how things are selling, take all the game sales and normalize by the install base.

The number of copies a game sells doesn't grow linearly with install base; it grows more slowly the larger the install base gets. Launch titles always have ridiculous tie ratios compared to the system install base at their time of release, while games that come out late in the generation don't grow to meet the drastically larger install base they're releasing on.

(insert brokenrecord.jpg here.)

Did you just ask this question in a thread summarizing the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl?

The fact that a Nintendo game sells well on the system is not in itself in any way indicative of a comparable difficulty for third-parties to sell games; any third party who's good at their business understands that only the actual sales of their own and comparable third party titles matter, not what percentage of total software sales on the system go to the first party games.

(insert brokenrecordonfire.gif here.)

 

[Karma]

i'm starting to think that MS is going to hold the price drop until the MGS4 release.

Even if they dropped the price they would still get beat by Nintendo. They are already beating the PS3 in Hardware and Software so I don`t see them dropping the price in the U.S.

 

[Somnia]

Like Ratchet...Hot Shots is a game that has pretty good legs. Ya it won't be no million seller, but still. I know over the last week we've sold down to 1 copy at my store from starting at 10. It just sells over time not up front...not everything is front loaded.

 

[MisterHero]

The fact that a Nintendo game sells well on the system is not in itself in any way indicative of a comparable difficulty for third-parties to sell games; any third party who's good at their business understands that only the actual sales of their own and comparable third party titles matter, not what percentage of total software sales on the system go to the first party games.

(insert brokenrecordonfire.gif here.)

I wasn't thinking about any of that.

They were asking if a "Nintendo factor" exists.

I think Smash Bros. high sales and acceptance among their huge fanbase supports that theory.

Of course a company that knows their stuff will succeed given the opportunity and the appropriate effort in return.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Even if they dropped the price they would still get beat by Nintendo. They are already beating the PS3 in Hardware and Software so I don`t see them dropping the price in the U.S.

They need separation. We found out about the UK price drop March 5 and it happened on the 14th. That is 9 days. Starting with tomorrow, we have 12 days and the circulars from 4-27 through 5-3 are not out yet. They will be out during the weekend. We will know if they are having a price drop then. Old loose lips Microsoft is no more.

 

[gtj1092]

I bought Hot shots golf on day 1, and shame on any PS3 owner who hasn't done the same. Its a goddamn excellent game!

+1

Bought it last friday. Haven't joined the NeoGaf league yet though.

 

[Warm Machine]

Anyone have individual numbers? Just curious about Frontlines for 360.

 

[donny2112]

Nice stuff, donny. Do you have a chart similar to your WW chart but for US only?

Sure. I usually just do a monthly rate chart, but it's simple enough to do a cumulative one, too. Here are both formats.

 

[Mooreberg]

See, this is why I don't get this idea that Free DLC helps support the game in the long run. CoD4 charged for maps and they're still in the Top Ten. Burnout is being very generous indeed, and that's great for us, but I still don't see how it makes sense from a business stand point to do active development work, after your game has sold in retail, with no direct compensation for it.

It's kind of a circular argument though. Paid DLC works for Halo 3 and COD4 (hell, I just bought both yesterday) because the online user base is large enough to support it. I don't think a game that has a fraction of the day-to-day playing population can sell content that will further split an already small audience.

I do find it funny though that Valve bitched incessantly about multi-core hardware not being as easy to program for, and getting destroyed in sales by Infinity Ward who just shuts up and makes their games work on each platform. Of course, with Steam for Valve and UE3 for Epic, the sales of their own games almost becomes an afterthought.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I like this one. Really puts the PS3/360 Slapfight into perspective.

 

[Wilsongt]

That many damn Wiis sold and I did not see a single one in stores throughout the entire month of March. That's messed up.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

Good to see Army of Two charting so well. I can't wait for the sequel.

 

[rollingstart]

i'm starting to think that MS is going to hold the price drop until the MGS4 release.

I dont think MGS4 is going to be so commercially successful that it will require MS to take action like that yet.

 

[Arde5643]

That many damn Wiis sold and I did not see a single one in stores throughout the entire month of March. That's messed up.

Can't compete with scalpers and soccer moms.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

That many damn Wiis sold and I did not see a single one in stores throughout the entire month of March. That's messed up.

If you saw a Nintendo World any morning on any weekday, you'd understand pretty quickly.

 

[Classic_Gs]

I hope I'm not too late to the party, just made this in ImageReady:

:lol
Nice pic! Man all of the sales numbers are insane, especially everything Nintendo related. 360 beats PS3 even though both hardware numbers are embarssingly low. COD4 is still in the top 10, Army of Two came out of nowhere, and go PSP software!

 

[avatar299]

Yay

That is not yay

 

[Beer Monkey]

i totally agree - the X360 numbers are turgid too , but the fact that the two are trending in line again means that gap isn't going to close any time soon.

But yeah, Sony fans saw those two months of mild sales victories as an obvious trend upward to ultimate domination.

now it's swung back the other way, they are rational so perhaps X360 on top is good for people's general sanity?

In truth both numbers are poor for this month.

Relative to Wii.

In March 2004 (the same point in the prior gen), PS2 and Xbox sold a combined 493,000 units. PS3 and 360 combined just sold 519,000 units this March.

The numbers aren't poor at all. They just aren't Wii.

Given the dead heat in March, it's going to be very obvious who gets the bigger GTA IV bump in April.

 

[DayShallCome]

See, this is why I don't get this idea that Free DLC helps support the game in the long run. CoD4 charged for maps and they're still in the Top Ten. Burnout is being very generous indeed, and that's great for us, but I still don't see how it makes sense from a business stand point to do active development work, after your game has sold in retail, with no direct compensation for it.

Valve employs this free DLC concept. They've talked about it pretty frequently - their argument is that free DLC (that's good) is really an investment in the Valve brand and their future titles. And I'd tend to agree with them - Valve games are very easy buys for me, because they're always aggressively supported (on the PC at least).

 

[virtuafightermaster]

Wait Xbox 360 edged PS3 even with limited supply?

 

[Lobster]

Wow can't believe people think Wii is a Wii Sports machine..I would've never thought that would be the reason for the amazing software sales on the Wii.

 

[BigDubs]

I don't get why so many say that the wii has won this generation. Sure the hardware sales are unprecedented for the wii but the hardware only exists to play the GAMES. Software is why we're all here in the first place and software is where the money is made in this industry. The 360 is kicking huge amounts of ass when it comes to software sales and is the rightful winner of this generation at this point!

 

[Mooreberg]

In March 2004 (the same point in the prior gen), PS2 and Xbox sold a combined 493,000 units. PS3 and 360 combined just sold 519,000 units this March.

Yeah but PS2 also sold something like 3 million units in its second December in stores (2001). There is probably going to be a longer tail for 360 and PS3 sales due simply to the fact that it is taking them forever to even get down to $299 for the units that people are actually interested in buying.

Software is why we're all here in the first place and software is where the money is made in this industry. The 360 is kicking huge amounts of ass when it comes to software sales and is the rightful winner of this generation at this point!

Once the margin in hardware sales becomes even greater, software sales will follow. The major difference is that Wii sales aren't really keeping the games that 360 owners want to play from coming out. When PS2 sold well, people that owned an Xbox would get annoyed that stuff like GTA would come out for that system first. That isn't really happening this gen, because Wii doesn't run the game engines that the AAA western devs are using. And when it comes time for the publisher to take advantage of the sales Wii can offer, they're probably not going to have the same development teams working on those versions. The average person isn't going to know that (as an example) Treyarch developed COD5 on the Wii instead of Infinity Ward.

 

[MobiusPigeon]

Even if they dropped the price they would still get beat by Nintendo. They are already beating the PS3 in Hardware and Software so I don`t see them dropping the price in the U.S.

they've dropped the price $50 within the the past 2 1/2 years. that's pathetic.

 

[virtuafightermaster]

I don't get why so many say that the wii has won this generation. Sure the hardware sales are unprecedented for the wii but the hardware only exists to play the GAMES. Software is why we're all here in the first place and software is where the money is made in this industry. The 360 is kicking huge amounts of ass when it comes to software sales and is the rightful winner of this generation at this point!

I guess a portion of wii owners are actually gamers, Nintendo games sell great on Wii.
But gaming console for me, nothing beats my xbox 360, not even PS3 atm.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

I don't get why so many say that the wii has won this generation. Sure the hardware sales are unprecedented for the wii but the hardware only exists to play the GAMES. Software is why we're all here in the first place and software is where the money is made in this industry. The 360 is kicking huge amounts of ass when it comes to software sales and is the rightful winner of this generation at this point!

It is going to end up with the largest amount of sales as well. Might be a funny proportion toward Nintendo games, but with the amount of consoles that it looks like Nintendo is going to sell, Nintendo should overcome what Microsoft is doing on the software side.

 

[Stumpokapow]

I don't get why so many say that the wii has won this generation. Sure the hardware sales are unprecedented for the wii but the hardware only exists to play the GAMES. Software is why we're all here in the first place and software is where the money is made in this industry. The 360 is kicking huge amounts of ass when it comes to software sales and is the rightful winner of this generation at this point!

December: Wii beats 360 for software
January: Wii edges 360 for software
February: 360 edges out Wii for software

This attitude of "top 10 is all that matters" does not present an accurate software picture.

 

[Drinky Crow]

can we call the ps3 this gen's gamecube officially, now? 2nd most powerful system, lags behind the xbox in sales, and whose hype among the gafcore is driven by a codependent set of japanese gaming fetishists obsessed with retread franchises and the occasional overmarketed and undelivering western exclusive

 

[virtuafightermaster]

It is going to end up with the largest amount of sales as well. Might be a funny proportion toward Nintendo games, but with the amount of consoles that it looks like Nintendo is going to sell, Nintendo should overcome what Microsoft is doing on the software side.

Not to mention Wii is the only overpriced console of the three atm.

 

[Anasui Kishibe]

I don't get why so many say that the wii has won this generation. Sure the hardware sales are unprecedented for the wii but the hardware only exists to play the GAMES. Software is why we're all here in the first place and software is where the money is made in this industry. The 360 is kicking huge amounts of ass when it comes to software sales and is the rightful winner of this generation at this point!

do you really think Nintendo's not making profit on the Wii alone?

 

[Saitou]

can we call the ps3 this gen's gamecube officially, now? 2nd most powerful system, lags behind the xbox in sales, and whose hype among the gafcore is driven by a codependent set of japanese gaming fetishists obsessed with retread franchises

This is why you'll never be banned.

 

[Wyndstryker]

I don't get why so many say that the wii has won this generation. Sure the hardware sales are unprecedented for the wii but the hardware only exists to play the GAMES. Software is why we're all here in the first place and software is where the money is made in this industry. The 360 is kicking huge amounts of ass when it comes to software sales and is the rightful winner of this generation at this point!

Seems like someones missing the Wii software sales memo. It's doing quite well when compared with the 360.

 

[FrankT]

can we call the ps3 this gen's gamecube officially, now? 2nd most powerful system, lags behind the xbox in sales, and whose hype among the gafcore is driven by a codependent set of japanese gaming fetishists obsessed with retread franchises and the occasional overmarketed and undelivering western exclusive

:lol

Good ole drinky crow.

 

[_Alkaline_]

This is actually kinda embarassing for 360 and PS3.