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NPD Sales Results for April 2009
- Thread starter EviLore
- Start date
Stoney Mason
Banned
DeaconKnowledge said:
MAGIC!
Aaron Strife
Banned
Jesus Christ posters stop loading huge ass gifs that slow everything down you're not funny
The numbers are low, but they're just following the usual monthly and seasonal trends for hardware sales, with April generally being the low point of the year. This month seems to be the first indication of the Wii conforming to those trends.
Here's a chart with monthly console hardware sales numbers from November 2001 (EDIT: updated with the handheld numbers I have). Credit to chairmansteve from PVC for most of the numbers.
Here's a chart with monthly console hardware sales numbers from November 2001 (EDIT: updated with the handheld numbers I have). Credit to chairmansteve from PVC for most of the numbers.
Cat in the Hat
Member
PS3 slim?Stoney Mason said:
FirstInHell
Banned
Stoney Mason said:
PS3 supporters on this forum need to make up their mind. Is it the price drop or the recession?
We're at the 30-month mark for the PS3 and Wii, and the 42-month mark for the Xbox 360. Compare this to last gen:
PS2 23,252,000 (42-month mark) (March 2004)
PS2 17,100,000 (30-month mark) (March 2003)
Xbox - 8,681,402 (30-month mark) (April 2004)
Xbox - 12,070,000 (42-month mark) (April 2005)
GCN - 7,393,241 (30-month mark) (April 2004)
GCN - 10,890,000 (42-month mark) (April 2005)
360 15,065,286 (42 months) (April 2009)
360 10,080,000 (30 months) (April 2008)
PS3 7,618,396 (30 months) (April 2009)
Wii 19,913,581 (30 months) (April 2009)
So the Wii's about 2.8-3m ahead of the PS2 at this point. The PS3 is about 300k ahead of the Gamecube (which only had that holiday season before it completely stopped selling), but it's over a million behind the first Xbox (which had a good year of sales left). This generation might make some sense if the two systems were switched, with the PS3 making gains on the PS2's enormous sales and the Wii improving slightly over the Gamecube.
EDIT: The 17.1m number for the PS2 was a complete guess on my part. It's actually about 38k off.
PS2 23,252,000 (42-month mark) (March 2004)
PS2 17,100,000 (30-month mark) (March 2003)
Xbox - 8,681,402 (30-month mark) (April 2004)
Xbox - 12,070,000 (42-month mark) (April 2005)
GCN - 7,393,241 (30-month mark) (April 2004)
GCN - 10,890,000 (42-month mark) (April 2005)
360 15,065,286 (42 months) (April 2009)
360 10,080,000 (30 months) (April 2008)
PS3 7,618,396 (30 months) (April 2009)
Wii 19,913,581 (30 months) (April 2009)
So the Wii's about 2.8-3m ahead of the PS2 at this point. The PS3 is about 300k ahead of the Gamecube (which only had that holiday season before it completely stopped selling), but it's over a million behind the first Xbox (which had a good year of sales left). This generation might make some sense if the two systems were switched, with the PS3 making gains on the PS2's enormous sales and the Wii improving slightly over the Gamecube.
EDIT: The 17.1m number for the PS2 was a complete guess on my part. It's actually about 38k off.
Wollan said:
I don't doubt that Guerrilla delivered. Nevertheless, it is likely Sony failed to take into account how the FPS market changed from the time of Killzone 2's conception.
It used to be that the market was very receptive to new and different shooters, similar to how you could watch a bunch of different blockbuster sci-fi/WWII movies in the same summer. As the focus shifted from singleplayer to multiplayer (especially those with extensive stat tracking), time became a limited resource. Most players saw that it was preferable to spend their time playing the multiplayer of one shooter rather than trying a bunch of other shooters. In multiplayer, you could play with your friends, the gameplay was more dynamic, you wanted to get really good at it, and it tracked your progress.
It's now remarkably similar to the RTS genre in that the singleplayer shows the player the basics but it's the multiplayer that is the real meat of the game. The singleplayer gets you familiar with the game but the multiplayer is a dynamic experience with completely different skillset. We can see that Medal of Honor, a franchise that concentrated more on story-telling and unique single-player gameplay, hasn't seen the same explosive growth as Call of Duty, a franchise that became heavily focused on its competitive multiplayer. These days, a single-player focused shooter, such as FEAR 2, is treated like a DVD rental. They either bomb or have very poor legs due to a strong second-hand game market. Once the singleplayer in consumed by the player due to its finite content, the lackluster multiplayer won't sate their appetite and a strong used game market forms. Even mainstream coverage of FPS games rarely talks or shows the singleplayer portion of the game but instead concentrates on the competitive multiplayer and the community behind it. Nevertheless, we saw Left4Dead become a huge hit on the 360 because it concentrated on the same competitive multiplayer values but made the normally static cooperative multiplayer into a very dynamic experience. This lead to strong sales and word of mouth along with very long legs for a new IP shooter.
This is how you have your Halo 3 and your Call of Duty games topping the sales charts, having unusually long legs for a shooter, and dominating the online activity charts for months after their releases. There is a strong multiplayer focus that discourages a second-hand market and there is very strong word of mouth due to how social these games are. It's similar to a MMO in that a player can become so invested in the game. You have friends playing Call of Duty 4, you have a strong need to level up and unlock in Call of Duty 4, you spent so much of your time. It's very difficult for a player like this to try another shooter when he is so invested into one shooter.
So now Killzone 2 has several obstacles it has to overcome if it wants to establish itself. It has no brand recognition. At best, the brand recognition would hurt the game. As a showpiece for the PS3's power, it concentrates heavily on providing the player with finite resources, such as the best visuals in the console market and cinematic sequences. After a shooter's release, the word of mouth is rarely about the graphics and singleplayer but about the health of the multiplayer community and the developer support. The game is at a disadvantage in that it has to build up a community from scratch. A game like Halo 3 has the Halo community providing word of mouth and a foundation for the game. The game also targets players that are already dedicated to the multiplayer and community of another game. These players have spent hours playing and mastering the game's multiplayer and it's going take more than visuals to win them over. They will be reluctant switch to another game unless skills are easily transferable (i.e. Call of Duty 4 to Call of Duty: World At War). We've seen the ground up PS3 exclusive, Resistance 2, fail to outsell the PS3 SKU of Call of Duty: World at War and fall off the charts very quickly.
That is a lot of obstacles. It very interesting to see that FPS market is transforming into something of an oligopoly with a handful of franchises dominating sales due to their brand name, community, and word of mouth. Anyone making a singleplayer focused FPS or even a competitive multiplayer FPS that doesn't have a strong brand attached to it has a death wish.
Edit:
I was at the single-digit page count when I started this...
DeaconKnowledge said:
Sony also claimed that they were going to sell something like 10 million PS3s in it's 1st year, in NA, and didn't even come by a long shot, but I guess everyone forgot about that.
Sony has made TONS of outlandish sales expectations for this machine and has failed every single time. Why should now be any different.
MidnightScott
Banned
DS is the bomb!!! =D
FirstInHell
Banned
AniHawk said:
Those numbers really put it into perspective. I really don't think Sony has too many options at this point.
jeremy1456
Junior Member
Man, this is a drastic change.
I hope things don't continue to drop - might not be too long til we see the PS3 and PSP selling less than 100k.
I hope things don't continue to drop - might not be too long til we see the PS3 and PSP selling less than 100k.
DeaconKnowledge
Member
Bizzyb said:
*Sony shareholders meeting*
"So, it says here that you expect to increase PS3 sales by 3 million next year. How do you plan to do this?"
"Fuck if we know."
jeremy1456
Junior Member
DeaconKnowledge said:
"We'll just have Playstation make the best games, bitchez."
plagiarize
Banned
what was 360 at the 30 month mark? that's a pretty important figure you didn't throw on here.AniHawk said:
lowrider007
Licorice-flavoured booze?
lawblob said:
In NA.
Bizzyb said:
That was at a time when they were overly confident, especially @ $599 pricing. They expected it to do better than it did the first year.
Once that rude awakening came, they revised the second year's figures, and as far as I'm aware, they hit that target of 10 million sold in 2008. Launch years are also inherently less predictable than years thereafter.
So, it's not an apples to apples comparison, and no they have not failed every single time at forecasting sales.
jeremy1456
Junior Member
Kuramu said:
It's less of a 'handheld-only' gaming world and much more of a 'DS-only' gaming world.
outunderthestars
Banned
FirstInHell said:I am absolutley shocked that sales were so low for the PS3 and 360 given one of the most jam packed months of game releases ever.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
The Godfather II
Ninja Blade
Hannah Montana: The Movie
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2
Velvet Assassin
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
I am not surprised that Halo Wars dropped of the list. That game was obviously front loaded. Killzone dropping off the list so fast is troubling given the hype and anticipation that was built up for the game.
ha! This was one of the worst month's for game releases in quite some time....
jeremy1456
Junior Member
lowrider007 said:
Yeah, no shit.
Why would we not be talking about NA in an NPD thread?
plagiarize
Banned
personally i don't see why anyone would by inFamous with Prototype coming out so soon after it, but then i guess infamous will steal would be buyers by being A: exclusive and certain Sony fans (a mad minority) claiming that it's better purely because it's exclusive and irrespective of whether or not it is, and B: first.Grecco said:
i guess if you want you can say C: uncharted beta... but lets be honest, it's not going to have a fraction of the effect the Halo 3 beta did.
i'm not saying infamous isn't going to be great... it just... doesn't look nearly as fun as prototype.
certainly all the people i've been talking too know way more about prototype than infamous, but eh, that doesn't mean that's representative of the majority.
Galactic Fork
A little fluff between the ears never did any harm...
jeremy1456 said:
Wait, there's another handheld?
plagiarize
Banned
preorders have been pretty good so far. i'd be surprised if the 360 version didn't chart. PS3 version... I wouldn't be surprised if it did, and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't. it's a strong brand, but it's no SF or RE.Grecco said:
i'd certainly expect it to do better than Bionic Commando and InFamous.
AniHawk said:
Looking back at last gen is so sad ya know. MS brick-walled the original X-BOX to jup to the next gen and that lead was eaten up rather quickly by Wii. The perception was that Nintendo sucked so GCN sold ass (even though it was only slightly behind the X-BOX) and then Wii turns everyone ontheir ear. Sony had this generaton in the bag (just bring out a simple PS2-like succesor), but instead botched it with too much ambition and now they are the one's who are perceived (by the consumer) as sucky, just like GCN was last gen.
With Nintendo obviously wanting to ride this success as long as posible, MS finally becoming profitable and Sony not being able to afford a "next gen" jump anytime soon...how long do we think this generation will last? Suppossing, of course, Nintendo may do a minor (NDS to DSlite style) system upgrade for Wii before this generation is over and MS won't get an itchy finger to jump first again...the question remains, how long could this go on?
Grampa Simpson
Banned
NPD thread man. Try asking the same in the Media Create thread.lowrider007 said:
lowrider007
Licorice-flavoured booze?
jeremy1456 said:
You don't say !
That may be the case but it is blatantly obvious that people get carried away almost treating these figures as reflection of the WW market.
If your going to predict the failure or success of a console then you have to take all of the markets into consideration, not just NA.
plagiarize
Banned
like... who?lowrider007 said:
jeremy1456
Junior Member
lowrider007 said:
NA is the biggest video game market worldwide.
So what's your point? Are you saying that we should be discussing Media Create numbers in an NPD thread so that nobody's feelings get hurt?
Gaming doom and gloom after one weak month where there were no big releases?
Comparing this years numbers to last years when GTA4 was about to be released?
Ignoring the fact this a month before people get their tax returns so especially now during a recession people are gonna wait for that check before they run out and blow money on game consoles?
Good job guys. Another great NPD thread. Retards.
Comparing this years numbers to last years when GTA4 was about to be released?
Ignoring the fact this a month before people get their tax returns so especially now during a recession people are gonna wait for that check before they run out and blow money on game consoles?
Good job guys. Another great NPD thread. Retards.
mujun said:
no idea, i would be willing to bet that the ps3 makes money per console sold, we were led to believe by numerous reports that it was at least breaking even late last year. If the redesign is true, you would believe that it would be done to lower productions and transport costs, hence to lower its costs, although still no where near $199.
From a business standpoint, which Sony is in first and foremost... you arent going to drop the price back to a loss per console area in this economic climate, no matter how low you go. Sony may end up betting the farm on the psp relaunch to offset other cost factors, that would mean it would have to start selling again in the US, which currently it is definitely not doing.