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[Scrubking]

Hate to say it, but I wouldn't doubt that he's right. It may not literally be the last M-rated game, but definitely an inflection point for the future of the console's library. :/

Weren't they saying the same thing about World at War Wii?

 

[Panajev2001a]

The hard lesson we are learning is that shooters are very dependent on the strength of the franchise.

That is good news if like ND did with Uncharted's engine they are quick to turn around take a now solid and efficient code-base and tools, refine it, and make a worthy sequel (with the advantage of being able to do much more rapid prototyping of levels and game ideas compared to before... when they were still building all their tech up)...

Killzone 3 would not be the sequel to the hyped but not 100% delivered as expected Killzone 1, but it would be the sequel to a game that proved that Guerrilla Games has what it takes to design and deliver a kick-ass AAA which no one can really deny if he or she plays it for more than 5 minutes .

You might have X game that is better than KZ2 in your opinion and that is fine... but you cannot call KZ2 a mediocre game that cannot be called AAA.

 

[Nafai1123]

I don't see that how changes anything. There are - what? - 7 million PS3's in the U.S., and less than 5% of owners bought the most anticipated game on the platform ever? Sony were clearly counting on KZ2 to be a 'smash hit'. Right now, it's merely a modest success. That's a disappointment, regardless of how you spin it.

Yea, 5% of the console base went out and bought it on day 1. I have little doubt that the game has already surpassed the 1 million mark WW, considering the online leaderboards are at about 700k right now.

The NPD's next month should be interesting, especially if Sony has that rumored (doubtful) price drop...

 

[Angelus Errare]

Star Ocean Bomba Edition :lol :lol

Seriously, I know Tri-Ace can't be happy. Jesus, 28m 360s in the world and can't even get 500k sales WW.....fawk.

 

[Mrbob]

Either I do not understand how the pre-orders work and are counted or I am right being a bit saddened by the a bit low first day sales for Killzone 2...

IMHO, the game is awesome (even in SP), easily worth the money you pay for it (without even touching MP), and is definitely a great exclusive for the PS3... PS3 SW sales were not flat during that month neither they were dominated by tons of high selling super AAA titles so there should have been more than enough headroom for KZ2 to reach more of their user-base...

Users tired of FPS games on PS3? It does not sound likely... bah...

Remember the playstation brand has never been super strong with regards to FPS title sales. They have been decent, but it was never pushed as a focal point like the Xbox and carried over to 360 (although 360 is branching out).

To compound this, those who are interested in fps title may own multiple systems. I mean, Killzone 2 looks like a good game, but I just picked up Crysis and Warhead together for 20 dollars the week Killzone 2 came out. I have enough of a FPS fix as it is I don't need to pick up Killzone 2 at the moment. I will get it down the line. Also, if I want a multiplayer fix I'll just load up Left 4 Dead or Team Fortress 2 in steam.

 

[thuway]

I'm really starting to believe Sony is completely cluster-fucked if they don't eliminate the politics and beauracratic bullshit.

The latest rumored PS3 bundle includes Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm.

Really Sony? REALLY? Use some common fucking sense. People will not purchase the system at that price with THOSE games. This is do or die time, either you bundle the system intelligently or you dig your hole deeper and deeper each month.

WHY THOSE GAMES? -- Why not Little Big Planet and Uncharted?


Litttle Big Planet isn't charting, is absolutely incredible, and bundling the game could not only open hundreds of doors in the way for DLC, but also greatly expand the audience so a follow up sequel won't go through the same cluster fuck your marketing team decided to with the first.


Uncharted hasn't charted since God knows when, a sequel is due out this Fall, and we all know the Marketing for this game will be "brilliant". Instead of bundling the first with every PS3 sold (and a trailer for the second at the end), you go off and ignore the power of this IP.


The smart Sony would have put a Little Big Planet, Uncharted, a second PS3 controller, and an Eye Toy - dropped the price by 50 dollars, and marketed the integration properly. Hey- until than, we will continue to see Star Trek gifs where we laugh.

 

[Tiktaalik]

I actually thought that this was the month that we'd see Wii/Wii Fit decrease a bit from the dizzying highs of December but I guess I was wrong :lol

I expected a bit more from SF4 as well, more in the over 1 million range, mostly because of anecdotal evidence of popularity and sellouts in my area.

 

[AColdDay]

He's so credible that he doesn't even know that "The Conduit" is rated Teen...

I'll believe whatever he says if he has a source. If anything, I've learned that I bump elbows with more industry insiders on Gaf than I would have ever thought.

 

[markatisu]

Uncharted hasn't charted since God knows when, a sequel is due out this Fall, and we all know the Marketing for this game will be "brilliant". Instead of bundling the first with every PS3 sold (and a trailer for the second at the end), you go off and ignore the power of this IP.

Uncharted has been bundled with the PS3 for about 2 months now

 

[Psychotext]

...everyone posting that the KZ2 numbers are good / bad should also be posting what they reckon it will have sold by the end of next month. Then ye can be judged!

 

[spwolf]

I expected a bit more from SF4 as well, more in the over 1 million range, mostly because of anecdotal evidence of popularity and sellouts in my area.

well there you go now, SFIV tanked too

 

[Mrbob]

Motorstorm isn't necessarily a bad choice as a bundled game, but I agree Resistance should be booted in favor of Little Big Planet.

PS3 has shown some nice blips in the USA, but I'm sure SCEA will find a way to screw everything up and send the system back in the toilet.

 

[DMeisterJ]

Yeah. Seems pretty clear that sales in the west cannot make up for the dropoff of sales in the east. According to Media Create, the game is at 200k in JP and it's at less than 135k here, so let's just round it to 300k (not out in Europe yet).

I think all RPGs will have to be multiplatform now.

Yep. I fully expect the game to be ported to the PS3, along with TLR (That had a PS3 version coming anyway way back when it was announced anyway) within the next 12 months.

SE does not have the money to waste on games being exclusive to one platform, and the games failing to move a lot of units. The problem is how much MS paid for the games, and how long they are going to be exclusive to the system, because these sales are horrible.

 

[AniHawk]

He's so credible that he doesn't even know that "The Conduit" is rated Teen...

Ended the M-rated era sooner than I thought.

 

[Man God]

NMH: Desperate Struggle sure as shit won't be T.

Was Umbrella Chronicles Teen?

 

[Stinkles]

what are you talking about?
Dev team = programmers that do what they are told, and tasks that they are given.
Q&A = testers people who report issues
Managment = game producer/associate producer and senior managment who decide when the game should be shipping, which then of course includes balancing of what bugs they have time to fix before release, and what are going into the first patch.

Basically people who manage dev team decide what is priority and what is not. Actual coders might have some input, but usually decision is not theirs.

Ah, so I have to use your specific defintion of what constitutes game development versus management to parse that sentence? Gotcha. I think the word you're looking for is "Production" and even then you'd still be wildly off base with your original assertion.

 

[SuperBonk]

Seriously, I know Tri-Ace can't be happy. Jesus, 28m 360s in the world and can't even get 500k sales WW.....fawk.

Well, to be fair, a little less than half of those 360s didn't have the chance.

 

[kuYuri]

Awesome @ SFIV and Killzone 2. Call of Duty WaW also continues to sell well.

 

[Tiktaalik]

well there you go now, SFIV tanked too

Indeed SF4 am bomba total :lol

It's actually amazing how well the game has done considering how the common consensus just a little while ago was that the 2D fighter was dead. I only got my hopes up for over a million because of Capcom's "2 mill shipped" press release and because it was IMPOSSIBLE to get in Vancouver for several days and there was ridiculous amounts of buzz around the title.

 

[Gaborn]

I'm really starting to believe Sony is completely cluster-fucked if they don't eliminate the politics and beauracratic bullshit.

The latest rumored PS3 bundle includes Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm.

Really Sony? REALLY? Use some common fucking sense. People will not purchase the system at that price with THOSE games. This is do or die time, either you bundle the system intelligently or you dig your hole deeper and deeper each month.

WHY THOSE GAMES? -- Why not Little Big Planet and Uncharted?


Litttle Big Planet isn't charting, is absolutely incredible, and bundling the game could not only open hundreds of doors in the way for DLC, but also greatly expand the audience so a follow up sequel won't go through the same cluster fuck your marketing team decided to with the first.


Uncharted hasn't charted since God knows when, a sequel is due out this Fall, and we all know the Marketing for this game will be "brilliant". Instead of bundling the first with every PS3 sold (and a trailer for the second at the end), you go off and ignore the power of this IP.


The smart Sony would have put a Little Big Planet, Uncharted, a second PS3 controller, and an Eye Toy - dropped the price by 50 dollars, and marketed the integration properly. Hey- until than, we will continue to see Star Trek gifs where we laugh.

I'm reasonably confident in saying that 1. Sony could not afford to do this if it wanted to. 2. If it did do this it would still be crushed by the Wii and probably the 360 as well, although it selling on par with the 360 would be reasonable. I just don't see where that would get them anything other than maybe making some people feel better.

 

[Sadist]

I expected a bit more from SF4 as well, more in the over 1 million range, mostly because of anecdotal evidence of popularity and sellouts in my area.

For a series that's been away for so long, I think this is pretty good. If you combine the sales with Europe and Japan, I think it will be pretty impressive.

 

[Jack B]

why? Kilzzone sell only 2 days

Well, Halo 2 and 3 did $125 million and $170 million in 2 days, that's probably why. Not sure about Gears/COD 4 etc, but 324,000 units might translate into maybe $20 million at launch if you count Europe and Japan.

That might be pretty good, not compared to Halo, but like I said I don't know the launch numbers for COD/Gears franchises. We'll know more in another 30 days.

 

[markatisu]

Unless we get a press release we will probably need to wait for jvm to do his monthly article to tease out some other numbers

 

[szaromir]

Yep. I fully expect the game to be ported to the PS3, along with TLR (That had a PS3 version coming anyway way back when it was announced anyway) within the next 12 months.

SE does not have the money to waste on games being exclusive to one platform, and the games failing to move a lot of units. The problem is how much MS paid for the games, and how long they are going to be exclusive to the system, because these sales are horrible.

But PS3 releases of those won't change anything to their bottom line. What SE really needs to do is make RPGs only a small part of their business with smaller but better and polished titles being their main source of revenue (on HD platforms at least).

 

[Jack B]

why? Kilzzone sell only 2 days

Well, Halo 2 and 3 did $125 million and $170 million in 2 days, that's probably why. Not sure about Gears/COD 4 etc, but 324,000 units might translate into maybe $20 million at launch if you count Europe and Japan.

That might be pretty good, not compared to Halo, but like I said I don't know the launch numbers for COD/Gears franchises. We'll know more in another 30 days.

 

[[Nintex]]

For a series that's been away for so long, I think this is pretty good. If you combine the sales with Europe and Japan, I think it will be pretty impressive.

I think Capcom expected 1.7 million LTD. RE5 above 5 million.

 

[Nolan.]

That is good news if like ND did with Uncharted's engine they are quick to turn around take a now solid and efficient code-base and tools, refine it, and make a worthy sequel (with the advantage of being able to do much more rapid prototyping of levels and game ideas compared to before... when they were still building all their tech up)...

Killzone 3 would not be the sequel to the hyped but not 100% delivered as expected Killzone 1, but it would be the sequel to a game that proved that Guerrilla Games has what it takes to design and deliver a kick-ass AAA which no one can really deny if he or she plays it for more than 5 minutes .

You might have X game that is better than KZ2 in your opinion and that is fine... but you cannot call KZ2 a mediocre game that cannot be called AAA.

Yeah but how much money do you need to funnel into a studio to come out with something decent. I'd rather them green light more stuff from the game company and media molecule. Though thats me.

 

[Majmun]

Nintendo's success is getting crazy.

 

[duk]

<3 Capcom this gen.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

NMH: Desperate Struggle sure as shit won't be T.

Was Umbrella Chronicles Teen?

Enough with the logic.

 

[DMeisterJ]

But PS3 releases of those won't change anything to their bottom line. What SE really needs to do is make RPGs only a small part of their business with smaller but better and polished titles being their main source of revenue (on HD platforms at least).

I was moreso focusing on Japan and how games like WKC have sold 300k plus in JP, and added to the 200k-ish SO4 sold, the game could have done 500k if it sold like WKC did in Japan.

America/EU it would just be nice to add a few million potential owners to the base. I just think that most third-party games should be multi-plat, aside from Gears and MGS, since they're flag-ship franchises on their respective platforms. SF IV shows that a multi-plat game can sell comprably on both platforms, even if there is a huge disparity in install bases. I hope SE sees that, and multi-plats all of the games.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

Well, Halo 2 and 3 did $125 million and $170 million in 2 days, that's probably why. Not sure about Gears/COD 4 etc, but 324,000 units might translate into maybe $20 million at launch if you count Europe and Japan.

That might be pretty good, not compared to Halo, but like I said I don't know the launch numbers for COD/Gears franchises. We'll know more in another 30 days.

MS spent millions marketing the Halo games. The amount Sony spent marketing K2? Bout tree fitty.

 

[AColdDay]

Nintendo's success is getting crazy.

Doesn't really matter for any of us, because Nintendo fans are going to buy Nintendo games regardless and third parties are going to keep shoveling C-grade games on it (with a few exceptions).


Edit: About the cost of marketing, does anyone have that quote from Capcom's marketing director about the amount they allocate towards marketing? It was something like 10% of estimated sales or something of the like.

 

[Paracelsus]

I was moreso focusing on Japan and how games like WKC have sold 300k plus in JP, and added to the 200k-ish SO4 sold, the game could have done 500k if it sold like WKC did in Japan.

America/EU it would just be nice to add a few million potential owners to the base. I just think that most third-party games should be multi-plat, aside from Gears and MGS, since they're flag-ship franchises on their respective platforms. SF IV shows that a multi-plat game can sell comprably on both platforms, even if there is a huge disparity in install bases. I hope SE sees that, and multi-plats all of the games.

Next month SFIV PS3 won't be anywhere in the TOP 20, though. What you say it's especially worth for Jrpgs, which are very, very frontloaded.

 

[Suburban Cowboy]

SF4 numbers may be a bit low

 

[thuway]

Uncharted has been bundled with the PS3 for about 2 months now

Uncharted is sold with a 499 SKU, which just sits on retails shelves. Sony should be smart about what games they are going to bundle. Little Big Planet and Uncharted would work extremely well.

Instead, they bundle the 399 SKU with a M rated twitch hardcore shooter (which I believe is fantastic but does very little to reinforce to users that PS3 is the most powerful console on the planet), and Motorstorm 1 which lacks the beauty of split screen.

"Time to die." - as Rico should have said. . C'mon Sony straighten your act up.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Doesn't really matter for any of us, because Nintendo fans are going to buy Nintendo games regardless and third parties are going to keep shoveling C-grade games on it (with a few exceptions).

hurrr

 

[Paracelsus]

At this point I truly wonder about Tekken 6. How was T5 performance on PS2?

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Multiplatform JRPGs? That's a rarity.
Hopefully it pans out though.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

Next month SFIV PS3 won't be anywhere in the TOP 20, though. What you say it's especially worth for Jrpgs, which are very, very frontloaded.

I doubt SF4 360 will be there either, to be honest.

 

[yoopoo]

Mario Kart Wii - almost one year on the 10 chart :O

Ruthless :lol

 

[Averon]

:lol @ SO4 sales. SE was idiots for making that game a 360 exclusive. No way WW sales will make up for its subpar sales in Japan. Is it safe to say that this is the end of high profile JRPG exclusives for the 360?

 

[CubeRevolution]

Nintendo's success is getting Nintendo crazy.

Fixed.

 

[soldat7]

Jesus Christ why are the DS Marios still selling shit over fist you'd think everyone has played these games by now

New DS's get paired with Mario games. Are we still acting surprised over this?

 

[[Nintex]]

At this point I truly wonder about Tekken 6. How was T5 performance on PS2?

I'm wondering about Namco as a whole. They just said that they want to beat Capcom and that they're pretty sure they're going to succeed. The way I see it, they haven't released anything outside of the Tales series since SCIV and Tekken 6 sure as hell won't set the charts on fire in it's current state.

 

[lowlylowlycook]

To defend the series a bit, GoW established the series, GoW 2 came out when the PS2 was waaaaaay on its way out (although the PS3 was struggling and there was still some backwards compatibility), and Chains of Olympus was on a system where nobody buys the games. GoW3 will be good for a very short boost in America.

Until last December the PS2 had sold more units since the 360 launch than the 360 had.

How is that waaaay on its way out?

If it is PS3 and 360 were both still births.

Remember the playstation brand has never been super strong with regards to FPS title sales. They have been decent, but it was never pushed as a focal point like the Xbox and carried over to 360 (although 360 is branching out).

Hmmm, how many games outsold the CoD's on the PS3?

 

[thuway]

I'm reasonably confident in saying that 1. Sony could not afford to do this if it wanted to. 2. If it did do this it would still be crushed by the Wii and probably the 360 as well, although it selling on par with the 360 would be reasonable. I just don't see where that would get them anything other than maybe making some people feel better.

How could Sony not afford to bundle in games that they own- which are collecting dust on retail shelves- which they aren't advertising?

Dropping the price by 50 dollars, including the second dual shock, and bundling the two (or three) games would solidify the Playstation 3 as a "value" proposal in the market, lend itself to better sell throughs of sequels, and give the games some sort of precedence.

Instead you market Resistance and Motorstorm 1 - yeah.

 

[Y2Kev]

Well if SO4 were multiplatform it would probably be at 600k worldwide instead of 300k, so it would impact their bottom line. But your larger point, szaromir, basically requires that Square become a different company. Why should they change when they are profitable and there are a number of other companies making games following those types of genre breakdowns that are failing?

 

[Tiktaalik]

For a series that's been away for so long, I think this is pretty good. If you combine the sales with Europe and Japan, I think it will be pretty impressive.

Yeah I agree. I'm really hoping that the title will reinvigorate Capcom's enthusiasm toward 2D fighters and we'll see more from them. It's maybe too hopeful to expect Capcom to release Tatsunoko vs Capcom in NA, but maybe we'll see a new Darkstalkers out of this.

 

[DMeisterJ]

Multiplatform JRPGs? That's a rarity.
Hopefully it pans out though.

Well, TLR was supposed to be, and FFXIII will be, so not that rare.