All purpose sales and sales rumors/anecdotes thread next gen+

[MrFox]

Venturebeat article about Digital console games sold Worldwide in January, a SuperData study (not sure how reliable is this source, they are specialized in analyzing digital sales):

- $263 millions in January 2015, up by 14% year to year (which is the most interesting info maybe?)
- GTA5, CODAW and Destiny top 3
- 63% were bought on Playstation 3 & 4 consoles.



http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/25/d...anuary-and-most-of-that-was-from-playstation/

Same blog from 3 months ago...
"This year’s big titles so far sold, on average, 12% of total units via digital downloads on consoles."

Indies, DLC, and micro-transactions, are significantly increasing revenues, but big titles are still 88% Retail on consoles.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Venturebeat article about Digital console games sold Worldwide in January, a SuperData study (not sure how reliable is this source, they are specialized in analyzing digital sales):

- $263 millions in January 2015, up by 14% year to year (which is the most interesting info maybe?)
- GTA5, CODAW and Destiny top 3
- 63% were bought on Playstation 3 & 4 consoles.

http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/25/d...anuary-and-most-of-that-was-from-playstation/

That research firm claims to get data straight from devs and publishers (50+ publishers, 500+ games each month). If true, that data should be pretty reliable, unless they happen to be missing one of the really big publishers.

 

[Rangers]

The 63% on PlayStation works out pretty much right BTW I calculated it. It should actually be 59% on Playstation by market share I think (using superdata's own generational figures, and using PS3:360 install base ratio =1:1 and PS4 vs X1 install base ratio=2:1). So it's slight overperformance but not much. Assuming this firm is to be trusted.

I guess the point here is the sample is already heavily weighted to next gen because the most active game purchasers are there, and in next gen PlayStation 4 has a huge install base advantage. So 63% is mostly to be expected.

Well, "superdata" seems to be banking on gaining publicity by releasing numbers, and it seems to be working, so hopefully they will put some pressure on NPD to also release more numbers.

 

[DieH@rd]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/top-digital-playstation-games-generate-twice-the-r/1100-6425560/

PS4 43%
PS3 20%
X360+Xbone 37%

 

[temesgen]

yes however sales for the ps3 did not take off until years after it was released when people already knew that it wasn't capable of the same resolution / frame rate / features of the 360.

Its just a weird reversal to me . An even split of gamers did not care about resolution last generation and now this generation its an uneven split .

I also wonder what will happen as more games reach a type of parity when resolution isn't different.

Perhaps the reason you see it as a reversal is because your preferences don't match up the demographic that made the shift. If you didn't like PS3 exclusives ( I think I recall you saying at one point the only PS3 title you cared about was the The Last Guardian) and didn't care for or need Blu Ray disk (I think you said you preferred digital video a while back), the factors that led many to buy a PS3 and more recently a PS4 would be lost on you.

And since you are posting your opinion (in bold) I'll post mine, PS3 exclusives performed as well as anything on the 360 and multiplats were not as far part as some of you seem to want/need them to be.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

And since you are posting your opinion (in bold) I'll post mine, PS3 exclusives performed as well as anything on the 360 and multiplats were not as far part as some of you seem to want/need them to be.

Not even close. The only exclusive on PS3 that performed as well as the top 3 X360 exclusives was Gran Turismo 5. The next closest PS3 title is just a little over half of the sales of the top X360 exclusive, globally. I'm ignoring Kinect Adventures here since it was a pack in.

Some of them did well, but as a group they certainly didn't perform as well as X360 exclusives did WRT overall sales.

As for multiplats, some were close (like GTA 4 and 5, for example) while some weren't (half of the COD titles for example).

Regards,
SB

 

[temesgen]

Not even close. The only exclusive on PS3 that performed as well as the top 3 X360 exclusives was Gran Turismo 5. The next closest PS3 title is just a little over half of the sales of the top X360 exclusive, globally. I'm ignoring Kinect Adventures here since it was a pack in.

Some of them did well, but as a group they certainly didn't perform as well as X360 exclusives did WRT overall sales.

As for multiplats, some were close (like GTA 4 and 5, for example) while some weren't (half of the COD titles for example).

Regards,
SB

I wasn't referring to sales........

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I wasn't referring to sales........

Ah, you were talking about framerate? This is a sales thread so I assumed you were talking about sales.

Regards,
SB

 

[temesgen]

Ah, you were talking about framerate? This is a sales thread so I assumed you were talking about sales.

Regards,
SB

Eastman was suggesting that PS3 was successful at reversing its missteps despite being clearly inferior which he finds strange I was pointing out that his facts underpinning that perspective are highly debatable...

In the context of XB1 PS4 sales the lessons learned from the last generation from my perspective are exclusives matter, perceived value also matters, graphics also count.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Eastman was suggesting that PS3 was successful at reversing its missteps despite being clearly inferior which he finds strange I was pointing out that his facts underpinning that perspective are highly debatable...

In the context of XB1 PS4 sales the lessons learned from the last generation from my perspective are exclusives matter, perceived value also matters, graphics also count.

He was partially correct, however, when you look at the first 2-3 years of the PS3. Take Ghost Busters, for example. Or the COD games. Or GTA. Or AC. Or any number of multiplats which performed significantly worst or with less graphical detail in the first few years of the PS3. Around the 2-3 year mark is when the tools available to multiplat-developers started to get better, and even though it was significantly more work to get the PS3 operating at close to the performance of the X360 in a broad range of titles, that's when you started to see more parity between them. But there were still quite a lot of differences.

Regards,
SB

 

[temesgen]

He was partially correct, however, when you look at the first 2-3 years of the PS3. Take Ghost Busters, for example. Or the COD games. Or GTA. Or AC. Or any number of multiplats which performed significantly worst or with less graphical detail in the first few years of the PS3. Around the 2-3 year mark is when the tools available to multiplat-developers started to get better, and even though it was significantly more work to get the PS3 operating at close to the performance of the X360 in a broad range of titles, that's when you started to see more parity between them. But there were still quite a lot of differences.

Regards,
SB

Unless you owned both systems and even then the differences were hard for the layman to distinguish by the time last generation was hitting its stride. Its more than a bit ironic that now when roles are reversed many who were over stating the multiplat advantages of 360 now say it doesn't matter. The reality is PS3s resurgence was rooted in cost reductions, perceived value and exclusives.

XB1 can do same perhaps better BC the XB1 is off to a good start, they just need to figure out the right balance of pricecut and investment in exclusives.

 

[djskribbles]

PlayStation is (and will always be IMO) a very strong brand in the gaming business. If Sony releases a reasonably priced machine, it will sell. The reason the PS3 struggled out of the gate was simply because it was too expensive, and its turnaround was thanks in large part to the cost reductions and price drops more than anything.

I really don't see any way the XB1 can make a comeback like the PS3. Sony has the brand presence worldwide, something MS struggles with. For whatever reason, people generally prefer PS over XB outside of the US, and that's obviously a huge advantage for Sony.

 

[temesgen]

PlayStation is (and will always be IMO) a very strong brand in the gaming business. If Sony releases a reasonably priced machine, it will sell. The reason the PS3 struggled out of the gate was simply because it was too expensive, and its turnaround was thanks in large part to the cost reductions and price drops more than anything.

I really don't see any way the XB1 can make a comeback like the PS3. Sony has the brand presence worldwide, something MS struggles with. For whatever reason, people generally prefer PS over XB outside of the US, and that's obviously a huge advantage for Sony.

Part of that brand identity is the unique title offerings they have historically offered, this generation is off to a relatively slow start but if you include indie titles they are arguably ok. I think brand might be more relevant in Europe and Asia though, in the US I think MS has a stronger brand identity with gamers but I also think US consumers are less likely to be loyal to a platform than consumers in other markets.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Part of that brand identity is the unique title offerings they have historically offered, this generation is off to a relatively slow start but if you include indie titles they are arguably ok. I think brand might be more relevant in Europe and Asia though, in the US I think MS has a stronger brand identity with gamers but I also think US consumers are less likely to be loyal to a platform than consumers in other markets.

Both systems have a plethora of indie titles as well as indie exclusives, so I don't think that's going to sway anything really.

XBO has an uphill battle no matter what. I think if, by the end of the generation, the XBO is only behind 2:1, it will have done well. If they execute extremely well they may be able to close that somewhat, but any misstep and it'll likely be worse than 2:1.

Regards,
SB

 

[eastmen]

Perhaps the reason you see it as a reversal is because your preferences don't match up the demographic that made the shift. If you didn't like PS3 exclusives ( I think I recall you saying at one point the only PS3 title you cared about was the The Last Guardian) and didn't care for or need Blu Ray disk (I think you said you preferred digital video a while back), the factors that led many to buy a PS3 and more recently a PS4 would be lost on you.

And since you are posting your opinion (in bold) I'll post mine, PS3 exclusives performed as well as anything on the 360 and multiplats were not as far part as some of you seem to want/need them to be.

I don't think the last of your sentences is an opinion. the most popular third party games ran at higher resolution and higher frame rates with better effects and one of the biggest RPG's of last generation was just plain broken on the ps3 (skyrim)

 

[London Geezer]

Both systems have a plethora of indie titles as well as indie exclusives, so I don't think that's going to sway anything really.

XBO has an uphill battle no matter what. I think if, by the end of the generation, the XBO is only behind 2:1, it will have done well. If they execute extremely well they may be able to close that somewhat, but any misstep and it'll likely be worse than 2:1.

Regards,
SB

2:1 and 'done well' should not really be in the same sentence. Sure, at 2:1 it will have sold millions of units, but it would still be a massively shrinking business compared to the 360, and no one wants that.

2:1 would be a lot worse than the PS3 did compared to its previous generation. And the PS3 did not 'do well' if we compare it to the hype and the previous generations.

 

[temesgen]

I don't think the last of your sentences is an opinion. the most popular third party games ran at higher resolution and higher frame rates with better effects and one of the biggest RPG's of last generation was just plain broken on the ps3 (skyrim)

I'm not going to cherry pick the data to make point, interesting enough here is a link to a blog of someone whose aggregated the results of over 300 multiplatform games. As expected 360 won more than PS3, it's not even close but he goes on to say basically what I said:


Here is the quote:

"A damning victory for the Xbox 360. That said, after the first wave of games, the differences tend to be minute and have absolutely no effect on gameplay and the best-looking PS3 exclusives (we’ll ignore Haze), in my opinion, look better than the best-looking 360 exclusives."


https://misterslimm.wordpress.com/v...box-360-vs-ps3-head-to-head-face-off-results/

The results of DF faceoffs leveled off after a couple years into the generation. Some have made unsubstantiated claims that PS3 was responsible for 2/3rds of the development cost to achieve something close to parity others say tools, experience helped even things out. Regardless as this blogger points out and as I've pointed out the differences were not as great you're making them out to be and as time went on they were less noticeable.

I'll say it again perhaps you think it's weird bc your preference in games was more in line with MS offerings on the 360. If you didn't care for Blu Ray or PS3 exclusives the value proposition wasn't there. I know I won't buy an XBOX until MS shows some exclusives that justify me making an investment in the platform, even if XB1 had parity with PS4 I'd own a PS4 bc I like the exclusives Sony will bring to the platform. Multiplats aren't enough for me to buy either system it's the combination of exclusives, price and multiplats that interest me.

I think MS hurt their standing with some gamers by releasing too little for a few years and focusing too much on kinect on 360. They have some very promising titles looming for XB1 though and that should help the sales race as Sony really hasn't done enough with exclusive content yet. North America the biggest and most important market is there for taking. I doubt MS would be to upset if they lost the global sales race but managed to remain competitive in the most profitable market.

 

[DieH@rd]

US Amazon is currently selling $399 PS4 SKU that comes with three digital games - TLOUR, KZ:SF and Second Son.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BGA9WK2

 

[upnorthsox]

I wouldn't be surprised if those 3 games show up on PS+ soon.

 

[Nesh]

Perhaps the reason you see it as a reversal is because your preferences don't match up the demographic that made the shift. If you didn't like PS3 exclusives ( I think I recall you saying at one point the only PS3 title you cared about was the The Last Guardian) and didn't care for or need Blu Ray disk (I think you said you preferred digital video a while back), the factors that led many to buy a PS3 and more recently a PS4 would be lost on you.

And since you are posting your opinion (in bold) I'll post mine, PS3 exclusives performed as well as anything on the 360 and multiplats were not as far part as some of you seem to want/need them to be.

In addition, although here we knew that the PS3 wasnt more powerful than the 360 the average joe continued to believe that. This was belief was mostly supported by the exclusives not by multiplatfrom games where they couldnt understand the difference