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NPD Sales Results For August 2016

dr_rus

Member
Why did Deus bombed? Was it a bad game?

Lack of promotion and the long delay which killed the interest. The game being a safe straight sequel to a rather average DX game didn't help either. Plus the game is among the worst in the DX series - if I'd have to choose which one is better MD or IW I would have to think really hard.

All IMO obviously.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Deus Ex did 120K.

For comparison, Human Revolution did 244K, which, to be honest, wasn't great either, but it maintained over 180K the next month as well, whereas I'd be surprised if Mankind Divided held as well as that.

Following up on this, Thief (Metacritic 67) was somewhere above 210K in its debut month, maybe by a fair margin.

That game resulted in layoffs at Eidos Montreal followed by the Thief brand being shelved, their new IP being canceled, and everyone being thrown on Deus Ex or assisting with Tomb Raider.

We'll see if Square Enix's expectations are much lower these days, perhaps due to not having anything else going for them console wise.
 

Sterok

Member
Xbox and 3DS saving the industry. Playstation just can't keep up. Poor Sony.

Aside from No Man's Sky, kind of a meh month. Madden does Madden numbers, but it always does Madden numbers. Xbox really wasn't that impressive seeing what got released. Even 3DS had to deal with Metroid and Style Savvy seemingly bombing (though the latter sold well overseas, so who cares there). September will probably be meh too even with the Slim. October should be fun though.
 
In regards to the 2TB being the second best selling hardware for the month, that bodes well for the Scorpio. Price clearly isn't the only factor.
 

Electret

Member
Plus the game is among the worst in the DX series - if I'd have to choose which one is better MD or IW I would have to think really hard.

That's an indictment! IW is a bummer of a Deus Ex game and a step back from the original in nearly every way.
 

hamchan

Member
NMS did well.

Shows that marketing, deceitful comments to raise hype, and avoiding sending out pre-release review copies really is quite rewarding in the current gaming culture.
 

Ridley327

Member
Nintendo needs to stop sending their games out to die with no marketing. They've done this shit far too many times and by this point it feels like anything that isn't Mario/Zelda/Pokemon/Animal Crossing just gets flat out ignored.

I don't think marketing would have helped Federation Force.

But in any case, I think they've done an OK job with everything else this year. They somehow managed to more than double TMS's sales in the US over Japan, so they are doing something right.
 

Welfare

Member
So 79k S Controllers were sold and a total 304k XB1 controllers were sold.

We should get these numbers more often. Nice little stats.
 

thelastword

Banned
If you're buying a PS4 or an XBO this holiday, you're going to get GTA5. Sales keep showing that. Month after month, this keeps happening and nothing on the horizon is going to change to that, at least for long. Tell me this; How many games do you think it's going to take to push GTA5 out of the top 10 in NPD sales temporarily and permanently? Because until that point, it's not worth doing. But by that point, GTA6 will be out.
The point is not that GTA5 will be pushed off NPD charts and that Rockstar has to do something to keep it there. The point is there will be a brand new piece of hardware where all the buzz is now HDR and 4K and so they will want to ride that train as well and give support to the new hardware, by extension, they will also extend the life of GTA5 even further...so It's a win win for the .Pro customer and Rockstar as well.
 
Following up on this, Thief (Metacritic 67) was somewhere above 210K in its debut month, maybe by a fair margin.

That game resulted in layoffs at Eidos Montreal followed by the Thief brand being shelved, their new IP being canceled, and everyone being thrown on Deus Ex or assisting with Tomb Raider.

We'll see if Square Enix's expectations are much lower these days, perhaps due to not having anything else going for them console wise.

Its really sad to see what's happening with Deus Ex as Human Revolution by and large was loved.

What's weird is I adored that game, really want to play Mankind Divided, and yet haven't bought the game yet. I wonder if there is a decent amount of people out there like me? Its strange as I know it will be a quality experience and yet feel like I don't have to be there Day 1 for it. I'm sure thats not what SE want to hear as they want up front $60 purchases but I wonder if over time it will leg out decently.
 

oSoLucky

Member
It's crazy how little fanfare Deus Ex seemed to get. I started seeing some ads on gaming sites maybe a week beforehand with a few YouTube video ads and that's about it. With most big non-Nintendo releases, they have commercials plastered all over the channels that I watch(mostly sports) and YouTube. I completely forgot it was releasing in August until someone made a thread about 2 weeks out. Maybe it will be end up like TR2013 and get decent sales numbers but at a really low ASP. I see it being deeply discounted this Fall.
 

KooopaKid

Banned
Not alot of excitement around it for whatever reason.

Its been 5 years since Human Revolution.
The marketing wasnt nearly as good this time.
The game itself was OK but not great. Bland and unexciting. Not great word of mouth.



I hope they get to make a sequel but I dunno if they will.

That's my take on it as well. Wonder if Dishonored 2 will share the same fate.
 

Carnby

Member
LE quantities aren't really indicative of a game performance all the time. Sometimes they just make a bunch of a higher price SKU because of the higher profits.

It sold out on Amazon the day it went on sale. It remained unavailable until two weeks after release. Ever since then it's been readily available.
 
I don't think marketing would have helped Federation Force.

But in any case, I think they've done an OK job with everything else this year. They somehow managed to more than double TMS's sales in the US over Japan, so they are doing something right.
There's Style Savvy too. Nintendo made absolutely no effort to promote it at all. Missed E3, missed the March Direct, had virtually no advertising, and apparently was online only in some stores.

Friggin' Federation Force got more than that.
 

KingBroly

Banned
The point is not that GTA5 will be pushed off NPD charts and that Rockstar has to do something to keep it there. The point is there will be a brand new piece of hardware where all the buzz is now HDR and 4K and so they will want to ride that train as well and give support to the new hardware, by extension, they will also extend the life of GTA5 even further...so It's a win win for the .Pro customer and Rockstar as well.

GTA doesn't need "new hardware" buzz to sell copies. It's GTA.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Its really sad to see what's happening with Deus Ex as Human Revolution by and large was loved.

What's weird is I adored that game, really want to play Mankind Divided, and yet haven't bought the game yet. I wonder if there is a decent amount of people out there like me? Its strange as I know it will be a quality experience and yet feel like I don't have to be there Day 1 for it. I'm sure thats not what SE want to hear as they want up front $60 purchases but I wonder if over time it will leg out decently.

I think you've hit on the biggest issue. Even for the audience that liked the game, it isn't a very exciting product, and one they're willing to get around to some day later when margins are much lower.

People often compare the sales to No Man's Sky, but that game was selling an exciting concept to people, even if it didn't deliver, and it's something games really need to take into account these days when there are so many options and everyone knows they can wait around to get something cheaper later.
 
Mankind Divided is a way better game than Human Revolution, it's my favorite title of 2016 so far, and easily my second favorite of the series now, so seeing it not reach the numbers it deserves is really depressing.
 

oSoLucky

Member
That's my take on it as well. Wonder if Dishonored 2 will share the same fate.

It's releasing in a crowded time for sure. There have been a decent amount of interviews and pre-release hype, but I don't think it will be enough considering the 11/11 release date.
 

Ridley327

Member
There's Style Savvy too. Nintendo made absolutely no effort to promote it at all. Missed E3, missed the March Direct, had virtually no advertising, and apparently was online only in some stores.

Friggin' Federation Force got more than that.

I dunno, Style Savvy doesn't strike me as the kind of game that's really going to sell outside of those that already want it. I will say that I have no idea why it didn't release back when Europe got it, since it was going to sell whatever it was going to sell, no matter when.
 

Sterok

Member
They might be referring to Style Savvy. Nintendo made absolutely no effort to promote it at all. Missed E3, missed the March Direct, had virtually no advertising, and apparently was online only in some stores.

Friggin' Federation Force got more than that.

It already did well in Europe and Japan, and it was always going to do worse in America, so I guess they didn't care. A pity, I was betting on it beating Metroid.

For Deus Ex, I've only played a few hours of Human Revolution, and when I saw a couple trailers for Mankind Divided I thought it looked almost exactly the same. Whatever the quality actually is, the game itself did not look like a noticeable improvement over its prequel that came out 5 years ago. Not impressive + not in a really popular genre = mediocre sales.
 

hamchan

Member
I'm pretty depressed about Mankind Divided too. I think that game is pretty damn great and I loved all the time I had with it.

It does feel like some of it is a failure of marketing. There must surely have been a way to sell this awesome game to an audience, but I didn't see much of it or feel much hype at all pre-release.
 
Not alot of excitement around it for whatever reason.

Its been 5 years since Human Revolution.
The marketing wasnt nearly as good this time.
The game itself was OK but not great. Bland and unexciting. Not great word of mouth.



I hope they get to make a sequel but I dunno if they will.

Pretty much. The marketing in particular seemed really bad, often seeming like they were just copying HR's marketing campaign but not as good and never really setting it apart. Even the big Visual Works CG trailer was a pale imitation of the old HR CG trailer(s).

Good to see NMS do well though. I know it's not a popular opinion amongst the hoards that rove around any thread that mentions the game but I had a lot of fun with it and am still really impressed with it from just a technical level.
 

J_Viper

Member
Its really sad to see what's happening with Deus Ex as Human Revolution by and large was loved.

What's weird is I adored that game, really want to play Mankind Divided, and yet haven't bought the game yet. I wonder if there is a decent amount of people out there like me? Its strange as I know it will be a quality experience and yet feel like I don't have to be there Day 1 for it. I'm sure thats not what SE want to hear as they want up front $60 purchases but I wonder if over time it will leg out decently.

I'm in your boat.

HR was amazing, and this looks like more of the same, which is fine by me.

Thing is, it has price drop written all over it. I can't wait to check it out once it hits $30-40.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
It doesn't matter what Pro users want? The people looking to buy PS4P are upgrading, and they've likely already bought it, so putting time, money and effort into it doesn't really provide for extra sales for a 2-year old game at this point, when they are better left served making GTA6/RD3/etc.

Why can't they upgrade GTA5 and make GTA6?
 

Ridley327

Member
So, with Deus Ex under-performing, how much bigger do you guys figure FFXV has to be for Squenix now? With South Park moving to next spring, it's pretty much the only major game for December now, but it's still got a ton of competition for dollars to deal with.
 
Its really sad to see what's happening with Deus Ex as Human Revolution by and large was loved.

What's weird is I adored that game, really want to play Mankind Divided, and yet haven't bought the game yet. I wonder if there is a decent amount of people out there like me? Its strange as I know it will be a quality experience and yet feel like I don't have to be there Day 1 for it. I'm sure thats not what SE want to hear as they want up front $60 purchases but I wonder if over time it will leg out decently.

I'm in the same position, although if the Pro mode is well done that might entice me sooner.

I said it in the UK sales thread, but it does feel like SE's marketing was all focused on the Feb release and when it got pushed back they didn't readjust their schedule.
 
Really enjoying Mankind Divided so far. I'm disappointed that the game isn't getting better sales. I think the delay probably killed the hype for the game. I hope this isn't the end of the series.
 

fernoca

Member
Are the charts still in revenue or back to cumulative sales? Last two months were revenue from what I remember.

Should be noted in the main post just in case. Makes No Man's Sky sales even more impressive since it was just across one platform, one regular SKU and one limited SKU,; no digital sales.
 
Agree 100%. Each Content Drop for Season 2 really should include 2 maps per drop instead of 1. That would give us 8 new maps this year, which seems solid.

I will gladly pay for a Second Season Pass to Support this as well
This is what I'm saying, I'll pay for content if the alternative is only 4 a year.
 
I think you've hit on the biggest issue. Even for the audience that liked the game, it isn't a very exciting product, and one they're willing to get around to some day later when margins are much lower.

People often compare the sales to No Man's Sky, but that game was selling an exciting concept to people, even if it didn't deliver, and it's something games really need to take into account these days when there are so many options and everyone knows they can wait around to get something cheaper later.

Yeah spot on post and with the rise of patches and DLC this generation it becomes one of those things where often times if it's not something the consumer feels they have to own Day 1 then often it's better to wait.

Like I know that in 6 months when I pick up Deus Ex not only will it be cheaper but it will be a better product.
 

MechaX

Member
I am a little bit disappointed in Deus Ex. It was a safe sequel and the ending pretty much serves as an absolute brickwall in front of a roller coaster, but man...

And No Man's Sky doing as well as it did with it's catastrophic post-release shit show... Man.
 
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