Top 100 Selling Games Last 12 Months (All Platforms)

[Scott_Arm]

O.K. But is this really the case in all situations? Why have the producer that made AC multi-platform, made Haze exclusive?

Maybe Sony gave them a pile of money to make it exclusive. Otherwise, there is no reason to make an exclusive at this point, unless you are a 1st party developer owned by Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft.

 

[AlphaWolf]

200k? How about a 2million descrepancy. Motorstorm was released in NA and Europe in March 2007. Thus this list is meant to show its total sales in these territories (minus pack ins). 2million accounted for in pack ins?

Considering Motorstorm was packed in for months in NA how hard is that to believe? Until the 40gb unit started shipping every box sold here pretty much had Motorstorm in it. That's ~1.5 million units just in the US.

 

[deepbrown]

Maybe Sony gave them a pile of money to make it exclusive. Otherwise, there is no reason to make an exclusive at this point, unless you are a 1st party developer owned by Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft.

I think there can be good reasons to be exclusive - to gain interest where none may have been originally. Plus I doubt Sony would afford to do that, since they have much better exclusive games themselves.

 

[deepbrown]

It is one of the common growth models, but there are risks and other options. e.g., If Insomniac were to go cross-platforms, their existing skillsets and edge will need to be re-evaluated (Their cost and performance may take a hit).

If they license it out for someone else to port at no risk/cost to themselves, then it may be fine. OTOH, remaining PS3 exclusive allows them to manage their cost and honed their skills further -- provided the PS3 growth is healthy.

With their understanding of PS3, they can also explore other businesses within that space (e.g., Explore other genra, Blu-ray related, or Home related, or other stuff). Not everyone needs to be big. Some huge companies make less profit than smaller ones.

And they can release an amazing game every year...

 

[eastmen]

O.K. But is this really the case in all situations? Why have the producer that made AC multi-platform, made Haze exclusive?

Haze was multi console but with delays and will now be on one console. Seems to me that the delays forced them to take any money offered to make it eclusive.

 

[eastmen]

But are you going to make the same game again? Of course not. You're next game is going to have to have either more or better content and preferably both. And given the typical development cycles we are seeing you are going to have to meet gamers' expectations as they are 2 or even more years advanced of what they were at the release of your last game. Every (good) game released raises the bar for the next and every studio is going to try to do everything they can to make their title stand out enough to really hit it big.

Having better technology and experience is actually going to raise the quantity and quality of the content you are going to have to produce to fully take advantage of the resources of the system(s) you are developing for. And if you don't attempt to do this, your competition surely will and your game is going to suffer by comparison.

As a practical example, do you think Gears Of War 2 isn't going to cost more to produce than Gears Of War 1?

There's a reason why in a market that is expanding rapidly even in the face of poor economic times that we are regularly seeing studio closures and publisher restructuring. This is a tough business and it is only getting tougher.

call of duty 6 will most likely use alot of call of duty 4's textures and models. Cod5 which is based in ww2 might use alot of call of duty 3's texture assets.

 

[mister slim]

maybe he and other 1 million sources meant "shipped to retailers" which is sold to them

these numbers are sold through to consumers

While I agree Price's numbers might well be shipped, I doubt retailers are holding that much inventory. Seems more likely Next-Gen's estimates for Europe are a little off.

 

[psorcerer]

Very funny figures.
The est....fantasies about sales numbers are becoming very popular in mass-media, way to go!
Crysis and Motorstrorm are obvious examples.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Very funny figures.
The est....fantasies about sales numbers are becoming very popular in mass-media, way to go!
Crysis and Motorstrorm are obvious examples.

and why do you think the numbers for those 2 games are wrong?

Keep in mind the criteria, no bundles counted, and only western europe and NA.

 

[patsu]

Just want to comment that whether they are counted or not, there is nothing wrong with software bundling. I remember Xbox 360 had a lot of those in its first year too. I think European PS3 came only in bundles (at least launch period ones). Initial US PS3 was bundled with BR movies instead.

 

[deepbrown]

Haze was multi console but with delays and will now be on one console. Seems to me that the delays forced them to take any money offered to make it eclusive.

It was Ubisoft's decision, not Free Radicals.

 

[StefanS]

It was Ubisoft's decision, not Free Radicals.

Plus, I'd guess that it's a timed-exclusive, so their effort on the X360 is not lost...

 

[deepbrown]

Plus, I'd guess that it's a timed-exclusive, so their effort on the X360 is not lost...

If it is, FR don't know about it.

 

[aaronspink]

this list is a good example to use for the argument game quality vs game sales.

in saying that though is COD4 really that good? ie is it worth me checking it out on the PC.
or is it one of those games that doesnt make the console -> PC conversion

COD4 is so so, and a very very short game, like 8 hours total playtime. Multiplayer is ok, but pretty much just a rehash of MP from previous MP games, nothing unique or exiting about it.

 

[zed]

...or, my argument, game reviews versus game sales.

yes i was wrong, review is a more accurate term than quality

OD4 is so so, and a very very short game, like 8 hours total playtime. Multiplayer is ok, but pretty much just a rehash of MP from previous MP games, nothing unique or exiting about it.

ive never played any COD games (ww2 FPS dont appeal), but it must be doing something right as its become the number one FPS franchise without being marketed as strongly as some of the competition

 

[AlphaWolf]

yes i was wrong, review is a more accurate term than quality
ive never played any COD games (ww2 FPS dont appeal), but it must be doing something right as its become the number one FPS franchise without being marketed as strongly as some of the competition

Which FPS had more marketing than CoD4? Marketing might be regional, but I don't know that you could get through a football game (in nov/dec/jan) in the US without seeing an ad for CoD4.

The only one I can think that might have been marketed more is Halo3 (which actually did more dollar sales due to legendary packs). Bioshock had a nice campaign, but it wasn't close to CoD4 coverage.

 

[Tap In]

CoD4 does so many things right for a console FPS, MP ease of use (speed of the front end and ability to join games) and game choices and features and graphics and 60FPs with beautiful detail and near equal products on competing multiplat hardware that to doubt the sales as unworthy is disingenuous IMO

 

[eastmen]

If it is, FR don't know about it.

I'm sure they know just fine what it is . Its us that doesn't. We do know from interviews a few months back that the 360 build was playable. Would seem a waste to throw all that work away huh .

 

[psorcerer]

and why do you think the numbers for those 2 games are wrong?

Keep in mind the criteria, no bundles counted, and only western europe and NA.

Crysis pushed more than 1mln boxes, that's a fact.
And considering that the last place in ranking is 460,000 it means that Crysis sold at least 600,000 in Eastern Europe, do I need to say more?

 

[betan]

Hmm, this is like discussing vgchartz magic numbers vs reported shipped numbers.