My opinion, exactly. Also we should not forget multiplatform games that sell very well, but certainly are no direct system sellers (you will buy it for the system you already own, buy your preferred system because of other games/factors), but still can be called AAA (e.g. Call of Duty 4).
NPD October 2008
- Thread starter RobertR1
- Start date
- Status
My opinion, exactly. Also we should not forget multiplatform games that sell very well, but certainly are no direct system sellers (you will buy it for the system you already own, buy your preferred system because of other games/factors), but still can be called AAA (e.g. Call of Duty 4).
woundingchaney
Regular
I have a hard time believing that multi-plats do not sell systems at least to some extent. While Im sure they are not the lone reason why a person may choose a given system I can readily see people buying a console to play GTA4, COD4, Fallout3, Ass. Creed, Madden, Fifa, FFXIII etc. Multi-plat titles can move hardware much like exclusive titles can.
He may have meant (?) moving hardware when you already own one of the consoles those games have been released on. Even so <hypothethical coming up, don't see red>, I think that if MGS5 were released on the PS3/Xbox 360 and the Xbox version were significantly better looking, there would be quite a few MSG fans that would go out and buy an Xbox just to play that version. I don't know how significant the numbers would be in the great scheme of things but if the game was an official console bundle I'm sure they'd be at least statistically significant.
woundingchaney said:
I meant direct system sellers in the way you decide for one console and not the other(s).If you want to play COD4 and NBA 2k9 and you want to buy either the PS3 or the X-box 360. Will these two games be the deciding factor? Probably not (well, if the ports for console A are much better, then it could be), something else will be it. E.g. cheaper console price, online playing quality/cost, noise ratio, better DLC, more exclusive games that you will buy, even things like design etc.
Everything is and can be a factor, if multiplatform games would not exist at all consoles would loose much of their great titles... So of course they can decide if you want to buy a console at all, but I do not think a specific console (again, asuming that the ports are more or less the same).
All console makers want a direct decision maker (system seller), the multiplatform games can only be a deciding factor if the ports are vastly different.
On a side note, I also agree with the points Richard made...
woundingchaney
Regular
I meant direct system sellers in the way you decide for one console and not the other(s).If you want to play COD4 and NBA 2k9 and you want to buy either the PS3 or the X-box 360. Will these two games be the deciding factor? Probably not (well, if the ports for console A are much better, then it could be), something else will be it. E.g. cheaper console price, online playing quality/cost, noise ratio, better DLC, more exclusive games that you will buy, even things like design etc.
Everything is and can be a factor, if multiplatform games would not exist at all consoles would loose much of their great titles... So of course they can decide if you want to buy a console at all, but I do not think a specific console (again, asuming that the ports are more or less the same).
All console makers want a direct decision maker (system seller), the multiplatform games can only be a deciding factor if the ports are vastly different.
On a side note, I also agree with the points Richard made...
Multi-platform games can also be a deciding factor if marketed correctly. We have numerous examples of console manufacturers attempting to align their console with multi-platform titles in order to drive sales through advertising; for example Ass. Creed on the PS3 or Madden and the 360. How many people bought a 360 for Madden not because Madden is an exclusive but rather because in the NA territory Madden is almost always conceptualized with the MS brand now even though a large percentage of consumers know that Madden itself is a multi-platform title (I believe a similar situation is occuring for Fifa and the PS3 in Europe, though I honestly dont know as I dont regularly follow soccer/football). There is also the push to acquire 'exclusive dlc' with various high profile multi-platform releases if only to make one version perceived superior than the other. Additionally given the impact of online gaming many people purchase not only software but hardware as well depending simply upon what their friends own; little Johnny doesnt necessarily want a 360 for CoD4 because it is the superior version but simply because his friend Billy has CoD4 on the 360. One of the largest selling points of Madden or any multi-platform version is not console port parity or even advertising campaigns but the social circles playing the title. Traditionally we dont see large hardware movement around release of multi-platform titles but that doesnt mean that they dont play a large factor in determining console consumer decisions. Parity (or lack there of) is not the lone variable in determining hardware sales in association with multi-platform titles.
Last edited by a moderator:
woundingchaney, seems that we have very similar opinions, only we are describing them a bit differently/describing the other side of the coin. I agree with everything you wrote in your last post, but I still stand by my points.
If all my friends have the console A and I want to play with them, then there is no big deciding going on (except, where do I get the money from?).
Also, if game A has exclusive content, then the port is "better"...
As for you Madden and Assassin's hype example (I bought the PS3 version of AC because of the awful reviews out there, biggest hype I ever played since I started playing games at age 7 (1984 or so)), I think that marketing can do quite alot, but then we could talk how many PS3 are sold because of the perceived supremacy of the Cell processor. Maybe my mistake was "ignoring" the marketing factor in my examples, but marketing can sell everything so I did not want to take that too much into account (as it is evident for me).
My opinion is that the game industry has shifted considerably, today there are almost no good review magazines out there, I stopped reading positive reviews because when I read that the Orange box/Assassin creed for the PS3 had "minor" problems, I do not want to see major problems (maybe when a console is starting to catch flames?). If I want to buy game X I go to Metacritic, ignore the first 20-30 reviews and read the negative ones, then I form my opinion (also looking at postings here etc.). Games and consoles are now more sold through hype and marketing then ever, so certain factors will be more and more unimportant for the average buyer.
Sorry for the long posting. Thanks for the nice discussion and have a nice day...
If all my friends have the console A and I want to play with them, then there is no big deciding going on (except, where do I get the money from?
).Also, if game A has exclusive content, then the port is "better"...
As for you Madden and Assassin's hype example (I bought the PS3 version of AC because of the awful reviews out there, biggest hype I ever played since I started playing games at age 7 (1984 or so)), I think that marketing can do quite alot, but then we could talk how many PS3 are sold because of the perceived supremacy of the Cell processor. Maybe my mistake was "ignoring" the marketing factor in my examples, but marketing can sell everything so I did not want to take that too much into account (as it is evident for me).
My opinion is that the game industry has shifted considerably, today there are almost no good review magazines out there, I stopped reading positive reviews because when I read that the Orange box/Assassin creed for the PS3 had "minor" problems, I do not want to see major problems (maybe when a console is starting to catch flames?). If I want to buy game X I go to Metacritic, ignore the first 20-30 reviews and read the negative ones, then I form my opinion (also looking at postings here etc.). Games and consoles are now more sold through hype and marketing then ever, so certain factors will be more and more unimportant for the average buyer.
Sorry for the long posting. Thanks for the nice discussion and have a nice day...
I certianly know people who went with an xbox 360 because of the exclusive gta content and I know others who went for it because of gears of war 2 and fallout 3 dlc .
Its tough to know what sells a system. I mainly think that there is no such thing as system seller . Some titles may be enough of a tipping point. I.E gears of war 2 may have gotten someone who wanted to play all the games on the xbox 360 previously released to finaly go out and buy it. But if those other games didn't exist I doubt it would have made them go out and buy it.
Its tough to know what sells a system. I mainly think that there is no such thing as system seller . Some titles may be enough of a tipping point. I.E gears of war 2 may have gotten someone who wanted to play all the games on the xbox 360 previously released to finaly go out and buy it. But if those other games didn't exist I doubt it would have made them go out and buy it.
I saw this link in another forum and I was wondering how valid it is
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26640143
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26640143
I think this is fairly reasonable for up to and including September. In October, the 360 made up the difference in North America, and probably regained some ground in Europe, but it was a decent year for PS3 and the 360 had a lot of surplus in-store stock to go through if I can remember correctly. Definitely the Europe and Japan numbers can't be far off.
I saw this link in another forum and I was wondering how valid it is
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26640143
That's up to September. 360 cancelled out any lead the PS3 had in the US in October. Probably hasn't done the same in Europe. In Japan, the PS3 did a lot better in October, too.
So... well, it's hard to speak of YTD without including the biggest months of the year, and those most affected by the price cuts.
My first reaction is that, if you're going to rely on VGChartz for one region, then you might as well take VGChartz for all of the regions, since VGChartz uses NPD and MC as inputs.
The graph is probably a fairly accurate mid-year snapshot. We know the sales picture is changing a lot in the last 4 months of the year. The PS3's best sales performance was early in the year due to MGS4 and later price cuts.
Lastly, since we are looking at VGChartz Europe/Other sales figures, you should check out the huge numbers for XBox 360 in "Others" this week on the VGChartz front page. It looks like fortunes have shifted in this region.
The graph is probably a fairly accurate mid-year snapshot. We know the sales picture is changing a lot in the last 4 months of the year. The PS3's best sales performance was early in the year due to MGS4 and later price cuts.
Lastly, since we are looking at VGChartz Europe/Other sales figures, you should check out the huge numbers for XBox 360 in "Others" this week on the VGChartz front page. It looks like fortunes have shifted in this region.
The only problem with that is that VGChartz re-adjusts their american "results" once NPD is out so they're corrected. However there's no reliable research for the EU/other region, so their estimations are completely independent of NA and can be wrong. And they're probably wrong most of the time indeed.
djskribbles
Legend
That does say North America. IIRC, PS3 was selling a little better here in Canada.
That said, it's Vgchartz so take it with a pinch of salt.
It says North America, but those are NPD numbers. Does NPD track Canada? I'm betting it doesn't track Mexico. I guess it wasn't enough for the US to lay claim to the name of the continent as a whole, it's now co-opted North America, too.
How many consoles do you think are sold in Mexico anyway?
I dunno what the average workers salary is, but GDP is only 12000 USD per year. If your income is $1000 per month then i doubt that many mexicans are going to buy $400-200 consoles.
I bet mexico is rather insignificant in terms of North American console sales.
woundingchaney
Regular
Vgchartz lists YTD sales (5 Jan. 2008 to current) as:
360 - 7,350,526
PS3 - 8,185,585
At current rates the consoles should be just about equal (of course this is primarily depending on the holidays).
Though it is still a question of just how much we want to listen to VGCHARTZ.
360 - 7,350,526
PS3 - 8,185,585
At current rates the consoles should be just about equal (of course this is primarily depending on the holidays).
Though it is still a question of just how much we want to listen to VGCHARTZ.
Well, I was joking, but you're looking at it the wrong way. You have to remember that Mexico has terrible income distribution and a large population. So even if only 10% of the population earns enough to buy videogames, that's still 10 million people, which is like Denmark and Norway put together. Which, of course, may still be insignificant by your reckoning.
Still, has Sony even brought the Playstation officially to these markets? I know that in other, similar markets they haven't.
There was an article that stated 550K 360 had been sold in Mexico some time ago.
Ahh, here still have it in my bookmarks
http://www.edigital.economia.gob.mx...ay_2008_-_Mexico_Presentation_PP_2003_pdf.pdf
The presentation states Mexico as the 5th largest 360 market in the world behind UK, Japan, USA and Canada.
And lists hardware sales through 2007 as 550K 360, 220k Wii, and 60k PS3.
Ahh, here still have it in my bookmarks
http://www.edigital.economia.gob.mx...ay_2008_-_Mexico_Presentation_PP_2003_pdf.pdf
The presentation states Mexico as the 5th largest 360 market in the world behind UK, Japan, USA and Canada.
And lists hardware sales through 2007 as 550K 360, 220k Wii, and 60k PS3.
- Status
