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Official November 2007 NPD Prediction Thread

Before anyone asks on this page...

*Guaraná said:
when will the numbers be out ?

The freaking OP said:
NPD Release: December 13th @ 4:00 p.m. EST (thread posted around 6:30 p.m. EST)

reading.png
 
chespace said:
The combined forces of Europe and Japan will fight you to the death.

With their amazing numbers.
I dreamt last night that I was being chased by Media-Create and ChartTrack numbers...

NPD numbers jumped out and destroyed them... NPD numbers then began to remove my clothes...
 

Gadfly

While flying into a tree he exclaimed "Egad!"
GhaleonEB said:
Unfortunately I didn't quite finish it. :lol

I think Odysseus is right about 700k being the floor for the 360 to be considered to do really well in November. Compared to last year, Microsoft has -

-Swapped out the Core for the Arcade and dropped it by $20
-Dropped the Premium by $50 and bundled two games
-Released a much broader lineup of titles, especially when 3rd party is factored in. (Including that little Halo 3 game.)
-An extra week of post-Thanksgiving sales

If Microsoft can't get an additional 200k over last with with all of that, they should be concerned.
I disagree. Last year was the first 360 holiday with the general availability and I am sure that helped the sales. And then we had Gears.

This year, there is more competition (PS3 is available and almost at the same price), 360 is in its third holiday -and- releasing Halo3 in September moved some of the holiday sales to September and October.

360 fans better not set themselves for disappointment.
 

Grecco

Member
Thunder Monkey said:
I dreamt last night that I was being chased by Media-Create and ChartTrack numbers...

NPD numbers jumped out and destroyed them... NPD numbers then began to remove my clothes...


Taking sales age love to the next level. I tip my hat to you sir. Kudos
 

Gadfly

While flying into a tree he exclaimed "Egad!"
Thunder Monkey said:
Shoulda been there... my blankets got messy.
Count your blessings. Some of us would have woken up from this dream with a sore ass..
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Gadfly said:
360 fans better not set themselves for disappointment.
Eh. I don't really take that perspective to NPD threads. It's fun to predict, and interesting to watch the market, and of course the monthly meltdowns are a hoot, but it's disingenuous to dismiss a line of reasoning based on what system someone owns. I'm actually hoping for some surprises, regardless of what system they show up on. It's more fun that way.
 
Odysseus said:
acceptable would be 600k. 550k would show signs of a pulse. we're talking a price drop and holidays here, people. this isn't august. it's put up or shut up time for the platform. there is no more wait until _____.

it's now or never, my love won't wait.

Sorry, but you're an idiot for your continued declarations.

1) Expectations from NeoGAF, simExchange, and Pachter are ~410-420k.

2) You're saying 600k is "acceptable", when the PS3 sold 121k last month? You think a 400% increase is in any way a reasonable or "acceptable" expectation? What would be good to you? 800k??

3) The standard October to November increase historically has been ~200%, less for non-market leading systems overall.

4) The price drop didn't happen this month. It didn't have anywhere near a dramatic effect last month or in July.

I understand you probably think you're being humorous or otherwise like to see yourself as a "voice" of some kind, but your self proclaimed declaration of what the PS3 ~should sell to be decent is beyond ridiculous. It's a joke.

This isn't to say that the PS3 is going to do well or that bad results should be brushed off. Sony's in serious trouble, but that's been true since January. Many months ago, almost everyone had given up on Sony doing much of anything in 2007. They simply don't have the software or pricing to make up any ground.

Odysseus said:
700-750k is the floor for 360.

take last year's november and a quarter of december and that's a rough estimate of what this year's november should be.

And now, you're saying:

Nov 07 (4 weeks) = Nov 06 (4 weeks) + 1/4 Dec 06 (1 1/4 week)?

There's so many problems with this. First you're asking for 5 1/4 weeks (December is a 5 week month). Second, you're making a crazy assumption that the final week in November, is equal to every other week in December, when the sales in December build to Christmas. The week you're referring to is the slowest week of the 6 weeks of holiday sales to consider.

Perhaps you should start surrounding your posts with

[clueless NPD drivel] [/clueless NPD drivel] tags?
 

Gadfly

While flying into a tree he exclaimed "Egad!"
sonycowboy said:
Sorry, but you're an idiot for your continued declarations.

1) Expectations from NeoGAF, simExchange, and Pachter are ~410-420k.

2) You're saying 600k is "acceptable", when the PS3 sold 121k last month? You think a 400% increase is in any way a reasonable or "acceptable" expectation? What would be good to you? 800k??

3) The standard October to November increase historically has been ~200%, less for non-market leading systems overall.

4) The price drop didn't happen this month. It didn't have anywhere near a dramatic effect last month or in July.

I understand you probably think you're being humorous or otherwise like to see yourself as a "voice" of some kind, but your self proclaimed declaration of what the PS3 ~should sell to be decent is beyond ridiculous. It's a joke.

This isn't to say that the PS3 is going to do well or that bad results should be brushed off. Sony's in serious trouble, but that's been true since January. Many months ago, almost everyone had given up on Sony doing much of anything in 2007. They simply don't have the software or pricing to make up any ground.



And now, you're saying:

Nov 07 (4 weeks) = Nov 06 (4 weeks) + 1/4 Dec 06 (1 1/4 week)?

There's so many problems with this. First you're asking for 5 1/4 weeks (December is a 5 week month). Second, you're making a crazy assumption that the final week in November, is equal to every other week in December, when the sales in December build to Christmas. The week you're referring to is the slowest week of the 6 weeks of holiday sales to consider.

Perhaps you should start surrounding your posts with

[clueless NPD drivel] [/clueless NPD drivel] tags?
While I agree with you, I was hoping somebody would go after those people that month after month refuse to make any predictions (apparently they are not interested in sale age) yet when the numbers are out start by saying something like: I am disappointed, it did less than I expected, etc. At least Odysseus is being upfront about it and is not resorting to those tactics.

Hopefully somebody would call them out when the numbers are out.
 

Odysseus

Banned
well thank you sonycowboy.

but this is it for ps3. forget 2008 without a successful holiday 2007, and just because the expectations are low doesn't make them any less disastrous. 360 pulled 500k last year at $400 with two days of post thanksgiving shopping. if i'm not mistaken, many around here were "disappointed" in that. you were. the mighty playstation with all the marketing surrounding a sku at the same price should get there with all the extra time they have.

of course, why am i defending myself to you? you're not stranger to this. after all, you said last year sales of less than 650k for xbox 360 in november would be "weak [1]," and that "360 fans have LONG since given up hoping for decent sales for the 360 and thus put ridiculously low numbers out there each month so that they can pretend to be "happy" with the results. [2]" (at least you hedged your bet on the ps3 at that time.)

i don't know, maybe that rings truer for ps3 fans. whatever. it's time for it to sell. it's got the games. it's got, well, no worse price than 360 had. it's go time.
 

squicken

Member
sonycowboy said:
Sorry, but you're an idiot for your continued declarations.

1) Expectations from NeoGAF, simExchange, and Pachter are ~410-420k.

2) You're saying 600k is "acceptable", when the PS3 sold 121k last month? You think a 400% increase is in any way a reasonable or "acceptable" expectation? What would be good to you? 800k??

3) The standard October to November increase historically has been ~200%, less for non-market leading systems overall.

4) The price drop didn't happen this month. It didn't have anywhere near a dramatic effect last month or in July.

I understand you probably think you're being humorous or otherwise like to see yourself as a "voice" of some kind, but your self proclaimed declaration of what the PS3 ~should sell to be decent is beyond ridiculous. It's a joke.

This isn't to say that the PS3 is going to do well or that bad results should be brushed off. Sony's in serious trouble, but that's been true since January. Many months ago, almost everyone had given up on Sony doing much of anything in 2007. They simply don't have the software or pricing to make up any ground.



And now, you're saying:

Nov 07 (4 weeks) = Nov 06 (4 weeks) + 1/4 Dec 06 (1 1/4 week)?

There's so many problems with this. First you're asking for 5 1/4 weeks (December is a 5 week month). Second, you're making a crazy assumption that the final week in November, is equal to every other week in December, when the sales in December build to Christmas. The week you're referring to is the slowest week of the 6 weeks of holiday sales to consider.

Perhaps you should start surrounding your posts with

[clueless NPD drivel] [/clueless NPD drivel] tags?

Your red letters don't make your analysis any more valid than his. The 360 sold 510k last year at the same price the PS3 now currently holds. And assuming Xenon+Xenos=RSX+CELL, the PS3 still is a better valued piece of hardware due to Bluray and a larger HDD. I think setting the floor at 600k is reasonable, and factoring in the extra week isn't wholly unreasonable.
 
Odysseus said:
well thank you sonycowboy.

but this is it for ps3. forget 2008 without a successful holiday 2007, and just because the expectations are low doesn't make them any less disastrous. 360 pulled 500k last year at $400 with two days of post thanksgiving shopping. if i'm not mistaken, many around here were "disappointed" in that. you were. the mighty playstation with all the marketing surrounding a sku at the same price should get there with all the extra time they have.

of course, why am i defending myself to you? you're not stranger to this. after all, you said last year sales of less than 650k for xbox 360 in november would be "weak," and that "360 fans have LONG since given up hoping for decent sales for the 360 and thus put ridiculously low numbers out there each month so that they can pretend to be "happy" with the results."

i don't know, maybe that rings truer for ps3 fans. whatever. it's time for it to sell. it's got the games. it's got, well, no worse price than 360 had. it's go time.

I don't mind commentary about how it might be bad, and it's definitely not good, but when you quote yourself and try to declare to everyone what's acceptable by using ridiculous standards, then I have to take some issue.

I was down on 360 sales for most of last year. I've been 10 times more down on PS3 sales this year and I do see signs that it may well NEVER recover. But, it's not going to be on the basis of likely unattainable sales for November.

BTW, "no worse price than 360 had."? Uhhh, is there a secret $299 PS3 this year?

I'm mostly messing with you because I know you try to be controversial, but you're playing far too fast and loose with sales and retail information that's impossible or incorrect.

squicken said:
Your red letters don't make your analysis any more valid than his. The 360 sold 510k last year at the same price the PS3 now currently holds. And assuming Xenon+Xenos=RSX+CELL, the PS3 still is a better valued piece of hardware due to Bluray and a larger HDD. I think setting the floor at 600k is reasonable, and factoring in the extra week isn't wholly unreasonable.

They aren't the same price, from a purely factual stadpoint as I mentioned above. However, I agree that it's not unreasonable from an expectation standpoint that the PS3 sell on par or better than the 360 did last year. That is, until you recognize that it's tracked substantially worse that the 360 did in it's first year ALL YEAR LONG. Why should anyone (and nobody does) expect that the PS3 would suddenly not only change that trend, but substantially beat it?

Again, it's not to make excuses for the PS3, because it's in a bad, bad position. My only point is that most folks have already written off 2007 as unsalvalgeable. And greatly hedged any bets that the PS3 could have any competative future in the US.
 

Brak

Member
Odysseus said:
of course, why am i defending myself to you? you're not stranger to this. after all, you said last year sales of less than 650k for xbox 360 in november would be "weak [1]," and that "360 fans have LONG since given up hoping for decent sales for the 360 and thus put ridiculously low numbers out there each month so that they can pretend to be "happy" with the results. [2]" (at least you hedged your bet on the ps3 at that time.)

i don't know, maybe that rings truer for ps3 fans. whatever. it's time for it to sell. it's got the games. it's got, well, no worse price than 360 had. it's go time.
OH SHIZZLE.

And Odysseus is right too, in my opinion. Even though people have predictions in the neighbourhood of 400k, that doesn't mean that those numbers are healthy for the PS3. Every month without a breakout for the PS3 is another nail in its coffin. It's damn near impossible to make up for a whole year of bad sales.

Not that any of this implies "doom" or anything for the PS3, but it will never be market leader and it certainly won't have the PS2's library.
 

Odysseus

Banned
sonycowboy said:
I don't mind commentary about how it might be bad, and it's definitely not good, but when you quote yourself and try to declare to everyone what's acceptable by using ridiculous standards, then I have to take some issue.

I was down on 360 sales for most of last year. I've been 10 times more down on PS3 sales this year and I do see signs that it may well NEVER recover. But, it's not going to be on the basis of likely unattainable sales for November.

BTW, "no worse price than 360 had."? Uhhh, is there a secret $299 PS3 this year?

I'm mostly messing with you because I know you try to be controversial, but you're playing far too fast and loose with sales and retail information that's impossible or incorrect.


either way you look at it, ps3 sales aren't going to be "good."

actually, if they are above 500k, i'll be pleasantly surprised. but i still wouldn't call them good.

i don't subscribe to the theory that 2008 will be any better than 2007. ps3 already has the games that matter, in my opinion. madden, guitar hero, rock band, etc. the mass market friendly games, at least in the traditional gaming sense. the only real driver of hardware they'll have is gta iv, and it's going to also be on 360. and they'll continue to be without the absolute game of the generation, wii sports.

no, i don't think holiday 07 is anything less than a pulse check for ps3. the further it gets behind, the more likely it will even get farther behind. if anybody is holding out hope they'll finish second in the u.s., this is the season to find out if it has a chance. that's all.

and back to a previous point, yeah, i think sub-700k for 360 in november would also be very, very disappointing.
 
sonycowboy said:
Second, you're making a crazy assumption that the final week in November, is equal to every other week in December, when the sales in December build to Christmas. The week you're referring to is the slowest week of the 6 weeks of holiday sales to consider.

The week of Black Friday is the slowest sales week leading up to Christmas? Which days are included in that week? The Monday before BF to Sunday? Or does it begin on BF?

That's really an amazing statment. Which week is the "busiest"? The week right before Christmas?
 

Odysseus

Banned
siamesedreamer said:
The week of Black Friday is the slowest sales week leading up to Christmas? Which days are included in that week? The Monday before BF to Sunday? Or does it begin on BF?

That's really an amazing statment. Which week is the "busiest"? The week right before Christmas?

i think he meant the week after black friday. if i'm not mistaken, the following monday is actually the biggest online shopping day of the year, and i do believe that sunday is pretty big, too. but without weekly sales numbers at my disposal, i must concede that i made some generalizations that may or may not be supported by fact. whatever, can't be helped.
 
siamesedreamer said:
The week of Black Friday is the slowest sales week leading up to Christmas? Which days are included in that week? The Monday before BF to Sunday? Or does it begin on BF?

That's really an amazing statment. Which week is the "busiest"? The week right before Christmas?

No, not the week of black Friday. The week AFTER Black Friday.

http://www.shoppertrak.com/news_article182.php

There have been several reports of this, I think I remember posting one last year. Basically, the week before Christmas is #1, Black Friday week is #2, and then each week before Christmas is bigger than the week before it going to the week after Black Friday. Somewhat dependant on how the weekends fall.
 

apujanata

Member
Grecco said:
400k or so for PS3 in November, would be in no way shape or form "acceptable".

It is only "acceptable" if you have "lowered expectation".

Only 16 more hours to go, more or less, right ?
I know Cheesemeister posted the actual release hour in the OP, but since I did not live in US, that time is meaningless to me (unless it is in GMT).
 

Odysseus

Banned
apujanata said:
It is only "acceptable" if you have "lowered expectation".

Only 16 more hours to go, more or less, right ?
I know Cheesemeister posted the actual release hour in the OP, but since I did not live in US, that time is meaningless to me (unless it is in GMT).

the thread should be up in a little more than 18 hours from now. assuming there are no delays.
 

RBH

Member
chespace said:
Goddamn, it's going to be epic tomorrow afternoon.

And it's right smack in the middle of finals week for me. :(

I'll just take a peek at the numbers without witnessing the actual carnage in tomorrow's NPD thread.
 
While it will be interesting to see how PS3 system sales fare in November and December, what really matters, IMO, is how it maintains the holiday boost for the early part of next year. Specifically, software sales.
 
Completely 100% agree with Odysseus here.

Even if the PS3 manages to sell 510k just as the 360 did last year, it won't amount to much. I've been of the opinion that the PS3 was doomed to NA last place since launch. The PS3 needs to gain ground on Wii60, not scrape close to what the 360 did in its first uncontested year. That's not leapfrogging anything.

It's over. unless the PS3 has a monster month that sees it pushing hardware close to what Wii60 is doing NOW and not last year, the PS3 in America will be set for the generation. Count on it.
 

Deku

Banned
Why is there a need to rub in the poor performance of the PS3? I think it's widely accepted it will trail behind the other two consoles. 510, 600, 400k, it's all relative at this point.

I'd be more interested in knowing if 360 managed to outsell Wii due to supply issues, that would be the megaton of the month.
 
Deku said:
Why is there a need to rub in the poor performance of the PS3? I think it's widely accepted it will trail behind the other two consoles. 510, 600, 400k, it's all relative at this point.

I'd be more interested in knowing if 360 managed to outsell Wii due to supply issues, that would be the megaton of the month.
If I was rubbing it in I'd end every PS3 mention with a :lol .

Obviously, we're not that big of assholes...
 

chespace

It's not actually trolling if you don't admit it
Deku said:
Why is there a need to rub in the poor performance of the PS3? I think it's widely accepted it will trail behind the other two consoles. 510, 600, 400k, it's all relative at this point.

I'd be more interested in knowing if 360 managed to outsell Wii due to supply issues, that would be the megaton of the month.

Because I think for most gamers on GAF, who played some of the best games ever made the last couple generations on a PlayStation branded console (me included), it's still kind of surreal that the PS3 is in a last place situation this gen. In other words, we're just not used to it and talking about it is almost therapeutic at this point. When the PS3 first debuted (CG videos and all), we all felt it was poised to rule the world upon its release. And like Kutaragi, I myself underestimated just how much price would play a role in its downfall. The past year has just been strange and unreal, Nintendo's massive success included.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
chespace said:
Goddamn, it's going to be epic tomorrow afternoon.
I described it to my wife as, imagine if your favorite TV show was only on once a month.

I think this month is going to be the first real look ahead to what the market share is going to look like this generation in NA.
 

Mindlog

Member
Psychotext said:
Thunder Monkey said:
I dreamt last night that I was being chased by Media-Create and ChartTrack numbers...

NPD numbers jumped out and destroyed them... NPD numbers then began to remove my clothes...
Ban this sick filth! :lol


Dont ban yet... 2 mor mins
 
chespace said:
Because I think for most gamers on GAF, who played some of the best games ever made the last couple generations on a PlayStation branded console (me included), it's still kind of surreal that the PS3 is in a last place situation this gen. In other words, we're just not used to it and talking about it is almost therapeutic at this point. When the PS3 first debuted (CG videos and all), we all felt it was poised to rule the world upon its release. And like Kutaragi, I myself underestimated just how much price would play a role in its downfall. The past year has just been strange and unreal, Nintendo's massive success included.

The 360 has sold fairly predictably though. Better than its father, but still with the Japanese Archilles Heel.
 

chespace

It's not actually trolling if you don't admit it
IronicallyTwisted said:
The 360 has sold fairly predictably though. Better than its father, but still with the Japanese Archilles Heel.

Yup, nothing surreal about how the 360 has performed this gen. I was referring to the past year, which has been all about the diametric opposites of Nintendo and Sony in terms of performance. I didn't think the Wii would do this well. I didn't think the PS3 would do this bad. That's all.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
chespace said:
Yup, nothing surreal about how the 360 has performed this gen. I was referring to the past year, which has been all about the diametric opposites of Nintendo and Sony in terms of performance. I didn't think the Wii would do this well. I didn't think the PS3 would do this bad. That's all.
Have you seen the graph of how 360 sales tracked to the Xbox in the US? I've found it to be quite surprising.
 
GhaleonEB said:
I described it to my wife as, imagine if your favorite TV show was only on once a month.

I think this month is going to be the first real look ahead to what the market share is going to look like this generation in NA.
I don't think we need this month to see.

We've had an entire year of all three consoles out, and all three selling in very specific ways. The PS3 has barely managed to make a blip past 2 million units in America, Nintendo is passed the 5 million unit mark, and MS is passed the 7 million unit mark. If that doesn't show you how marketshare is going to pan out I don't know what will.

These next two NPD's will do little more then cement the positions we already expect.

GhaleonEB said:
Have you seen the graph of how 360 sales tracked to the Xbox in the US? I've found it to be quite surprising.
It's doing a bit better then MS last endeavor, the Wii is doing a lot better then the GCN, and the PS3 is doing a lot worse then the PS2.

This generation in America might see two console manufacturers excel and one falter.
 

chespace

It's not actually trolling if you don't admit it
GhaleonEB said:
Have you seen the graph of how 360 sales tracked to the Xbox in the US? I've found it to be quite surprising.

I haven't seen it but I'm going to assume it tracked higher than Xbox. Nothing surprising about that, given it's building on a known brand, out the gates first this time, and has the biggest (and best) library.

If it tracked worse than Xbox, then I'll STFU now. :lol
 

GhaleonEB

Member
chespace said:
I haven't seen it but I'm going to assume it tracked higher than Xbox. Nothing surprising about that, given it's building on a known brand, out the gates first this time, and has the biggest (and best) library.

If it tracked worse than Xbox, then I'll STFU now. :lol
I was surprised how close they've tracked up until the price cut, launch months aside.

I was going to dive into the PS3 debate in earnest, but with the numbers now so close, I don't think it's worth it. I'll just reiterate that while there are differences between the situations the similarities are numerous, and the bar the PS3 needs to clear is the 511k the 360 did last year. Much less than that is a disaster, higher than that is good news.
 
Oblivion said:
That's my line, foo!

Yeah, my line, too, so long as the numbers don't disappoint. I'm hoping for BIG numbers across all platforms. And hopefully, Nintendo was able to ship a good amount of units in November.
 
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