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[nib95]

This was a real thing? Someone seriously predicted 50-90% digital for Halo 5?

Yes. I know it's pretty amusing, but it's true.

No I didn't. I went with 50% to begin with, then lowered that after seeing the financial report from EA. I thought it would of been higher LTD. I never thought it'd outsell physical. I was joking when I said that digital outsold physical by 900%.

Agree with that as well, I kept on stating that I thought the higher perecentage was for launch week, the week of numbers which the thread was made for.

Did you do Mitt Romney's PR? And you actually initially said above 50%. Then wavered, then doubled down on it. But anyway, those posts are there for all to see, including the quote above. No need to derail.

 

[Toki767]

Need the Uncharted numbers!

It's around 880K for the bundle if you subtract the numbers we know for Black Ops 3 and Star Wars bundles.

I don't imagine the standalone retail copies are anything worth mentioning.

 

[Kyoufu]

Didn't Zhuge confirm Halo 5 did 1.3 million including digital in its first month w/ bundles included. Halo 5 digital was roughly 30%... this was just for October, not what it has done in November.

The 935k figure isn't including digital, which NPD doesn't track. Obviously software numbers would be higher because of that.

1.3 million is still a massive drop from previous Halo games.

 

[Nirolak]

It's also true that Fallout 4 (which had a fantastic first month, especially when you include PC sales) probably saw a massive overshipment at day one, I don't know how much I'd consider that as an example to follow (even if, again, sales to customers are fantastic, way more than most of us was expecting).

Battlefront is doing a bit less than what I was expecting: I thought it could be around 2.2-2.4 millions without bundles being considered. But, again, this is a game that should receive a pretty good push this month, thanks to The Force Awakens, thus it's way too soon to say its sales are "disappointing" compared to the forecasted target (without considering it, those are big sales as well, and the bundle sold very well too).

I kind of just assume the same of Battlefront because EA is also very fond of overshipping and then selling a bunch of cheap copies later.

 

[kinoki]

Yeah, at one million between the first two months, that'd be something like a 66% decline, or at least 50% even if we're generous with digital.

It's not like there aren't a lot of Xbox Ones out there either, so the issue would be more with the franchise. Call of Duty isn't selling 80%+ of its US copies on PS4, so we know there's a much higher sales ceiling on the system.

If this decline continues, I wonder how long Microsoft will keep making them. One or two more titles would be a fair guess. My guess is that i343 tried to appeal to a very small audience. The bigger audience just want the most popular shooter out there (Call of Duty or Destiny at the moment). Halo just doesn't bring anything new to the table for the audience. The current trends have moved past that type of gameplay. If anything they need smaller scale.

 

[Kill3r7]

It's also true that Fallout 4 (which had a fantastic first month, especially when you include PC sales) probably saw a massive overshipment at day one, I don't know how much I'd consider that as an example to follow (even if, again, sales to customers are fantastic, way more than most of us was expecting).

Battlefront is doing a bit less than what I was expecting: I thought it could be around 2.2-2.4 millions without bundles being considered. But, again, this is a game that should receive a pretty good push this month, thanks to The Force Awakens, thus it's way too soon to say its sales are "disappointing" compared to the forecasted target (without considering it, those are big sales as well, and the bundle sold very well too).

Battlefront has been on sale for most of this week at $40. I expect it will continue into next week and maybe even after. I think it will pick up steam after Force Awakens comes out.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

I'd like to note that people who think Battlefront is bombing seem off target, especially given that EA's target is 13 million units by March 2016, and Fallout 4 shipped 12 million units day one and is barely ahead of it.

Yep seem EA figures for it look very reasonable .
Still next month going to be interesting to watch when the movie comes out .
Along with they PS4 bundles.

 

[Raist]

Never said that, I simply used my mates as a trend as to more people were buying digital as they all used to buy physical. I said numerous times in the same and subsequent threads that I believed it would be 30-40. People just ran with the 9:1 thing. Not surprising though, it was funny.

Well that's how it went:

Your mad if you think digital isn't drastically outselling physical.

So that's not "50% to begin with". It was supposed to have drastically outsold physical.

I'd say it had similar numbers to Halo 2 in that list.

Which would give a 70:30 digital to physical ratio.

I think it's around the mid 40% mark, rather than 30% being the top-end. This is what I'm saying.

 

[CosmicQueso]

So do you have access to digital splits for games? I'm curious how well PSN/Xbox Store sales do. Sony and Microsoft have been getting pretty good with digital discounts, but I'm curious if they make a dent when it comes to overall sales like they do on PC.

They do not appear to be cannibalistic to packaged sales, if that's what you're asking.

I've seen some titles do over 80% of their life to date digital unit sales from one storefront deep discount promotion.

Guessing you'll see more of these in the future.

 

[benny_a]

As I remember you started by saying that people were "mad if they didn't think digital isn't drastically outselling physical"

Good memory:

Your mad if you think digital isn't drastically outselling physical.

I can name one person out of a friendship group of 10 people who bought Halo 5 physically rather than digital. That's 10/90% split in physical/digital in my friendship group. I'd say it's a similar story in a lot of other peoples.

But I'm sure that was just a joke. I usually would say "don't quit your day job" but you have a new one lined up very quickly so it doesn't matter.

 

[leeh]

As I remember you started by saying that people were "mad if they didn't think digital isn't drastically outselling physical"

I did say that, outlandish by me. I toned back when I found out LTD's.

 

[MisterR]

It never is with "unofficial" data.




I seem to remember a shitload of people saying 20-30% was the norm.

They did and he said it was like 90%. Then adjusted down to around 50% I believe.

 

[Luckydog]

Yes. I know it's pretty amusing, but it's true.



Did you do Mitt Rodney's PR? And you actually initially said above 50%. Then wavered, then doubled down on it. But anyway, those posts are there for all to see, including the quote above. No need to derail.

Huge dropoff, even with digital and bundles included. I have not seen Nov. numbers/LTD for Halo 5. I wonder what kind of tail it will have.

 

[Elios83]

400k Star Wars bundles with the price at 349$ and over.
In December there will be two weeks of Star Wars at 299$ with all the hype from the movie helping sales as well. I expect madness.

 

[Kenzodielocke]

So Nintendo can't drop the Wii U to 199, right ?

 

[Josman]

US vs WW.

Oh yeah I forgot that... Still it's a very impressive number

 

[gundamkyoukai]

Sure!

Electronic Arts's leading title 'Star Wars: Battlefront,' the third-best seller of the November 2015 U.S. Games Industry Sales (New Physical Channel) report, sold 2.10 million unit sales including bundles, or 1.725 million units looking at the software side of things.


So if we look at the top three software when doing a like-to-like comparison factoring in all bundle sales, we have:

1.) Call of Duty: Black Ops III - (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC | Actvision Blizzard)
4.89 million unit sales including bundles

2.) Fallout 4 (PS4, Xbox One, PC | Bethesda Softworks)
2.54 million unit sales including bundles

3.) Star Wars: Battlefront (PS4, Xbox One, PC | Electronic Arts)
2.10 million unit sales including bundles

Does that mean the NDC bundle did around 750k ?

 

[Loudninja]

400k Star Wars bundles with the price at 349$ and over.
In December there will be two weeks of Star Wars at 299$ with all the hype from the movie helping sales as well. I expect madness.

They really did clean up on the bundles even the COD bundles did well.

It's around 880K for the bundle if you subtract the numbers we know for Black Ops 3 and Star Wars bundles.

I don't imagine the standalone retail copies are anything worth mentioning.

I still would like to know.

 

[Tallshortman]

Battlefront has been on sale for most of this week at $40. I expect it will continue into next week and maybe even after. I think it will pick up steam after Force Awakens comes out.

What where? There weren't any deals as far as I saw on BF.

 

[leeh]

Good memory:


But I'm sure that was just a joke. I usually would say "don't quit your day job" but you have a new one lined up very quickly so it doesn't matter.

I'm sure it still is the same for a lot of other peoples friendship groups. That's why digital splits are rising.

Never said it was that across the board did I.

Just ignore the posts which actually confirm what I thought in that thread

 

[pastrami]

They do not appear to be cannibalistic to packaged sales, if that's what you're asking.

I've seen some titles do over 80% of their life to date unit sales off on storefront deep discount promotion.

Guessing you'll see more of these in the future.

I wasn't worried about cannibalizing retail or day 1 sales, just whether or not they were effective at getting people to buy games. I think the perception of console gamers is that they tend to be frontloaded buyers, with little to no tail end (whereas PC games tend to have longer tails due to discounts and such). Good to see that deep discounts are effective on consoles as well. Thanks for the information.

 

[Mpl90]

I kind of just assume the same of Battlefront because EA is also very fond of overshipping and then selling a bunch of cheap copies later.

If EA overships like Bethesda, then, it's plausible to expect Battlefront reaching the 13 millions target before March 2016, yeah. Still, next month will be important for the game.

 

[Off-Kilter]

Pretty crazy that NFS charted all the way at #7. I thought it was sent out to die.

 

[newjeruse]

Do consoles generally sell more in December than November, and how will that be affected by Black Friday weekend being split in this year's NPD?

 

[FerDS]

I did say that, outlandish by me. I toned back when I found out LTD's.

Which is cool, I just don't understand who are you trying to call out when most people were closer to the actual numbers than you, even after you toned back.

I get it, we are all wrong sometimes, it's important to accept when we are

 

[Darth Smurf X]

Sure!

Electronic Arts's leading title 'Star Wars: Battlefront,' the third-best seller of the November 2015 U.S. Games Industry Sales (New Physical Channel) report, sold 2.10 million unit sales including bundles, or 1.725 million units looking at the software side of things.


So if we look at the top three software when doing a like-to-like comparison factoring in all bundle sales, we have:

1.) Call of Duty: Black Ops III - (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC | Actvision Blizzard)
4.89 million unit sales including bundles

2.) Fallout 4 (PS4, Xbox One, PC | Bethesda Softworks)
2.54 million unit sales including bundles

3.) Star Wars: Battlefront (PS4, Xbox One, PC | Electronic Arts)
2.10 million unit sales including bundles

Awesome! Thanks.

 

[hawk2025]

lol at leeh trying to rewrite history.

Take the L, friend. Move on.

 

[leeh]

Which is cool, I just don't understand who are you trying to call out when most people were closer to the actual numbers than you, even after you toned back.

I get it, we are all wrong sometimes, it's important to accept when we are

I said 30-40, no one else said that. I was called ridiculous for saying that.

So, it's the other way round pal.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Wait, so the Steam version of Fallout 4 sold close to PS4/Xbone combined numbers? Steam Spy has it at over 2million, that's pretty impressive if so.

F4 Steam WW = 2 million
F4 NPD PS4+XB1(no digital) = 2.54 million
F4 Steam US (from a few pages back) = 900k

 

[stryke]

I did say that, outlandish by me. I toned back when I found out LTD's.

Then stop trying to act so vindicated.

 

[mcrommert]

Here are the numbers from ZhugeEX regarding Halo 5.



Note he made an update that Halo 3's 3.3 was actually first two weeks (but I'm just posting about Halo 5 #'s we all know its a massive decline already)

So week 1 in October Halo 5 did 1.3 million w/ retail, bundles and digital.

I could see Halo 5 being close to 2 million in the US end of November.

I really doubt it is that low...2.5 sounds more realistic...a lot of people are picking up consoles and a lot will be picking up halo 5

 

[allan-bh]

1.) Call of Duty: Black Ops III - (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC | Actvision Blizzard)
4.89 million unit sales including bundles

2.) Fallout 4 (PS4, Xbox One, PC | Bethesda Softworks)
2.54 million unit sales including bundles

3.) Star Wars: Battlefront (PS4, Xbox One, PC | Electronic Arts)
2.10 million unit sales including bundles

Disappointing for CoD, supposedly Black Ops III would strengthen sales since is the most popular subserie in the Call of Duty universe.

Battlefront did better than I expected considering Gamestop comments, but if some people was thinking that we would have something bigger than Destiny... is not the case.

Can you give us Halo 5 number please?

 

[evilr]

From brilliant minds that brought you "Preseason"

Xbox is "not just for christmas" anymore

Oh this Greenberg baffoon infuriates me. First he mentioned about all that pre-season bullshit implying it's the Christmas months that count. Now that they lost November, Xbox is for every month!? His messaging is so transparent.

Seriously this guy needs to get fired, completely full of salty crap. Half of my university class can do a better job at what this idiot is doing and they're half his age, his days are numbered.

 

[Somnia]

The 935k figure isn't including digital, which NPD doesn't track. Obviously software numbers would be higher because of that.

1.3 million is still a massive drop from previous Halo games.

Which I never disputed, I was just making it clear what it did. I made a follow-up post after this reply to you.

 

[MisterR]

I'm sure it still is the same for a lot of other peoples friendship groups. That's why digital splits are rising.

Never said it was that across the board did I.

Just ignore the posts which actually confirm what I thought in that thread

Take the L and move on pal. Your posts are there for everyone to read.

 

[johnny956]

So Nintendo can't drop the Wii U to 199, right ?

Looks like they don't want to eat the costs on a price drop. It'll only get worse as the PS4/XB1 get closer to that price.

 

[Toki767]

I really doubt it is that low...2.5 sounds more realistic...a lot of people are picking up consoles and a lot will be picking up halo 5

Battlefront was 1.725 million and that was #3.

Halo was #8.

It's probably really safe to say that Halo 5 is not at 2.5 million.

It probably isn't even at 1.5 million retail.

 

[FerDS]

I said 30-40, no one else said that. I was called ridiculous for saying that.

So, it's the other way round pal.

I don't think we would be pals, but ok

 

[Welfare]

Does that mean the NDC bundle did around 750k ?

There was also a Disney Infinity bundle and probably some leftover sales from the Batman bundle.

 

[Elios83]

They really did clean up on the bundles even the COD bundles did well.


I still would like to know.

Yes the Star Wars partnership was clearly a fantastic marketing move.
A simple marketing deal is selling way more systems than the full exclusive of Titanfall, from EA as well.
COD bundle will pretty well as well, it sold more than Halo 5 bundle and the price was 430$ so not exactly cheap.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

Disappointing for CoD, supposedly Black Ops III would strengthen sales since is the most popular subserie in the Call of Duty universe.

Battlefront did better than I expected considering Gamestop comments, but if some people was thinking that we would have something bigger than Destiny... is not the case.

Can you give us Halo 5 number please?

Well those numbers don't have DD sales for COD but it's up over the last game not even counting DD .
So that is good but don't expect those monsters numbers from the old days .

 

[Toki767]

There was also a Disney Infinity bundle and probably some leftover sales from the Batman bundle.

I forgot all about that bundle.

 

[FerDS]

Take the L and move on pal. Your posts are there for everyone to read.

In this very page, too. But there's clearly no point in trying to reason here. So...

 

[CosmicQueso]

I wasn't worried about cannibalizing retail or day 1 sales, just whether or not they were effective at getting people to buy games. I think the perception of console gamers is that they tend to be frontloaded buyers, with little to no tail end (whereas PC games tend to have longer tails due to discounts and such). Good to see that deep discounts are effective on consoles as well. Thanks for the information.

On the digital storefronts, it's all about discover-ability, isn't it? No one pops on their console on a Saturday morning and says, unprovoked, "hey I want to go play that 2 year old game, and I'd like to pay a high price for it" right?

The only way you can encourage late cycle digital purchase is by getting the titles on the storefront front pages. The only way to get on the front page is to promote.

Couple years ago, there were no digital catalog promotions on the consoles. So of course digital sales were frontloaded.

Now, we're seeing the catalog get much more life digitally on the consoles because these titles are getting promoted.

So that's cool.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

Wait, so the Steam version of Fallout 4 sold close to PS4/Xbone combined numbers? Steam Spy has it at over 2million, that's pretty impressive if so.

LTD WW on SteamSpy vs. Us debut month sales for PS4/XBO excluding digital.

Fallout 4 retail version just included a Steam key for downloading the whole game so it counts retail+digital.

 

[JeffZero]

Battlefront did a little bit better than I was expecting. Good work, EA.

 

[mcrommert]

Battlefront was 1.725 million and that was #3.

Halo was #8.

It's probably really safe to say that Halo 5 is not at 2.5 million.

It probably isn't even at 1.5 million retail.

Umm..halo 5 came out last month...battlefront did 2.1 million

So i'm saying halo sold about 1 million to 1.2 in november

Edit: Sorry mixing digital and physical numbers...i meant 2.5 mill for digital and physical

 

[FerDS]

He/she did. People won't let it go.

He/she did, some people won't let it go, and then he/she tries to boast about how right he was and everyone else was wrong in this thread...

 

[Elios83]

Do consoles generally sell more in December than November, and how will that be affected by Black Friday weekend being split in this year's NPD?

Really hard to predict.
December is 5 weeks vs 4 weeks in November.
But the trend in recent years has been really strong sales during BF because of deals eating into December sales.
But in this particular year the price cuts announced for December only will shuffle the cards again. Also CyberMonday will be included in the December tracking period so I think that December will be at least as big as November, as crazy as it might sound right now.

 

[Ogimachi]

I'd like to note that people who think Battlefront is bombing seem off target, especially given that EA's target is 13 million units by March 2016, and Fallout 4 shipped 12 million units day one and is barely ahead of it.

Indeed. Bethesda was expecting FO4 to blow Skyrim out of the water, which had 10 million units shipped more than a month after launch.