All purpose Sales and Sales Rumors and Anecdotes [2016 Edition]

[djskribbles]

No, Ars Technica's estimate is between 20 and 23M with ~22 being their "midpoint".

Ah you're right, they have their own estimate (19.84-23.12M shipped) and an estimate based on EA's sell-through estimate (20.1M shipped). I quickly browsed through the article and missed their own estimate. How they got their numbers is beyond me. No doubt that EA has access to far more sales data than Ars does (if they even HAVE access to ANY sales data).

20.1M is probably about right. There's no way that it's much higher than that based on EA's numbers (which are most likely very close to accurate).

With that said, shipments are indeed still close to PS3 numbers; probably ~1M shy of the PS3. But like I said before, XB1 will probably be more front-loaded and (IMO) won't reach X360/PS3 lifetime numbers.

 

[ZhugeEX]

This was my estimate I put out.

 

[Rangers]

One of my favorite quarterly fiscal things, Ubisoft's breakdown by platform and region (how long until they stop doing these as the trend is to less and less fun info??)

I'm not seeing 3:1 PS4 there like I'm told the WW hardware sales are (41:27=1.51:1)But hey PS4 did gain vs the same Q last year if you're looking for pro-PS4 news. Still 6% Wii?? Just Dance?


And by region

In line with the way EA breaks it down with "North America" and "International" with International being a bit bigger, it's just UBI breaks it down 3 ways. Still, North America~as big as all Europe including UK COMBINED.

 

[Rangers]

Stoled from Neogaf

Originally Posted by Ubisoft

The third-quarter 2015-16 was notably marked by:

-A slower launch than expected for Assassin's Creed® Syndicate, in an exceptionally fierce competitive environment. The game's quality was lauded by the franchise's fans, however, and the Group was particularly pleased with the marked rise in players' engagement compared with the prior title.

-Record player engagement levels for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, with first-person shooter fans especially appreciating the quality of the multiplayer mode.

-The increasing weighting of digital within Ubisoft's overall sales, with this segment's revenues amounting to €207.7 million for the first nine months of 2015-16 and representing 27.0% of the total, versus 21.2% for the same period of 2014-15.

-A 42.6% jump in back-catalog sales to €280.8 million for the first nine months of 2015-16.

Both R6 and Syndicate seemed to sell badly this was already known, although at least R6 may have some legs and is acknowledged as a great game.

I'm wondering if that 27% digital figure can give us any console angles. I guess that would include full game sales on PC too, although with PC being just 12% of their sales it shouldn't be huge. I guess it reconfirms that digital is growing and at least the common 20% digital estimate for console games.

Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, stated "Looking beyond our sales figures for the quarter, which have led us to update our full-year targets, our strategy of focusing on player engagement is paying off. For example, Rainbow Six Siege achieved record engagement levels during the period thanks to the success of its exceptional multiplayer mode. These advances are a decisive step in our business development and demonstrate the strong execution of our strategy, which will ultimately translate into regular revenue streams and enhanced profitability. The upcoming releases of Far Cry Primal and The Division should confirm these trends. The Division - whose recent closed beta exceeded all of our expectations - is set to be one of the largest launches of a new brand in the history of the video game industry."

"We are now in a position to take the decision not to release a new Assassin's Creed game in 2016-17, in order to give the brand a new dimension, while still presenting very solid targets for the fiscal year. These targets reflect the measures we have been putting in place over the past few years to transform our business model. Our portfolio of powerful franchises is solid and balanced and our global audience is growing steadily. At the same time, the digital segment is playing an increasingly important role and we are making a strong comeback in multiplayer. We now create experiences that accompany players throughout the year so we can enhance their long-term engagement. Each of these positive factors testifies to the change in Ubisoft's profile and has a favorable impact on our financial performance."

Guillemot concluded by saying "Our medium-term targets - which we will be presenting in a week's time - will confirm our potential for growth, enhanced profitability, cash generation and value creation for our shareholders."

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I'm not seeing 3:1 PS4 there like I'm told the WW hardware sales are (41:27=1.51:1)

Software sales are based on install base, not current sales ratios in some areas. PS4 install base is about 2:1 as per ZhugeEX's posts. So the discrepency to argue is why sales on PS4 aren't twice XB1's. I guess the locations where PS4 is vastly outselling aren't that interested in Ubi's offerings. Or maybe sales of back catalog (BC) as per further data.

Stoled from Neogaf




Both R6 and Syndicate seemed to sell badly this was already known, although at least R6 may have some legs and is acknowledged as a great game.

I'm wondering if that 27% digital figure can give us any console angles. I guess that would include full game sales on PC too, although with PC being just 12% of their sales it shouldn't be huge. I guess it reconfirms that digital is growing and at least the common 20% digital estimate for console games.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Stoled from Neogaf

Both R6 and Syndicate seemed to sell badly this was already known, although at least R6 may have some legs and is acknowledged as a great game.

I'm wondering if that 27% digital figure can give us any console angles. I guess that would include full game sales on PC too, although with PC being just 12% of their sales it shouldn't be huge. I guess it reconfirms that digital is growing and at least the common 20% digital estimate for console games.

Unreadable on dark skin...

 

[Clukos]

Unreadable on dark skin...

So there's another skin?

No really, after enabling the dark skin i can't go back. Literally the only website i can read without a problem at night and I'm already using f.lux religiously...

 

[BRiT]

Unreadable on dark skin...

Should be fixed now, i selected all then disabled all formatting via a button in upper right of the editor.

 

[Globalisateur]

Unreadable on dark skin...

I noticed this relatively recently on texts I copy paste, they are unreadable using the dark theme.

The color goes away when I select "paste raw text" with a right click while in Chrome (Firefox doesn't provides the option unfortunately).

Haven't found a way in the Beyond3D editor to remove the color.

 

[chris1515]

One of my favorite quarterly fiscal things, Ubisoft's breakdown by platform and region (how long until they stop doing these as the trend is to less and less fun info??)

I'm not seeing 3:1 PS4 there like I'm told the WW hardware sales are (41:27=1.51:1)But hey PS4 did gain vs the same Q last year if you're looking for pro-PS4 news. Still 6% Wii?? Just Dance?


And by region

In line with the way EA breaks it down with "North America" and "International" with International being a bit bigger, it's just UBI breaks it down 3 ways. Still, North America~as big as all Europe including UK COMBINED.

It is not working like that in France GFK number are 3 PS4 for 1 Xbox One but out of FIFA 16 and non FPS title the gap of software sales is not so huge...

Xbox One is a core gamer console in Europe with mainstream gamer buying the PS4 and only sport title or very popular games out of FPS where the Xbox One number are good...

 

[chris1515]

Core gamer buy much more games than mainstream gamers (only playing sports games or COD or GTA) and casual gamer...

With a good number of Xbox One exclusives games the ratio of PS4/Xbox One into the core gamer population is less than 2 to 1 and probably near 1:1...

 

[Rangers]

Unreadable on dark skin...

Whenever I post something with a quote of small font somehow that font takes over my normal text in that post and I dont know how to fix it.

I forgot NPD is today...always a nice surprise.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

There's a discussion thread on this problem here. Seems browser are copying formatting along with content these days. One workaround is to paste as simple text if the option is supported, or paste into a simple text file and copy from there. Hopefully Rys can magic up a smart solution.

 

[ZhugeEX]

FYI, those Ubi numbers are revenue splits, not unit splits.

It also includes bundled sales.

 

[Globalisateur]

PS4 hardware and software are starting to sell decently in Japan. The last amazon.co.jp hourly sales are quite telling, I never seen so much PS4 stuff in the first pages (media create numbers are confirming Amazon.co.jp trends).

Even if they seem to benefit from the recent Wii U shortages... So how hard is it to reliably produce Frankensteins hardware Nintendo?

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/bestsellers/videogames/ref=sv_vg_3#1

 

[MrFox]

I'm wondering if that 27% digital figure can give us any console angles. I guess that would include full game sales on PC too, although with PC being just 12% of their sales it shouldn't be huge. I guess it reconfirms that digital is growing and at least the common 20% digital estimate for console games.

The wording isn't very clear...

The increasing weighting of digital within Ubisoft’s overall sales, with this segment’s revenues amounting to €207.7 million for the first nine months of 2015-16 and representing 27.0% of the total, versus 21.2% for the same period of 2014-15.

It makes an important difference because PC is almost all digital. If it's included it would mean half of their digital sales are from PC. The "Others" platform in the revenue breakdown is also 100% DD (mobile).

2014-2015 (9 months) : 21.2% DD and 11% PC ==> more than 12.2% DD on consoles
2015-2016 (9 months) : 27.0% DD and 14% PC ==> more than 13% DD on consoles

That seems too low, so maybe they didn't include PC?

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Interesting. Any theories on why XB1 users are spending more on games than PS4 users? Why are XB1 users more profitable to Ubisoft than PS4 users? I couldn't find an article that actually talked about attachment rate - only that XB1 users are "more profitable" and "spend more money", so I'm assuming it's not necessarily about game purchases but a combination of game purchases and DLC?

Even if that is a metric we could apply across the board (and not specific just to Ubisoft), it still doesn't mean so much. PS4 is almost selling 2:1 to the XB1. So, even using the generous ratio of 25%, it only brings the sales ratio to 2:1.25, right? Or am I just confusing my math at 8AM after drinking twenty beers the night before? (a likely scenario that cannot be ignored)

 

[BRiT]

Could it simply be more XBox One users are buying new or digitally while more PS4 users are buying used physical copies that are from the second hand market? Remember that Ubi and all other developers and publishers make nothing off of used games sales.

 

[Deleted member 86764]

Didn't someone earlier state that there's proportionally more "core" gamers on Xbox One compared to PS4? That seems like the only logical conclusion to me. Unless Ubi sold some Xbox exclusives?

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Both ideas are strong possibilities, but both seem to be focused on attach rate, and the articles never used that phrase. And it's a widely used phrase in the industry, so I found it funny that it never came up.

I was wondering more if Ubisoft games are more heavily favored to DLC or in-game purchases than others?

Because I see it as two possibilities - 1) It is attach rate, for some reason that phrase has just gone out of favor, or 2) For some reason XB1 users are more willing/likely/able to click the "Yes, spend more money and charge your credit card on file" than PS4 users are

I'm not sure and I don't really have anything to push me to either conclusion, I just thought it was an interesting topic for discussion.