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NPD Sales Results for September 2014 [Up1: Smash/HW/MK8, Destiny stats, 3DS HW]

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Originally Posted by hydrophilic attack

This is a sad day for America.

I watched the TGS streams, I know what Playstation is all about. All of you Playstation lovers with your loli obsession and your anime avatars, if you love Japan so much, why don't you just move there? It saddens me that Americans would choose to associate with that rather than the sturdy, rugged, masculine, patriotic The One. Yet, throughout these sad times that we live in, I have still kept alive a lingering flame of hope that the great American values will endure, and Pacther’s predictions this week helped kindle that flame. But if these news are true, I may have to finally abandon that hope.

If these news are true, that is. Anyone else think it’s suspicious how NPD starts hiding console numbers, so that we are left at the mercy of the console manufacturers to provide us with what information they will, and suddenly Playstation starts doing better than Xbox? No one else finds it suspicious how the well-informed and knowledgeable video games analyst Pachter, who usually makes predictions with great accuracy, after consulting his vast retail contact network, predicts that The One will come out ahead, yet when we get “official” numbers, suddenly PS4 has sold more? It’s not like this is the first time that Sony is caught with juking the stats. Esteemed video games sales expert ioi recently revealed how Sony was lying at Gamescom with their 10 million consoles sold number. You may think Sony wouldn’t go that far, but they have lied to us before. They lied to us about the Driveclub PS Plus version and they lied to us about the power of their systems. One lie leads to another and once you have gotten into the habit of lying, it is very hard to stop.

But I guess this is to be expected. People who want to harm America always have a propensity to believe in made-up numbers. Look at how North Korean citizens swallow lies from their own leaders. Or closer to home, look at how liberals are gulping down the Obama administration’s lies. Look at how they are cooking the books on Obamacare and job reports. 250000 new jobs added in September? Hah, where I live, in real rural America, most people have given up looking. 250000 new jobs, my ass. Plus, under President Romney, we would have had at least 400000 new jobs. Or look at how they lie about inflation as an excuse to print money, debasing the dollar further. President Reagan (may he rest in peace) is turning in his grave. Inflation below target? Tell that to my local grocery store and gas station! These Washington types, always coming at you with their fancy numbers and their facts and their smug grins, thinking they know better than you. (And don't get me started on those IRS bullies. Federal income tax is theft and, even worse, unconstitutional, and I'm not paying to help finance a government I never voted for. So they can take their tax return forms and their court summons and shove them up somewhere. Don't bother coming back here!) And throughout all this, the mainstream media keeps cheering the administration on, helping them pull the wool over Americans’ eyes. This is very similar to the gaming media, incidentally, with their strong Sony bias. Kotaku is far too close to Sony. Always has been.

Maybe it’s time we started unskewing the NPD results. Even though they started shilling for Sony only relatively recently, I have always felt that their numbers are suspect. They don’t track sales from online stores, where more and more customers are taking their business these days. Also, it is well-known that they don’t take digital download sales into account. Who knows how many console sales they miss that way?

Still, I am always the optimist. I have hopes for the future. It looks like people are finally starting to see through the Democrats’ lies. If polls are to be believed, we will put a patriotic majority back in the Senate in November. If it can happen there, we can get the powers for good back into power in the video game business at the same time, with the arrival of Halo: The Master Chief Collection and, most importantly, the monthly OS updates. Until then, God bless you all, and don’t forget to vote in November!

This might be the greatest post ever. I just can't even...hahaha...

KwTR8gJ.jpg
 

Road

Member
If you don't want to put up with the bullshit, here's the NPD website: https://www.npd.com

Click "contact" and get all the NPD numbers hassle free, no begging, no hints, no clues, no puzzles, no charts.

--------------------------

So, Destiny is essentially Halo 4.5, as far as sales are concerned.

And by that I mean how stronger US sales are compared to the rest of the world. Launch month comparison:

Watch Dogs
- US = ~3.2x UK

Destiny
- US = ~5x UK

We don't have much info on other countries, but Watch Dogs was selling on par with Destiny in Europe.
 

th4tguy

Member
I'm expecting a "trade your 360" type deal to come into play prior to MCC release.

Something like $249-299 for XBO MCC bundle.
Might move a few consoles. Maybe.

I would bite. I have a 3rd 360 collecting dust that I was going to trade in towards some credit I'm saving to use on a xbone.... or 2nd ps4 so my wife can play games with me.
 
Yeah, Destiny isn't such a big deal and it pretty much a disappointing display of cut content and an overhyping marketing machine. Its success shouldn't be considered an overall good thing if it gives game publishers reason to believe they can sell anything as long as they have the dollars and press on-side.
 

Bold One

Member
I am really envious of Pachter and I think a lot lf us are too

We all wish we could be wrong on a daily basis and still keep our jobs...
 

Aces&Eights

Member
I am really envious of Pachter and I think a lot lf us are too

We all wish we could be wrong on a daily basis and still keep our jobs...

Except this is not Patcher's job. He does this on the side and quite frankly, I think he enjoys trolling the shit out of Gaf.
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Is gaming dying?

How can a console with zero games sell this much?

Think about it:
-all the indie games? Don't really count, because indie games are not really video game. I have 500+ hours in Spelunky HD and Binding of Isaac, but I wouldn't call those "games" games, more like mindless entertainment
-then you have TLoU: Remastered which doesn't count
-most exclusives don't count since they don't have green scores on Metacritic. Driveclub, Killzone and Knack? I couldn't even recommend them to a friend. What if he goes on metacritic and sees I tried to make him spend money on a game with a yellow score? Friendship over.
-Infamous: Second Son doesn't count because Infamous 2 was better.

Don't know about you, but it might be high time for Yoshida, Cerny and Kaz to be replaced by younger, enthusiastic and more business-minded people who will strongarm devs of all sorts into making those much needed, metacritic-approved hardhitters.

The troll possiblities are endless

NOW I understand your post le.... Because I quoted the post above to see if it had email tags... lol That and a few who actually did use them like Aqua... ;-)
 
I am really envious of Pachter and I think a lot lf us are too

We all wish we could be wrong on a daily basis and still keep our jobs...

Obligatory pointing out that what Pachter says for free on twitter or to games journalists looking for clicks is almost certainly not what he says in private to clients who pay him.

.

Also given that Wedbush Morgan owns shares in both Apple and MS it doesn't exactly hurt to be bullish on their prospects to the press.
 
At this point what can Microsoft do to turn things around? People want to play the systems and buy the games their friends have. Sony is whooping ass without any decent compelling exclusive holiday content. And at this point most of my friends have switched from Xbox 360 to PS4. Seems to be a trend that is gaining momentum. Whomever is left from the launch of the XBOX Executive team that launched xbox should be fired.

Oh, and Patcher really should have known better. Does he even pay attention to the forums?
 

Jack cw

Member
Sony is whooping ass without any decent compelling exclusive holiday content.

We witness this for months now, but this September NPD shows that you don't need exclusives to seel systems. It's the multiplats and Sony has the system that has the best console version of those, plus a decent machine that people want.
 
At this point what can Microsoft do to turn things around? People want to play the systems and buy the games their friends have. Sony is whooping ass without any decent compelling exclusive holiday content. And at this point most of my friends have switched from Xbox 360 to PS4. Seems to be a trend that is gaining momentum. Whomever is left from the launch of the XBOX Executive team that launched xbox should be fired.

Oh, and Patcher really should have known better. Does he even pay attention to the forums?

I think this proves that exclusive content is not what determines sales. People just want to be able to play the games they like with their friends. Exclusivity means little when you realize that
 
At this point what can Microsoft do to turn things around? People want to play the systems and buy the games their friends have. Sony is whooping ass without any decent compelling exclusive holiday content. And at this point most of my friends have switched from Xbox 360 to PS4. Seems to be a trend that is gaining momentum. Whomever is left from the launch of the XBOX Executive team that launched xbox should be fired.

Oh, and Patcher really should have known better. Does he even pay attention to the forums?

I wouldn't be surprised if Xbox picks up later on when the more casual 360 players look to upgrade. I'm talking about the people who stick to COD and Madden, which there are a lot of.
 

QaaQer

Member
I was about to say that last statement. PS4 appears to be the console of choice this gen. At least it seems to be that way for the mass market. Now that should not keep XB1 from be profitable as long as MS make strides to do so. My main concern for XB1 (as a gamer) would be if support for it will remain throughout the gen from 1st, 3rd parties and indies.

Mere profitability is not enough and is not the goal in and of itself. The goal is high margin profitability. With their core products, Microsoft have 90% margins (Windows, Office, Enterprise), and a stranglehold on the marketplace. Consumer Electronics on the other hand, struggle to get about 10% margins and that is no where good enough.

Mattrick's plan would have given them a stranglehold and those high margins. An Xbox with a cut of all software, yearly memberships, and extensive Kinect-fueled biometrics for advertising would have been a goldmine if the competition had been the Wii U and a 2013 version of launch PS3. But Cerny's PS4 is a great console and so the Xbox division is in a hard spot: how to justify their exsistence within Microsoft given MS expectations?

Spencer's moves--such as buying Tomb Raider/TitanFall exclusivity, getting rid of Kinect, packing-in games, adding Games-with-Gold, and buying Gears of War IP--do nothing to get Xbox into the high margins. In fact, they all reduce margins. IMO, his mandate for his first year is nothing more than damage control. At best, he is going to do what Sony did with the PS3 in its first 18+ months, i.e. making the console into a product that isn't actively repulsive. Which leads to the question: what are they planning next?

The big push for MS before SN became CEO was 'one microsoft', wherein every division was supposed to work with every other division and create seamless products in a walled garden. I believe that this is still their goal, and SN is just the guy to make that into a reality.

MS would not make Windows 10 free for Windows 8 users and give away the mobile version without a solid plan for monetizing users. As such, MS' next big push is undoubtedly going to be getting people to use the Windows store 100% of the time. The easiest way of doing that in Windows is by doing what Apple does with OSX. In OSX a user cannot add software that hasn't been downloaded from the Apple store without toggling a hidden setting. Without that toggle, OSX puts up an ominous warning screen that adding software from untrusted sites will lead to ruination. This, in effect, forces all software through Apple for regular users who will never change hidden settings.

Their phones and RT tablets already force Windows Store use, which why they give that OS away. So, Xbox will have to do the same. But like Win10, it will have to be done in such a way that doesn't get gamer ire up, i.e. you will still have to be able to buy discs and used games.

So what might they do to get Xbox into the One Microsoft vision? My answer would be Minecraft + integration. The next version of Minecraft is undoubtedly going to be for MS products only and only available on the MS store. This is going to push tens of millions into the MS tablet-desktop-phone-xbox ecosystem. After that, they can make moves to get games like AC moving through the store on PC as well as X1 through crossplay and remote play on tablets if the user has purchased the product from MS store. An integrated X1 that pushes people into the overall ecosystem is a justified high margin x1.

In this scenario, MS wins, xbox division wins, and consumers end up with interoperable products that are very appealing.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Xbox picks up later on when the more casual 360 players look to upgrade. I'm talking about the people who stick to COD and Madden, which there are a lot of.

Maaaaaaaybe? I only know two "sports and COD only a year" guys personally (my eldest brother and a co-worker) who I both convinced to go PS4 by informing them of better looking games and that the rest on their friends where on it. As time goes on and the now 1 million gap (6+ million worldwide) increases this argument only gets weaker for Xbox1...
 

spookyfish

Member
So you think the Xbox One will have an extraodinary October because of their white SKU?

Maybe. I haven't been interested in the One at all, but I've preordered that one. I like the white, and I like the looks of Sunset Overdrive.

I think they'll have a bump. But, I bought the white PS4, and I already have a launch model, so I'm probably not the norm ...
 
Since this NPD is over, what is it looking like for this month for both Xbox and PS4? Anything big coming out to reproduce similar sales on the PS4, or better sales on the Xbox?
NBA 2K, Alien: Isolation and The Evil Within are the bigger releases for next month, so nothing on the scale of Destiny. Skylanders as well, but it will probably do most of its sales on the Wii. But at least there'll be new releases. There are also a couple of exclusives in Sunset Overdrive and Driveclub. It's also a shorter tracking month than September.

You won't see sales like this month. But given a few new releases and continued impetus from current titles and titles released last month, and the approaching holiday season, I don't expect it will completely crater.

Next big month for those systems will be November: COD: Advanced Warfare, Ass Creed, GTA, Dragon Age, Far Cry and a LEGO Batman game, coupled with Black Friday shopping.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
You guys do know that hydrophilic attack is a troll right? Go through his/her history...

Doesn't matter, the post is still incredible and worthy of recognition, irregardless of whether it was genuine or not.


At this point what can Microsoft do to turn things around? People want to play the systems and buy the games their friends have. Sony is whooping ass without any decent compelling exclusive holiday content. And at this point most of my friends have switched from Xbox 360 to PS4. Seems to be a trend that is gaining momentum.

At this point they've done just about all they can do to really make a difference. Titanfall didn't make much of a dent, although it was a good try. Forza Horizon 2 isn't doing it. The MCC is their last big weapon to try to even the playing field this holiday season. After that the momentum will only widen the gap. They can't really drop the price or they will lose tons of money on the console sales. They might be willing to do it just to gain marketshare, although I'm not even certain it would be that big of a boost to sales.

The only true big move I could see them making that MIGHT make a positive difference would be to make Xbox Live free. If their online network was free compared to Sony's pay service, that might persuade a lot of people to see enough value to buy the under powered X1. Might. Hell a free XboxLive coupled with the Master Chief Collection might even persuade me as a PC only gamer to see enough value in the Xbox1 to consider buying it. I'd buy it solely as a Halo Online Machine, lol. If I wanted to pay montly fees in order to game online I'd go back to playing World of Warcraft...
 

Fanboys?!? Maybe he's upset by some posts or tweets but that doesn't seem very professional. If he doesn't want backslash why don't he keep this for his business contacts only? You want free publicy but you don't want the little things around it?


Damage control. Is he seriously trying to justify his job or the quality of his work on Twitter?

I guess everything has been said about Pachter prediction already so I'll look at detailed numbers and the rest of the discussion now.
 
Maaaaaaaybe? I only know two "sports and COD only a year" guys personally (my eldest brother and a co-worker) who I both convinced to go PS4 by informing them of better looking games and that the rest on their friends where on it. As time goes on and the now 1 million gap (6+ million worldwide) increases this argument only gets weaker for Xbox1...

Yeah kind of slim. Just anecdotally and looking at 360 NPD rating there are a lot of active 360 gamers who have not bothered to upgrade yet. I feel like those players are especially unaffiliated and care less about the difference between the consoles. If they can get a deal with a COD bundle or a free Madden like this year I think they would probably take it over a PS4. But yeah playing with friends is also a big part of those games too, so if everyone is getting a PS4, then different story.
 
Oh, there have been some meltdowns!

That's why NPD threads are great -- no matter what happens, some people take this stuff WAAAAYYY too seriously.

I seriously look forward to these threads every month, and we're just getting into the best season for NPD numbers! Thanks everyone who participates and makes my day!
 

pr0cs

Member
I think the terrible announce and launch of the XBO will haunt Microsoft for a long time, perhaps the entire generation. As they say 'first impressions are the most important'.
I think the XBO will be a profitable box but no where near the 360 in overall mindshare.
Microsoft just needs to continue on the course they are on now.

1) keep releasing unique, fun games (FH2, SO, MCC), thus far their releases have been very good, I'd argue better than Sony thus far
2) keep upgrading the box, this is the one thing that really makes me jealous, the XBO keeps getting really great upgrades to the machine on the OS level
3) keep improving XBL, Games with gold is a good start, it's clear XBL is still a lot more stable, reliable than PSN, they need to continue to make XBL more attractive
4) keep the price down, either bundle the shit out of the console or reduce the price. I really want an XBO but I still think the price is too high. Bundle a few games, throw in XBL gold memberships, extra controller, whatever it takes to get people on board.

The XBO was a console designed by committee and it shows. It came out as a jacknife and turned out to be a master of none. Hopefully this is a lesson to Microsoft and Sony, release a console with no real focus, with weaker hardware, rest on your laurels and people will forget about you.

Edit:
I'd also say that Microsoft failed because they put NO effort in BC. If the XBO came out and was BC with the 360 I would never would have switch to PS4. I was tied to the XBL ecosystem but when they reset with the XBO and gave me no incentive to stay they lost me as a customer. I would have bought a weaker, perhaps more expensive XBO if I didn't have to keep my 360 around.
 

Dragon

Banned
Yeah, Destiny isn't such a big deal and it pretty much a disappointing display of cut content and an overhyping marketing machine. Its success shouldn't be considered an overall good thing if it gives game publishers reason to believe they can sell anything as long as they have the dollars and press on-side.

Still at it huh? Have to admire your dedication.
 

Aces&Eights

Member
NBA 2K, Alien: Isolation and The Evil Within are the bigger releases for next month, so nothing on the scale of Destiny. Skylanders as well, but it will probably do most of its sales on the Wii. But at least there'll be new releases. There are also a couple of exclusives in Sunset Overdrive and Driveclub. It's also a shorter tracking month than September.

You won't see sales like this month. But given a few new releases and continued impetus from current titles and titles released last month, and the approaching holiday season, I don't expect it will completely crater.

Next big month for those systems will be November: COD: Advanced Warfare, Ass Creed, GTA, Dragon Age, Far Cry and a LEGO Batman game, coupled with Black Friday shopping.

Wow. Actually reading what next month has in store makes me super excited. Jesus, there are some games getting ready to drop!
 

QaaQer

Member
we also clearly lost the handheld demographic in an enormous way. 240 million handhelds were sold last gen. there may be perhaps, perhaps a third of that sold in this generation. and the loss doesn't come from just the ds market, but the specialized and higher end psp market too. it's not a great thing when an audience comes in to a marketplace and then leaves, but when multiple demographics do that, it's a sign of concern.

the industry is not growing. that means more consolidation and less risk. perhaps the greatest risk with destiny was the yearlong marketing strategy and the enormous budget that accompanied it. instead of reaching out to new users, focus has become how to squeeze more money out of the richest users.

If you look at gaming as a whole, there has never been more money or more users or more games, and great games too, like Dota2 and LoL. Really, the only people who are worried are makers of handhelds and sellers of retail games.
 
Mere profitability is not enough and is not the goal in and of itself. The goal is high margin profitability. With their core products, Microsoft have 90% margins (Windows, Office, Enterprise), and a stranglehold on the marketplace. Consumer Electronics on the other hand, struggle to get about 10% margins and that is no where good enough.

Mattrick's plan would have given them a stranglehold and those high margins. An Xbox with a cut of all software, yearly memberships, and extensive Kinect-fueled biometrics for advertising would have been a goldmine if the competition had been the Wii U and a 2013 version of launch PS3. But Cerny's PS4 is a great console and so the Xbox division is in a hard spot: how to justify their exsistence within Microsoft given MS expectations?

Spencer's moves--such as buying Tomb Raider/TitanFall exclusivity, getting rid of Kinect, packing-in games, adding Games-with-Gold, and buying Gears of War IP--do nothing to get Xbox into the high margins. In fact, they all reduce margins. IMO, his mandate for his first year is nothing more than damage control. At best, he is going to do what Sony did with the PS3 in its first 18+ months, i.e. making the console into a product that isn't actively repulsive. Which leads to the question: what are they planning next?

The big push for MS before SN became CEO was 'one microsoft', wherein every division was supposed to work with every other division and create seamless products in a walled garden. I believe that this is still their goal, and SN is just the guy to make that into a reality.

MS would not make Windows 10 free for Windows 8 users and give away the mobile version with a solid plan for monetizing users. As such, MS' next big push is undoubtedly going to be getting people to use the Windows store 100% of the time. The easiest way of doing that in Windows is by doing what Apple does with OSX. In OSX a user cannot add software that hasn't been downloaded from the Apple store without toggling a hidden setting. Without that toggle, OSX puts up an ominous warning screen that adding software from untrusted sites will lead to ruination. This, in effect, forces all software through Apple for regular users who will never change hidden settings.

Their phones and RT tablets already force Windows Store use, which why they give that OS away. So, Xbox will have to do the same. But like Win10, it will have to be done in such a way that doesn't get gamer ire up, i.e. you will still have to be able to buy discs and used games.

So what might they do to get Xbox into the One Microsoft vision? My answer would be Minecraft + integration. The next version of Minecraft is undoubtedly going to be for MS products only and only available on the MS store. This is going to push tens of millions into the MS tablet-desktop-phone-xbox ecosystem. After that, they can make moves to get games like AC moving through the store on PC as well as X1 through crossplay and remote play on tablets if the user has purchased the product from MS store. An integrated X1 that pushes people into the overall ecosystem is a justified high margin x1.

In this scenario, MS wins, xbox division wins, and consumers end up with interoperable products that are very appealing.

This is goddamn scary future for me as I'm a PC and PS4 player. I hope there's international laws that can stop this kind of monopolization. Microsoft is an evil corporation and I do not want to support them any further apart from the obvious Windows OS.
 

kpaadet

Member
I haven't been following this thread for awhile so I don't know if its been answered. Do we actually know what PS+ numbers that have been doubled? Is it the number of PS+ members right before the launch of Destiny or maybe the number PS4 launched with? Either way its very impressive but saying they just doubled since Destiny launch leaves some up for interpretation no?
 
I've always liked Pachter from the GT and Giant Bomb content I've seen him in. He's always seemed like a pot stirrer, but still, I can understand making 40 predictions and then being annoyed when only the long shot prediction is reported on and he gets judged and, frankly, vilified a bit for it.
 

Cornbread78

Member
If you look at gaming as a whole, there has never been more money or more users or more games, and great games too, like Dota2 and LoL. Really, the only people who are worried are makers of handhelds and sellers of retail games.



Most of teh casual handheld gamers, now live on Google play and the Apple store. They are no longer buying a DS for Brain Age, etc. This is an unfortuantely residual effect of the Android explosion and how complex and useful the devices have become.
 

Aces&Eights

Member
This is goddamn scary future for me as I'm a PC and PS4 player. I hope there's international laws that can stop this kind of monopolization. Microsoft is an evil corporation and I do not want to support them any further apart from the obvious Windows OS.

I'm not a PC gamer but I know a loooot of my friends who are. Most are diehard Steam users. If MS came out and somehow made games like AC to be purchased through their store only there would be fricking riots in the streets. I agree, they will use IPs they own as leverage but I think most current multiplats are safe from a monopoly.

I also think a lot of non-PC gamers vastly underestimate Steam and their numbers. They are a goliath.

I don't think so. I think he's made it obviously clear that he doesn't enjoy the mountains of shit and bullying that he gets from ignorant fanboys on GAF and other places. I really wish the moderation would step up and do something.

Oh, I am sure he hates all the grief but I think he does make the types of "predictions" like he did with Sept NPD numbers knowing it's going to cause a lot of people to cry. I actually like Patcher. He's got a good gig and seems to have some fun on the side. More power to him. I wish I had the power that caused people to stay up all night raging on message boards.
 

Massa

Member
Except this is not Patcher's job. He does this on the side and quite frankly, I think he enjoys trolling the shit out of Gaf.

I don't think so. I think he's made it obviously clear that he doesn't enjoy the mountains of shit and bullying that he gets from ignorant fanboys on GAF and other places. I really wish the moderation would step up and do something.
 

Krakatoa

Member
Edit:
I'd also say that Microsoft failed because they put NO effort in BC. If the XBO came out and was BC with the 360 I would never would have switch to PS4. I was tied to the XBL ecosystem but when they reset with the XBO and gave me no incentive to stay they lost me as a customer. I would have bought a weaker, perhaps more expensive XBO if I didn't have to keep my 360 around.

I have a feeling BC will be coming to the Xbox one.
 
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