Gamedaily: 3rd Party Sales Numbers*

[fearsomepirate]

great reviews/top 5% games have met significant commercial troubles, etc.

That's not true. The "great reviewed" games with one exception have all been commercial successes. Out of the top 5% (at 242 titles, that's 12 games) rated on Metacritic, the only two outright failures are Okami and MLB power pros, but they were failures on other platforms as well. No More Heroes met mediocre sales (and mixed reviews...it garnered an 83 on MC but has a very wide range of scores, including scores in the 70s from 1up, EGM, and IGN), but it's also Suda 51's most successful title to date, so you can interpret that how you will. Let's keep our facts straight. I suspect that's why Activision is putting COD5 on the Wii and specifically not porting it from the PS2 in order to make it a stronger game.

The numbers for "20 months into the lifetime" are interesting in some historical background/lies-damn-lies way

The "first 20 months" sort of graph isn't irrelevant, either. It shows trends and helps you make decisions for the future. The fact that Wii 3rd party sales growth shows that kind of trend is a good thing. After all, when the PS3 and Wii both launched, they had current, LTD 3rd party game sales of zero, while the Xbox 360 had many millions more. By your logic, no 3rd party should have developed any games at all for either platform.

 

[thundermonkey]

Not true according to Nintendo's numbers.

My friends and I love tanks and Laser Hockey.

The platform can sell a 3rd party game, even a mediocre one, but why not try for higher heights?

I'm liking the change in support we've been seeing as of late. Even western devs are getting in on the action.

And I bet they'll have success. But it's still kind of paltry. I guess I'm saying I expected more from 3rd parties. I've gotten all of my required Nintendo franchises, now I want something fresh.

 

[ninzel]

My friends and I love tanks and Laser Hockey.

The platform can sell a 3rd party game, even a mediocre one, but why not try for higher heights?

I'm liking the change in support we've been seeing as of late. Even western devs are getting in on the action.

And I bet they'll have success. But it's still kind of paltry. I guess I'm saying I expected more from 3rd parties. I've gotten all of my required Nintendo franchises, now I want something fresh.

Definately 3rd party support could be better.

 

[pipo]

Apparently Big N's numbers weren't very accurate...

Total third party sales for the Xbox 360 since launch is currently 67,929,999 units, followed by the Wii at 33,394,311 units and the PlayStation 3 at 19,976,325 units.

Third party sales for the Xbox 360 since the launch of the Wii and PS3 is 54,065,728 units, still almost double the Wii's 33,394,311 units.

If you take the total number of units sold and divide that by the number of titles released since November 2006, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are selling more units per title on average than the Wii. This puts the Xbox 360 at 217,252 units per title, the PS3 at 156,065 units and the Wii at 132,517 units.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/microsoft-the-wii-third-party-game-story-is-not-a-pretty-one

 

[fearsomepirate]

Apparently Big N's numbers weren't very accurate...

Do you know the difference between LTD and "first 20 months?" Hint: They're not the same.

 

[Gerry]

So given that the Wii and PS3 numbers appear to match NPD, what did Nintendo do to the Xbox 360 numbers to get it from 68m down to 29m?

Or what did MS do to get them up from 29m to 68m?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The 68M figure is total sales. Nintendo's figures was for 3rd party sales over the first 20 months, comparing the same points in the consoles' lifecycles.

 

[pipo]

The 68M figure is total sales. Nintendo's figures was for 3rd party sales over the first 20 months, comparing the same points in the consoles' lifecycles.

Ahhh... Right.

 

[Gerry]

The 68M figure is total sales. Nintendo's figures was for 3rd party sales over the first 20 months, comparing the same points in the consoles' lifecycles.

Fair enough. Not sure what MS are really whinging about then. It seems a fair enough measure to me - although I'm sure the numbers could be spun in a number of different ways.

 

[patsu]

Ha ha yeah, the numbers are impressive in their own right. If MS and Sony do not have any breakthrough over the next few months, it may become increasingly hard (silly ?) to play the volume games against Wii.

I think the point (in the OP) was: Contrary to common beliefs, Nintendo's 3rd parties are doing well (better than everyone else in the same lifecycle in Nintendo's words).

 

[AlphaWolf]

MS responds to nintendo's claims.
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=211376

 

[NERO]

There is nothing shocking about these numbers. The PS3 and 360 through the average consumer's eyes are roughly the same item differently branded, in other words they play the same games and should have numbers split evenly. For companies multiplat companies they share the same dev cost. The Wii is obviously something else and the games are cheaper, easier to produce, and therefore more plentiful (therefore causing a glut of crap). I'm waiting for the glut fo cheaper, basterdized versions of Cooking Mama and Video Blackjack.

 

[patsu]

MS responds to nintendo's claims.
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=211376

Already mentioned here: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1202449&postcount=24

MS is quoting LTD number since it has one additional year.
*If* the numbers are any accurate, Nintendo third parties revenue is larger than 360 and PS3 in the same lifecycle.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

But, to be fair on those developers developing on XB360 and PS3 as multiplatform titles, the comparison ought to be Wii versus XB360 and PS3 numbers combined, as these are the choice facing the majority of developers. I think the real take-home point is all these markets are viable, and it's for the devs and publishers to pursue them how they see fit.

 

[upnorthsox]

Why is this so impressive? Basically the Wii vs PS3 sold 50% (33 mil vs 20 mil) more games with 2 twice as many titles (250 vs 128) on 2.5 times as many consoles (13.8 mil vs 5.5 mil). IMO that kind of comparative performance is exactly the kind of lackluster results that has been elluded to before.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Which gives a per-unit 3rd party game sales probability of :

Wii = 33M / 250 / 13.8M = 0.01
PS3 = 20M / 128 / 5.5M = 0.028

I've no idea what the real terminology would be . Still, a PS3 title is likely to sell 3x as many per PS3 console as a Wii title per Wii console.

It's all irrelevant statistics though. As I said early, the key point is all are viable markets. The secret to success will be picking the right title and targeting the right platform(s) with it.

 

[patsu]

As your base grows larger, it will usually dilute your vertical focus. When/should the HD consoles grow beyond certain point, the casuals will factor in more and more heavily. Wii started with the mass market and will continue to tap it.

What the developers on Wii will do is to focus on the relevant consumer profiles. If they can connect with the casuals the way Nintendo has, that huge Wii volume will work its magic.

But, to be fair on those developers developing on XB360 and PS3 as multiplatform titles, the comparison ought to be Wii versus XB360 and PS3 numbers combined, as these are the choice facing the majority of developers. I think the real take-home point is all these markets are viable, and it's for the devs and publishers to pursue them how they see fit.

Yap. There is no need to downplay Wii numbers. They are positive and kinda show the future of this gen gaming. If the vendors want to grow to (or beyond) 150 million users, a lot of their users may be casual like Wii people anyway. For now, the HD game console developers are developing for the "core gamers". Wii simply reached the mass market earlier than everyone else.

 

[eastmen]

Already mentioned here: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1202449&postcount=24

MS is quoting LTD number since it has one additional year.
*If* the numbers are any accurate, Nintendo third parties revenue is larger than 360 and PS3 in the same lifecycle.

Yup but thats the reality of the situation. We can't go back in time and have the 360 launch at the same time as the Wii now can we. If I was a dev I would surely create a title for the 360 as it can easily be ported to the ps3 for more sales and of course with some work the wii(see dead rising). I'm sure Infinaty ward is extremely happy with the sales of COD4 or EA with Madden.

Not to mention that MS is even breaking it down as of November 2006.

Even third-party sales since the launch of all three consoles puts the Xbox 360 way in front with 54,065,728 units sold - double the Wii figure of 33,394,311 units sold.

and

Using clever maths to divide the totals by the number of games released since November 2006, shows Xbox 360 selling an average of 217,252 games per title, the PS3 with 156,065 games per title, and the Wii with 132,517 games per title

I wonder how that clever math would make the picture if we added in the average selling price of each title. I also wonder how much more it costs to make a 360 game a ps60 game. Looks like you can pick up 75% or so of the original 360 sales on the ps3. Even with only $15 bucks a copy your still looking at another 2m worth of revenue for the company.

 

[patsu]

Why should the developers go back in time ? The point is Wii's 3rd parties overall sales are ok, contrary to what haters claimed earlier.

The 360 user base are mainly core gamers. For people who are interested to target them, it is certainly still there. I don't know what's interesting about breaking even in front of Nintendo though.

If all goes well, Wii will continue its growth at an unsurpassed rate. Developers will simply find cheaper ways to reach a different and larger audience. This audience may not be too far off from the 360 and PS3 user base *if* they managed to penetrate further.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Why should the developers go back in time ? The point is Wii's 3rd parties overall sales are ok, contrary to what haters claimed earlier

Based on what metric? 132k per game?

Only the actual 3rd party publishers know if those sales are ok.