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NPD November 2012 Results [Up6: Black Ops 2, Halo 4, Most Wanted, Assassin's Creed 3]

SmokyDave

Member
they still are.
Sure thing, Baghdad Bob.

Whilst I can entertain the notion that dedicated handhelds will continue to exist, I think it's clear that the numbers are on the decline and it's largely smartphones and tablets that have caused that decline.
 

kinggroin

Banned
Sure thing, Baghdad Bob.

Whilst I can entertain the notion that dedicated handhelds will continue to exist, I think it's clear that the numbers are on the decline and it's largely smartphones and tablets that have caused that decline.


But the pie is getting bigger!!
 

SmokyDave

Member
For prices that are smaller. Games are losing monetary value with the general public.
3DS and Vita games are overpriced. Not to the point that mobile games are underpriced though.

I'm not sure that 'games' overall are losing too much value though, it's more that most of the pennies are going to fewer games. CoD launches still seem to bring in mad monies.
 
I'm not sure how I feel about the Halo numbers. Obviously would have loved to see a number higher than 3.3 but considering it came out just a week before Black Ops 2, I'm leaning towards thinking these numbers are actually pretty good and not cause for alarm. We'll have to see its legs though. Sadly it seems like Microsoft has stopped the marketing campaign, I haven't seen an ad for Halo 4 in weeks either online or on tv.
it sold less than reach and it had more time and the luxury of nov sales.its still on decline.
 
We'll likely find out at some point, but it's not unheard of to use "since" inclusively, in that it would be "since the system came out" instead of "since the first month of sales were reported".

True enough. Would be nice if USAT had used clearer wording, though.
 
3DS and Vita games are overpriced. Not to the point that mobile games are underpriced though.

I'm not sure that 'games' overall are losing too much value though, it's more that most of the pennies are going to fewer games. CoD launches still seem to bring in mad monies.
Mario and Pokémon still bring in big handheld sales too. The end effect doesn't seem all that different, it's the middleground on both consoles and handhelds that's vanishing.
 
Mario and Pokémon still bring in big handheld sales too. The end effect doesn't seem all that different, it's the middleground on both consoles and handhelds that's vanishing.

The big handheld games have disappeared as well. Early last gen CoD and AC both would have sold millions on a handheld. Basically it's Mario and Pokemon that's still pulling in big numbers.
 
To be fair, tons of people over the years have called and still call PS3 a failure for that very reason, because PS2 lit the sales charts on fire and held 1st place... It was not really right IMHO to say this for PS3 and it is not right for the Wii U.
The Wii never quite reached the heights the PS2 scaled (both in total units and dev support) and until the Wii U costs Nintendo all of their profits from the previous generation, the two aren't really comparable. Especially when we still have no idea how Durango/Orbis will be received by the mainstream audience.
 

QaaQer

Member
Sony has their head up their ass about making the Vita console quality on the go. If they transitioned the device right now to playing all the same games you can get on iOS and Android, but with the benefit of a real control scheme sales would go up. Maybe not a blockbuster status, but higher than they are right now. I know I'd buy more digital iOS games on Vita if I could use them with "real" controls

It doesn't mean Sony has to give up on the 40 dollar retail game either. Just slide in more lower cost digital content and make this the main focus. It's amazing to me how barren the Playsation Store for Vita is, relatively speaking, versus iOS and Android.

Best suggestion I've seen regarding the vita...wont happen tho because Japanese hardware makers are appalled at the prospect of having 99 cent software on their platforms; and free apps, forgetaboutit.

People bitch about iOS and Apple all the time, but the breadth and depth of software, content, and pricing on iOS is breathtaking when compared to 3ds/vita/psp/ds. There is no reason 80% of iphone/touch apps couldn't run on vita/3ds except that Ninty and Sony don't want them to.

Would opening up the Vita ruin $40 game softeware sales? My response is that they wouldn't make them any worse. I look at the pc. There is a lot of cheap and free games to play, yet people still buy $60 games, hell some people pay $180 a year to play WoW.

If they open up the platform, what about piracy? Again, corporations in general, and Japanese corporations in particular are way to reactionary when it comes to this. Sony, for instance, destroyed the Walkman brand because of their draconian and anti-consumer drm; which anyone with half a brain could see made using Sony digital players a horrible pain in the ass to use compared to ipods.

Apple and Steam on the other hand, do their damnedest to make sure drm doesn't get in the way. Hell, Apple has proved that stripping drm from music tracks doesn't affect sales. But I'm sure Sony and Nintendo are going to let go of their bunker DRM only when someone prys it from their cold dead hands.

Fuck $100 32 gb proprietary memory cards and locking digital download software to 1 piece of hardware.
 
it sold less than reach and it had more time and the luxury of nov sales.its still on decline.

Launching in November isn't a luxury for this kind of title. Halo has always done best when it launches in the very early holiday months.

It's a sad situation, to be honest. Be happy to look at some people's guesses for titles, but I'm betting no one is going to come close, which I think really is the noteworthy story here. Which makes me sad. I personally really like this system and see its potential, but I worry that no ones buying games for it

Third parties have known the risks with Nintendo systems for almost 20 years.
 

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
You know why he can't. Just be happy we get some indication.

It's a sad situation, to be honest. Be happy to look at some people's guesses for titles, but I'm betting no one is going to come close, which I think really is the noteworthy story here. Which makes me sad. I personally really like this system and see its potential, but I worry that no ones buying games for it
 

see5harp

Member
it sold less than reach and it had more time and the luxury of nov sales.its still on decline.

It most likely did sell less than Reach. It's an older system for a franchise that has been around a long time. You are comparing expectations of a you tube comment (lol) to reality. Stick to talking about a game you actually play.
 
It's a sad situation, to be honest. Be happy to look at some people's guesses for titles, but I'm betting no one is going to come close, which I think really is the noteworthy story here. Which makes me sad. I personally really like this system and see its potential, but I worry that no ones buying games for it

Eek. And Zombi U was #2 in the Wii U chart, which means the rest of the games did even worse.
 

Yopis

Member
3DS and Vita games are overpriced. Not to the point that mobile games are underpriced though.

I'm not sure that 'games' overall are losing too much value though, it's more that most of the pennies are going to fewer games. CoD launches still seem to bring in mad monies.


Personaly I don't feel that 3ds/vita games are, but many do at this point. My thoughts on games being devalued come from a few different factors.

Trading- people trade and flip the product constantly. Games are viewed as useless by many after the first playthrough.

Games don't keep space on store shelfs long. (unless a mega hit). Again play and forget. Sales happen really fast. That gives the impression that the product was not worth the initial asking price.

The old price models are failing. Imo that's because the value has gone down, not the quality. Look at sports games and shooters in the top ten.

Buy a sports game and play online. Different experience everytime, for months. Shooters same thing.

For the majority it seems sixty bucks better give nearly a year out of the product. People look me like Im crazy for buying games at full price like witcher.
 

Skiesofwonder

Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
It's a sad situation, to be honest. Be happy to look at some people's guesses for titles, but I'm betting no one is going to come close, which I think really is the noteworthy story here. Which makes me sad. I personally really like this system and see its potential, but I worry that no ones buying games for it

Very worrisome.

Sounds like ZombiU might have sold 50k or less.
 
The VIta version hasn't even seem to match the DS versions and Liberation was a much higher quality effort. Both God of War and GTA sold millions on the PSP.
Not the last ones, Ghost of Sparta and Chinatown Wars megabombed. Liberation and Declassified moved 180k bundles, I doubt any of the DS or PSP entries matched either upfront.

Besides, there are still games selling huge on handhelds, even if some franchises dropped off. It's like saying because SOCOM or Tony Hawk aren't selling millions today, consoles are fucked.
 

LosDaddie

Banned
YoY decline is expected, but still a solid performance for the X360. I don't want much TV, but even so I noticed a good amount of '$50 Off' ads from MS. Still, I'll be shocked if both MS and Sony don't launch new consoles next year. I'm sure both companies recognize not doing so would be a very bad business decision.

Also, I'm not convinced Halo 4 sold poorly. Going up against BO2 is not wise, seeing how a popular the franchise is, and how many gamers go from game to game. Should've went with a Sept or Oct launch, IMO. That would've given these migrating-gamers some time with it, instead of having to choose between the 2 games.

And, I find it a little funny how far removed GAF is from the general gaming (US) audience, as indicated by NPD. X360 top selling console, and most of the Top 10 games are unpopular on GAF.


NPD software charts are not even fun to look forward to anymore. Everything about the top 10 is boring.

The Top 8 look good to me. :)


I think I must be missing a joke here, but are you implying that people ever did that?

Sometimes people on forums overestimate how large the forum-going audience is. The kind of audience who would go out and buy games to inflate their platform's software sales.


The mass contraction of dedicated handhelds and proliferation of mobile devices?

I remember before the PSV's launch people on here were claiming the tech justified the price, and the market wanted such a device. That just because the 3DS failed at $250, doesn't mean the PSV would do the same. :lol And also, how a CoD game would do gangbusters sales.

I kept saying that $250 was too much, regardless of the tech inside. And that the market is very different now than when the PSP launched. Smart phones and tablets have taken over. But hey, even though I own a 3DS, I'm not the target demo for handhelds. I've had SML3D since ~1mo from launch, and I'm not even halfway done with it.


The same is coming for dedicated gaming consoles.

None of these consoles can be described as such. The dedicated gaming console has been dead for years now. MS probably recognized this trend first, and that's why they secured Netflix for a year, and why they've been so aggressive courting other streaming services.
 
Not the last ones, Ghost of Sparta and Chinatown Wars megabombed. Liberation and Declassified moved 180k bundles, I doubt any of the DS or PSP entries matched either upfront.

As of the end of May, I think GOS did over 500K in the US and over 1 million WW. Not what I would call a megabomb. Underperformed as compared to other games in the series though. I played it and I think it's the worst, by far, GOW game out of the 5 that have been released.

No idea how CW did, maybe you can enlighten me there?
 

iammeiam

Member
It's a sad situation, to be honest. Be happy to look at some people's guesses for titles, but I'm betting no one is going to come close, which I think really is the noteworthy story here. Which makes me sad. I personally really like this system and see its potential, but I worry that no ones buying games for it

If ZombiU got in a streetfight with Playstation All Stars PS3, are we looking at a mascot victory?
 

see5harp

Member
mario is much older.

Mario is a much more valuable and varied IP than Halo at the moment. If you were expecting growth with Halo 4, I wouldn't call you crazy, but at the same time sales of consoles and software has been down all year. In any case, 3.3 million copies in the same month as a COD launch is great to me.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Very worrisome.

Sounds like ZombiU might have sold 50k or less.

The list is:

Mario
ZombiU
Scribblenaus
cod
jd4
nland
mickey
batman
sonic
skylanders
ac3
sing
nfl13
espn
ng3

I think it's safe to say either way everything atleast under Nintendoland did TERRIBLE. If the split is 25/75, the maximum nintendoland could have sold is ~105K assuming a 100% attach rate(lol). If there is a big gap where Zombiu stands, it's much worse.

halo 2 released nov.

More than just the month, I imagine the close launch with Blops 2 had to have made an impact on both titles.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
"A bit less"? Would love to know your definition of 'a bit' and where you heard that from.

I'd say its more like 'a gulf,' personally.

:(

It's a sad situation, to be honest. Be happy to look at some people's guesses for titles, but I'm betting no one is going to come close, which I think really is the noteworthy story here. Which makes me sad. I personally really like this system and see its potential, but I worry that no ones buying games for it

Well this doesn't sound encouraging.

I haven't played it personally, but EatChildren was telling me about it and seemed to really like it.
 

Kusagari

Member
Ubisoft were geniuses with AC3.

They tapped into a part of American history that tons of people are fascinated with that is NEVER represented in video games.
 

Ridley327

Member
Well this doesn't sound encouraging.

I haven't played it personally, but EatChildren was telling me about it and seemed to really like it.

My personal fear for where this potential franchise goes is that Ubisoft wants to keep at it, but they could very well end up dumbing it down to get better sales for when it eventually goes multiplatform, which would be a real tragedy. No other major publisher has anything close to what ZombiU does, and I'd hate to see that all go away.
 
My personal fear for where this potential franchise goes is that Ubisoft wants to keep at it, but they could very well end up dumbing it down to get better sales for when it eventually goes multiplatform, which would be a real tragedy. No other major publisher has anything close to what ZombiU does, and I'd hate to see that all go away.

They'll add Rabbids back into it.
 

1-D_FTW

Member
Jeez. Those Harker quotes do sound bad. I realize it's constitutionally against everything NoA does from an advertising POV, but I think they could have both benefited from making Zombie U one of their featured games in their campaign.

Not only would it have appealed to HD owners who see no point in adding the WiiU, but it also would have been a game that featured graphics that people couldn't confuse for Wii (and the add-on theory).

Of course, NoA wasn't even comfortable showing in-game footage of Metroid Prime and felt it necessary to commission super-deformed CG for its commercials. So I can see how they'd never openly advertise an M rated game. But they should have. Even if it meant only running them at late night.
 

undrtakr900

Member
NPD software charts are not even fun to look forward to anymore. Everything about the top 10 is boring.
Yeah since they consolidated all the consoles/handhelds onto the same game, the list rarely changes plus it got rid of the fanboy baiting commentary of which version sold the best. Also I hate GAF has to play "detective" just to get the numbers.

NPD: "xbox has a 20% increase year over"
GAF: (LastYear * 20%)+LastYear = ThisYear
GAF: "xbox sold XXX consoles"
 
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