Oh well if it's been discussed here,then no more needs to be said.
No more NPD numbers (group hug coming up!)
- Thread starter RobertR1
- Start date
Oh well if it's been discussed here,then no more needs to be said.
I just look at the top selling 360 games, and the lineup looks very smiliar to Xbox last gen. Ultimately IMO I think that will bear less fruit than the strategy of PS2 which I'm assuming Sony will try and replicate with the PS3(software wise).
I think by the time the 360 is getting ready to be replaced,the ps3 wil be hitting it's stride and have a few more good years left. I think the consumer who buys the PS3 will in the long run be similarily fullfiled as was the typical PS2 owner.
I actually think the "Guns & Car" games as well as sports games are the mainstream games atleast in NA. 360 has hit this demographic hard and 360 software sales proves these are the type of games most people prefer. Remember the ps2's domination was cemented in NA on the back of GTA3, Burnout, Madden, Gran Turismo, MGS2, and DevilMayCry, . Guns and Cars indeed. Platformers are not as mainstream as they were 10 years ago.
The 'non-guns and car' games come come later in consoles lifecycles because the userbase has grown so large it can support the finanical risk. But userbases are grown on Guns and car games.
The 'non-guns and car' games come come later in consoles lifecycles because the userbase has grown so large it can support the finanical risk. But userbases are grown on Guns and car games.
I coming at this from the perspective of a gamer who owns both.
I bought my 360 not expecting more than the 1st and 3rd person shooters. But that's what I like so that's fine.I do look at tthe other games as well.
The PS3 on the other hand I expect everything the 360 is doing plus platformers and action adventure games and basically everything under the sun. I will probably buy more FPS or shooters games on the 360,but in the end I expect to spend much more money on the PS3.
I bought my 360 not expecting more than the 1st and 3rd person shooters. But that's what I like so that's fine.I do look at tthe other games as well.
The PS3 on the other hand I expect everything the 360 is doing plus platformers and action adventure games and basically everything under the sun. I will probably buy more FPS or shooters games on the 360,but in the end I expect to spend much more money on the PS3.
I guess I must be one of the only people who still feels the PS3 will win this gen in the long run.
*raises hand* Me too!
There's still a healthy amount of people who purchased a console in the previous generation that still haven't made their mind up yet, but when they do, I'd imagine price won't be a factor at that point for the PS3.
And for God's sake, we're only in the FIRST year of the PS3's lifecycle! Looking ahead 3 years, I think it'll be the cheap console that everyone's got - like the PS2 (but not 100m).
2008 looks like it's going to be a blockbuster for SONY, and so long as they maintain the Uncharted/R&C type quality in their 1st party titles, then I think there'll be enough there to keep the PlayStation playlist unique, fresh, and offer a better variety than the competition.
My observations, or course!
Yeah, I'd agree that the war is far from over. The Xbox 360 still hasn't managed to run away with things like you'd expect given their price positioning and the strength of their line up. It's even worse if you consider the Japanese and European markets. The one thing Microsoft hasn't managed to do very efficiently is convert PS2 owners to 360 buyers. I get the sense that there's a heck of a lot of people out there basically waiting for Sony to get their shit together before they buy in to any next generation system. I'd count myself in that group. The Xbox 360 just doesn't appeal to me. The games it offers that I do want I'd prefer in their PC incarnations (Bioshock, Gears of War, Mass Effect), or are already multi-platform (Assassin's Creed, GTA IV). Mostly I'm just waiting for the PS3 hit a price point I can accept, with the franchises that brought me to the Playstation in the first place (FF, MGS, GT). I think their must be a lot of people thinking the same thing.
The argument that the 360 has nothing but racing games shooters and sports games is just FUD. There is a wide variety of other genres available. If you want to argue about what sells best then you have to make a case where these kinds of titles are going to sell better on the PS3. Looking at cross platform titles there's no evidence that non-shooter or racing games (or any games for that matter) are selling better on the PS3.
Guitar Hero 3 selling much better on the 360 than the ps3, even relative to the user base. R&C did not rip up the charts. Eye of Judgement barely moved.
iceberg187
Regular
It is my long held belief that the PS2 ran away from everyone, not just because it came first, but because they had everyone on board. Japan, North America, and Europe made the PS2 their main priority from day one and it stayed there all last generation. A lot of million seller franchises on the PS2 are million seller franchises due to the size of the userbase. When it comes to electronics, there is brand loyalty, for things like televisions and receivers, but when it comes to gaming, the only loyalty is to the games.
As far as mainstream appeal, Microsoft has to be doing something right since they are getting a lot of licensed games that kids and their parents can identify with. Viva Pinata has slowly sold 500k worldwide. You won't see these kinds of games until userbases grow. Sony is having a tough time selling their own games to the userbase, why would another publisher take a flyer on something that is pretty much guaranteed to be a niche title.
People say the war isn't over. I thought the same thing in 2002 with the Gamecube, and Nintendo games were selling. Come January, we'll know if the PS3 has a future, at least here in the states.
As far as mainstream appeal, Microsoft has to be doing something right since they are getting a lot of licensed games that kids and their parents can identify with. Viva Pinata has slowly sold 500k worldwide. You won't see these kinds of games until userbases grow. Sony is having a tough time selling their own games to the userbase, why would another publisher take a flyer on something that is pretty much guaranteed to be a niche title.
People say the war isn't over. I thought the same thing in 2002 with the Gamecube, and Nintendo games were selling. Come January, we'll know if the PS3 has a future, at least here in the states.
What are you talking about? You get what you pay for.
MS got Rare to develop Viva Pinata and it was released in November 2006 when the 360 had a user base of about 5 million world wide.
I remember reading an interview with Peter Moore in Edge in 2006 where he specifically mentioned Viva Pinata as a title that was aimed at breaking the hard-core image of the 360. He saw it as a long-term investment.
Sony makes the same type of long term investment in mainstream games to broaden the appeal. Little-big Planet is the most obvious one, Singstar another one, beside a lot of the PSN games, Ratchet to some degree. But if you look at the game line up from the main stream appeal point of view you´ll see that the PS3 trails the 360 about one year in the US. Sony is pushing their mainstream games Buzz, Singstar etc. on the PS2 because it has the pricepoint of mass appeal, the PS3 does not have that yet at an entry price of $399.
The 360 Arcade is probably gaining ground in the mass market but has stiff competition from the Wii and the PS2. Just to examplify before I get flamed: The PS2 + "Buzz Hollywood" is still cheaper than a 360 Arcade + "Scene it" if that is the kind of entertainment you are looking for. Not to mention the case when you already own a PS2.
Last edited by a moderator:
Whn I think of guns games I think of straight forward shooters like Gears and Halo or Bioshock. Games like GTA and MGS are more than just shooters and exactly the kind of game that appeals to a larger crowd.I wouldn't call them simply guns games. Plus PS2 had other top selling games like FF and platformers as well.
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
Well the PS3 only has two million sellers world-wide:
Resistance 1.94 million (FPS) and Motorstorm 1.67 million (Racer)
Not exactly appealing to a broadbase.
I mean Guitar Hero II sold 1.7 million on X360. The X360 has 29 million sellers.
Viva Pinata has sold 800k. Kameo has sold 500K. Blue Dragon has sold 400k.
The X360 software offering is pretty broad. I think the main thing is that not too many casual gamers buy consoles for more than $199 unless they have special appeal like the Wii.
Resistance 1.94 million (FPS) and Motorstorm 1.67 million (Racer)
Not exactly appealing to a broadbase.
I mean Guitar Hero II sold 1.7 million on X360. The X360 has 29 million sellers.
Viva Pinata has sold 800k. Kameo has sold 500K. Blue Dragon has sold 400k.
The X360 software offering is pretty broad. I think the main thing is that not too many casual gamers buy consoles for more than $199 unless they have special appeal like the Wii.
I still think games like Bioshock, COD4, Halo, Gears and Resistance are the mainstream mass-appeal games. NPD charts back me up on this. GTA is simply a gun game and a driving game combined similar to Saints Row and crackdown. I think with games like viva, Ace Combat, splinter cell, katamari, fighting games, puzzle games, arcade games, and a decent library of western and eastern RPGS. The 360 will definitely be remembered as a one great system software libraries that covered all genres. Right up there with ps1, ps2, Nes, Genesis, Snes, and PCengine.
the ps3 will have a great library as well but i dont see it reaching the same diversity in the same amount of time. Wii success at home especially and 360 success in NA have hurt its development library.
Ofcourse they are, the only people thinking otherwise are demented Playstation 2 fanboys (they often claim RPGs and stuff as being mainstream, wheras everything involving a gun is hardcore) who somehow fail to see that over 30% of all the million sellers in the playstation 2 library are shooters.
So either 30% of all the gamers out there are hardcore or shooters are just as mainstream as anything else there is
Well of course NPD backs you up on the idea that those individual games sell the most. My opinion on this though is that games like that attract a gamer that has a very narrow focus and tastes in games. I'm thinking beyond that one gametype itself,looked at in isolation(sales) and at what it can do to sell other types of games.
For example a game like COD4 due to it's theme,can be seen as very western centric. Even more NA centric but with some cross over appeal. It's gameplay is pretty much a shooter which is also very narrowly focused.
So a tpical COD4 gamer,may be more likely to sitck within their genre and simply buy other games like Bioshock and generally from Western devs.
Compare that to a game like Uncharted,which itself won't sell as many copies,but due to it's more international theme and characters as well as more diverse gameplay,IMO might attract gamers that has more diverse tastes from more varying backgrounds.They in turn may buy more titles across a wider spectrum of genres and themes because Uncharted itself has more gameplay elements.
So the typical Uncharted buyer might also be more likely to buy games by more than just Western devs,or buy more games from varying genres like fighting game,shooter,3rd person action/adventure,platforming.
So in the end you've attracted a gamer that overal ends up buying more games becaue there are only so many FPS games made per year for the FPS gamer.
Anyway that's my theory because someone asked. I have no numbers to back it up, it just makes sense to me .
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
Exactly. Shooters are mainstream. More mainstream than platformers actually, but probably not as mainstream as sports games.
Michael Pachter throws his predictions around again:
DS - 1,350,000
Wii - 950,000
360 - 750,000
PSP - 650,000
PS2 - 485,000
PS3 - 420,000
GBA - 170,000
Time for someone to start a November NPD thread?
DS - 1,350,000
Wii - 950,000
360 - 750,000
PSP - 650,000
PS2 - 485,000
PS3 - 420,000
GBA - 170,000
Time for someone to start a November NPD thread?
Mass Effect apparently did ~1M copies worldwide, Halo 3 is over 5M (to date):
http://www.gamedaily.com/games/halo...pushing-consumers-to-jump-in/5186/71268/?biz=
http://www.gamedaily.com/games/halo...pushing-consumers-to-jump-in/5186/71268/?biz=
Not bad at all for a new IP.
Mass Effect has been pulling fairly poor numbers in Europe apparently, which is a shame. There's been a fair bit of negative word-of-mouth for the game, which is also a shame. Not sure how these sales compare to KOTOR though.
Uncharted sales should be very interesting this month. Sales threads are oh-so-fun.
Uncharted sales should be very interesting this month. Sales threads are oh-so-fun.
Mass Effect has been pulling fairly poor numbers in Europe apparently, which is a shame. There's been a fair bit of negative word-of-mouth for the game, which is also a shame. Not sure how these sales compare to KOTOR though.
Uncharted sales should be very interesting this month. Sales threads are oh-so-fun.
You have some numbers for Europe aside from the UK ones (which while not spectacular I wouldn't call them poor)?
Kotor sold something like 1.3 million in the US. Seems like they are on a pace to beat that quite easily.
