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December 2015 NPD (U.S. Hardware) Predictions - Closes January 12th

Abdiel

Member
What's hilarious is that the PS4 version of FFXV is #8 while the XB1 version is #356 on the Amazon rankings.

You could flip those numbers and have fairly close to accurate preorder numbers for the PS4 and XB1 versions of the game in our stores, hah! (As in PS4 at 356 and XB1 at 8)

(Not *that* accurate, but close enough to be amusing - Though would be closer with KH3, really. I expect FFXV will still sell kind of okay on XB1. Kind of.)
 

Welfare

Member
Looks like a lot of upcoming games are getting pre ordered thanks to the new Prime deal.

Tomb Raider still getting beat by remasters.

 

Welfare

Member
5 minutes left to predict and edit.

Not even 900 posts before the deadline. Last thread there were +2000. Not all of them were predictions, mind you, but I think it'll be a long while before a prediction thread has that kind of activity again.
 
I wish. Might have something to do with code availability dates and royalties given the timing of the charge to the customer. Digital pre-orders charge the customer at time of purchase, correct? Packaged pre-orders don't charge until ship. Pure guess, but I imagine there's something about the timing of these that complicates doing this kind of discount. I don't know though.
Well, on PSN, everything goes through immediately. It doesn't even hit the cart. Bam, you're done.

I'm not really sure how that'd work with Amazon. TBH, I've only looked at their codes a couple of times, and they were always full price, so I typically just buy directly on PSN. I did pounce on a couple of codes they sold over Black Friday though. In any case, I would assume they could take pre-orders for codes, and just charge and deliver on launch day, but I've no idea if that's supported. I also assume they get some margins on the codes which would in turn allow for them to discount, but they rarely seem to do that either. /shrug
 

Elandyll

Banned
I just checked the Amazon's hourly ranking and what is happening?

Final Fantasy VII Remake, Uncharted 4, Zelda U, Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian, all of them in the top 20 lol

http://www.amazon.com/best-sellers-video-games/zgbs/videogames
I participated in that. New 20% off for Amazon Prime pre orders.

Sucks that I can't pre-order Persona 5 right now. I think got everything else on my list for 2016 though.
This and Gravity Rush 2 were the only 2 I could not pre order.
I dodn't bother pre ordering FF7R due to the questions surrounding the episodic format and we might still be 2+ years away from release anyway.
 
XB1 pulled it's weight last month and I expect largely the same this time around.

While XB1 did very well last month, it still got outsold by a quarter million units by the PS4. So, in comparison to its closest competitor, I would say it got trounced. Again, if you look at it in a vacuum, sure the XB1 sold a ton, but you can't look at it in a vacuum. You have to look at it in relation to the competition and in that context, the system is losing more and more market share and mind share in its home country every month.
 
While XB1 did very well last month, it still got outsold by a quarter million units by the PS4. So, in comparison to its closest competitor, I would say it got trounced. Again, if you look at it in a vacuum, sure the XB1 sold a ton, but you can't look at it in a vacuum. You have to look at it in relation to the competition and in that context, the system is losing more and more market share and mind share in its home country every month.

I mean, what you say is largely true. But it was still up YOY, which is impressive in its own right.
 
tNgXx0q.jpg
 

FuturusX

Member
Thing is Best Buy has a very very similar program going. If GameStop wants to maintain their position as the largest retailer in the industry they have to respond somehow. They offer no incentive to purchase a new game from them in comparison to their competitors

Knowledgable staff?
Pre-played brand new games, unwrapped and placed into envelopes for your gaming convenience?
 

Mr Croft

Member
What's hilarious is that the PS4 version of FFXV is #8 while the XB1 version is #356 on the Amazon rankings.

Lol even I'm getting it on ps4 along with KH3 and I only own 4 games on my ps4. Honestly not surprised at this result.

[PS4] 1650k
[XB1] 1350k

A strong Christmas for both consoles
 
Lol even I'm getting it on ps4 along with KH3 and I only own 4 games on my ps4. Honestly not surprised at this result.

[PS4] 1650k
[XB1] 1350k

A strong Christmas for both consoles

And 14 hours after the last time I checked, the XB1 version of FFXV literally did not budge at all in spite of the Amazon Prime preorder discounts (it's still at #356). Speaking of KH3, the XB1 version actually fell down in rankings overnight (#401 -> #482).
 
Knowledgable staff?
Pre-played brand new games, unwrapped and placed into envelopes for your gaming convenience?

The knowledgable staff part is fair. Of course there are exceptions but at scale GameStop has the most informed staff in gaming retail.

But that can only take you so far when your competitors are offering cold hard cash off of brand new games
 

FuturusX

Member
The knowledgable staff part is fair. Of course there are exceptions but at scale GameStop has the most informed staff in gaming retail.

But that can only take you so far when your competitors are offering cold hard cash off of brand new games

I should have made my poor attempt at sarcasm more obvious. I can't say I've every felt that the average GameStop employee was very knowledgeable.

But on a serious note, Gamestop worth is tied to used games and trade-in activity. I know a lot of gamers whom value that.
 
I should have made my poor attempt at sarcasm more obvious. I can't say I've every felt that the average GameStop employee was very knowledgeable.

But on a serious note, Gamestop worth is tied to used games and trade-in activity. I know a lot of gamers whom value that.

I mean they factually have the most knowledge of any major chain in the industry, its really not close. Just being honest. Wal-Mart and Best Buy are really their only brick and mortar competitors and neither are anywhere near the same knowledge as the staff of GS across the chain average.

Not bashing Best Buy mind you, but they have a gaming section in their stores, its not their only form of business. Many people that work at Best Buy don't own a single console.
 

Begaria

Member
I feel like I've missed this reference. Can someone explain it for me please?

When the Xbox One was revealed it was referred to as the "next water cooler" by Microsoft as a talking point. Recently, people caught on to a youtuber by the name of CrapGamer calling Japanese people (hence the PS4) "rice eaters" and have been poking fun at it.
 
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