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NPD Sales Results for October 2015 [Up1: Xbox #1]

noshten

Member
Don't completely wright off Halo just yet, with November and December coming up there could be a lot more units moved - it is a top heavy game but I'd imagine a lot of new Xbox owners over the Holiday might pick it up.
If it does sub 4 million WW by the end of the year and sub 2 million US I'd be worried for the franchise and we can confirm that fatigue and also MCC debacle and Destiny people moving to PC shooters really hurt the potential of Halo.
 

BokehKing

Banned
It's true that Halo 5 has had worse sales than previous episodes, but we've also got to take count of the Xbox One installed base, which is smaller than the 360's when Halo 3 and company came out, plus it is still a success even with these numbers, i mean just for example i don't think there is a Sony first party game which sells as good as Halo is doing, we also have to deal with the fact that now the main Xbox exclusive, at least sales wise, has become Gears of War, i'm curious to see how Gears 4 will sell next year when Xbox One will have a better installed base and a price drop

tumblr_mk181krq6s1s90lc1o1_250.gif
 
It is when the competition launches the biggest exclusive they have and only wins by 25k units.

Argh. Fanboy wars. Wins/loses are not the correct terminology in sensible discussion.

The PS4 team will be disappointed that their sales in a price drop period did not increase/maintain sell through.

The XB1 team will be disappointed if the Halo numbers are as publicised.

No one wins.
 

foxbeldin

Member
I haven't kept up. Halo 5 is now a flop? Are we getting that by comparing first week sales of Halo 2 or 3 or something?

Basically this :
CTrF2dWWEAEpGVC.jpg


Halo 5 : 1 week of tracking (includes bundles but not digital)
Halo 3 : 2 weeks of tracking
others : 3 weeks of tracking

Keep in mind that the drop in UK for Halo 5 was around 80% for week 2.
 

Dragon

Banned
Yep. And not just Halo. If anybody needed more proof that Xbox as a device agnostic platform is coming, this is it.

It makes too much sense. The only issue they will have, is there is a ton of competition on PC. And some people are entrenched in Steam :).
 

Alo0oy

Banned
I don't know man. We don't have production / marketing costs, but Halo will still make them money. They just need to dial their projections down.

935k in one of two viable market for Halo is a terrible number, they need a new IP that either A) Sells better in the US, or B) Has actual presence WW.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
AC and possible Halo are both series that have strong legs compared to something like MGSV, so I think we can expect to see them both in the top 10 for the next few months..

With time I'm sure both will make a healthy return for Ubi/Microsoft, albeit at a distinctly lower level and notable franchise decline.
 

AgentP

Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
Yeah, I think diverting the resources of 343i into a new IP would be a better business decision.

343 only exist to pump out Bungie knockoffs, they literally put the studio together for that single reason.
 

Tobor

Member
You honestly think they will shift the whole franchise to PC and lose millions of potential sales and also the savior of Xbox hardware? Nope, they won't.

I think Microsoft will be more critical of the next Halo now, and if it doesn't manage to show growth, then we can think of extreme scenarios like the one you mentioned. Launching day and date with PC won't help the series much, if at all. Halo 5 story ends on a cliffhanger and it is not like the series is available on PC unlike the Xbox One.

1. Halo 5 will be available on PC long before 6 launches.
2. Microsoft is all about subscriptions now. It's a company wide strategy. Live subscriptions are far more important to them than console hardware numbers.
3. They lose nothing releasing on PC and Xbox. They gain subscriptions and software sales.

You have to look at the big picture here. What is best for Microsoft as a whole, not just the Xbox hardware division?
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Speaking of Black Friday, anyone else notice how Christmas stuff is getting pushed earlier and earlier each year? I saw decorations out before Halloween got here. Last year or a few years ago it was after Halloween but before Thanksgiving.

Same could be said for Black Friday. Online info gets posted earlier n earlier, some sites start BF earlier, Cyber Mondays, some have BF deals that last an entire month, etc.

Wasnt it last year or the year before when BF actually stated Thanksgiving night? Normally it started at 12am or later. Who would go shopping right after Thanksgiving dinner with friends, family?
 
It's true that Halo 5 has had worse sales than previous episodes, but we've also got to take count of the Xbox One installed base, which is smaller than the 360's when Halo 3 and company came out, plus it is still a success even with these numbers, i mean just for example i don't think there is a Sony first party game which sells as good as Halo is doing, we also have to deal with the fact that now the main Xbox exclusive, at least sales wise, has become Gears of War, i'm curious to see how Gears 4 will sell next year when Xbox One will have a better installed base and a price drop

TloU, Uncharted, GT and God of War could all overtake Halo 5 now.
 

Alo0oy

Banned
343 only exist to pump out Bungie knockoffs, they literally put the studio together for that single reason.

I think MS should re-purpose that studio.

I don't think a lot of people realize how low 935k is, other franchises get away with it because they sell really well in other markets, Halo doesn't.
 
The context will be here next month (The PS4 needs to sell at least 1.3m+ in November), but that doesn't mean those numbers aren't terrible.

It sold 25 k less than last year .
The only reason people say it selling terrible is because of a price cut .
$50 off is not going to make people run out and buy a console early before black friday .
 

BokehKing

Banned
Argh. Fanboy wars. Wins/loses are not the correct terminology in sensible discussion.

The PS4 team will be disappointed that their sales in a price drop period did not increase/maintain sell through.

The XB1 team will be disappointed if the Halo numbers are as publicised.

No one wins.
It didn't do much because $50 is nothing
 

Ricky_R

Member
935k in one of two viable market for Halo is a terrible number, they need a new IP that either A) Sells better in the US, or B) Has actual presence WW.

But that doesn't paint the whole picture. There's still revenue/profit there that they'll probably won't get from any other first party franchise. A new IP is too big of a risk at the cost of Halo.

At this point, that would be a poor business decision.
 

RexNovis

Banned
I think retailers have made a big mistake making Black Friday and holiday sales such a big focus. Now instead of sales and deals being better spread throughout the year, presumably they're more lopsided mostly towards the last few months of the year instead, at least the its respect to consumer buying habits.

Agreed. It really starting to affect sales figures in the remaining months. But I also think the release schedule plays just as big of a role here. If everyone spread their releases out throughout the year we would likely see regular bumps in demand as a result of specific titles. Instead they overwhelmingly release in a relatively short 3 month window inflating demand for a short time before plummeting again. It's baffling.
 

Alo0oy

Banned
It sold 25 k less than last year .
The only reason people say it selling terrible is because of a price cut .
$50 off is not going to make people run out and buy a console early before black friday .

It's not like it did well last October either. So that's not a viable comparison point.
 
Yeah, I think diverting the resources of 343i into a new IP would be a better business decision.

This is a terrible idea, a lot of people really like Halo 5 (myself included), I have no concerns that it will make them money, plenty of money just not on the same level as previous titles. If anything will help them build the franchise back its making a good/great game

Making a new IP for 343 would mean putting Halo down completely, you're looking at 6 years (2x 3 year dev cycles) at a minimum before they can get another Halo out... thats too long and they shouldn't do that.

I probably wouldn't make another game outside of Halo Wars 2 in between though. If you want to staff them up to make something new as well as Halo... perhaps they could do that but I'm not sure that would be much different to just making another new team
 

teiresias

Member
The under-performance of their competition is not an excuse for those abysmal numbers.

I'm sort of with those that say we need to wait for next month to see. People have been buying up pre-order bundles at this new price that aren't counted until next month. Of course, that could also deflate actual in-November direct sales from BF sales (though it will be hard to tell since the bundles will be counted in November).

It's not like it did well last October either. So that's not a viable comparison point.

I mean, what's our baseline for doing "well" in October? There's only been one other October this gen to compare it to, so right now it is our ONLY comparison point and may be the baseline for this gen.
 

leeh

Member
If even leeh has given up on digital spin, then all hope is lost.
In all fairness, with bundles alone, the digital split on this game will be massive. Although, since it's included in the 935k number, there's no way to work it out roughly.

Doesn't mean I was wrong with the split, the game just didn't sell well ;)
 

dcb2821

Member
We have to remember with these Halo 5 numbers compared to older titles that there really was no digital back then. So ALL sales were disk copies. Thats the only thing I don't like about NPD is the numbers aren't really the total sales if it doesn't include digital sales.
 

nib95

Banned
Which do you guys think had a worse impact on the franchise, Halo 4 or MCC?

On a side note, seems gamers these days do somewhat consider the past. Halo, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield etc. Publishers would be wise to get things right the first time, and not cock things up to the extent where they damage franchises.
 

Ricky_R

Member
In all fairness, with bundles alone, the digital split on this game will be massive. Although, since it's included in the 935k number, there's no way to work it out roughly.

Doesn't mean I was wrong with the split, the game just didn't sell well ;)

What's the percent of digital sales that you have in mind?
 
Which do you guys think had a worse impact on the franchise, Halo 4 or MCC?

On a side note, seems gamers these days do somewhat consider the past. Halo, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield etc. Publishers would be wise to get things right the first time, and not cock things up to the extent where they damage franchises.
Halo Reach was when the series started to decline so I'm going with that.
 

RexNovis

Banned
It's true nobody "won" this month. True success at this point will depend on the sales we see during November. That will tell us whether sales were delayed as a result of highly anticipated titles and discounts or if the demand for HW has really declined dramatically.
 
Which do you guys think had a worse impact on the franchise, Halo 4 or MCC?

On a side note, seems gamers these days do somewhat consider the past. Halo, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield etc. Publishers would be wise to get things right the first time, and not cock things up to the extent where they damage franchises.

Mcc
 
Wowzers. The Halo and AC drops are tragic. There's absolutely no positive spin for either of those even if it did really well digitally. Still good, but the well is drying up at this point for both franchises.
 

Kathian

Banned
More atrocious numbers for Halo; I think people saying MCC had no effect and being silly. Sure Gaffers and the ilk will know that like the new AC the games are not going to have the same issues however

That burned main fans; Halo 4 lost a lot of fans per the usage rates and unlike when Halo 3 launched, MS is against not just tough competition but dominating competition - Halo 3 drove sales but it did so by giving people a jumping on point to a new system which they knew they would get eventually.

Big nose dive a real issue for MS with Master Chief so linked to the brand.

If they have sense then they'll put Chief quickly back in the main driving seat. The wider fiction also needs to impact the games a lot less.
 
Which do you guys think had a worse impact on the franchise, Halo 4 or MCC?

On a side note, seems gamers these days do somewhat consider the past. Halo, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield etc. Publishers would be wise to get things right the first time, and not cock things up to the extent where they damage franchises.

MCC, Halo 4 might have put a few people off but it wasn't on the scale of MCCs problems at all
 
1. Halo 5 will be available on PC long before 6 launches.
2. Microsoft is all about subscriptions now. It's a company wide strategy. Live subscriptions are far more important to them than console hardware numbers.
3. They lose nothing releasing on PC and Xbox. They gain subscriptions and software sales.

You have to look at the big picture here. What is best for Microsoft as a whole, not just the Xbox hardware division?
Well, I will look at the big picture once it comes into play, and it hasn't yet. Once we see the big name Xbox exclusives (GEOW 4, Crackdown, Quantum Break, Scalebound) getting announced for PC, I will be sure that the company has basically decided to focus on their Windows division as a whole and is not just focusing on the Xbox hardware. I am just not seeing that now. But I am not denying that it won't happen, it will happen provided we see the sales result similar to Halo 5 in the future including declining hardware sales.

If they had plans to release Halo on PC, they wouldn't have been bothering with Halo Online, no? It just seems to me that their strategy is different for both Windows and Xbox One, for now.
 

nib95

Banned
Agreed. It really starting to affect sales figures in the remaining months. But I also think the release schedule plays just as big of a role here. If everyone spread their releases out throughout the year we would likely see regular bumps in demand as a result of specific titles. Instead they overwhelmingly release in a relatively short 3 month window inflating demand for a short time before plummeting again. It's baffling.

Absolutely, and one other issue is that with missed deals, stock issues and all the rest during these next two months, consumers who originally intended to buy one of these consoles, could very well up up buying something else altogether. Retailers need to balance sales and deals better, and publishers spread out the releases better too. I think Sony sort of gets it, but Microsoft this year really put all their eggs in to the Fall basket. I really don't think it was a healthy strategy.
 
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