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

[Shifty Geezer]

UK charts...

Chart-Track says Battlefront is the fastest-selling non-sequel PlayStation 4 title ever, which means it sold more at launch on PS4 than Activision's Destiny. Star Wars Battlefront is a reboot of the Battlefront series. Does that mean it's a non-sequel game? Maybe. Maybe not!

Wii U games Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash both failed to breach the top 40.

New Wii U releases didn't even make the top forty.

 

[London Geezer]

Talk about PR. Just because there's no number in the title, doesn't mean it's not a sequel/remake/reimagining.

It's not an original game of franchise, whatever way they want to spin it.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It's only a sequel in name. It's not the same game as the others. Whether one counts a reboot as a sequel or not, I don't know, but I'd argue that technically it's not a sequel as it isn't number n in a sequence. But it certainly isn't an original game of an original franchise either, having significant IP support behind its sales.

 

[MrFox]

These should be all grouped as "franchise milking" titles, whether sequel, prequel, reboot, reimagining, THX remasters, Disneyfied versions, Lego versions.

It's insane how rare the new IPs are from that perspective. I made myself sad.

 

[Shortbread]

UK charts...
New Wii U releases didn't even make the top forty.

Piggybacking...

 

[Shortbread]

US Amazon current Best Sellers for 2015....
#8 Fallout 4 (PS4)
#17 Halo 5 (XB1)
#18 Call of Duty: Black Ops (XB1)
#20 Call of Duty: Black Ops (PS4)
#21 Fallout 4 (XB1)
#25 PlayStation 4 System
#26 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4)
#39 Star Wars Battlefront Deluxe Edition (PS4)
#44 Xbox One Assassin's Creed Bundle
#52 Star Wars Battlefront (XB1)
#81 Fallout 4 Pipboy Edition (PS4)
#82 PlayStation 4 Batman Arkham Knight Bundle
#90 Xbox One System
#97 Star Wars Battlefront Standard Edition (PS4)
#98 PlayStation 4 Star Wars Battlefront Bundle

Mind you, this list is only for the latest releases... however, all console systems that are charting for this year (within the top 100) are listed. That being said, the PS4 Battlefront bundle seems to have done some awesome numbers to chart already.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Amazon UK or US?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

UK charts...
New Wii U releases didn't even make the top forty.

The wording on that seems to imply that at least in the UK, it probably hasn't done better than FO4, which I believe potentially gives the early edge to Dsoup who backed FO4 as the better seller between it and SWBF. But I think SWBF might have longer legs in December when parents/grandparents are looking for something for their children/grandchildren.

Regards,
SB

 

[Shortbread]

Amazon UK or US?

US

 

[Shortbread]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-5-star-wars-battlefront-assassins-creed-syndi/1100-6432535/

High-profile new releases like Halo 5: Guardians and Assassin's Creed Syndicate underperformed during the quarter ended October 31, GameStop CEO Paul Raines told investors and analysts. Star Wars Battlefront launched on November 17, outside of that reporting period, but sales of this game, too, came in below what the company had modeled, GameStop president Tony Bartel added.

New releases that did reach GameStop's sales expectations included Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Fallout 4.

On the subject of Battlefront's poor performance at GameStop, Bartel said, "We're not going to quantify it in terms of actual numbers, but we had high expectations that diminished somewhat as it got closer and it failed to hit those lowered expectations."

Another possibility of why Battlefront underperformed at GameStop could be because GameStop's Black Friday advertisement leaked a full week before the game was released, management said. The Battlefront PS4 bundle is one of the retailer's featured deals during the shopping bonanza, which could mean that some fans saw the ad and withheld their purchase until Black Friday.

Later in the call, Bartel said he anticipates that Battlefront will rebound, in part as a result of the buzz surrounding Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Overall, Battlefront is expected to be one the retailer's top-selling titles during GameStop's holiday quarter, when the retailer does 60 percent of its annual business.

 

[Shortbread]

Yet...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ter-earnings-forecast-miss-analysts-estimates

GameStop is feeling the brunt of a shift in gaming toward mobile devices. In the first three quarters of the year, digital sales outpaced physical sales in the industry, according to analysis from market research firm SuperData. Besides Star Wars: Battlefront, which went on sale last week, GameStop also cited on a conference call Monday the underperformance late in the third quarter of Assassin’s Creed.

“Blockbuster, Radio Shack --- there’s a whole list of former retailers that have been dislocated by digital adoption, and I think eventually you can add GameStop to the list,” said Mike Hickey, an analyst at Benchmark Co. LLC who recommends selling the stock. “They’re going to need to close more stores and cut expenses.”

Choosing Digital

New game releases have typically been strong, yet consumers are increasingly choosing digital delivery, Hickey said. Referring to Halo, Microsoft’s most-popular gaming franchise, he said: “It did deliver. What it didn’t deliver is physical.”

 

[wco81]

When they refer to digital, are they claiming more console games are digital downloads than disc purchases?

Or are they referring to mobile games which are downloaded from app. stores?

 

[BRiT]

Uhm, unless Halo5 was released on mobile, I'd say the mean digital versions of console games when they say "choosing digital".

 

[Shortbread]

When they refer to digital, are they claiming more console games are digital downloads than disc purchases?

Or are they referring to mobile games which are downloaded from app. stores?

Combination of all.

A bulk of GameStop sales/revenue/profit are from physical disc sales, followed by secondhand sales (used games). No doubt, GameStop is feeling the pressure on being profitable in a market (physical disc sales) that's getting smaller and smaller as times goes on.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

The wording on that seems to imply that at least in the UK, it probably hasn't done better than FO4, which I believe potentially gives the early edge to Dsoup who backed FO4 as the better seller between it and SWBF.

VICTORY IS MINE! To be completely fair we probably need a wait a year. Star Wars may have better short term legs but nobody sells an RPG like Bethesda. Especially when the mod scene explodes, the DLC arrives and its in the Steam sales.

 

[Shortbread]

Updated US Amazon current Best Sellers for 2015....

#1Playstation Store Gift Card
#4 Xbox Live Gold
#8 Fallout 4 (PS4)
#17 Halo 5 (XB1)
#18 Call of Duty: Black Ops (XB1)
#20 Call of Duty: Black Ops (PS4)
#21 Fallout 4 (XB1)
#23 Grand Theft Auto V (PS4)
#24 Bloodborne (PS4)
#25 PlayStation 4 System
#26 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4)
#30 FarCry 4 (PS4)
#38 Star Wars Battlefront Deluxe Edition (PS4)
#39 Batman Arkham Knight (PS4)
#40 Madden NFL 16 (PS4)
#41 Mortal Kombat X (PS4)
#44 Xbox One Assassin's Creed Bundle
#51 Grand Theft Auto V (XB1)
#52 Star Wars Battlefront (XB1)
#53 Destiny (PS4)
#55 Halo Master Chief Collection
#58 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS4)
#59 Assassins Creed (PS4)
#68 NBA 2K15 (PS4)
#69 Final Fantasy Type 0 (PS4)
#70 FarCry 4 (XB1)
#71 Destiny (XB1)
#72 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (XB1)
#73 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PS4)
#75 Madden NFL 16 (XB1)
#81 Fallout 4 Pipboy Edition (PS4)
#82 PlayStation 4 Batman Arkham Knight Bundle
#88 NBA 2K15 (XB1)
#90 Xbox One System
#92 Minecraft (XB1)
#93 FIFA 16 (PS4)
#95 Star Wars Battlefront (PS4)
#97 Dying Light (PS4)
#98 PlayStation 4 Star Wars Battlefront Bundle

 

[Shortbread]

Updated response...

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-5-star-wars-battlefront-assassins-creed-syndi/1100-6432535/

Bartel went on to say there is no reason to believe Halo 5's digital sales were higher than what they were modeling, based on conversations with Microsoft. "We are in constant discussions with all publishers and platform-holders and we believe that all major full-game titles launched in this quarter were in line with previously announced digital download levels," he said.

"We are in full understanding and full belief that there is no game that was launched this quarter that was materially above a normal digital percent at launch."

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Updated response...

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-5-star-wars-battlefront-assassins-creed-syndi/1100-6432535/

Heh, most likely just Microsoft trying to reassure Gamestop that they'll be fine. Or Gamestop just plugging their ears and going "lalallalalalala."

http://news.xbox.com/2015/11/04/halo-5-guardians-biggest-halo-launch-in-history/

This resulted in a spike in digital sales of Halo 5: Guardians, leading to it becoming the best-selling digital game ever in the Xbox Store for an opening week.

The key phrase there is digital spike, implying that it sold greater than forecasted (or normal) digital sales in the opening week. We're unlikely to get any PR releases about the digital sales of FO4 or SWBF unfortunately, it'd be interesting to see if those also did better digitally than forecasted.

Regards,
SB

 

[DrJay24]

Doesn't imply anything. New big game will cause a spike in sales. Being the best selling digital game should be a given, the install base was the largest ever and it's the consoles biggest franchise. You are trying to add meaning to a straight forward PR blurb.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Doesn't imply anything. New big game will cause a spike in sales. Being the best selling digital game should be a given, the install base was the largest ever and it's the consoles biggest franchise. You are trying to add meaning to a straight forward PR blurb.

In which case they could have just as easily said a spike in "sales" or a spike in "retail sales" but it was very specific in that it was a spike in digital sales and not for retail physical sales.

Also other things that they were very specific about.

With the highest week one attach rate for a Microsoft first party title on Xbox One, the game was the most played of any game on Xbox One, as well as the most played on Xbox Live.

The highest week one attach rate for a first party title. Versus "best selling digital game ever". Not just for first party titles but ALL games on the platform.

So week one sales for Halo 5 (software and accessories) weren't better than the week one sales (software and accessories) for some 3rd party titles on the console. Considering some titles didn't even have an affiliated accessory (Destiny or GTAV, for example) that says quite a bit.

However, sales for the digital version were the highest for any title on the console bar none.

It is Microsoft's biggest first party franchise on the platform. But I think it's safe to say it's not the biggest franchise on the platform.

Regards,
SB