All purpose Sales and Sales Rumors and Anecdotes [2018 Edition]

[Rangers]

I've noticed on Amazon, few console SKU's seem in stock by Amazon themselves lately.

Dont quite understand that.

Look at the PS4 slim, (highest Playstation SKU currently) it almost looks discontinued (well, as I write this post anyway) https://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-...ncoding=UTF8&refRID=3R0RRN5YH18Y26S7CZ9F&th=1

I dont readily see it being a case of any new SKU's coming to replace it either.

 

[Xbat]

Looks like GOW really boosted PS4 sales.

 

[London Geezer]

Looks like GOW really boosted PS4 sales.

Got the numbers? Would be interesting to see.

 

[chris1515]

Got the numbers? Would be interesting to see.

https://www.resetera.com/posts/8057346/

leak


https://www.resetera.com/posts/8059240/

Number

Xbox One 132K

MOM = -56%

YOY = +20%

Weekly average

Xbox One March: 300K / 5 = 60,000
Xbox One April: 132k / 4 = 33,000

-45%

PS4 326K

MOM = -8%

YOY = +58%

Weekly average

PS4 March: 355K / 5 = 71,000
PS4 April: 326k / 4 = 81,500


Switch 171K

MOM = -45%

YOY = -39%

Weekly average

Switch March: 310K / 5 = 62,000
Switch April: 171K / 4 = 42,750

-31%

It is the first time since 2010 a console sold more than 300k in April

https://www.resetera.com/posts/8057593/

11th best April month for a console (handheld included)

1. DS 2009: 1042K (DSi launch......DS was monster)
2. Wii 2008: 714K
3. DS 2007: 471K
4. DS 2010: 441K
5. GBA 2003: 431K
6. DS 2008: 415K
7. Wii 2007: 360K
8. PSP 2005: 351K (launch was in march)
9. Wii 2009: 340K
10. PS2 2005: 332K
11. PS4 2018: 326K

 

[Shortbread]

That God of War effect...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

This is not the thread for discussing the value of exclusives. Sales bump is noted - discuss it here.

 

[one]

https://twitter.com/x/status/998787436606976002

PS chief Kodera: PS4 is entering final phase of its life cycle, which would have negative impact to the unit, but recurring revenue via membership services etc should cushion some of that.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

No price drop then. Which also points to what to expect in future hardware - no <$200 consoles and launch hardware needs to be designed to operate in the market at a higher price. Also means we'll never see PS2 numbers ever again.

Edit: I guess we could see PS2's number beaten if other markets (China) grow to use consoles. Highly improbable though, so selling to a smaller proportion of a larger market to reach >150 million.

 

[chris1515]

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Less than 50% network subscribers. Shows online play is of less importance than some would credit, explaining the sales of single players admirably.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Less than 50% network subscribers. Shows online play is of less importance than some would credit, explaining the sales of single players admirably.

Sort of. Considering that F2P games and select negotiated games (like FFXIV) don't require PSN+ for online play, I wouldn't necessarily say that. What you can infer is that there's less people willing to pay for PSN+ than for Xbox Live Gold as there's less incentive to pay for PSN+.

I believe anything that is online play only won't require PSN+, hence why MMORPGs and F2P games don't require it. The upcoming COD: BO game will be interesting as it isn't supposed to have a single player campaign from what I heard.

Also, I don't disagree that most players aren't interested in online play or are only interested in occasional casual online play. Just pointing out that PSN+ subscriber numbers don't necessarily reinforce that assertion due to how online play is structured on PS4.

Regards,
SB

 

[chris1515]

You can play Fortnite without PS plus...

 

[chris1515]

https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/irday/2018/presen_E.pdf

This is the document presented to investor Sony goal is to attain 100 millions MAUs. Another things John Kodera told he saif Loot boxes talking about Fortnite are very profitable

https://twitter.com/x/status/998787336937750528

 

[Recop]

What you can infer is that there's less people willing to pay for PSN+ than for Xbox Live Gold as there's less incentive to pay for PSN+.

Do you have any data to support this point ?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Do you have any data to support this point ?

48 million Xbox Live subscribers (paying members, account holders don't count unless they are actively subscribing) as of Jan. of this year. That's up from 39 million subscribers a year ago.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthi...h-48-million-active-subscribers/#4878a5a226e7

The 48 million subscribers pay between $5 and $10 a month for access (depending on which bundle they purchase).

Compared to the 34.2 million PS+ subscribers that was just reported.

Half the player base, but more subscribers. So it's significantly more per capita.

That doesn't mean that more people play online on Xbox than PlayStation, as Xbox requires a subscription to play online while PlayStation does for some games but not for others.

Regards,
SB

 

[AlNom]

Article indicates 2016.

The author may also be conflating Monthly Active Users with Subscribers.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

It's 59 Million as of now, but that "Xbox Live monthly active users" metric covers Xbox, PC and mobile and covers just some/any activity from a user within a month. It's not the number of paid Xbox Live Gold subscriptions, that number is much lower, yet unknown.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Article indicates 2016.

The author may also be conflating Monthly Active Users with Subscribers.

Whoops, I should have looked closer. I just grabbed the first link I came across. I thought the numbers looked a bit low.

It's 59 Million as of now, but that "Xbox Live monthly active users" metric covers Xbox, PC and mobile and covers just some/any activity from a user within a month. It's not the number of paid Xbox Live Gold subscriptions, that number is much lower, yet unknown.

Sure, but it's primarily Xbox console. On PC there is no reason for anyone to get XBL Gold for games as online play doesn't require it for games purchased from Microsoft (Windows Store). AFAIK, mobile also doesn't require XBLG for online play. The only purpose it serves on those devices is to access the media that people bought on console. And the XBLG subscription is valid across all devices. IE - you don't need to buy it separately for Xbox, PC, or mobile.

Although if PC does make up a large percentage of it, that would be good news for MS as they've been struggling to get people engaged on PC.

Regards,
SB

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Sure, but it's primarily Xbox console. On PC there is no reason for anyone to get XBL Gold for games as online play doesn't require it. AFAIK, mobile also doesn't require XBLG for online play. The only purpose it serves on those devices is to access the media that people bought on console. And the XBLG subscription is valid across all devices. IE - you don't need to buy it separately for Xbox, PC, or mobile.

Regards,
SB

You don't need to be a subscriber to be counted as an active user, any type of activity counts towards it.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

You don't need to be a subscriber to be counted as an active user, any type of activity counts towards it.

Yes. But I was talking about active subscribers, not active users. Those are tracked and reported separately. For example, back in 2016 when the link I posted reported the numbers. Active subscribers stood at 48 million while active users stood at 55 million.

I think they have stopped reporting active subscribers though, I'll have to go and look through recent financial reports to see.

Regards,
SB