NPD January 2010

[Silent_Buddha]

I agree but with the caveat thats its more PR than marketing as Im sure the majority of third party publishers are not going be persuaded by these figures.

The big pubs aren't going to drastically shift development to the Wii. For one the numbers aren't there and the big pubs (who have deep pockets) aren't going drastically refocus, restructure and fragment their teams to push out increase level of cheaper developed titles for the Wii over the 360/PS3. For what? There are no equivalent MW2, GTA5 or other AAA third party franchises on the Wii.

It's a bit of both. PR is just another facet of marketing after all. Or vice versa.

And it can be interpreted as a preliminary bit of marketing to pubs to blunt the possible or perceived impact of PS3 Arc or X360 Natal without coming right out and saying anything.

Regards,
SB

 

[eastmen]

Not even remotely in the same scale as Nintendo's big first-party offerings or MW2. That's the whole point. The complaint is that removing MW2 skews the results dramatically. Sure, but so does removing Nintendo's first-party efforts.

The new halo didn't sell well ? Am I missing something ? Isn't it already over 5m copies sold ?

Also did MS publish Mass effect 2 or was it EA this time around ?

 

[patsu]

I think Wii does provide an ecosystem for 3rd parties. It's just not one that any hardcore gamer, or at least me personally, have any interest in. It's not one that encourages high production values, or any particularly strong innovations. Nintendo are basically the only ones that can spend a ton of money, and expect to make it back.

Innovation is different from expensive.

e.g.,

Whether developers can make money from Wii depends on how consumer savvy they are. If they can't make it work on Wii, then they may face similar challenges on Natal and Arc also.

But I think on the HD platforms, they may have the hardcore gamers helping to influence the casuals to buy.

 

[thop]

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27228/NPD_Bayonetta_MAG_Darksiders_Crack_January_Top_20.php

 

[patsu]

Ah, there it is: MAG. More in line with my expectation. ^_^

Hope Bayonetta makes a come back in its sequel.

 

[Squilliam]

As I said, it's all marketing finding interesting ways to play with numbers to try to show their product in the best light possible.

Regards,
SB

Did not Microsoft state they had they highest 3rd party revenue in terms of dollar values? If Sony is proportional then 3rd parties are still doing significantly better on the DX9 consoles than the console with the wierd TEV thingie.

If the 3rd parties are selling their wares at an average much higher price, I believe Pachter said it was about $33 or so on the Wii, then they are obviously much better off and especially after you consider the console royalties/packaging costs at that!

 

[obonicus]

A bit surprising to see God of War Collection hanging in there.

 

[obonicus]

The new halo didn't sell well ? Am I missing something ? Isn't it already over 5m copies sold ?

Also did MS publish Mass effect 2 or was it EA this time around ?

EA published ME2.

And think whatever you want. Removing first-party sales from Nintendo affects the results far more than removing MS'. I don't see how you can debate that.

 

[obonicus]

Someone on GAF found this posted by someone on another forum

Spoiler

yes, go ahead and shoot me

but they seem to line up with the top 20.

[PS3] MAG ~150K
[PS3] Darksiders ~130K
[360] Bayonetta ~100K
[PS3] Bayonetta ~60K
[Wii] Tatsunoko vs. Capcom ~50K
[Wii] No More Heroes 2 ~25K
[All] Dark Void - 22K

I'm guessing Bayonetta and Darksiders sold similarly in Europe? The >1M numbers smell like overshipping.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Ouch for Bayonetta. From impressions I got by people that liked it, it should have done better.

Regards,
SB

 

[djskribbles]

A bit surprising to see God of War Collection hanging in there.

I think they dropped the price to 29.99.

Ouch at Dark Void. About what I expected for MAG. Darksiders had pretty close sales between the two platforms. Even lower than I expected for Bayonetta.

 

[tuna]

Regarding Bayonetta, I think the decision to develop first for the 360 and make a lame port to the PS3 (half the framerate?) was pretty stupid. I mean, it is a japanese as it can get, wouldn't it fit the PS3 crowd better? But hey, that was Sega's decision and it was not the first time they did something stupid....

 

[djskribbles]

^ I agree. DMC is a very similar type of game (I think Bayonetta was made by the creators of the first DMC) and that series did relatively well. I'm sure there were many people excited for it but then decided not to buy it because of how bad the PS3 version is. I must admit that I'm one of them. I'll still buy it because it's a good game, but I'm gonna wait until it drops in price now. If they didn't patch the load times, I probably would've seriously considered skipping it completely.

 

[Richard]

I'd say that the exclusion actually skews the numbers.<snip>

The graph assumes that people wouldn't buy anything to replace their MW 2 purchase, that's clearly not true.

Agreed. Especially since many games were pushed into 2010 exactly because of MW2.

 

[obonicus]

Ouch at Dark Void. About what I expected for MAG. Darksiders had pretty close sales between the two platforms. Even lower than I expected for Bayonetta.

I wonder if the frame-tearing reports in the 360 version made any difference in the darksiders sales. Otherwise we're back to 'Console x tends more towards game genres y'.

 

[BadTB25]

Ouch for Bayonetta. From impressions I got by people that liked it, it should have done better.

Regards,
SB

An under-appreciated game it seems.

 

[dobwal]

It's a bit of both. PR is just another facet of marketing after all. Or vice versa.

And it can be interpreted as a preliminary bit of marketing to pubs to blunt the possible or perceived impact of PS3 Arc or X360 Natal without coming right out and saying anything.

Regards,
SB

Agreed. I look at it from the point of view as this is Nintendo's attempt to minimize the perception that the Wii isn't that friendly for third parties in terms of general media because its rather shallow and weak to effectively change the Wii's perception amongst the big pubs. Big pubs have internal numbers to guage their own success on the Wii and Nintendo's current effort would do little to change that since these charts are built around funny math.

 

[PARANOiA]

A bit surprising to see God of War Collection hanging in there.

They also made the official announcement during Jan of the Euro price of the GoW Collection - 2x RRP of GoW3 as part of the "GoW3 Super Ultimate Edition". Ridiculous pricing (since you can pick up GOW Collection for ~$40AUD imported right now (six months before the official Euro release) and GoW3 for $50AUD imported. If I decided to wait, I would pay $200 for GOW Collection + GOW3. Many interested people I know who were patiently waiting import as a result of this during Jan. I'm curious if this had an impact overall.

Interesting January. Pity that Bayonetta was a no-show given the game is of decent quality. I liked Darksiders but thought Bayonetta was a better game overall. This is a shame given I'm stuggling to think of a decent sized list of great new IP's this gen that have had super-stellar sales. I don't think this was the case last gen (and obviously not in the PS1 era).

MAG underwhelmed as most predicted since the announcement trailer. 150K in the launch month for a game that was hyped at E3 couldn't really be considered a success, IMO. I honestly don't think the PS3 audience asked for a multi-only shooter given the vast quantity of multi-player shooters already available that also happen to come with decent single-player campaigns (Uncharted, Resistance 1 and 2, Killzone 2, Call of Dutys 4 - 6). I don't think it's a system issue either - I'm guessing it would have flown under the radar on 360 too.

Mass Effect is interesting - on GAF it was mentioned that it's the best selling launch month of any game in January ever. I happened to pick it up in Feb (imported from Asia) and felt like the hype was a slow burn, so possibly it will pick up more sales next month. I'd be disappointed if the game "only" sold 700-800K lifetime in the US, since it's a top notch experience. I'm sure they'll bundle it to hell and back though, so who knows.

 

[obonicus]

MAG is doing according to what I expected, but quite possibly not according to what Sony expected. But again, that supposes that Sony people are morons (a distinct possibility) -- it is a pretty hardcore multi-only shooter with mostly-average graphics in which the main selling point is 256 players. I like it tons, but my tastes don't match the average gamers, I don't think.

 

[patsu]

MAG is doing according to what I expected, but quite possibly not according to what Sony expected. But again, that supposes that Sony people are morons (a distinct possibility) -- it is a pretty hardcore multi-only shooter with mostly-average graphics in which the main selling point is 256 players. I like it tons, but my tastes don't match the average gamers, I don't think.

Objection ! The main selling point is the "authentic" theater with role playing. 128 -> 256 players is the reason we have a noisy user-generated mayhem/battlefield.

It's hardcore, but can be tamed by introducing more support structures/features. Should probably post this in the MAG thread instead.