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[mejin]

Just to remember Amazon predicted the right winner again.

Both PS4 bundles on Amazon's top 5 right now.

 

[Raist]

wow, no shame in the game.

You do know that's not actually Kaz Hirai right?

 

[...Scatter...]

The PS4 is effectively cheaper right now than the XBOX at many retailers. At that rate it should very well win December. Holidays have been dominated by whichever console is cheaper or presented better cheaper bundle value in the US.

 

[noobie]

Wow. These numbers are much closer than I expected.

And that poor WiiU.

I think that now Sony is only going to increase this lead especially looking at start of 2016 schedule and possible $299 PS4 and then possible release of PlayStation VR, I expect Sony to increase that gap doubly fast.

Spoiler

only if they don't become complacent

 

[Shin-chan]

You do know that's not actually Kaz Hirai right?

You're right, it's Andrew House. Arrogant Sony is back!

 

[...Scatter...]

I think that now Sony is only going to increase this lead especially looking at start of 2016 schedule and possible $299 PS4 and then possible release of PlayStation VR, I expect Sony to increase that gap doubly fast.

Spoiler

only if they don't become complacent

It's at $299 now in some places.

 

[N.Domixis]

The PS4 is effectively cheaper right now than the XBOX at many retailers. At that rate it should very well win December. Holidays have been dominated by whichever console is cheaper or presented better cheaper bundle value in the US.

I thought xbox already cut price to match?

 

[CosmicQueso]

Not attaching you nor your sentiment, man. I just disagree that Nintendo is that important for the industry to the point to say that the industry needs Nintendo.

Perhaps my outlook is flawed. And really, any entity other than Nintendo which could fill the void would be fine too.

Thinking goes like this... Nintendo is a unique platform for games to which there aren't ready substitutions. Meaning, PS4/Xone are, despite outcries from enthusiasts, generally interchangeable with the basic consumer, who is much more guided by what they hear from influencers or whatever. Like, a guy can play FIFA on his PS4 or Xone and it's basically the same game.

Same cannot be said for Nintendo games.

So, a healthy Nintendo (or some other entity with similar impact) does a few things. It provides a supplemental source of revenues for the category. More revenues for the category lead to more confidence in the sector. More confidence in the sector leads to bigger retail presence, and, more importantly, more investment in development. More investment in development leads to more games being available for all platforms, which of course leads to higher sales of sw and hw overall.

Losing Nintendo as a market force has led to smaller retail presence, fewer titles being made available to the public to buy, and those shitty analysts and newspaper writers talking about how games are "shifting to mobile".

More investment, more products, more sales = healthier gaming industry = good for industry.

Hope that fleshes out my argument. If people don't agree then that's fine too.

 

[PanicFreak]

I don't think Halo is suffering near as much as folks make it out to be. The problem isn't Halo, it's the bungled launch that hurt sales and continues to drive a vocal backlash against the console and anything that seems to represent the XB1. There was zero chance that anything remotely close to the hip for Halo 3 would ever happen on this console. And if the launch didn't doom it, then the botched release of the MCC sure as heck did.

But Halo 5 is fantastic. I get that some may not like changes, but the gameplay needed to adapt to current standards for shooters. After playing a ton of the MCC, it feels great to play Halo with the kind of features that are expected in current shooters. And the campaign is fun to play, to boot.

I don't believe for a second that acquiescing to the vocal minority of Halo fans that want zero evolution in gameplay would actually help sales.

Regarding the gameplay changes, I completely agree. I personally love playing Halo 5 and can actually guarantee that I will be playing the multiplayer for years. However, I don't think the sales situation is as rosy as you suggest. If we look at the total sales of Xbox Ones in the US (Zhuge says its 9.7) and compare it to the sales of the game (1.2), you have a tie ratio of 12.4%.

Fast forward a couple of years: It's 2016, Xbox One has 20-25 million units sold, does a 12.5% ratio work for the amount of marketing dollars they put behind the game? Does Halo 6 even reach a 12.5% ratio?

 

[BotoxAgent]

haha, holy crap. Brutal first post!!

 

[Clinton514]

You do know that's not actually Kaz Hirai right?

HAHA dude I know that. I'm not that daft.

 

[Shenmue]

Its insane that Ben is still arguing he's likely correct, since we "don't know how well it'll do on PS 4."

Like watching a crazy man talk out loud; he doesn't even appear to realize how contradictory his own "arguments" are.

Don't worry 20 years from now when the game is given away free he'll come back with "told you so. Booya!"

 

[GribbleGrunger]

It's getting pretty hard with all the damn bundles though.

Only if the preorders go against the flow of the Amazon charts. That's all you have to take into consideration and Amazon will always tell us who won (up to this point anyway).

 

[Nirolak]

Perhaps my outlook is flawed. And really, any entity other than Nintendo which could fill the void would be fine too.

Thinking goes like this... Nintendo is a unique platform for games to which there aren't ready substitutions. Meaning, PS4/Xone are, despite outcries from enthusiasts, generally interchangeable with the basic consumer, who is much more guided by what they hear from influencers or whatever. Like, a guy can play FIFA on his PS4 or Xone and it's basically the same game.

Same cannot be said for Nintendo games.

So, a healthy Nintendo (or some other entity with similar impact) does a few things. It provides a supplemental source of revenues for the category. More revenues for the category lead to more confidence in the sector. More confidence in the sector leads to bigger retail presence, and, more importantly, more investment in development. More investment in development leads to more games being available for all platforms, which of course leads to higher sales of sw and hw overall.

Losing Nintendo as a market force has led to smaller retail presence, fewer titles being made available to the public to buy, and those shitty analysts and newspaper writers talking about how games are "shifting to mobile".

More investment, more products, more sales = healthier gaming industry = good for industry.

Hope that fleshes out my argument. If people don't agree then that's fine too.

Once we get past Nintendo, there's almost no one making big selling games that are considered universally appropriate for younger children at this point on consoles outside of LEGO, Toys-To-Life, and Minecraft.

There are a lot of kids who are playing things like Destiny, Call of Duty, or Grand Theft Auto, but it's not quite the same as having titles no one would object to. Sports and racing games are inherently all ages, but that's also two very specific parts of the industry.

Mobile on the other hand has an incredibly deep bench of children's content.

 

[Neuromancer]

To be fair, he wasn't wrong, reality just turned out to be false.

Reality has an anti-Kuchera bias.

 

[Durden77]

Think the biggest shocker to me is that fucking Need for Speed outsold Halo 5. I didn't even see that much marketing on that game, certainly not compared to Halo 5, and the reviews have not been great. Yikes.

 

[dealer-]

Damn, that's a hideous top ten, Need for Speed lol. Shame to see Tomb Raider didn't do well, as expected though after the mediocre European sales.

 

[...Scatter...]

Think the biggest shocker to me is that fucking Need for Speed outsold Halo 5. I didn't even see that much marketing on that game, certainly not compared to Halo 5, and the reviews have not been great. Yikes.

Multiplat racing game with name recognition in its first month. But then again Halo 5 is fucking awesome and should be outselling it in spite of all that. Crazy things happen.

 

[JayhawkerStL]

Regarding the gameplay changes, I completely agree. I personally love playing Halo 5 and can actually guarantee that I will be playing the multiplayer for years. However, I don't think the sales situation is as rosy as you suggest. If we look at the total sales of Xbox Ones in the US (Zhuge says its 9.7) and compare it to the sales of the game (1.2), you have a tie ratio of 12.4%.

Fast forward a couple of years: It's 2016, Xbox One has 20-25 million units sold, does a 12.5% ratio work for the amount of marketing dollars they put behind the game? Does Halo 6 even reach a 12.5% ratio?

Oh, I'm not claiming that sales are fine. I'm saying that the botched launches of the console a the XB1 and the MCC created an echo chamber in which everything Xbox and Halo sucks. That's the problem that needs to be overcome.

I think Halo isa big enough name that in time, more people will realize that Halo 5 is pretty tight and a great game. But after the MCC, it's going to take awhile. for most games, and in particular third party games, this situation would be insurmountable. I think Halo 5 will hang around and build momentum over time.

I believe that because I believe it is a really great game that will eventually change the perception people have about Halo. Right now, there is a vocal minority of gamers that seem to be invested in Halo sucking. But that perception does match reviews, nor the impression of most people playing the game.

 

[Bolivar687]

How are Steam machines doing?

 

[Toki767]

I wonder what the MAU for Halo 5 is now.

Have people abandoned it for COD?

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Just to remember Amazon predicted the right winner again.

Only if the preorders go against the flow of the Amazon charts. That's all you have to take into consideration and Amazon will always tell us who won (up to this point anyway).

The gap between the two in December is going to be more than 200K in PS4's favour I predict.

Reasons:

- The new Star Wars film is out and the SW:BF Bundle at $299 is being pushed and is widely stocked across the country. This is going to be huge.
- The PS4 looks way ahead on Amazon rankings again. Perhaps more so, so far, this month compared to November

 

[sturgboski]

You do know that's not actually Kaz Hirai right?

On a certain level, I almost wish it was. Not just for that tweet but many other funny ones. Like the bitter, sarcastic version of Shu.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Once we get past Nintendo, there's almost no one making big selling games that are considered universally appropriate for younger children at this point on consoles outside of LEGO, Toys-To-Life, and Minecraft.

There are a lot of kids who are playing things like Destiny, Call of Duty, or Grand Theft Auto, but it's not quite the same as having titles no one would object to. Sports and racing games are inherently all ages, but that's also two very specific parts of the industry.

Mobile on the other hand has an incredibly deep bench of children's content.

Don't worry, Knack will save us all!!

Spoiler

/s

 

[Bolivar687]

I wonder what the MAU for Halo 5 is now.

Have people abandoned it for COD?

Of course they have!

Three straight Haloes going up against Treyarch CoDs...

 

[...Scatter...]

I wonder what the MAU for Halo 5 is now.

Have people abandoned it for COD?

Not I.

 

[AgentP]

- The PS4 looks way ahead on Amazon rankings again. Perhaps more so, so far, this month compared to November

The weird thing is the $299 price for the XB1 is a few days old and it still hasn't reach the top ten in hourly, while the PS4 is #1 and #4.

 

[GribbleGrunger]

The gap between the two in December is going to be more than 200K in PS4's favour I predict.

Reasons:

- The new Star Wars film is out and the SW:BF Bundle at $299 is being pushed and is widely stocked across the country. This is going to be huge.
- The PS4 looks way ahead on Amazon rankings again. Perhaps more so, so far, this month compared to November

This is the current monthly situation and the hourlies only confirm this will improve for the PS4 and the XB1 to a lesser degree:

PS4 Star Wars Standard: #3
PS4 NDC Physical: #12
WiiU: #15
XBO Gears: #32
XBO 3 Games: #58
N3DS: #61

The XB1 $50 price drop is set to run a week longer than Sony's deal but THAT FILM ...

Remember though, there are no preorders coming into December whilst there was two going into November.

 

[Kill3r7]

I wonder what the MAU for Halo 5 is now.

Have people abandoned it for COD?

It fluctuates in and out of the top 10 most played/popular X1 games based on XBL Store. Last I checked BLOPS 3 and FO4 were 1&2 which makes sense given their popularity.

 

[AstroNut325]

Once we get past Nintendo, there's almost no one making big selling games that are considered universally appropriate for younger children at this point on consoles outside of LEGO, Toys-To-Life, and Minecraft.

There are a lot of kids who are playing things like Destiny, Call of Duty, or Grand Theft Auto, but it's not quite the same as having titles no one would object to. Sports and racing games are inherently all ages, but that's also two very specific parts of the industry.

Mobile on the other hand has an incredibly deep bench of children's content.

This is my top concern. No one outside of Lego are delivering kid friendly games to PS41. I don't want my son to be playing COD, Destiny and other games with gratuitous violence.

On PS4, there are Lego games, Rayman Legends, and Tearaway. Oh and Minecraft. This is why I purchased a Wii just recently. Mario Kart 7, Mario Bros Wii, ect, those are more suitable for young children. It's a shame I can't find much content like that on PS41.

 

[Pezus]

Do we really think SW will have an impact on PS4 sales??

 

[Shenmue]

Do we really think SW will have an impact on PS4 sales??

Not if the film sucks.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

The weird thing is the $299 price for the XB1 is a few days old and it still hasn't reach the top ten in hourly, while the PS4 is #1 and #4.

It was in the top 10 a couple of hours ago. Dropped back down I guess.

 

[Jacksinthe]

Kuchera just tweeted this. Surely this is referencing ROTTR, right? If so, shouldn't he have asked that question before posting his opinion piece?

https://twitter.com/BenKuchera/status/675362367669145600

Return on investment must be an elusive concept for him and he writes about potential sales. Fascinating.

 

[Led_Zeppelin]

Perhaps my outlook is flawed. And really, any entity other than Nintendo which could fill the void would be fine too.

Thinking goes like this... Nintendo is a unique platform for games to which there aren't ready substitutions. Meaning, PS4/Xone are, despite outcries from enthusiasts, generally interchangeable with the basic consumer, who is much more guided by what they hear from influencers or whatever. Like, a guy can play FIFA on his PS4 or Xone and it's basically the same game.

Same cannot be said for Nintendo games.

So, a healthy Nintendo (or some other entity with similar impact) does a few things. It provides a supplemental source of revenues for the category. More revenues for the category lead to more confidence in the sector. More confidence in the sector leads to bigger retail presence, and, more importantly, more investment in development. More investment in development leads to more games being available for all platforms, which of course leads to higher sales of sw and hw overall.

Losing Nintendo as a market force has led to smaller retail presence, fewer titles being made available to the public to buy, and those shitty analysts and newspaper writers talking about how games are "shifting to mobile".

More investment, more products, more sales = healthier gaming industry = good for industry.

Hope that fleshes out my argument. If people don't agree then that's fine too.

I see your point but I think Nintendo is so isolated from the rest of the industry (well more like the industry isolated Nintendo) that if they go away I doubt it would cause a huge problem, mostly because the market for Nintendo games is so different than the market where 3rd party publishers (and Sony and MS studios) concentrate their business that if the NX is a flop (not that I want it to be, just to be clear) I don't see EA freaking out and adjusting their investments or sales projections of FIFA 17/18 or Battlefront 2, mostly because their market wouldn't be affected by the under performance of the NX and I see most western publishers acting the same way.

 

[Kill3r7]

The weird thing is the $299 price for the XB1 is a few days old and it still hasn't reach the top ten in hourly, while the PS4 is #1 and #4.

It's not all that weird considering the best deal for X1 right now are at Target, BB or Microsoft store.

 

[Pezus]

This is my top concern. No one outside of Lego are delivering kid friendly games to PS41. I don't want my son to be playing COD, Destiny and other games with gratuitous violence.

On PS4, there are Lego games, Rayman Legends, and Tearaway. Oh and Minecraft. This is why I purchased a Wii just recently. Mario Kart 7, Mario Bros Wii, ect, those are more suitable for young children. It's a shame I can't find much content like that on PS41.

Well there is Skylanders too and Disney Infinity oh and Ratchet and Clank is coming.

 

[viHuGi]

How are Steam machines doing?

Horrible of course.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

Do we really think SW will have an impact on PS4 sales??

If the movie is somehow a critical disaster and everyone hates it? No. Otherwise? Yes it will have some positive impact.

 

[Toki767]

It fluctuates in and out of the top 10 most played/popular X1 games based on XBL Store. Last I checked BLOPS 3 and FO4 were 1&2 which makes sense given their popularity.

The Top 10? Really? Not even just holding still in the Top 5?

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

The weird thing is the $299 price for the XB1 is a few days old and it still hasn't reach the top ten in hourly, while the PS4 is #1 and #4.

XB1 trying to compete on bundles when the PS4 bundles are also at the sweet-spot $299 will assuredly see them beat out again in December.

This is the current monthly situation and the hourlies only confirm this will improve for the PS4 and the XB1 to a lesser degree:

PS4 Star Wars Standard: #3
PS4 NDC Physical: #12
WiiU: #15
XBO Gears: #32
XBO 3 Games: #58
N3DS: #61

The XB1 $50 price drop is set to run a week longer than Sony's deal but THAT FILM ...

I expect Sony to extend the deal. Also, I think the PS4 $299 bundle deals were on the market 2 days longer than XB1's. Only 2 days but still.

 

[viHuGi]

This shows just how important WW sales are.

PlayStation is much stronger on EU than US.

 

[EGOMON]

Platformer of 2014

3DS ~ 10
WiiU ~ 8.6
4 ~ 5.9

See you in a couple of days.

hmm can someone decipher this?

 

[GribbleGrunger]

Not if the film sucks.

I doubt people will watch the film to decide on whether they want the PS4 bundle. Just the fact the buzz will be at its highest around the first showing of the film will help sell those PS4 bundles.

 

[blakep267]

The Top 10? Really? Not even just holding still in the Top 5?

It was 7-8 for the last few weeks. Last time I checked I think it was ahead of Battkefront at 7. But that was yesterday

I think it's holding pretty solid. COD is a steady 1 and fallout still is maintaining that 2. Then Fifa 2k destiny and madden make up the rest

 

[Welfare]

hmm can someone decipher this?

It should be Shovel Knight.

 

[noobie]

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

Is PS4 version of COD is behind Xbox ONE version even after including bundles?
And what is the platform ranking of the fallout 4 including bundles?

 

[Toki767]

It was 7-8 for the last few weeks. Last time I checked I think it was ahead of Battkefront at 7. But that was yesterday

I think it's holding pretty solid. COD is a steady 1 and fallout still is maintaining that 2. Then Fifa 2k destiny and madden make up the rest

It sounds like there isn't even half a million people playing Halo 5 anymore.

It should be Shovel Knight.

If it's Shovel Knight, that can't be in millions of units, so I wonder what the numbers actually are.

 

[Shenmue]

I doubt people will watch the film to decide on whether they want the PS4 bundle. Just the fact the buzz will be at its highest around the first showing of the film will help sell those PS4 bundles.

I think a good number could have no prior intention of buying a game console but after seeing the film, and assuming it is a great movie, could come out hyped and then during xmas shopping could see that bundle and say ohhh I want to keep that Star Wars hype going.

 

[blakep267]

Is PS4 version of COD is behind Xbox ONE version even after including bundles?
And what is the platform ranking of the fallout 4 including bundles?

I don't think we got platform splits for anything yet