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NPD Sales Results for January 2015 [PS4 #1, Nintendo Numbers, XB1 Minimum]

But then we then come back to the realisation that the reason one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world isn't on consoles (when tellingly there was a port to the PS2) the larger publishers seemingly show no interest in catering to demographics outside of sports/shoot/drive anymore.

The Sims is on consoles... my kids play the PS3 version.
 

Three

Member
Why is the 5% higher physical software sales on PS4 surprising or out of the ordinary to some?

Isn't the US install base difference 8% anyway? That does not seem out of the ordinary to me. Especially when you consider new console owners only.
 

Game Guru

Member
But then we then come back to the realisation that the reason one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world isn't on consoles (when tellingly there was a port to the PS2) the larger publishers seemingly show no interest in catering to demographics outside of sports/shoot/drive anymore.

To make the point about AAA publishers not wanting to cater to demographics outside of a small subset of genres more blatant... Why has no AAA publisher copied Minecraft yet? As it currently is, Minecraft is one of the best selling games of all time... It is simultaneously the best selling paid app on mobile, a best selling family-friendly game on PlayStation and Xbox, and a best selling PC game that isn't either F2P or on Steam. It eschews everything that is expected of the platforms that it is on and is a game that has sold better than any other game besides Tetris, Wii Sports, GTA5, Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart Wii. But yet, no AAA publisher has copied Minecraft when they had even tried to copy Wii Sports on the Wii. Minecraft isn't even an indie game anymore and instead is one of Microsoft's premiere franchises just like Halo is. So why have other AAA publishers not copied Minecraft?
 

Rymuth

Member
To make the point about AAA publishers not wanting to cater to demographics outside of a small subset of genres more blatant... Why has no AAA publisher copied Minecraft yet? As it currently is, Minecraft is one of the best selling games of all time... It is simultaneously the best selling paid app on mobile, a best selling family-friendly game on PlayStation and Xbox, and a best selling PC game that isn't either F2P or on Steam. It eschews everything that is expected of the platforms that it is on and is a game that has sold better than any other game besides Tetris, Wii Sports, GTA5, Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart Wii. But yet, no AAA publisher has copied Minecraft when they had even tried to copy Wii Sports on the Wii. Minecraft isn't even an indie game anymore and instead is one of Microsoft's premiere franchises just like Halo is. So why have other AAA publishers not copied Minecraft?
Hmmm...I seem to recall something about Nintendo working on it's own Minecraft clone (which is the reason why it hasn't arrived on Ninty consoles yet) -- I could be wrong, tho'
 

StevieP

Banned
And i'll just let you know, that you're of a very small minority with that opinion. I've tried it out extensively, i've also set it up for my buddies who i play cod with, and they all ended with "WTF is this shit". It is a horrid control scheme that is dead for a reason.

You and your friends being unwilling or unable to adjust to a more skillful and precise control method the same way you devoted the time to learn the abomination you use now isn't the fault of the hardware. Some of the earliest examples of it weren't amazing, but by treyarch's last wii game it was as close as you can get to KBM a on a console when it comes to precision. It certainly isn't perfect and requires adjusting for personal preference, but like learning a character move set in street fighter or learning a combat system like bayonetta, you're going to suck and it's going to suck until you do it right. Sometimes I wish more games would support KBM on consoles so that the genre wouldn't be so shackled in its current inferior level design and movement systems.

At those price points, you can bet that the vast majority of those buyers are hardcore gamers. The reason why the figure is so high is revealed by the steep dropoff of the PS360 - gamers were tired of their old consoles and were itching to upgrade.


Most of those gamers don't fit the needs of the AAA publishers, so it's not a surprise they didn't try too hard to cater to those groups. You can see this in the ineffectiveness of the AAA publishers in the mobile space. These companies are strong in their own niche, but not so much outside of it - so why wouldn't they stick to their core competencies? Personally, I think that the AAA industry can use a bit of shake up, but this isn't a compelling for it.


FPS gamers ususally list the precision of controls as:
1. Keyboard & mouse
2. PS Move
3. Dual-analog controller
4. Wiimote
5. Kinect

By fps gamers, do you mean sony ponies? lol.

Seriously, move's gyro is ok, but like the wii motion plus it drifts. IR on the wiimote is much better, and far more accurate than move unless the sun in shining directly into your sensor bar because you're playing on your lawn.

A more accurate list goes like this
1. KBM
5. Wiimote IR
12. Wii motion plus/move
78. Pressing your dick against a mouse
567. Developing a hover board that you use to press the keys via an attached rare eucalyptus twig found only in the southmost region of the Mediterranean basin via a remote control that is implanted inside your cerebellun
906. Taking a dump into a recycler that converts your excrement's energy via a potato battery cell into a computer that controls a robotic arm that jerks you off so that you can perform #78.
4578. Dual analog
4579. Smashing your head against your console and hoping it causes a crash that makes your character move and shoot. In some cases this is an improvement over 4578.
8994378923092772553892. Kinect
 

4Tran

Member
To make the point about AAA publishers not wanting to cater to demographics outside of a small subset of genres more blatant... Why has no AAA publisher copied Minecraft yet? As it currently is, Minecraft is one of the best selling games of all time... It is simultaneously the best selling paid app on mobile, a best selling family-friendly game on PlayStation and Xbox, and a best selling PC game that isn't either F2P or on Steam. It eschews everything that is expected of the platforms that it is on and is a game that has sold better than any other game besides Tetris, Wii Sports, GTA5, Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart Wii. But yet, no AAA publisher has copied Minecraft when they had even tried to copy Wii Sports on the Wii. Minecraft isn't even an indie game anymore and instead is one of Microsoft's premiere franchises just like Halo is. So why have other AAA publishers not copied Minecraft?
It comes down to core competencies again. If a developer doesn't have the experience to make a certain type of game, then they're not going to try to do it unless it's horribly lucrative. Most of the AAA developers already know what they're good at, so they're not going to venture too far away from those specializations under normal circumstances.

By fps gamers, do you mean sony ponies? lol.

Seriously, move's gyro is ok, but like the wii motion plus it drifts. IR on the wiimote is much better, and far more accurate than move unless the sun in shining directly into your sensor bar because you're playing on your lawn.
I honestly have no idea. I don't play FPS games in general, and if I were to do so, I'd be playing with mouse and keyboard. However, I've heard of positive impressions of the Move in Killzone 3, but I've never heard much good said about the Wiimote in FPS games. To be fair, I think that a lot of the preference for particular controls are based on what you're comfortable with, so familiar controllers will be generally preferred. The exception is mouse and keyboard - it's undoubtedly superior to other control methods in FPS games.
 
Hmmm...I seem to recall something about Nintendo working on it's own Minecraft clone (which is the reason why it hasn't arrived on Ninty consoles yet) -- I could be wrong, tho'

This is almost certainly not true, because Nintendo as a developer and as a publisher are not an "iterate on existing idea with higher production values" type of developer (as compared to, say, Valve).
A Nintendo 'take' on Minecraft would be as difficult to see as being directly based on Minecraft as Pikmin is to a traditional RTS like Starcraft.

I honestly have no idea. I don't play FPS games in general, and if I were to do so, I'd be playing with mouse and keyboard. However, I've heard of positive impressions of the Move in Killzone 3, but I've never heard much good said about the Wiimote in FPS games.

The Wiimote + pointer is better than both the Move and a Dualshock, but you won't hear about it because the people who profess to be FPS console experts weren't playing FPSes on the Wii.
You will also hear how dualshock is way better than m+kb, but it doesn't make the people saying that any more correct just because they shout it loudest.
 

Rymuth

Member
This is almost certainly not true, because Nintendo as a developer and as a publisher are not an "iterate on existing idea with higher production values" type of developer (as compared to, say, Valve).
A Nintendo 'take' on Minecraft would be as difficult to see as being directly based on Minecraft as Pikmin is to a traditional RTS like Starcraft.
.
This is what I was referring to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCraft
UCraft was announced on September 2014 as a Wii U exclusive, but after a failed Kickstarter campaign, the developer later confirmed the title will also arrive for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
Therein lies my problem. I had last checked on this game in September. Had no idea it failed kickstarter.

I remember when it was unveiled, some media outlets made a big deal out of it:

UCraft seeks to fill Minecraft void on Wii U

So yea, mea culpa
 

Biker19

Banned
Sony ponies? Really?

It's nothing but stupid, GameFAQ's level shit that StevieP had wrote.

I think that with the change of leadership - Phil & Satya - both understand that Xbox will never be that.
Like Phil said, they picked him as the new boss because they realized that the media center direction that they took with X1 had not worked, and that he would take the brand back to focusing on games, and listening to consumer feedback.

Which is hilarious, considering that gaming was merely a trojan horse for Xbox in the first place.
 

donny2112

Member
FPS gamers ususally list the precision of controls as:
1. Keyboard & mouse
2. PS Move
3. Dual-analog controller
4. Wiimote
5. Kinect

I'd have to say that any FPS "best controls" list that has Move and dual analog over pointer controls on Wiimote is probably a bit anti-Wii in its derivation. The tech just doesn't support such conclusions. Maybe they're referring to specific game's implementation of the controls, though, as there are some terrible ones on Wii (e.g. Red Steel). Would hold up The Conduit as a good example of how good the shooting controls could be, even though the game itself is probably lower mid-tier in execution, presentation, etc. The supported customization of controls was just astounding, however.
 

allan-bh

Member
Would be nice to have 3DS public number for prediction ranking. Harker, Queso or others can help? We can not use aquamarine info in public this time.
 

pa22word

Member
Any further word on dying light? I really want that game to do well, despite seemingly everything working against it with the weird ass late delay in Europe. Game is awesome, and I really want it to do well to secure another one!
 
Any further word on dying light? I really want that game to do well, despite seemingly everything working against it with the weird ass late delay in Europe. Game is awesome, and I really want it to do well to secure another one!

Great legs through February so far. Techland have to be happy
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
So after the Nintendo briefing, we have some initial #s for next month?


I guess the thirst for now might be real for the New 3DS.

15l.jpg


So since it seems like the New 3DS XL was sold out at a good # of stores, I'd assume we'd have close to that 175K sold already for the New 3DS XL in the US?

Also it looks like MH4U is doing 3 times better than MH3U according to Capcom. And MM3D has shipped a lot of units at least...

30l.jpg
- Close to 350K?
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Those should be sold-through, not just sold-in, since Iwata refers to customers helding off before New 3DS release and saying they had a good launch.
 

Ty4on

Member
Those should be sold-through, not just sold-in, since Iwata refers to customers helding off before New 3DS release and saying they had a good launch.

I'd love to see the weekly sales leading up to get a rough estimate of how many 3DS buyers knew a new model was coming.
 

Game Guru

Member
It comes down to core competencies again. If a developer doesn't have the experience to make a certain type of game, then they're not going to try to do it unless it's horribly lucrative. Most of the AAA developers already know what they're good at, so they're not going to venture too far away from those specializations under normal circumstances.

And what happens to those AAA developers if people are no longer interested in the types of games that they have as core competencies? Do they just die with their genre?
 

4Tran

Member
And what happens to those AAA developers if people are no longer interested in the types of games that they have as core competencies? Do they just die with their genre?
Generally, companies either adapt or die. But that's not really what we're discussing right now. The core competencies of a company tell us what that company is good at, and what their main sources of revenue are. Western AAA developers tend to be old PC developers without much repertoire in JRPGs or fighting games while Japanese developers date back to the old Nintendo/Sega era so they don't have much experience with FPS or RTS games. You wouldn't expect either group to suddenly make games in unfamiliar genres even if those genres produce hits.
 
Western AAA developers tend to be old PC developers without much repertoire in JRPGs or fighting games while Japanese developers date back to the old Nintendo/Sega era so they don't have much experience with FPS or RTS games. You wouldn't expect either group to suddenly make games in unfamiliar genres even if those genres produce hits.

Which is why we have Capcom turning RE into an online co-op TPS franchise while farming out the majority of their entirely-japanese-in-origin franchises to western developers?
 
I honestly have no idea. I don't play FPS games in general, and if I were to do so, I'd be playing with mouse and keyboard. However, I've heard of positive impressions of the Move in Killzone 3, but I've never heard much good said about the Wiimote in FPS games. To be fair, I think that a lot of the preference for particular controls are based on what you're comfortable with, so familiar controllers will be generally preferred. The exception is mouse and keyboard - it's undoubtedly superior to other control methods in FPS games.

Playing Resistance 3 and KillZone 3 with PSMove was amazing. It's has spoiled me for all other console FPS. I actually like it more then mouse and keyboard controls.
 

4Tran

Member
Which is why we have Capcom turning RE into an online co-op TPS franchise while farming out the majority of their entirely-japanese-in-origin franchises to western developers?
I'm not sure what Capcom's mismanagement has to do with anything.

Because neither the 360 nor PS3 ever sold that fast at $399?
That argument makes a lot of assumptions without looking at the statistics behind PS4 sales. It doesn't look like a very strong line of reasoning.
 

BadWolf

Member
Which is why we have Capcom turning RE into an online co-op TPS franchise while farming out the majority of their entirely-japanese-in-origin franchises to western developers?

Do you mean the Capcom that revolutionized the TPS genre with RE4 and had co-op since RE5?

"Turning" is an odd word to use.
 
Do you mean the Capcom that revolutionized the TPS genre with RE4 and had co-op since RE5?

"Turning" is an odd word to use.

Well, of the 8 mainline RE games that exist, co-op TPS is the direction of the last 2 and the assumed direction from now on.
4 can clearly be considered a franchise reboot.
 

Oregano

Member
The chart show both 3DS XL and N3DS.

I think that is XL launch sales, not XL sales during N3DS launch otherwise they would include OG3DS and 2DS I think.

EDIT: Beaten. Of course there will sales of the other SKUs during the week. Probably <20k but it is still something.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
Anyone else predicting that the New 3DS in Feb along with MM3D & MH4U is simply going to cannibalize Wii U & Kirby sales for February (aka expecting low Wii U sales)?
 

Square2015

Member
Alright bringing this over from the December NPD thread:

I've decided to expand this chart into year three but for now please enjoy my END OF THE YEAR REPORT and WHERE WE WERE in each previous cycles =)
LSGfjdR.png

*click to get the full experience*

END OF THE YEAR REPORT and "WHERE WE WERE" in each previous cycle:

Wii - DECEMBER 2008:
The Wii is absolutely off the charts, over 2 million are sold in BOTH Nov and Dec together 4.2m units sell over the Holidays. Wii sold over 10m units this year alone! This is more than the NES ever achieved in a year. Cumulative sales have surpassed an incredible 17m in little over two years. Nintendo is back and even bigger than in their dominant 8-bit days. America (and the world) has officially gone Wii crazy. X360 sells 1.4m and PS3 730k for the month by comparison.
Wii Play was the top selling next-gen game for the month with nearly 1.5m sold, despite it being released nearly two years earlier! Total sales are over NINE million. Super Mario 64 and possibly even SMB3 couldn't reach numbers so high, much less so quickly!
The three record-shattering releases this year: Smash, Kart, and Fit each sell nearly 5 million units making this NoA's biggest sales year in history.

Check out Nintendo's December software numbers:
1. Wii Play 1,500,000 / 9.4m
3. Wii FIt 1,000,000 / 4.5m
4. Mario Kart 900,000 / 4.9m
5. Guitar Hero: world tour 900,000 / 1.5m
10. Animal Crossing: city folk 500,000 / 800k
11. Wii Music 500,000 / 900k

Clearly Wii SW dominates, only this year's Call of Duty (World at War) [X360] can break into the top 5 (at #2, PS3 at #9). Gears of War 2 (#6) sells 750k / 2.3m total, and Left 4 Dead (#7) 630k / 1m BTW. NCL's recent other hit Link's Crossbow sells ~400k for the month, unknown total.

Gamecube - DECEMBER 2003:
As you can see from the chart the GC made an impressive comeback thanks to the recent price drop to $99, a limited Zelda Collector's bundle (it's just a port of the first two NES Zeldas, right?), oh and maybe Link in Soul Calibur II ;) That bundle had exhausted it's shipment this month with the GC selling between 1.1 and 1.2m, GC managed to continue to outsell the XBOX but with an ever narrowing gap, just by 100k. "Print more Zelda bundles, NoA!" ...GAF and Gahiggidy were heard saying. Meanwhile PS2 destroyed everyone and everything as expected with 1.9m sold this month. Gamecube, though, had a great year and made a decent comeback narrowing its third place position behind XBOX; can it continue this lead and topple Microsoft? GC LTD is now at 6.7m to XB's 7.5m (to PS2's 22m).
...with Final Fantasy about to, AT LAST, return to a Nintendo home console, along with the upcoming Pokemon Colosseum, and a Metal Gear Solid remake on, ALAS, on a Nintendo console too, GAF BELIEVED the inevitable was nigh.

Check out Nintendo's December software numbers:
3. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! 730,000 / 1.26m
17. Mario Party 5 330,000 / 550k
36. Smash Bros Melee 220,000 / 2.1m

That's it for Nintendo from the top 50. This was the year of the UNDERGROUND sequels, the Need For Speed series blew up and made No. 1 in December, NFS:Underground sold 1.4m between PS2 and XB (at #1 and #18) and Tony Hawk Underground sold 700,000 (at #4).
Back on the cube, Kirby's AirRide ended the year with 230,000; Rogue Squadron III 270,000; Mario Golf: toadstool 290,000; Viewtiful Joe 190,000; Soul Calibur II [Link] 500k, and Celda: Wind Waker 1.4m.


NIntendo 64 - DECEMBER 1998:
Zelda 64 is out, finally! The anticipation was unreal. The N64 is now proven as the better system over the PSX, right...right? We have our Zelda. Well the stellar Christmas from last year repeated itself almost exactly, putting out similar numbers. 1.55m N64 sold this month, 2.3m over the Holidays. Last year 2.4m sold over the holidays. The recent "Atomic Purple" system, a November release, no doubt helped on top of dat November 24th Zelda Day. Who waited in line? Zelda: OoT sold over 600k that first week and went on to become the best selling game of the year actually tieing with GoldenEye (man that one was a beast also). Nothing on PSX comes close!
As great as all these numbers are though, the PSX sold more...a lot more, topping 2.6m in December alone! And likely the best December ever in gaming [as of '98]. Does this mean even Zelda64 can't topple the Playstation!? We had such high hopes GAF!
The N64 now sits in 10-11m American homes while the PSX in 14-15m. This 45-55 split between the two is now looking like a 40-60 split.
Well look at what we've got on our way THIS coming year: Mario Party, Mario Golf, a Nintendo fighting game, some Star Wars Episode 1 pod game, Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark, Conker Tales, Kirby, and more amazings from RARE, does our competition have RARE!? No, and they never will!! These games will push the N64ahead of PSX, no doubt.

Check out Nintendo's December numbers:
1. Zelda: Ocarina of Time 1,500,000 / 2.2m
2. Rogue Squadron 770,000 Debut
4. GoldenEye 600,000 / 3.6m
8. Turok 2 490,000 Debut

This was the year of Crash Warped! (#3), Tomb Raider 3 (#6), and Metal Gear Solid (#7) each at nearly a million or more LTD. Other notables like Twisted Metal 3 (at #9) and Gran Turismo (#16) which ended the year with 1.4m LTD, sold well. Many of last years hits at discounted rates ($20) filled the chart. Back on N64, Super Mario 64 topped 4m, Mario Kart 64 3m, Banjo-Kazooie 1.3m, Yoshi's Story 900k, and F-Zero X just 180,000. WCW games and NoA's sports titles sold well.

Super NES - DECEMBER 1993
This is the Mortal Kombat and Genesis model 2 Christmas, yeah Sega won it and pretty big. SNES had been ahead, barely, up to this point but after the Fall the two were now more neck-and-neck than ever before.
NPD data seems to suggest 1.15m SNES to 1.6m GEN in December. News reports from the day mention a 63%-37% gap between the two in Nov and Dec, that's based off on the original raw data (65% of market, no Wal-mart) but actuals show the gap was not as wide but still a disappointment/shock for NoA and NCL. Time to stop pimping Mario and get us some killer apps, NoA! Literally ones that have killing :p.
About 1.6 - 1.7m SNES sold over Nov and Dec, in 1992 that number was 2.1m...down significantly.
However SNES was ahead most of the year but Sega 16-bit-smashed NoA from the Fall onward as K-Mart et al. began selling units followed by the Genesis 2 release in August. One MILLION Genesis 2 units were shipped in September alone, Sega announced. Oh and then this: Mortal Kombat [selling some 2.2m that month!] plus a plethora of other incoming hits: Sonic Spinball, Joe Montana 94, Aladdin, Jurassic Park [raptor mode], Madden 94, Eternal Champions, NHL 94. These titles topped the charts selling between 500k to 1 million each. ToeJam & Earl 2 was less successful. Meanwhile NoA's offerings were not nearly as rad and abundant: NHL Stanley Cup, Super Empire Strikes Back, Secret of Mana [limited release], and the ubiquitous ads for Super Mario All-Stars FREE with an SNES purchase until January! You get FIVE Marios in One!! ...That's really all Nintendo had, exclusive-wise.
Nintendo estimated 1.5m "All-Star" promos sold by the end of the year, 3 million were initially projected.
All-in-all later NPD data for the year suggests that 3.55m SNES sold to 4.0m GEN. SNES stands at about 9.15m to GEN 9.1m, wow!!! Can you get any closer?

Thanks guys, I hope to do a January update with an extended graph soon!
Please let me know if there were too many figures given.
 

AniHawk

Member
Anyone else predicting that the New 3DS in Feb along with MM3D & MH4U is simply going to cannibalize Wii U & Kirby sales for February (aka expecting low Wii U sales)?

i cannot see the wii u over last year's 80k or even coming close to meeting it. it's 60k tops.
 
But then we then come back to the realisation that the reason one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world isn't on consoles (when tellingly there was a port to the PS2) the larger publishers seemingly show no interest in catering to demographics outside of sports/shoot/drive anymore.

Its coming. There were a bunch of The Sims games on the previous generation of consoles. It will follow the same trend of being a year or two after the initial computer release. The only time The Sims got a simultaneous release on computers and consoles was Sims 3 Pets. I imagine we will hear about Sims 4 for consoles this E3.
 

jcm

Member
Did we ever wind up getting any numbers for the handhelds? This is what I put together for the comparison to previous gen. Bad for the consoles, presumably much worse for the handhelds.


Code:
[b]Gen over Gen                    
Console [/b]
        2015    2008    % Change
360              230    
PS2              264    
WII              274    
PS3              269    
TOTAL    487   1,037     -53.04%
 
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