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April 2012 NPD Sales Results [Up3: Best selling game sold less than 236K, Kid Icarus]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Skiptastic
Member
This posts sounds like Dick Tracy wrote it.
Takamura-San
Member
Hasn't April always been an slow month?
I don't find any surprising numbers here.
Games and consoles can't sell gangbusters every month.
I don't find any surprising numbers here.
Games and consoles can't sell gangbusters every month.
alexandros
Banned
It's only going to get worse, people. That's what happens in a hit-driven industy, a couple of people make all the money and everyone else starves. Diversification is sorely needed, or else we're heading for a major crash when the next-gen consoles fail to sell in significant numbers.
Oh, and
Oh, and
Yes, I do the articles, but they're 1-2 shorter¹ news articles now, not full-blown features.
¹ Not actually shorter. The number of words is generally greater if you add the 2 items each month together.
This is where you're directed to Binary Domain (20,000) numbers. Sequels are made for a reason. It's what sells (or sells better).
OldJadedGamer
Banned
Link to where Uncharted 1 sold several millions according to NPD?
There are many older Nintendo Wii games that would still crack the top ten in previous NPDs.
Uncharted series sold 17 million, so it's safe to assume U1 sold millions.
What the hell is this retailer exclusive doesn't get reported NPD rule? Has this ever come up before? Pretty sure Gamestop is one of the stores on the NPD panel, so they should have exact info. Does NPD not want to step on other retailers toes or something?
Short version - I know they're collecting the data, why aren't they reporting it?
Short version - I know they're collecting the data, why aren't they reporting it?
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
NPD cheated, no tracking retailer exclusives. :[I thought that that game would be Xenoblade before entering this thread
https://twitter.com/eurogamer/statuses/200971340180762624
nothing in their article though.
@eurogamer said:
nothing in their article though.
sixteen-bit
Member
not bad for a slow month
Pureauthor
Member
83K for KI is decent.
Sub 83K for Vita is not.
Sub 83K for Vita is not.
RukusProvider
Banned
Still kicking ass compared to Japan on a weekly basis. Half full glass buddy!
It could be the other way around TBH. Not saying Journey, Trials and Minecraft are bad games but they got better chance thanks to shittier retail month.
It's so...holy shit. 3DS did 97k in its third month, and that wasn't good at all...we're in the 70k territory in its third month, it's absolutely depressing.
BassForever
Member
So Vita's range is somewhere between 50k < Vita < 83k just wow, that's abysmal
It'll have legs, too ( Iwata want it to be a long seller, the European Panini's partnership and the various tournaments go in this direction )
It's only going to get worse, people. That's what happens in a hit-driven industy, a couple of people make all the money and everyone else starves. Diversification is sorely needed, or else we're heading for a major crash when the next-gen consoles fail to sell in significant numbers.
Oh, and
I agree, but thats where XBLA/PSN come in and fill some kind of a gap. Not the best solution mind you, but a good stop gap.
Baconsammy
Banned
Yeahhhhh, I don't see how averaging 20k a week in a country as big as the US is kicking ass compared to 12k a week in a country as small as Japan.
Mr. B Natural
Member
XBLA and PSN used to be a fill for this gap, but it, along with other indy markets, is also becoming a hit business with higher and higher and higher budgets with more and more and more competition and sequelitis.
And it will happen to the IPad/Iphone market next if we don't learn from our mistakes, if it's not too late.
OldJadedGamer
Banned
I'm not asking for an assumption, I'm asking for a link that shows it sold several millions in NPD.
Barack Lesnar
Banned
...as if Binary Domain ever had a chance with that name and level of promotion. It's probably not wise to use that as an example for your point, but I don't disagree with you.
diffusionx
Gold Member
New IPs come with new hardware. Right now everybody is just waiting for the next Call of Duty, or Assassin's Creed, or whatever annualized junk is out there.
New hardware isn't just a new shiny box. It's a way for the industry to reset itself. New technology, new ideas, customers looking for something new.
HigherLevel
Member
I think the main reason for low sales is there isn't really anything new and good that came out this month. Most of the high quality titles that did come out don't have mass appeal like the Witcher 2 and Xenoblade.
Mr. B Natural
Member
You and the people that think this are in for a world of disappointment soon enough.
Baconsammy
Banned
Having played and beaten BD, I don't see why it's anymore deserving of high game sales than the ones that did sell. It's not great. It's OK. I can't blame people for not wanting to buy it based off the demo.
Uh, no... the assertion that new hardware often brings "new IP" risks in their launch period is quite accurate.
Game Analyst said:
As long as games cost as much as they do to develop, with publishers struggling financially, the 'safe' bet (such as sequels) are the ones that will be greenlit. The risk aversion will grow as the costs rise.
Chaplain
Member
Games like Binary Domain are not advertised correctly anymore.
On to your second point. As long as people continue to only make sequels, the industry will continue declining. Especially in a market when there are so many other forms of entertainment at the finger tips of consumers.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Maybe. But 4 of the 10 games on that list were from franchises new to this gen (Prototype, Mass Effect, The Witcher, and Just Dance). Two more were certainly around last gen but weren't even close to where they are now (COD and MLB). Kinect Star Wars, for better or worse (worse), was not possible last-gen.
I don't know what will happen with new hardware. But I know this generation has gone on too long and we are seeing exactly what happens with too-long generations. It reminds me of Genesis in 1995.
DragonSworne
Banned
In 2005 Sony launched this little game called God of War, four years after the launch. Kinect Adventures came in 2010. LittleBigPlanet came in 2008. Heavy Rain in 2010. Demon's Souls. Professor Layton. Metal Gear Solid in 1998. Dead Space. Guitar Hero. All million-sellers.
You don't need to launch a new franchise with the launch of a new console. A fantastic new franchise can succeed anytime in a generation. You just need to have companies that realize this.
I agree with the whole generation fatigue effect. I have pretty much stopped buying games for my consoles and have moved solely to PC. Hell my PS3 has a dead dual shock that I refuse to replace so I haven't gamed on it since GT5 came out. Really waiting for E3 to see what the next year holds in store. Hopefully someone shows off some new hardware to get me excited again.
I also have been holding off buying anything simply because Diablo III was coming in May. Diablo III might be the only game I buy (excluding the Steam Summer Sale) until we start getting into the AAA fall releases.
I also have been holding off buying anything simply because Diablo III was coming in May. Diablo III might be the only game I buy (excluding the Steam Summer Sale) until we start getting into the AAA fall releases.
No one actually said it sold several millions in NPD, only that it had abysmal first month in NPD only to go on to sell millions.
But yeah if you won't accept a simple assumption of selling millions based on the fact that the franchise with 3 console games and one launch vita game selling 17 million units, then I can't really do much better than that.
Mr. B Natural
Member
But thanks to nostalgia's inability to fade, the nostalgia compounds. Those 4 out of 10 games you mentioned aren't going anywhere, and just compound with the already "rich" amount of nostalgia and IPs in the market that has compounded more and more and more with each year, with each gen, with each relentless "fan."
It's all we have left now, if you haven't noticed...be it nostalgia for things 25 years old and tired or 6 years old and just as tired. New stuff will come, of course, but there is less and less room for it and it's not because of a lack of tech or a lack of new hardware. Hit business is hit business.
If you haven't noticed from Gaf's opinions, there simply aren't ENOUGH sequels to quench their thirst. Why aren't they making a new _____ or a new _____. You know what I miss? ______ and ______. Sequels have actually gotten in the way of more sequels. Too many IPs to make in an 8 year cycle.
We call them IPs now...as if marketers, it's gotten that bad.
dreamer3kx
Member
Same here, I havent played a console game since Mass Effect 3, just been netflixing on my ps3 and portable gaming a bit.
OldJadedGamer
Banned
This is an NPD thread. NPD doesn't count bundles and who knows how and why sales numbers are inflated when they come from a first party. I was only asking for a link to an unbiased third party to show the sales of a game in NPD in a NPD thread. While UC1 sold well, I don't see it at all pushing 3 million in the US.
Frankfurter
Member
Creamsugar (who's pretty reliable AFAIK) said Kid Icarus sales were more than Vita hardware.
Baconsammy
Banned
Doesn't sound like this "crash" has hit XBLA (and to a smaller degree, PSN). XBLA games have broken sales records two months in a row.
CadetMahoney
Member
SodomyCreamPie told me otherwise. Whom to believe, decisions decisions.