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

Destiny data only says about Uncharted without bundles... bundles can boost the sales.

But yeap... flopped.... at least it is a collection and not a new entry.

This is very true, Ethomaz.

It's important to note that a significant amount of Sony's 'Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection' hardware bundles were sold in the October 2015 U.S. Games Industry Sales NPD Report, such that the collection rose above the 300K benchmark when you include them and thus sales are fundamentally higher than Activision Blizzard's 'Destiny: The Taken King' when comparing both SKUs with included Hardware bundles.

The elevated Bundle performance would also put 'Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection', when one is comparing performance of software w/ Bundles for all titles, above SKUs such as Electronic Arts's evergreen titles 'FIFA 2016' and 'Madden NFL 16,' which currently hold the #4 and #6 spots in the 'Top 10 Games' chart (excluding HW bundles) widely distributed by The NPD Group PR team.
 
I don't see Halo 5 digital sales over 15% of total sales... imo, 1.1 million at best.
Why not? The PS4 and the Xbox One both have been slowly conditioning people to go digital. If 20% used to be the average number for digital sales, one would only expect that number to go up from here on out. I think the catalyst for this is because a game has to be installed on new consoles whether you go physical or digital. That has been a very new thing for consumers this generation and it makes sense that it would take time to catch on. So why not bypass the physical copy and have the game pre-installed by release night? I know a lot of people like to be able to resell their old games, but I can still see digital sales going up by quite a bit if for nothing more than convenience.
 

kswiston

Member
Well TLOUR and MCC did big I guess (in remaster/collections context).

I think that The Last of Us and GTA V fall into that generation transition late port category. Same with Tomb Raider Director's cut. The games were about a year old when they got their remasters. The Uncharted titles range from 4-8 years old, and all have been widely available for $20 or less for years.

I was thinking of stuff along the lines of the various PS2 game collections we got this generation, the Gears collection, the Uncharted collection etc.

The only two that I can remember being very big were the MCC (bundling helped with later sales) and the first God of War HD remaster bundle. Others ranged from pretty good (the Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 for instance) to insta bargain bin.

If Microsoft didn´t lie, Halo 5 sold, at least, 1 million copies worldwide in its first week, so probably it´s higher than 15%.

Given their recent PR, that number was probably spun as much as possible. Did the bundles include digital vouchers or physical games?
 

ethomaz

Banned
This is very true, Ethomaz.

It's important to note that a significant amount of Sony's 'Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection' hardware bundles were sold in the October 2015 U.S. Games Industry Sales NPD Report, such that the collection rose above the 300K benchmark when you include them and thus sales are fundamentally higher than Activision Blizzard's 'Destiny: The Taken King' when comparing both SKUs with included Hardware bundles.

The elevated Bundle performance would also put 'Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection', when one is comparing performance including Bundles, above SKUs such as Electronic Arts's evergreen titles 'FIFA 2016' and 'Madden NFL 16,' which currently hold the #4 and #6 spots in the 'Top 10 Games' chart (excluding HW bundles) widely distributed by The NPD Group PR team.
Thanks again George.


300k for UCC with bundle is bad in my view but like I said it is a collection.
 

foxbeldin

Member
This is very true, Ethomaz.

It's important to note that a significant amount of Sony's 'Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection' hardware bundles were sold in the October 2015 U.S. Games Industry Sales NPD Report, such that the collection rose above the 300K benchmark when you include them and thus sales are fundamentally higher than Activision Blizzard's 'Destiny: The Taken King' when comparing both SKUs with included Hardware bundles.

The elevated Bundle performance would also put 'Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection', when one is comparing performance including Bundles, above SKUs such as Electronic Arts's evergreen titles 'FIFA 2016' and 'Madden NFL 16,' which currently hold the #4 and #6 spots in the 'Top 10 Games' chart (excluding HW bundles) widely distributed by The NPD Group PR team.

Not that bad after all.
 

ethomaz

Banned
FIFA 16 (without bundles) and NFL 16 (without bundles) did less than 300k.

That is what I got.

Not bad for FIFA in the second month... nothing to say about NFL 16 lol
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
I predicted < 300k for Uncharted, < 500k for Syndcate, and at first, 2.3m for Halo 5, but after UK sales i changed my prediction in < 1 million.

...Well, not bad all considering.
 

heidern

Junior Member
So if the Xbox One sold 170,000 last year, and is up 81% to 307,700, how is that a bad thing?

It's below expectations and way below what the franchise used to be able to do for MS.

2012's Halo 4 had a dramatic effect on Xbox 360 sales (270.2K in October 2012 bumped up to 1258.5K for November 2012)

From a console wars POV I don't see how MS can fight back since all Sony need to do maintain their relationships with the big publishers and help them market the 3rd party games since those are the games that define the market now and MS first party is floundering so I don't see any signs that MS can suddenly make a market shifting first party lineup.

From a wider view PS4 being down 7% YTD also points to this gen being frontloaded. The 3DS sales curve may be the new normal for all systems.

Hi there, theviolenthero.

Wii U October software sales (in revenue) is up 43% compared to October 2014.

Wii U October hardware sales (in units) are down -5% compared to October 2014.

Thanks for the numbers. Do you have similar numbers for the 3DS?
 

Saty

Member
So is anyone going to still argue MS shouldn't bring it's XB1 exclusives to PC? The Halo 5 data indicates MS aint pulling PC gamers to purchase the console or its benefit is minuscule. Microsoft area siting on millions of copies sold where they can take 100% of the money. Your average console player discards PC gaming not because of un-availability of certain game. Release the games on both platform, people will get where they want. More sales, more money, bigger community - a win-win situation for MS.

To continue the current situation, Microsoft will be cutting their nose to spite their faces.
 

Ryu

Member
I get impression (purely my own and may not actually match data to be fair) that Sony seems to be shying away from releasing big exclusives during this period probably for this reason.

Let the big multi platform games fight it out and Sony can do well so long as enough people chose their console to play on. They win either way. Better to release their exclusives at quieter times and go for longer tail of sales.

I agree. This worked out so very well for Bloodborne. I can't imagine it doing quite so well releasing in November comparatively. The Last of Us and Until Dawn both followed this trend as well and both did quite well. The Uncharted Collection seems to be more the outlier.

This makes me curious about the release dates of both Horizon and The Last Guardian next year...
 

kswiston

Member
Even though I expect it to recover somewhat through December, Assassins' Creed Syndicate has to be a wake up call for Ubisoft. No doubt the next two are already in some stage of development, but Ubisoft needs to skip 2016 (release Watchdogs 2 instead) and give the franchise a proper relaunch in 2017 (2018 would be better, but this is Ubisoft).
 
I agree. This worked out so very well for Bloodborne. I can't imagine it doing quite so well releasing in November comparatively. The Last of Us and Until Dawn both followed this trend as well and both did quite well. The Uncharted Collection seems to be more the outlier.

This makes me curious about the release dates of both Horizon and The Last Guardian next year...

Wasn't The Last of Us delayed out of a holiday release window and into the summer? I don't think Sony is trying to avoid other big releases as much as it is trying to ensure that its developers have the time necessary to finish the game.
 

ethomaz

Banned
Thanks again George.

Let's me see now.

RANKING WITH BUNDLES

1.) Halo 5: Guardians (XBO) - 935k
2.) NBA 2K16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
3.) Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (PS4, XBO) - 391k
4.) Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (PS4) > 300k
5.) Madden NFL 16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
6.) FIFA 16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)

Or something like that.
 

nib95

Banned
NPD_George, are you able to give us the exact number for Uncharted Collection including bundles? When you say over 300k, not sure if you mean over by a few hundred, or a few thousand. Cheers.
 

Kathian

Banned
Even though I expect it to recover somewhat through December, Assassins' Creed Syndicate has to be a wake up call for Ubisoft. No doubt the next two are already in some stage of development, but Ubisoft needs to skip 2016 (release Watchdogs 2 instead) and give the franchise a proper relaunch in 2017 (2018 would be better, but this is Ubisoft).

Whats interesting is Watch Dogs has probably waited too long. They knew AC was going to start dropping off but they've also put their business plan around mass produced games - similar concepts, similar engines, similar processes - but their problem is their output just is not high quality enough and this business does not generate the cash big publishers need.
 

watership

Member
NPD George to the rescue...thanks and stay safe.



Some of us had a theory about Destiny causing low UK sales for Halo 5. I can believe it, especially how TKK has been doing.



....the plot thickens.....would these also count as digital sales....

And omg at Fallout 4 numbers. I had no idea ppl even liked Fallout that much. Whoever has a bundle for that in Nov, Dec might rack up big time.

Fallout and Skyrim players are across the board. I know people who never play games that are buying Fallout.
 

kswiston

Member
Wonder if George is a one time deal. I bit the apple, I don't want to go back.

We get about as many numbers leaked each month anyhow. If he really is authorized by NPD, I think it would be pretty sensible to have someone official control the few leaks, and get rid of unofficial leakers like creamsugar.

We are mostly getting numbers associated with hardware, and the top 10 titles that NPD has revealed anyhow. I don't think any of these leaks are particularly threatening to NPD's business.
 

Ryu

Member
Wasn't The Last of Us delayed out of a holiday release window and into the summer? I don't think Sony is trying to avoid other big releases as much as it is trying to ensure that its developers have the time necessary to finish the game.

They could just as easily have pushed it another month or two right into the fall lineup if it meant that many more sales.
 

Bruno MB

Member
We get about as many numbers leaked each month anyhow. If he really is authorized by NPD, I think it would be pretty sensible to have someone official control the few leaks, and get rid of unofficial leakers like creamsugar.

The only downside of this is that I'm afraid we won't be getting sales of niche games (which I find them much more interesting), just the biggest releases of the month :(
 
were_not_worthy_waynes_world.gif
 
MW was all about the mp (remember the beta?). It dethroned Gears and Halo on Xbox Live and made that series a juggernaut.

Why do you think anyone is playing that game a week after launch? it's certainly not the campaign.

That isn'tcompletey true, the mp wasn't the reason people bought the game to begin with. People were floored by the visuals and animation and that the game looked like a lot of fun. This was the first step in the game. Go back to the E3 thread on this very thing if you need a refresher :)

THE mp ended up being something people liked and word of mouth exploded on that, but it was the campaign that initally got a ton of people hyped.

I'm not denying that mp made the games popular and wanted after MW, but it actually was the single player that sold the game to a lot of first buyers, me included.

I still remember a lot of things about MW, they had a marketing video of it out for stores and people I knew who didn't know anything about games were even hyping it. it was strange, but they said it looked so real. This wasn't meant for public viewing as far as I know, but this was a thing walmart electronic workers had to view as a part of their holiday plans.

Everything was going right for MW even before it became the hit it did.
 
So is anyone going to still argue MS shouldn't bring it's XB1 exclusives to PC? The Halo 5 data indicates MS aint pulling PC gamers to purchase the console or its benefit is minuscule. Microsoft area siting on millions of copies sold where they can take 100% of the money. Your average console player discards PC gaming not because of un-availability of certain game. Release the games on both platform, people will get where they want. More sales, more money, bigger community - a win-win situation for MS.

To continue the current situation, Microsoft will be cutting their nose to spite their faces.

Well MS already has Minecraft and Havok engine multiplatform. No reason why other key franchises, such as Halo, Gears, etc couldn't and shouldn't be as well, especially with such a huge decline in sales for the franchise IMHO.
 
They don't own Remedy or Remedy's IP. Alan Wake was self-published on PC. I don't think they own the IPs for most (if not all) of the Japanese games either. There have been 3 Blue Dragon games for instance, with the other two releasing on Nintendo DS. There was also an anime and other media. We have already talked about Mass Effect, and Too Human was the same deal.

Gears, Crackdown, and the Rare stuff are Microsoft IPs.

If we are talking about the strength of a first party (especially in reference to future output), you can't start lumping in publishing deals from third party devs/publishers, because those IPs are free to move where ever they want between entries.

They own Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey and Infinite Undiscovery according to their trademark website (updated yearly) and USPTO

You say those IPs are free to move wherever they want yet only Mass Effect did and wasn't exactly like the others given Bioware got bought by EA, MS partnered with a Japanese publisher to let them make Blue Dragon games on DS, which they also did for Viva Piñata, Zoo Tycoon and Age of Empires.

MS have never had any issues striking up partnerships, they own all of their IPs they're publishing in the near future except Gigantic which they didn't fully fund and have plenty of pretty long-term partnerships going on (Remedy, Undead Labs, Frontier, Playground, Sumo) and other more recent ones too
 

SephCast

Brotherhood of Shipley's
I totally feel like NPD_George is a Mod created username that posts confirmed info/leaks from multiple separate sources.
 
George is all of us

Oh, I know.... I honestly don't believe he is some random dude.... but one of you sure try to make him seem ultra friendly.

I feel like someone got a little tired of npd hiding things, the next few months should be interesting to see how Mr. George is a savior or dies a furious death for unknown publicly atleast, reasons.
 

pastrami

Member
So doing a little math, it seems Uncharted (stand alone) + Yoshi < 225?

So ceiling for Uncharted stand alone would be 112k. This would basically be TTK (stand alone), Yoshi and Uncharted (stand alone) all selling the same amount.

I'm assuming every PS4 sold was either an Uncharted bundle or a Taken King bundle.
 
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