• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

NPD Sales Results for March 2010

Baki

Member
[Nintex] said:
Magic my friend... magic


Also Red Steel 2 bombed because Mario walks on clouds now, seriously Super Mario walks on clouds

Oh snap! I knew some of those quotes looked a bit "fishy". But I didn't think people did that on GAF.

:lol
 

donny2112

Member
Elios83 said:
Software sales scale linearly with the installed base just at the beginning of the life cycle. When a console installed base is past the 1 units mark for the US market (and that's the case for PS3 and 360) software sales start to depend more on other factors like those you have stated.

Agreed.

Software sales do not scale linearly with install base for any actual install base. Beginning of the generation or not. Tastes of buyer 1 will not = Tastes of buyer 2.

Yes, I know that you can't have a line with one point. :p
 
Speevy said:
As has been said, gamers' response to releases depends on the kinds of genres and themes their platform is accustomed to, which is further affected by quality, saturation, and value.

Put simply, Nintendo didn't sell umpteen bazillion Wiis on the promise of Red Steel 2.

Another issue would be that a lot of gamers bought Wiis in the early days on the promise of something like Red Steel 2, and what they got were Red Steel 1 and other wagglefests that drove away consumers and third-party developers alike.

That first year of the Wii really hurt it in terms of third-parties. If things had gone differently, the situation today might have been quite different as well.

Andrex said:
RS1 sold over a million.

Yeah, that's the problem. :lol
 

thefro

Member
ShockingAlberto said:
RS2 was marketed fine. You can't really use that excuse.

It just has bad brand recognition because of the first game, no local (or online, but specifically local) multiplayer which kills Wii games, and missed Christmas where it would have done better.

Word of mouth will help, maybe even to the tune of 100k. It maybe should have done better, but advertising is not why.

I'd add lack of online hype, cel-shading (always equals less sales), bad release timing, and the fact that the game was pretty short.

Unless you wanted to read European websites, good luck finding out anything about Red Steel 2 after the initial announcement until the week of release.

Tri seems to be set up to succeed pretty well, so that will finally end this idea that 3rd party titles don't sell.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
MH3 is getting tons of ads too, hopefully that game will do better. With the GameStop pre-order disc and focus on multiplayer, I'm optimistic it'll do quite a bit better than RS2.
 

JJConrad

Sucks at viral marketing
The RS2 commercial is stupid. I don't understand how they think trying to be funny will attract anyone to a game like this. It doesn't sell the game itself. Its the type of commercial you run when your only goal is getting people to remember your name. That being said... The ads didn't start running until a few days before its release, so its effect isn't going to be noticeable in the first month sales.
 

Baki

Member
Vinci said:
You appear to have missed the part where I compared it to Killzone 2.

I saw your KZ2 comparison. But I don't think thats a good comparison since KZ2 did sell 600K+ within 30 days in the US. Which was pretty fast for 1st party games at the time.
 
Baki said:
This can't be quoted enough. A retail chain said there were PS3 shortages and people still try to dispute it.

Funny, in the NPD hardware prediction thread you were saying the high numbers people were posting were justified because the shortages were not that severe. I even questioned you on it and you tried to keep saying that they weren't that bad... but in this thread all of a sudden they were horrible. Make up your mind!!!![/QUOTE]
 

[Nintex]

Member
UPDATE: A Ubisoft spokesperson confirmed the sales figures but correctly pointed out that they are based on only a partial month's performance, as Red Steel 2 was released on March 23, less than half a month before NPD's March reporting period ended on April 3. "Considering that the NPD sales only accounted for 12 days on the store shelves and that NPD doesn't include all retailers we are looking forward to a complete month of sales data to see where we stand. "Considering that the NPD sales only accounted for 12 days on the store shelves and that NPD doesn't include all retailers we are looking forward to a complete month of sales data to see where we stand."
spin spin spin your sales
gently down the stream
 
Salacious Crumb said:
Valve and Crytek games require very little to no modification of there core mechanics to work on console. BF had to be turned into BC for it to work on console, and as great as BC is, it's not BF.

64 players on maps 5-10x the size of anything in BC2, with a complex chain of command ordering system simply cannot work on consoles. My only hope is that Dice is as passionate about these systems as I am and insist that it remains PC exclusive and thus can expand on the scope of BF2 and 2142.

I mean these are the guys that got the go ahead to make Mirrors Edge, keeping BF3 PC exclusive should be a cakewalk.



uhm I don't like the smaller scale of the newer BFs myself, but...:

bfi4xc.jpg


 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Evlar said:
No... it came up because people in the thread posed the question, "Why did PS3 software sales boom through the month of March but we don't see a corresponding boom in hardware sales?" It is perfectly reasonable to address that question without being emotionally attached to any facet of the "console wars"- without referencing 360 at all, without grinding any axes- just through discussing the history of PS3 sales in a vacuum.
Thats one question that can't be answered through an appeal to shortages. The software sales are what they are given how much hardware they did sell. They didn't sell 100k's of software to people who don't own and didn't manage to buy a PS3.
 

Baki

Member
OldJadedGamer said:
Funny, in the NPD hardware prediction thread you were saying the high numbers people were posting were justified because the shortages were not that severe. I even questioned you on it and you tried to keep saying that they weren't that bad... but in this thread all of a sudden they were horrible. Make up your mind!!!!

I never said shortages were horrible in this thread, merely saying that they did exist. I also acknowledged that they existed in the NPD prediction thread.

What I did say was that post 19th of March due to the new model, shortages should not have been servere as Feb.

Regarding whether March shortages overall were more severe, you may be right. I mentioned in the prediction thread that 20th feb - 5th March was very severe. That said, I could've been wrong and I could've been right.

It was all speculation based on certain evidence.
 

thefro

Member
poppabk said:
Thats one question that can't be answered through an appeal to shortages. The software sales are what they are given how much hardware they did sell. They didn't sell 100k's of software to people who don't own and didn't manage to buy a PS3.

Yep, one would presume that most people interested in FF13 or GoW3 already owned a PS3.

Same reason there isn't a big 360 HW bump anytime a new FPS is released.
 

Mr_PinkFloyd

Neo Member
FINAL FANTASY XIII PS3 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 828.2K
FINAL FANTASY XIII 360 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 493.9K

Not bad for a franchise shooting for irrelevancy
 

Pooya

Member
Square-Enix is conducting a survey on members site

Why did you select the PS3 version?
- Prefer PS3's graphics appearance
- Controller preference
- PlayStation Trophies
- PS3 is my console of choice
- PS3 version had only one disc
- Other

Why did you select the Xbox 360 version?
- Prefer Xbox 360's graphics appearance
- Controller preference
- Achievements
- Xbox 360 is my console of choice
- Enjoy Xbox’s community when playing games like this
- Other
 

Speevy

Banned
Mr_PinkFloyd said:
FINAL FANTASY XIII PS3 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 828.2K
FINAL FANTASY XIII 360 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 493.9K

Not bad for a franchise shooting for irrelevancy




They shot irrelevancy in the foot.
 
Baki said:
That said, I could've been wrong and I could've been right.

It was all speculation based on certain evidence.

But in this instance... you were wrong and I was right ;) Certain evidence? Do you live in the reporting area?
 

Baki

Member
OldJadedGamer said:
But in this instance... you were wrong and I was right ;) Certain evidence? Do you live in the reporting area?

You were right. I was wrong. :(

But to be fair, I was basing it on:

1) New models appearing on 19th March (which makes me speculate that SCE held back supply? So they didn't lose as much moolah?)

2) Late Feb - early March being really bad based on anecdotes.

The logic is sound, no?
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
miladesn said:
Why did you select the PS3 version?
- Prefer PS3's graphics appearance

Why did you select the Xbox 360 version?
- Prefer Xbox 360's graphics appearance

Uh... :lol
 
As a Wii owner, I chose not to get Red Steel 2 because, quite frankly, I didn't like the design. I liked the characters, but when it came to the environment, it looked blase in comparison. Let's play in a desert town the whole game.

Without open-endedness.
Without multiplayer.

And let's name it after the poorly-reviewed prequel.

I really think it was the asethetic that hurt it more than anything. Oh and the whole "gamer" migration to HD consoles over the last two years had put a lasting damage to third party games. Better luck next generation, guys?

If/when Monster Hunter Tri fails to sell like gangbusters, Wii will pretty much be left to Nintendo and smaller developers for WiiWare and niche developers in general.

Sales won't make Nintendo move onto the next generation faster. The third-party relations will.

...

With that out of the way, congrats to GOW3, Nintendo HW, and the rest!
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
miladesn said:
Square-Enix is conducting a survey on members site

Why did you select the PS3 version?
- Prefer PS3's graphics appearance
- Controller preference
- PlayStation Trophies
- PS3 is my console of choice
- PS3 version had only one disc
- Other

Why did you select the Xbox 360 version?
- Prefer Xbox 360's graphics appearance
- Controller preference
- Achievements
- Xbox 360 is my console of choice
- Enjoy Xbox’s community when playing games like this
- Other

:lol
 

Swittcher

Banned
TheUnknownForce said:
As a Wii owner, I chose not to get Red Steel 2 because, quite frankly, I didn't like the design. I liked the characters, but when it came to the environment, it looked blase in comparison. Let's play in a desert town the whole game.

Without open-endedness.
Without multiplayer.

Jesus Fucking Christ.

It's people like you, that are the problem.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Swittcher said:
Jesus Fucking Christ.

It's people like you, that are the problem.
What? Everything he listed is a pretty good reason to not buy a game.

Comma splicers are the real problem.
 

ShogunX

Member
jling84 said:
The one that involves me pulling out my cell phone, calling up my friend and tell him how cool Chapter 11 in FF13 is.

I shit you not back when the Original Resistance was released me and a friend used to sellotape our phones to our ears because our mics clashed.

Good times.
 
Y2Kev said:
What? Everything he listed is a pretty good reason to not buy a game.

Comma splicers are the real problem.

I think, he had a pretty, good point.

If someone, doesn't like certain styles, of games they are, the problem.


Like you, when you weren't interested, in Red Steel 2, because it had no, gangsta, style.
 
Swittcher said:
Jesus Fucking Christ.

It's people like you, that are the problem.

I'm a poor college student who has no source of income and is graduating, therefore paying for loans soon.

Red Steel 2 would have been a purchase, but I can't find myself playing in that same world for the duration.

And note that in this time I've purchased a large number of WiiWare titles, so I'm not part of the overall problem.
 

rpmurphy

Member
RS2 came 2-3 years too late. Ubisoft dropped the ball on taking advantage of IP recognition. RS3 should have been the one released with MotionPlus.
 

Skiesofwonder

Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
I think Red Steel 2 will have a good word of mouth and hopefully that will help.

Red Steel 2 had as much TV advertising as The Conduit and Madworld, which isn't much. And advertising on Comedy Central and Cartoon Network exclusively is only showing your product to a very small portion of the Wii userbase.

You need ads on TBS, ESPN, ABC, etc.
 
Top Bottom