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NPD Sales Results for April 2016 [Sony, MS, & Nintendo refuse to comment on hardware]

To be honest, I'm not expecting UC4 to push much hardware. Still a boost but nothing notable. I think the release of the collection probably has dispersed some of those buyers to other months.

And of course, May being a slow month as well.
 
I am sorry if someone already meantioned this within the last ~1.000 posts, but how exactly does MS measure "global engagement"?! Is this basically the same as MAU?

Furthermore, congrats to From and Insomniac. Good job!

Hardware-wise, this month was closer as expected, seems that the XBOX One's price cut had at least a minor effect. Yet QB couldn't benefit from it. Kinda disappointing performance, given all the fuzz around this game.

It's essentially just a synonym for MAU. People playing Xbox games, buying Xbox games, and generally being active on the system and service is what the metric is. So yeah, they're literally saying, "We had high engagement with our product throughout April across the globe".
 
A bit of QB-nonsense from some posters in here, who probably haven't even touched the game.

TV, TV, TV... Remedy was always strong for live action stuff. I'm sure the show was a little dream come true for them.

etc.

no avatar quote, pls :p

I played the game to completion.

I think it was not much fun and probably the worse game I've completed all generation.

That has no bearing on how I view it's sales related to its original reveat however. i came to that conclusion because to me it's pretty obvious if you market your game with a accompanying in game TV show, it's going to appeal mostly to people who like errm...like to watch a lot of TV. Which clearly was a Market Microsoft was once chasing with the XBO.

I don't watch TV and I don't like much of it nowadays, especially overproduced American dramatisations, which is probably why I didn't like QB. *shrugs*
 
To be honest, I'm not expecting UC4 to push much hardware. Still a boost but nothing notable. I think the release of the collection probably has dispersed some of those buyers to other months.

And of course, May being a slow month as well.

I don't expect a big hardware boost, but I expect massive sales for UC4. Over a million at minimum.
 

Fat4all

Banned
I don't expect a big hardware boost, but I expect massive sales for UC4. Over a million at minimum.

Hardware will get a small bump for sure, but software sales across the board have potential. Not just with Uncharted, but also with Overwatch, I have a feeling it's gonna do good on consoles.
 

wapplew

Member
Hardware will get a small bump for sure, but software sales across the board have potential. Not just with Uncharted, but also with Overwatch, I have a feeling it's gonna do good on consoles.

Don't forget Doom, it will be a good month software wise.
I think Uncharted will be number 3 since only one SKU, Overwatch and Doom will be 1 and 2, don't know which on top yet. I hope Overwatch take it.
 
I'm sure they aren't too terribly upset.

Probably are planning for the next Xbox to essentially be a Windows 10 Steambox, though.

Of course they'll be 'upset', it's their Xbox gaming brand, XBL subs and users they want to transition over, and if mindshare isn't there then those users aren't moving to W10. Even more so now it's not free.

This is indeed weird.
Do they really don't care at all at this point unless they're breaking some record? LOL.

Most likely they're going to tie the UC4 PR and NPD sales together to make up for the slow month. Then they get to PR UC4 again next NPD.
 

CoG

Member
i remember seeing quantum break when it was announced and thinking it was gonna be a monster. it doesn't look its gonna happen. i wonder what went wrong for it

Microsoft tried to hard to make a AAA blockbuster instead of letting Remedy do their thing. The actor swap and TV show did Quantum Break in.
 

watdaeff4

Member
Right which is absolutely horrible for XB1 considering the promotions the brought to bear in April. Basically the demand for the XB1 is so low that a temporary price drop and a temporary trade in promotion in their strongest market WW were not able to boost sales to even match their sales from last April when there were no promotions. The implications of this and its reflection on the level of consumer demand for XB1 are dire.

Agree with this except wasn't there a huge GameStop trade-in promotion in April 2015?

Honestly, I think that the vast majority of people who want an Xbox 1 bought it between Nov 2014 and Dec 2015.

I wasn't even really considering one until the Nov 2014 deals (glad I did though)

Yes it will still have sales, and maybe Gears month or other tricks MS may have will prove me wrong but I don't see anything but a downward YoY trend from here on out with the overall LTD sales curve plateauing instead of rising like we often see in year 3 of a console cycle
 
Hardware will get a small bump for sure, but software sales across the board have potential. Not just with Uncharted, but also with Overwatch, I have a feeling it's gonna do good on consoles.

Overwatch should do well. It's hard to pin down how well because most of its playtime has been on PC so far as outside of one beta. But it seemed to have universally positive impressions.

PC version is guaranteed to be massive though.
 
giphy.gif

Nice one James, congrats to the whole team. Glad we charted too!
 

demigod

Member
Really, Order 1886 should be the perfect benchmark for QB.

If QB still pulls Alan Wake-esque numbers despite how Order did with significantly more negative critical and user reception... I mean, yikes.

Goodluck with that. Steam sales most likely helped Alan Wake and it won't happen with QB. Also i think AW being horror helped it.
 
Don't forget Doom, it will be a good month software wise.
I think Uncharted will be number 3 since only one SKU, Overwatch and Doom will be 1 and 2, don't know which on top yet. I hope Overwatch take it.

Uncharted 4 will outsell Doom for sure. Overwatch is getting a lot of hype so that will be close, but it still seems like more of a PC franchise so it might not translate to retail.
 
Right which is absolutely horrible for XB1 considering the promotions the brought to bear in April. Basically the demand for the XB1 is so low that a temporary price drop and a temporary trade in promotion in their strongest market WW were not able to boost sales to even match their sales from last April when there were no promotions. The implications of this and its reflection on the level of consumer demand for XB1 are dire.

Gamestop had the same promotion last April, though I think it wasn't as good as this April's. I need to double check.

EDIT: Yeah, this April, buyers could get $100 in store credit if they traded in a PS3 or 360 whereas last April, it was for $75.
 

Fat4all

Banned
Goodluck with that. Steam sales most likely helped Alan Wake and it won't happen with QB. Also i think AW being horror helped it.

One of Alan Wakes biggest legs was that it was heavily bundled with 360's, and for a good while.

I can see the same happening for QB.
 
Goodluck with that. Steam sales most likely helped Alan Wake and it won't happen with QB. Also i think AW being horror helped it.

Oh no no, I meant just console to console comparison. QB definitely isn't going to replicate the success of AW as a whole.

Being relegated to the W10 store with an awful port ensured that.
 

watdaeff4

Member
One of Alan Wakes biggest legs was that it was heavily bundled with 360's, and for a good while.

I can see the same happening for QB.

For the summer months, but it'll change come fall.

Also with MS style anymore it won't be the only bundle available either.........the Division bundle, etc

What was Alan Wakes total sales
EDiT: 4.5 million I See. No way QB doesn't that
 

RexNovis

Banned
Agree with this except wasn't there a huge GameStop trade-in promotion in April 2015?

I didnt think there was but maybe I'm wrong. Can anyone confirm the existence or non existence of XB1 promotions last April. I could totally be mistaken and if so apologies.


EDIT:

Gamestop had the same promotion last April, though I think it wasn't as good as this April's. I need to double check.

EDIT: Yeah, this April, buyers could get $100 in store credit if they traded in a PS3 or 360 whereas last April, it was for $75.

Ok so yea its significantly less grim than I thought then. Certainly not good but not as awful as I orignally thought. Cheers for the correction.
 

watdaeff4

Member
I didnt think there was but maybe I'm wrong. Can anyone confirm the existence or non existence of XB1 promotions last April. I could totally be mistaken and if so apologies.


EDIT:



Ok so yea its significantly less grim than I thought then. Certainly not good but not as awful as I orignally thought. Cheers for the correction.

I still think it's pretty bad to be honest.

Hasn't XB1 sales been down YoY every month so far?
 
Gamestop had the same promotion last April, though I think it wasn't as good as this April's. I need to double check.

EDIT: Yeah, this April, buyers could get $100 in store credit if they traded in a PS3 or 360 whereas last April, it was for $75.

Hmm, this CNet article says it was $125 for Gamestop and $175* for Best Buy according to GameSpot.

So it seems the deals were much better last year, though this year the Xbone was $50 off ($299), so it's kind of a toss-up I'd say.
 

Welfare

Member
I don't see how anyone could possibly know if that's the case.

Is there even any way to see if there's a mainstream consumer knowledge of the Neo?

Easy.

Have Sony officially announced it and have given a price and launch date and notable sites have reported on said info?
 
Just because PS4 sales are flat YOY does not mean that NEO rumors can't be affecting PS4 sales.

Most people outside of gaming forums probably aren't even aware of the rumours. I've never believed in hardware rumours or announcements having an impact on live product sales. I see this a lot on GAF, but where is the evidence? Genuinely curious.
 

RexNovis

Banned
I still think it's pretty bad to be honest.

Hasn't XB1 sales been down YoY every month so far?

Yea its still bad. Its just not nearly as bad as I thought. The decline of consumer appeal is not as stark as it would have been had my initial comparison been true.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
As a huge fan of the series, I'm pumped to see the new Ratchet do well even though I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet.

Rathet & Knack some of the best selling exclusives for Sony this gen. Get ready for 3D platforming renaissance when the Bandicoot blows the bank. And Ape Escape 4, naturally.

pls sony
 

Welfare

Member
I still think it's pretty bad to be honest.

Hasn't XB1 sales been down YoY every month so far?

The XB1 was up 5.5% in March. YTD, it's down 6%.

May should also be down YoY, but will probably still be in the 10% range that the other 3 months had dropped by. May 2015 was 139k.

So until then it's probably safe to say the Neo won't majorly effect the sales of the PS4, ya?

Virtually 0 impact on PS4 sales until then.
 

watdaeff4

Member
Yea its still bad. Its just not nearly as bad as I thought. The decline of consumer appeal is not as stark as it would have been had my initial comparison been true.

We are probably saying the same thing but I don't think consumer appeal declined as much as was saturated (again meaning most who remotely thought of getting one has jumped onboard)

The gurus on here were saying for a long time that this gen's sales would be much more front-loaded than past ones and I think we are now seeing that with XB1 sales. (And let's be honest it will never overcome the initial ill-will it received)

I think with its software lineup, (deserved) hype and brand-name that the PS4 will still sell well until if/when the NEO comes out
 

Regiruler

Member
Wow, R&C did well. That Quantum Bomb though. Wonder how well it did digitally and with bundles.

StarFox made it! Too bad it probably sold low enough to make Nintendo think "Oh....see?! No one wants Star Fox, we're gonna shelf the IP for a while along with Metroid."
Star Fox probably has a fraction of the budget of everything else on the list not named minecraft. I would expect it to have broken even.

I wish I knew budget $s so I wasn't simply takking out of assumption though.
 

watdaeff4

Member
The XB1 was up 5.5% in March. YTD, it's down 6%.

May should also be down YoY, but will probably still be in the 10% range that the other 3 months had dropped by. May 2015 was 139k.

.

March was when it dropped to $299 right?

So basically we are at the point that to generate any meaningful increased demand for an XB1 it's at the initial phase of a marketed price drop

Thanks for that info btw
 

pswii60

Member
Hardware at 23% down is truly depressing and it looks like the consoles aren't expanding and reaching a wider audience. I just hope all three will do what they can to turn this around.

Amazing how well Ratchet did though, and how poorly Quantum did.
 
I don't see how anyone could possibly know if that's the case.

Is there even any way to see if there's a mainstream consumer knowledge of the Neo?

I doubt Neo Rumors are affecting sales, myself.

The point of my post really just suggests that just because sales haven't increased or decreases YoY isn't reason enough to reject the idea as the poster suggested.
 

Javin98

Banned
Hardware at 23% down is truly depressing and it looks like the consoles aren't expanding and reaching a wider audience. I just hope all three will do what they can to turn this around.

Amazing how well Ratchet did though, and how poorly Quantum did.
Just say "consoles are dead", no need to make it subtle to avoid negative replies.
 

pswii60

Member
Just say "consoles are dead", no need to make it subtle to avoid negative replies.
Your judgement is way off, can we not have a mature discussion without overreaction? I don't believe consoles are dead at all, for me that would be the worst thing that could happen to gaming as I'm the definition of comfy couch gamer. I just worry that the console makers are not doing enough to reach a wider audience, especially a younger one. Console hardware is still 40% above this point last gen so it's far from doom and gloom.
 

kinoki

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
Hardware at 23% down is truly depressing and it looks like the consoles aren't expanding and reaching a wider audience. I just hope all three will do what they can to turn this around.

Amazing how well Ratchet did though, and how poorly Quantum did.

There are more PS4 sold this year (to date) than last year. So, one console is expanding. If you look at the games released this month (Ratchet, Dark Souls) you can see they cater more to gaming fans, which are more likely to already own a console.

Quantum continues the realistic narrative third person shooter trend without multiplayer of not selling that well. Hardly surprising.
 
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