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[Aaronrules380]

They were right in previous years and 250k sample is huge.

huge sample is worthless without the ability to claim that your representative of a population. Not to mention it's based on receipts, so it's possible that somebody could enter themselves multiple times if they went to more than one store

 

[border]

Still hilariously bad that Rise of the Tomb Raider isn't in the Top 20 but a 2 year old Need For Speed Rivals is.

Tomb Raider didn't receive discounts at any retailer. The chances of it charting were pretty low.

NFS Rivals was featured in advertising flyers and give pretty big markdowns.

 

[ethomaz]

huge sample is worthless without the ability to claim that your representative of a population. Not to mention it's based on receipts, so it's possible that somebody could enter themselves multiple times if they went to more than one store

Receipts have unique ids, no? Well in Brazil they have.

Like I said Infoscout was right past years... so why doubt they now?

 

[smokeandmirrors]

Who are the people who are buying all these sports games every year? They seem to have such little presence in gaming media yet dominate the sales charts.

well i mean i bought fifa 16 and it's the first sports game ive bought in a good 5-6 years. ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[Regiruler]

Who are the people who are buying all these sports games every year? They seem to have such little presence in gaming media yet dominate the sales charts.

Look through any college male dorm these days, especially one with athletes.

There is your answer.

 

[Aaronrules380]

Receipts have unique ids, no? Well in Brazil they have.

More than one store means more than one receipt

 

[Elios83]

Should have gone with different thread title as these are not in any way official results.

Indeed these are not official numbers and it's just a single day, but they're based on a huge sample (300k people) and they have been reliable in the past years (meaning that their results have correlated in the past with the actual results).
It's accurate enough to say that PS4 and Xbox basically tied on BF and Wii U sold pretty well compared to last year.
For full month results wait for NPD next week.

 

[The Lamp]

huge sample is worthless without the ability to claim that your representative of a population. Not to mention it's based on receipts, so it's possible that somebody could enter themselves multiple times if they went to more than one store

Yes, also there's the methodological question of what kinds of people who are buying on Black Friday are submitting these receipts (parents?), as opposed to all buyers in general. I sure didn't take any pictures of what I bought.

This isn't necessarily representative of the Black Friday shopping population. It might be representative of the Black Friday shopping population that uses apps to take pictures of their receipts, though.

 

[ethomaz]

More than one store means more than one receipt

I don't follow because you can't put the same receipt twice... it is unique for that store/purchase... because they have unique ids (like name/address of store plus unique id).

 

[silvermember]

Receipts have unique ids, no? Well in Brazil they have.

Like I said Infoscout was right past years... so why doubt they now?

What he said is technically true. Only subset of the population is likely to report it. Not the whole population which is what random sample is said to be good at doing. So although the sample size is huge, the methodology isn't that great. Both of these factors are very important in stats.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

I don't follow because you can't put the same receipt twice... it is unique for that store/purchase.

If you shopped at multiple stores, you'd end up with a receipt for each. So this sample of receipts doesn't mean each is 1 buyer. 1 buyer can shop at 2-6 stores.

 

[g11]

Surely not definitive info but interesting nonetheless with a damn large sample size. I have to imagine Rivals charted thanks mostly to new console buyers that just wanted a NFS game and didn't know/care that Rivals is 2 years old and a newer one is out.

huge sample is worthless without the ability to claim that your representative of a population. Not to mention it's based on receipts, so it's possible that somebody could enter themselves multiple times if they went to more than one store

Biased how? You think Nintendo shoppers are more likely to scan their receipt than Playstation buyers, or vice versa? Who would care enough to even think about trying to skew the numbers of something like this and to what end?

 

[Ricky_R]

If you shopped at multiple stores, you'd end up with a receipt for each. So this sample of receipts doesn't mean each is 1 buyer.

I mean, what are the odds people bought the same system from different stores?

 

[x-Lundz-x]

No Rise of the Tomb Raider? Man 🙁

 

[Aaronrules380]

If you shopped at multiple stores, you'd end up with a receipt for each. So this sample of receipts doesn't mean each is 1 buyer. 1 buyer can shop at 2-6 stores.

Yep. Now granted, I imagine the apps judge by user and phone and not just receipt, so it probably isn't too common, but it could still happen

 

[kswiston]

The software numbers are really surprising. Halo 5 is going to have a rough time on the November NPD chart if these are pretty close to what NPD has.

 

[ethomaz]

If you shopped at multiple stores, you'd end up with a receipt for each. So this sample of receipts doesn't mean each is 1 buyer.

Yes you have a receipt that you bought a console for each store... that means you need to be counted how many consoles you bought.
If I bought a Xbone in two different store then I will count like 2 purchases because I bought 2 consoles.

The sample is huge enough to have a low error margin.

 

[Primethius]

People doubted the InfoScout numbers last year and we all know how that turned out.

Granted, the methodology isn't exactly there. But I don't think it's fair to dismiss the hardware side of things so easily.

 

[RespectThySole]

Those Witcher legs. Battlefront and Halo underperformed.

 

[Dramos]

Minecraft still going all-in! Impressive numbers overall!

 

[Mass Effect]

Ok... everything that it was not a console sucked =P

Well, Splatoon and Smash stand-alone did get some discounts. I got both for $50 total. But other than that, yeah, it kind of sucked for Nintendo software. I don't think a single Wii U game other than Smash and Splatoon was discounted.

Who are the people who are buying all these sports games every year? They seem to have such little presence in gaming media yet dominate the sales charts.

That means doesn't mean anything. Casual consumers who buy those kinds of games don't pay attention to the gaming media outside of maybe some YT/Twitch personalities.

I think Battlefront was stupidly low because of no good deals on it and maybe it doesn't include PS4 bundles? I don't know it does seem like it didn't do too hot though.

Definitely doesn't include bundles in that software chart. But I was thinking that maybe the bundle might have had an effect on the stand-alone version, even though the bundle wasn't discounted. Who knows. We'll just have to wait until NPD day.

 

[Aaronrules380]

Surely not definitive info but interesting nonetheless with a damn large sample size. I have to imagine Rivals charted thanks mostly to new console buyers that just wanted a NFS game and didn't know/care that Rivals is 2 years old and a newer one is out.



Biased how? You think Nintendo shoppers are more likely to scan their receipt than Playstation buyers, or vice versa? Who would care enough to even think about trying to skew the numbers of something like this and to what end?

Probably more on an age basis. Apps like this are probably used more by parents than by younger shoppers. And while parents are definitely a super important demographic in this situation, so are younger adults and college students and parent's buying for their kids won't necessarily be buying the same games

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

I mean, what are the odds people bought the same system from different stores?

Very low. It doesn't throw the percentages into question, just points out that a 250,000 receipt sample size may not be 250,000 different buyers, and we don't really know how many unique shoppers we have.

 

[BriGuy]

Tomb Raider's performance is aggravating. This game would have been a runaway hit if it released on every platform in February or March of next year. But nope, let's launch in the middle of the super-bloated 4th quarter on a single platform on the exact same day as one of the most anticipated titles to release in the last five years. What could go wrong? Bleh.

It's amazing how quite literally every gamer on the internet had better business sense than professionals on SE's payroll.

 

[border]

Definitely doesn't include bundles in that software chart. But I was thinking that maybe the bundle might have had an effect on the stand-alone version, even though the bundle wasn't discounted. Who knows. We'll just have to wait until NPD day.

Nobody in their right mind would have bought the Battlefront bundle on Black Friday anyway. Only the Uncharted bundle got knocked down to $299. The Star Wars bundle stayed at $350.

 

[BannedEpisode]

Look through any college male dorm these days, especially one with athletes.

There is your answer.

We call them the casual consumer.

Sports games have very broad appeal. Its not just jocks and casuals.

 

[Rains]

My feelings from a UK point was the offers where bad and not just on games i feel sony had the better offers out of the 3

 

[Aaronrules380]

Very low. It doesn't throw the percentages into question, just points out that a 250,000 receipt sample size may not be 250,000 different buyers, and we don't really know how many unique shoppers we have.

Yep. It's also more likely a shopper bought 2 DIFFERENT systems at 2 different stores. Which could make it look like both had slightly less share than they really did

 

[Hero Prinny]

witcher 3 is number 20 but you got like 3 sport games up there? casuals disgust me. Witcher 3 is god tier, step your game up casuals.

Spoiler

im half joking

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Battlefront and Halo make sense and doesn't seem indicative to me of the overall health of the titles as there was close to no promotions for either

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

Yep. It's also more likely a shopper bought 2 DIFFERENT systems at 2 different stores. Which could make it look like both had slightly less share than they really did

I don't follow. If one shopper buys both an Xbox One and a PS4, it's counted the same way in this receipt tracker as NPD would - one sale for each. NPD doesn't track unique shoppers and it doesn't matter. A sale is a sale.

The only thing that the "receipt" aspect points out is that we don't know how big the sample size is. I don't doubt the OP's data in any way.

 

[ethomaz]

I don't follow. If one shopper buys both an Xbox One and a PS4, it's counted the same way in this receipt tracker as NPD would - one sale for each. NPD doesn't track unique shoppers and it doesn't matter. A sale is a sale.

The only thing that the "receipt" aspect points out is that we don't know how big the sample size is. I don't doubt the OP's data in any way.

This a sale is a sale... no matter if it is from a unique shopper or not.
If a shopper bought two consoles (no matter what) it needs to be counted two times.

 

[Aaronrules380]

It's also worth noting that a bit less than half (assuming the console+game bundles and console numbers they give are mutually exclusive) of the people in the survey bought a game system (or games that weren't already bundled for that matter), so while the sample size for the entire thing is 250,000, the sample size for console buyers is more like 120,000. Which is still big granted, but it's also still not random and when you consider there are a few million consoles being sold, it's hard to assume how accurate it is

 

[Lord Error]

Very low. It doesn't throw the percentages into question, just points out that a 250,000 receipt sample size may not be 250,000 different buyers, and we don't really know how many unique shoppers we have.

Maybe I'm missing something, but why does that even matter? 2nd sale is still a sale, that could be a gift for someone else after all. Even if it is a problem for some reason that I don't see, it's the kind of problem that's going to be spread out evenly, cancelling each other out. Unless there was some mass conspiracy among the buyers of one console to skew the numbers in their favor.

 

[Usobuko]

MGS V not even in top 20? Konami justified.

 

[Surface of Me]

Those Witcher legs. Battlefront and Halo underperformed.

I'm not sure which underperformed more to be honest. I dont think anyone could see Battlefront doing like this. Maybe kids arent as into Star Wars as their parents are.

 

[Somnid]

According to Target, Wii U was the best selling item online.

http://pressroom.target.com/news/ta...-to-black-friday-weekend-online-and-in-stores

Gaming consoles were popular in stores and online, including Nintendo Wii U, which was the top selling item on Target.com.

 

[R3TRODYCE]

Halo 5 seems...Low.

 

[KillerMan91]

Indeed these are not official numbers and it's just a single day, but they're based on a huge sample (300k people) and they have been reliable in the past years (meaning that their results have correlated in the past with the actual results).
It's accurate enough to say that PS4 and Xbox basically tied on BF and Wii U sold pretty well compared to last year.
For full month results wait for NPD next week.

Oh. I am no saying that these graphs and results are complete bs (we saw last year that at least for hw InfoScout was pretty accurate) but the thread title makes it sound like that these are official stats. Before entering the thread I thought that someone had released/leaked some official numbers.

 

[Aaronrules380]

I don't follow. If one shopper buys both an Xbox One and a PS4, it's counted the same way in this receipt tracker as NPD would - one sale for each. NPD doesn't track unique shoppers and it doesn't matter. A sale is a sale.

The only thing that the "receipt" aspect points out is that we don't know how big the sample size is. I don't doubt the OP's data in any way.

The issue is that what should be say, 100/200 is now 100/201. The difference is probably small since I doubt it happens much, but it can still happen. But regardless, the bigger issue is more that we can't be sure this accurately portrays actual buying trends or if the sample might not be representative

 

[BennyBlanco]

Who are the people who are buying all these sports games every year? They seem to have such little presence in gaming media yet dominate the sales charts.

I've nba2k every year since the dreamcast original. Consistently great franchise.

 

[mreddie]

Infinity clobbered Dimensions and that 1% gap between the PS4/ONE

 

[ethomaz]

According to Target, Wii U was the best selling item online.

http://pressroom.target.com/news/ta...-to-black-friday-weekend-online-and-in-stores

Only Target.com... not physical stores.

 

[Aaronrules380]

It's also based on dollar amount and not units sold, so that makes it harder to interpret relative splits as well

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

Maybe I'm missing something, but why does that even matter? 2nd sale is still a sale, that could be a gift for someone else after all. Even if it is a problem for some reason that I don't see, it's the kind of problem that's going to be spread out evenly, cancelling each other out. Unless there was some mass conspiracy among the buyers of one console to skew the numbers in their favor.

I agree. Read my follow up posts.

The issue is that what should be say, 100/200 is now 100/201. The difference is probably small since I doubt it happens much, but it can still happen. But regardless, the bigger issue is more that we can't be sure this accurately portrays actual buying trends or if the sample might not be representative

There could be a difference. But there probably isn't.

EDIT: Hold on. In the percentage category, 100/200 doesn't change. It's still a percentage of total money spent on video game consoles. Unique shoppers wouldn't change the 200 to 201.

 

[chromatic9]

A lot of games above Star Wars there.

 

[Officerrob]

According to Target, Wii U was the best selling item online.

http://pressroom.target.com/news/ta...-to-black-friday-weekend-online-and-in-stores

I believe the PS4 and Xbox One deals were in store only at Target

 

[kswiston]

It's also based on dollar amount and not units sold, so that makes it harder to interpret relative splits as well

Wouldn't that put Minecraft in the top 3-4 for units? It's regular price is less than what most of these games were on sale for.

 

[Aaronrules380]

I agree. Read my follow up posts.



There could be a difference. But there probably isn't.

EDIT: Hold on. In the percentage category, 100/200 doesn't change. It's still a percentage of total money spent on video game consoles. Unique shoppers wouldn't change the 200 to 201.

Ok that's true, I didn't realize at the time exactly how they were calculating the shares

Although it does make it even harder to figure out how big the important sample size is as well, since we now have no idea what percentage of the 250000 receipts even bought anything video game related at all

 

[Night Angel]

It's also worth noting that a bit less than half (assuming the console+game bundles and console numbers they give are mutually exclusive) of the people in the survey bought a game system (or games that weren't already bundled for that matter), so while the sample size for the entire thing is 250,000, the sample size for console buyers is more like 120,000. Which is still big granted, but it's also still not random and when you consider there are a few million consoles being sold, it's hard to assume how accurate it is

Ok, so we know it's not a random sample. It may not be completely representative. Where are you going with this? The data says one thing, and though it's not ironclad it seems to be pretty robust. Are you saying that we shouldn't use this for NPD predictions, or...?