NPD November 2009

[RancidLunchmeat]

That's why I'm excited about Dec software numbers. Curious to see what holds strong and what falls off.

LOL, yeah, I just noticed you were interested in the same effect that I was.

If I had to guess, I'd say that L4D2 and MW2 are going to have longer legs. Friends will have the game and others will want to play with them. AC2 is only single player correct?

 

[Laa-Yosh]

AC2 is a long single player with very good reviews and word of mouth, with extra DLC coming early next year. I'd say it has good chances on the long term; however it'd be pretty interesting if a better sequel fails to outsell its predecessor.

 

[AlNom]

It would apply to all. They are estimations, not real numbers. Stating 1.87 million or 710,400 is ridiculous.

Some titles don't even chart 130K, which you're just giving to the PS3 MW2. Doesn't that seem even more ridiculous?

 

[RobertR1]

It's interesting to see what a software beast the 360 is. Not only did 4.2 MW2 sell in one month but very high numbers for L42, AC2 and a good showing for Dragon's Age also.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Another thing I wonder about is whether Halo Reach can top this launch. On the one hand 4.2 million units on the 360 is amazing and far beyond Halo3's ~3.3 million.
On the other hand H3 has been selling very, very well ever since its launch, and the install base has grown a lot already with some room left until next autumn - it could be twice as big as in 2007. So it might happen - the VGA trailer on saturday can help us out a bit, based on how good/bad it turns out to be.

 

[N_B]

PS2 only 3000 down from last year. That's about as impressive as Modern Warfare 2 IMO.

 

[function]

No sign of Uncharted 2? By the looks of things, PS3 owners don't particularly care what % of SPE time is being used.

Looking at MW2 though, some of them might care about getting the best version of MW2. Even if they don't, it can't be hurting MS that the most popular game ever is better on their system.

At this point pay-to-play Xbox Live Gold is looking like a better idea than ever.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

UC2 really deserves more than what it seems to have sold - less then 300k in the US... are PS3 users blind or what?

 

[function]

Perhaps if the main character was a NATO special forces trooper with kevlar helmet and night vision goggles it would have sold better. Drake's Terrorist Hunt?

 

[Laa-Yosh]

It's actually a very interesting question - why is MW2 that successful?

Seems like the average buyer cares more for an intense single player experience instead of a long and complex one with many choices; cares more for the overall looks of a game instead of how many checkbox features it has; and good multiplayer is a must have as well. But it's still not enough to explain such a huge start... Particularly because most of the trailers and images of the game weren't standing out as much as with COD4.

 

[Squilliam]

It's actually a very interesting question - why is MW2 that successful?

Seems like the average buyer cares more for an intense single player experience instead of a long and complex one with many choices; cares more for the overall looks of a game instead of how many checkbox features it has; and good multiplayer is a must have as well. But it's still not enough to explain such a huge start... Particularly because most of the trailers and images of the game weren't standing out as much as with COD4.

If you're a skilled game player the experience you get within Uncharted 2 is top notch and extremely good. However when you fail/die the cinematic experience breaks down and the player loses immersion in the game. So whilst the game critics would experience the best the game has to offer, the lesser mortals out in the general gaming population playing the game would get less than the best. The point is to make a truely top selling cinematic game the player really has to almost never die and the player must never get lost as the game has to continue to flow.

 

[Weaste]

Doesn't that seem even more ridiculous?

I'm trying to save you some bandwidth, and myself time in placing "tilde" into the post. 1.87 was simply one of the silliest numbers, and the first of them. But hey, you extrapolate what you will.

 

[RobertR1]

It's actually a very interesting question - why is MW2 that successful?

Seems like the average buyer cares more for an intense single player experience instead of a long and complex one with many choices; cares more for the overall looks of a game instead of how many checkbox features it has; and good multiplayer is a must have as well. But it's still not enough to explain such a huge start... Particularly because most of the trailers and images of the game weren't standing out as much as with COD4.

Good, intense SP. Unmatched MP. Spec ops is icing on the cake.

The key with MW2 is the controls. They simply work and work amazingly well. Yes, we on B3D will still there and bitch about one thing or another but any normal person playing the game, it's just perfect. Any can pick it up and get into it quickly but master takes a long time. However, as you learn maps, guns, you keep improving.

Controls aside, the endless achievement/perk/reward system in MP really makes you want keep playing. It doesn't hurt that the server browing works fast to get you into a game (unless you have a full party ) and that IW took the winning formula from CoD4 and expanded on it vs going for some silly overhaul.

The combination of the above creates for a ridiculously powerfuly buzz that just does not go away.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

I've been playing COD4, and I'm not a complete beginner at shooters, yet I've died a lot, even on normal difficulty. It does not, however, ruin the game in any way for me, even if it's sometimes about idiocies like having to find the right spot to defend in a relatively large area in order to be successful.

On the other hand, I am totally hopeless in jumping/platforming, and AC2 gave me some serious headache (okay, uncontrolled outbursts of anger) during some of the tombs. If UC2 has enough complex jumping around, then maybe that's what keeps people from buying it?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

It's actually a very interesting question - why is MW2 that successful?

Seems like the average buyer cares more for an intense single player experience instead of a long and complex one with many choices; cares more for the overall looks of a game instead of how many checkbox features it has; and good multiplayer is a must have as well. But it's still not enough to explain such a huge start... Particularly because most of the trailers and images of the game weren't standing out as much as with COD4.

MW also had a reputation as being a good single player cinematic experience. And MW2's is even better, although far far too short, IMO.

It also helps that it's "arguably" the best visual presentation on console this year, and certainly the best multiplatform console visual presentation on console this year.

Both of those will draw in quite a bit of people.

What I do NOT understand though is why UC2 has dropped so fast. Added to that it's had a HUGE media campaign blitz here in the US, rivaling that of KZ2, perhaps even outdoing the media blitz we had for KZ2... And IMO, this time around the commercials on TV were better for UC2. Last month I'd see an average of 2-4 UC2 commercials an hour depending on time of day...

It really does make you wonder if people with PS3 are just less likely as a group to buy games and/or people with both PS3 and X360 are more and more likely to buy it on X360 now as with a few exceptions multiplatform games are gaining a reputation of looking and playing better on X360.

Regards,
SB

 

[obonicus]

On the other hand, I am totally hopeless in jumping/platforming, and AC2 gave me some serious headache (okay, uncontrolled outbursts of anger) during some of the tombs. If UC2 has enough complex jumping around, then maybe that's what keeps people from buying it?

UC2's jumping is even more straightforward, and there's actually a jump button. Most of the jumping puzzles involve constantly moving in a direction... I think the ice temple is the only place where timing is particularly important and even then it's not quite difficult -- and it's fairly late into the game.

 

[Weaste]

It really does make you wonder if people with PS3 are just less likely as a group to buy games and/or people with both PS3 and X360 are more and more likely to buy it on X360 now as with a few exceptions multiplatform games are gaining a reputation of looking and playing better on X360.

Don't you think that the sizes of the userbases in the US has something to do with that? Also, how many games outside of MW, Halo, and Nintendo first party titles stay in the top ten software titles for more than two months in this generation?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

. I've not been (and usually am not) following the latest console sales gossip but were these numbers expected?

For some of us reading the Black Friday thread, it's not particularly surprising that X360 outsold PS3.

Then again, I also wouldn't have been surprised if PS3 had ended up outselling X360.

I'm far more surprised that Wii ended up selling as many consoles as it did. Especially when you take a look at the software sales numbers. Then again maybe I shouldn't be. The Holiday season is prime time for casuals, and what would make a better gift for your neice, nephew, godson, goddaughter, etc. than a Wii?

Anyway, that said, considering the way the numbers were mentioned, I have a feeling that X360 sold far better during Black Friday than PS3. Either that or it just had better weekly sales than PS3, which I find harder to believe.

Still, all said, VERY good sales for PS3. And all told, very healthy sales for all three consoles which is good to see.

On the software front, it appears X360 is continuing it's dominance of the past couple months, but Wii is showing some good numbers. Although I expected NSMB to sell over 2m. So a bit of a surprise there.

And already mentioned I'm surprised UC2 is already out of the top 10. AC2 sold less than I expected. I though it would do over 1m on X360.

Very surprised DAO is in the charts considering how much complaining there is on forums about it. Nice to see it made it though, best RPG this decade, IMO, at least on PC.

Regards,
SB

 

[obonicus]

It really does make you wonder if people with PS3 are just less likely as a group to buy games and/or people with both PS3 and X360 are more and more likely to buy it on X360 now as with a few exceptions multiplatform games are gaining a reputation of looking and playing better on X360.

That's not what we're seeing. Multiplats do fine (always considering a 2:1 ratio in install-base) most of the time on PS3. CoD skews towards 360 (it did for WaW too) but not by a huge percentage, and meanwhile AC2 skewed towards PS3. We can't say much more, since the top-10 cuts out well above of where we'd see the Dragon Age PS3 numbers. The big question is exclusives -- Sony has trouble selling theirs.

Don't you think that the sizes of the userbases in the US has something to do with that? Also, how many games outside of MW, Halo, and Nintendo first party titles stay in the top ten software titles for more than two months in this generation?

Still, UC2 did considerably worse, even considering install-base, than any of the 360's big exclusives. And it wasn't for lack of advertising or hype.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Don't you think that the sizes of the userbases in the US has something to do with that? Also, how many games outside of MW, Halo, and Nintendo first party titles stay in the top ten software titles for more than two months in this generation?

At this point? I think we're at a point where we're seeing greatly diminishing returns on differences in userbase. X360's attach's rates have already been declining for a couple years now due to the user base getting so large combined with a greater variety of games.

Happens in the life of all consoles. Installed console base will continue to grow far faster than the number of people deciding to buy the same game in any given month.

If PS3 hasn't started doing this by now, it will be soon.

Both X360 and Wii, are already well into this...

Regards,
SB