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[V_Arnold]

This.

Spoiler

Sorry, someone had to.

Spoiler

"This." is actually 5 character long : )

 

[gregor7777]

But then they'd just put a full stop at the end.

Damn.

 

[Gamecocks625]

Has this be verified yet? Microsoft and Nintendo had no year over year growth in software sales?

To be fair, software YOY sales for PS3 could mean it went from crappy to decent. I'm pretty sure overall software revenue would put PS3 near the bottom. I'd imagine that 360 and Wii are still software kings when it comes to overall totals and revenue.

 

[Varjet]

Spoiler

"This." is actually 5 character long : )

That's the point.

 

[Haunted]

Minimum character count in a post should be 5 characters.

The sooner we get rid of "this", the better. Way worse than laughing smiley IMO.

no

 

[zigg]

wow. 1.32 million people bought epic mickey. i feel sorry for them. that's one "high profile" wii game that really deserved to bomb.

Yeah, I mean, I liked some of what it was trying to do, but it is truly bad in so many ways... whether that was because of the (rumored?) push by Disney to get it out before it was ready or just overambition, I dunno, but I feel like someone did not learn a lesson here.

 

[gregor7777]

no

Laughing smiley to represent that I got your humorous subtle jab at my post, and that it is appreciated.

 

[Dash Kappei]

Was posted quite a while back,



Plus I doubt that either the PS3 or 360 version of NFS Hot Pursuit independently outsold GT5.

Did we actually find out what the split was?

GT5 had 5 week second month AND had the November plus December combo, GT4 came out on friggin February.

 

[mclem]

... am i supposed to reply to that sensibly?

i can't imagine what Gran Turismo 5 had in the title to combat the brand name recognition of 'Need for Speed'.

It was taking advantage of the ever-popular 5ive license.

 

[orion434]

I expected more from Xbox 360, I let anecdotal evidence take the best of me... all my friends kids wanted and got Kinect for Xmas. It was THE thing to get this holiday season. My prediction was way to high... and I lost the order too

 

[TunaLover]

Sony PR should be stated how GT5 sales were splited, but regardless it was a complete success.

 

[FrankT]

360 was on a roll and people were expecting above 2 million.

I don't buy that shortage shit either, it's the 5th year of the system or something. How can there be shortages. If there are then MS is dumb as shit no?

What's the point of increasing demand if you can't meet that demand?

You don't have to believe it all you want. You also didn't believe 360 sold more in Nov than Nintendo. An incorrect assumption. MS mentioned shortages in the month itself, people here in retail mentioned shortages, gone to any online retailer for two seconds and it was clear there too.

This is from the Wal-Mart $75 card thread pretty early in the month;

This is the real catch. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if Wal-Mart is doing this to get their competition to screw themselves over by matching this, because they are sold out online and in many of their stores already.

But bottom line it wouldn't have taken much to take the year or month so they fumbled a bit in Dec to be sure. They did 3.2 in Nov+Dec, but they likely needed closer to 4.

 

[thefro]

Yeah, the situation the Wii is in is unnatural when you consider it's position as the leading hardware in terms of marketshare, but it's only natural for any system that has been starved of good third party content. If this generation stretches on(and the Microsoft numbers say they will imo) I can't imagine that third parties will just sit on their asses as Epic Mickey and Just dance dispel the myth that third party games don't sell on Nintendo consoles.

Right, I can certainly see a wave of platformers coming out for the system, which should have been an obvious market for a 3rd party to target.

 

[mclem]

Gran Turismo 5 has sold well for a game, but not for a Gran Turismo game. This is a series that its entries were almost unrivaled in sales. The original Gran Turismo was the best selling Playstation game ever and the third entry was one of the best, if not the best, selling Playstation 2 game ever. The series is clearly at a decline, at least in North America.

This does raise a question I'm curious about; how did *3* sell when compared with *2*?

I'm wondering if there's a notable peak for "First Gran Turismo in a generation", which would suggest that comparing 5 with 4 and taking the sales figures at face value is misleading, and it'd be more informative to consider the sales difference between 3 and 2 to contextualise it.

(You'd also have to factor in the userbases of the systems at each point, of course - but didn't 3 release much earlier in the PS2's life than 5 did with the PS3's?)

Edit: Further != earlier

 

[plagiarize]

Sony PR should be stated how GT5 sales were splited, but regardless it was a complete success.

i have no idea what that means. are you saying they should have said their sales were split between December and November due to them releasing the game in late November?

if it was a complete success Sony would have mentioned something about it in their PR. they didn't, because it didn't perform as well as they were hoping. maybe their expectations were unrealistic. it failing to meet them doesn't mean that it sold badly, but it does mean that it likely did worse than Sony were expecting.

in a month where they barely have any positives to highlight, if they saw GT5 sales as a positive they would have mentioned them.

it's the only rational explanation i can come up with for Sony not mentioning GT5 sales at all, and i've seen no other suggested explanations.

 

[mclem]

Surprisingly well. Dunno if we'll get a 16-Bit version of 3D Dot Game Heroes, but the first game did well enough that we might get it.

I like 3D Dot Game Heroes, but the original LoZ-style structure is a *little* too archaic for my tastes; I'd love to see a Link To The Past-esque take on it.

 

[mclem]

LOL, GAF was telling me DKCR didn't have mainstream appeal. It seems Need for Speed is back to its former glory as well.

Despite all the wailing and gnashing early on (I must admit, I was slightly nervous about the concept at the time), I have to say that Super Guide is proving to be an excellent idea as an equaliser between the casual players and the more skilled gamers.

 

[Rolf NB]

After all the negativity (I perceived) around it, that's a pretty good showing for Epic Mickey.

 

[mclem]

According to reports, Harmonix own the rights to Dance Central.

And now that $50 is looking like a pretty shrewd investment.

 

[Kagari]

360 was on a roll and people were expecting above 2 million.

I don't buy that shortage shit either, it's the 5th year of the system or something. How can there be shortages. If there are then MS is dumb as shit no?

What's the point of increasing demand if you can't meet that demand?

There was a shortage though... of standalone SKUs. You can find the Kinect system bundles everywhere, even now. the 4GB and 250GB without Kinect, however, are very scarce.

 

[AdventureRacing]

This does raise a question I'm curious about; how did *3* sell when compared with *2*?

GT3 is by far the best selling GT game. GT2 is the worst selling so far and there is a massive gulf between them.

I'm wondering if there's a notable peak for "First Gran Turismo in a generation", which would suggest that comparing 5 with 4 and taking the sales figures at face value is misleading, and it'd be more informative to consider the sales difference between 3 and 2 to contextualise it.

With both the PS1 and the PS2 the first version released sold quite a bit better than the second (more pronounced with the PS2).

 

[EagleEyes]

I just can't believe Kinect Sports and Dance Central knocked it out of the park. Microsoft ended up publishing 4 big hits this holiday season. Amazing stuff really.

 

[lowrider007]

GT5 had 5 week second month AND had the November plus December combo, GT4 came out on friggin February.

GT4 may of been released in February but was/is Sony's biggest IP being released at a time when there was hardly if any competition, end of the day anyway you want to slice it GT5 is tracking only marginally behind GT4.

 

[mclem]

With both the PS1 and the PS2 the first version released sold quite a bit better than the second (more pronounced with the PS2).

Now that's interesting, because it suggests that GT5 is disappointing despite selling only marginally worse than GT4 in the same period. Unless, of course, Prologue actually fills the role of "First GT in the generation".

 

[szaromir]

GT4 may of been released in February but was is Sony's biggest IP being released at a time when there was hardly if any competition, end of the day anyway you want to slice it GT5 is tracking only marginally behind GT4.

What big (bigger?) IPs Sony released in the last few months?

 

[RPGCrazied]

Nice

 

[GregLombardi]

There was a shortage though... of standalone SKUs. You can find the Kinect system bundles everywhere, even now. the 4GB and 250GB without Kinect, however, are very scarce.

This is interesting. If true, it would seem to imply that new users of 360 are not purchasing it for Kinect, opposite to the message that Microsoft is communicating. And that current Kinect sales are related specifically to current owners.

Though causation is always difficult to prove.

 

[lowrider007]

What big (bigger?) IPs Sony released in the last few months?

non but lets be fair, the launch of GT5 was one of the biggest fiascos of a major ip I've actually seen this and last gen, that certainly didn't help matters, and still it's tracking ok compared with it's predecessor with a poor release and a lower user base.

 

[starsky]

I first saw a TV ad for it on Christmas Eve. My wife was all: "Did you get me that?", and I had to pretend and say of course not, never heard of it. But I had bought it for her two weeks ago after deciding a Wacom Intuos was too expensive and too fiddly.

You should have bought her the Wacom Intuos. If she's an aspiring artist, it's the best gift you can give her.

On topic, Nintendo is amazing once again cleaning up the top spots. Congratulations. Microsoft is not too shabby either, too bad with the shortages. GT5 and Kinect games keep on selling, as I predicted last month. Good stuff.

 

[PhatSaqs]

I just can't believe Kinect Sports and Dance Central knocked it out of the park. Microsoft ended up publishing 4 big hits this holiday season. Amazing stuff really.

MS has to be happy as hell about Kinects reception. Im happy for Rare as well.

 

[sixteen-bit]

How did Epic Mickey perform compared to estimates?

 

[FrankT]

This is interesting. If true, it would seem to imply that new users of 360 are not purchasing it for Kinect, opposite to the message that Microsoft is communicating. And that current Kinect sales are related specifically to current owners.

Though causation is always difficult to prove.

Not true either. About 50% of the sales in November were Kinect bundles. They weren't just selling out of the stand alones. In many places you couldn't find anything. I went into my BB the week before Christmas week and they had nothing, but 1 Reach bundle and 1 FF bundle. GS had none at the time too. You also were lucky to find any console online as they received shipments they sold. Amazon had high demand notice on every console for the month.

 

[Curufinwe]

You should have bought her the Wacom Intuos. If she's an aspiring artist, it's the best gift you can give her.

Some of the negative reviews for the Intuos4 put me off, so I might wait till they release the next version. And I thought the Small might have been too small and the Medium was a little too expensive for me to buy this Christmas.

 

[hoos30]

Reading that press release made me feel like this guy when he discovered Jesus Bynum in NBA Elite 11.

Thank you for this!

 

[szaromir]

non but lets be fair, the launch of GT5 was one of the biggest fiascos of a major ip I've actually seen this and last gen, that certainly didn't help matters, and still it's tracking ok compared with it's predecessor with a poor release and a lower user base.

True, but that's Sony's f-up. I don't really know what's the big deal either, 900k(?) over Holiday season seems decent, the game will make the money back and then some. I think last-gen's IPs didn't grow as much as the industry overall and that's why what was #1 game last gen now is #6 (or something along these lines).

 

[Ushojax]

Epic Mickey just bitch slapped all the nay sayers who keep saying that hardcore, 3rd party titles can't sell on Wii.

Did it? A Wii Mickey Mouse game selling a million copies during Christmas is hardly a sign of healthy core software market. A more appropriate yarstick would be GoldenEye. It's doing OK but when you consider the number of Wiis out there it's pretty low. All Epic Mickey showed is that Disney stuff sells during the holidays. GoldenEye is a much better game and is selling much worse.

 

[plagiarize]

This is interesting. If true, it would seem to imply that new users of 360 are not purchasing it for Kinect, opposite to the message that Microsoft is communicating. And that current Kinect sales are related specifically to current owners.

Though causation is always difficult to prove.

it seems to suggest that, but since we don't know the split of SKUs that Microsoft made we can't actually say that.

say 3/4s of what they made were Kinect bundles.

say they sold 2/3rds of their bundles (which would be half of their total output as 2/3rds of 3/4s = 1/2) and all of their regular systems, bundles wouldn't be sold out, but they would have sold twice as many Kinect bundles as normal systems.

we can't guess based on retail availability without knowing what percentage of each SKU were shipped to stores.

 

[captmcblack]

I'm sure this was already asked/answered/discussed somewhere, but question: is Kinect Adventures a stand-alone product, or does it come with the Kinect (either in the Kinect-only pack, or the Kinect/360 S bundles)?

 

[JGS]

DCKR deserves those sales and more.
Epic Mickey's rebound is really pretty amazing.
GT5 really didn't do too bad.

It was 39.99 everywhere I went which is the real price point for a non-Nintendo Wii game imo.

 

[Stumpokapow]

I'm sure this was already asked/answered/discussed somewhere, but question: is Kinect Adventures a stand-alone product, or does it come with the Kinect (either in the Kinect-only pack, or the Kinect/360 S bundles)?

Kinect Adventures is not available stand-alone and is bundled with 100% of all Kinects, Kinect-only or Kinect/360 S.

 

[Kagari]

Not true either. About 50% of the sales in November were Kinect bundles. They weren't just selling out of the stand alones. In many places you couldn't find anything. I went into my BB the week before Christmas week and they had nothing, but 1 Reach bundle and 1 FF bundle. GS had none at the time too. You also were lucky to find any console online as they received shipments they sold. Amazon had high demand notice on every console for the month.

Anecdotal evidence in this case is useless because it all depends on your location. In my area, a week before Christmas, there were stacks of the 250GB Kinect and 4GB w/ Kinect bundle everywhere, along with standalone Kinects at Best Buy, Meijer, Target. Should have taken some pictures, but they definitely weren't sold out.

 

[captmcblack]

Kinect Adventures is not available stand-alone and is bundled with 100% of all Kinects, Kinect-only or Kinect/360 S.

Kinect Sports is a standalone product though, correct?

 

[FrankT]

Anecdotal evidence in this case is useless because it all depends on your location. In my area, a week before Christmas, there were stacks of the 250GB Kinect and 4GB w/ Kinect bundle everywhere, along with standalone Kinects at Best Buy, Meijer, Target. Should have taken some pictures, but they definitely weren't sold out.

50% coming into the month is certainly not anecdotal evidence. My BB did recieve a huge shipment the week of Christmas, but it was everything. So they went to nothing to full stock.

 

[Kagari]

50% coming into the month is certainly not anecdotal evidence. My BB did recieved a huge shipment the week of Christmas, but it was everything. So they went to nothing to full stock.

Either way, they still haven't 'sold out.' Stores still have plenty of supply of the SKUs I mentioned above. The 250GB w/ Kinect seems to be the most common one.

 

[BigBadShamoo]

This NPD format really makes console exclusive games look shitty for the most part.

 

[Souldriver]

Did it? A Wii Mickey Mouse game selling a million copies during Christmas is hardly a sign of healthy core software market. A more appropriate yarstick would be GoldenEye. It's doing OK but when you consider the number of Wiis out there it's pretty low. All Epic Mickey showed is that Disney stuff sells during the holidays. GoldenEye is a much better game and is selling much worse.

Nobody is claiming Wii has a "healthy core software market", whatever that means.

Gaf did however underestimate Epic Mickey's sales, because of the fact that third party games generally don't sell on the Wii, that the Wii is in decline and that the game wasn't all that well reviewed.

So at the very least Epic Mickey proved gaf wrong who said that "third party efforts for Wii = lost cause".

 

[FrankT]

Either way, they still haven't 'sold out.' Stores still have plenty of supply of the SKUs I mentioned above. The 250GB w/ Kinect seems to be the most common one.

Spotty at best for the month. I mean you can quote your evidence, but I know the stores I went to were very tight up until the week of Christmas. In fact even that week I had went into GS and I asked the guy specifically about the Kinect bundles and he said they get them and gone. Got some in that morning and they had 1 left. Online was very clear of that too at least up until that point. Regardless if they were running at 50% coming into the month it will be interesting to see how they fared for December NPD. Perhaps we'll get that info from Pachter too. Availability this month the bundles are certainly there more so as of now. Amazon as of right now has 4 out of 5 SKUs available.

 

[szaromir]

Either way, they still haven't 'sold out.' Stores still have plenty of supply of the SKUs I mentioned above. The 250GB w/ Kinect seems to be the most common one.

Sales are supply constrained if the SKUs people want are out of stock.

 

[plagiarize]

Either way, they still haven't 'sold out.' Stores still have plenty of supply of the SKUs I mentioned above. The 250GB w/ Kinect seems to be the most common one.

that's a semantics argument then. do you need to be completely sold out universally across all retail outlets to be sold out or is it enough to be sold out at a percentage of them?

they sold out, maybe not nationwide but they were still 'selling out across the country'.

just as when the PS3 slim was thin, that hurt sales. you don't have to completely sell out for your sales to suffer. just as i believed Sony then, i believe MS now, because while some places aren't selling out, a lot of places are.

i put a lot more value in anecdotally in stock at someones local stores than anecdotally out of stock at someones local stores... because you can have shortages and be in stock at some places, but if you have no shortages you probably aren't out of stock at every store in a given area, statistically speaking.

Nintendo also didn't make enough Red Wiis, but that's a little different because a black Wii is much more equivalent to a Red Wii than a Kinect free 360 is to one with Kinect.

it's a lot harder to sell someone a 360 without Kinect that wants Kinect (and vice versa) than it is to sell someone a different coloured console with a different bundled game that is the same exact price.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Kinect Sports is a standalone product though, correct?

Correct. Kinect Sports is a $49.99 game that is not bundled with anything.