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

[Silent_Buddha]

Hmmm, that mentions a system that appears to be opt-in for players? So maybe single player game players are less likely to want to share their trophy info? Would make the stats even less relevant for anything other than, "oh, that was interesting."

I tried going to that link earlier for "My PS4 Life" and it resulted in a page not found, so couldn't find out the exact details there. I'm sure someone with a PS4 could clarify it.

Regards,
SB

 

[lefantome]

I don't think that the data is reliable, it seems weird.

 

[bgroovy]

Yeah, I agree. That data probably isn't reliable. Same for the Xbox One year in review emails going out which are saying that people with like 60hrs played all year are in the top 15% of all Xbox One users in play time.

 

[BRiT]

So the way the site (and everyone else) is getting the information is from scraping the data from the Videos released by Sony for the My Ps4 Life. As such, the data is from an earlier moment in time. More games are being added to their database as people calculate them from those videos.

They were at 112 games when I began typing this response, and by the time I finished about 5 minutes later they're at 116 games.

 

[BRiT]

Newer additions I just noticed where the numbers seem unbelievably low to me.

15,900,000 The Last of Us (Remastered)

7,230,000 Gran Turismo Sport​

5,610,000 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Remastered)
3,950,000 No Man's Sky
3,890,000 Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
2,480,000 Project Cars
1,300,000 Shadow of the Colossus
1,010,000 Prey

----
Here's a data point from Heavy Rain which was sold on PS3 and on PS4

3,580,000 Heavy Rain

In the situation of Heavy Rain, perhaps the numbers are off as not everyone's PS3 connects to the internet to report it's trophies or these numbers do not count PS3 numbers because it's "PS4 Life"?

From the Wiki on Heavy Rain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Rain

By August 2013, the game had sold three million copies,[65] which rose to 4.5 in 2017 and 5.3 in 2018 in collective sales across both platforms.[66][67] It is one of the best-selling PlayStation 3 video games,[65] with Sony profiting over €100 million from it.[68]

 

[DrJay24]

PS4 and PS3 games don't share trophies.

 

[Shortbread]

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181218005282/en/

Nintendo Switch has become the fastest-selling video game system of this hardware generation through 21 months, according to The NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. From its launch in March 2017 through November 2018, Nintendo Switch has sold more than 8.7 million units, outpacing U.S. sales of all other current-generation systems at the same point in their life cycles.

Nintendo is also the overall top-selling U.S. software publisher so far for 2018, according to NPD data through November. This performance should receive an additional boost from the December release of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game, which has become not only the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game of all time, but also the fastest-selling game in the Super Smash Bros. series, with U.S. sales of over 3 million units in just 11 days, according to Nintendo’s internal sales data.

Congratulations Nintendo...

 

[AlNom]

Bet TSMC didn't expect to get more 20nm orders. :V

 

[Goodtwin]

Crazy good numbers for Nintendo Switch, and its excellent to hear. What makes this extra impressive is the Switch still hasn't seen its first price drop yet. The 2019 software lineup isnt looking to shabby either. Metroid Prime 4 and Bayonetta 3 are both likely to release, mainline Pokemon games are scheduled to release late next year. More and more third party titles are being announced for Switch. Who would have though Switch would be getting Doom Eternal and Mortal Kombat 4, but it it is. Nintendo was smart to unify their platforms into one device. The dedicated console market is a tough fight with Sony and Microsoft doing so well there, but Nintendo leverages its strength as a portable device manufacture, but also added in the benefit of being able to play on the TV.

 

[Magnum_Force]

What's really crazy is what Nintendo can do going forward. If they can price reduce the switch down to near 3ds levels, I think it will sell bucket loads. Also, as the SOC they use isn't even remotely near it's clockspeed limits, they could release a "switch 2" using the same SOC, though I think they'll wait until they shrink the chip before that happens.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

The Switch has performed well, but it's leading after 21 months only because it launched in March and conveniently has its 21 month be November instead of July, as it is for the PS4. PS4 will magically become the most sold platform again after 24-25 months from launch.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

That doesn't take away from Switch's sales, but these 'fastest ever' awards aren't aligned to be unbiased.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

That doesn't take away from Switch's sales, but these 'fastest ever' awards aren't aligned to be unbiased.

Yes Switch kind of have to be in striking distance for this headline to be possible.

However the news piece states that Switch is sitting at 8.7M units at the end of November in NA. It did 1.356M in November, so it was at 7.34M before November. This one month increased its total install base by 18.5%, so at this point of the life cycle the holiday period (2 huge months) makes a very large difference in the numbers and the consoles having launched in different time of the year this type of comparison is almost pointless.

For reference PS4 outsold the Switch this November and it also sold more units in November 2015 than the 1.356M Switch sold this year, so there really isn't any upward trend in the Switch vs PS4 towards Nintendo going on here. Still yeah the system is doing very well.

 

[Goodtwin]

Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

That doesn't take away from Switch's sales, but these 'fastest ever' awards aren't aligned to be unbiased.

The PR department taking a favorable statistic and running with it, how dare they! LOL Seriously though, because Switch launched in March instead of November like most consoles do, it will always be misaligned, but the fact that Nintendo is on a similar pace to that of the PS4 is still a really big accomplishment. Sony did everything right with the PS4 this generation, and it has shown with them being a dominant market leader. Even when the PS4 retakes the lead after month 23 or 24, Switch will still be within a stones throw, and that is a good place to be. Especially considering the PS4 was already reduced in price within 21 months and the Switch has not.

What's really crazy is what Nintendo can do going forward. If they can price reduce the switch down to near 3ds levels, I think it will sell bucket loads. Also, as the SOC they use isn't even remotely near it's clockspeed limits, they could release a "switch 2" using the same SOC, though I think they'll wait until they shrink the chip before that happens.

That has been my thought process as well. The shrinking the Tegra X1 down to 10nm should allow for much higher clock speeds. Even with sticking to the 64bit memory bus, there will be faster memory chip available to bump the memory bandwidth as well. It is the simplest solution if Nintendo does indeed want to continue the tradition of offering upgraded versions of their portable devices. As far as price goes, I think $199 is the sweet spot. The most popular 3DS models were always the larger more expensive models, so I do not see a big advantage by going any cheaper than that.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

PS4 actually had it first price cut after the 21 month mark (around 23rd, in October 2015) and of course it had the higher starting price of the two. Switch at $199 would be sweet though.

 

[Goodtwin]

PS4 actually had it first price cut after the 21 month mark (around 23rd, in October 2015) and of course it had the higher starting price of the two. Switch at $199 would be sweet though.

You are correct, my mistake. Looks like it was first dropped in October of 2015, almost two years after release.

 

[zed]

The Switch has performed well, but it's leading after 21 months only because it launched in March

Yes it launched at a better time than november, I can't understand this launch in november mentality, sure that would be great if you were not supply constrained, but they are always supply constrained!
Why don't they launch aug/sep sell your 2 million launch stock to the early adopter users, chug along and then sell another 3-4 million during the holiday period

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Yes it launched at a better time than november, I can't understand this launch in november mentality, sure that would be great if you were not supply constrained, but they are always supply constrained!
Why don't they launch aug/sep sell your 2 million launch stock to the early adopter users, chug along and then sell another 3-4 million during the holiday period

I agree that launching outside of the holiday season would be the better strategy, I wouldn't be surprised to see others adopt something like that in the future, if the tech allows it.
It does not make a ton of difference in the end though, but it would boost year one figures nicely.

 

[goonergaz]

Yes it launched at a better time than november, I can't understand this launch in november mentality, sure that would be great if you were not supply constrained, but they are always supply constrained!
Why don't they launch aug/sep sell your 2 million launch stock to the early adopter users, chug along and then sell another 3-4 million during the holiday period

I agree that launching outside of the holiday season would be the better strategy, I wouldn't be surprised to see others adopt something like that in the future, if the tech allows it.
It does not make a ton of difference in the end though, but it would boost year one figures nicely.

I don't understand the mentality of people thinking Q1 or Q2 is a bad launch window...I guess the only difference here is that Switch launched into a hand-held and Nintendo home-console hungry audience.

 

[goonergaz]

The Switch has performed well, but it's leading after 21 months only because it launched in March and conveniently has its 21 month be November instead of July, as it is for the PS4. PS4 will magically become the most sold platform again after 24-25 months from launch.

I'm not so sure...I mean, in that 21 months it only had 1 December vs PS4 having 2 Decembers. To put it another way, after 21 months Switch includes November after 22 months December, then Jan and Feb right. PS4 is July, August, September and October - even if you add the 25th Month that's November (but Nintendo had December).

Does that make sense!?

Edit - I did some projections, indeed it'll be month 26 when Sony get back ahead...but that will be because it'll have had 3 Decembers (obviously Switch sales based on last year);

Note - table updated as it had an error and is based on this data.