UK Hardware Sales

[Eminem]

http://www.computerandvideogames.co...ndvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=81304

Don't really know how reliable these are, but I haven't seen any other hardware sales figures for the UK.

PS2-23,032

XBOX-5,674

GCN-4,041

"Xbox is three feet high and rising, now placing consistently above GameCube on a weekly level. Microsoft's console rose nine percent to 5,674 units last week."

"Nintendo may be grinning a little less willingly than the rest, however. GameCube rose eight percent week over week to a meagre to 4,041 units. The news comes on the back of the company slashing profit estimates for the year by a whopping 77 percent."

"Sony is the obvious winner in the weekly figures with PlayStation 2 selling a cool 23,032 units, up 24 percent from the seven days before."

 

[Geeforcer]

I think this ties in nicely with the discussion about anti-American sentiment in Europe in relations to Xbox sales. I believe that guys from UK said that the real problem with Xbox was its high price. The fact that sales have been rising after a price drop seems to validate that point of view.

 

[marconelly!]

Actually, Xbox has been slightly cheaper than PS2 for a while in Europe now.

 

[Teasy]

XBox has always sold decently in the U.K. It was a little slow at launch with the high price (nowhere near as bad as sales in the rest of Europe though) and started selling quite well in the U.K when the price dropped. The U.K was XBox's strongest European market by far at launch and probably still is so those numbers don't suprise me much. Its really the rest of Europe that XBox needs to conquer.

As far as GameCube goes, there haven't been many games released in the U.K recently. But with the games just released and coming very soon for GameCube I expect GameCube's numbers to rise substantially soon.

The games I'm talking about are:

Resident Evil
WWE X8
Mario Sunshine
Eternal Darkness
Star Fox Adventures
Time Splitters 2
Metroid Prime

All either just released very recently (RE and X8 were released less then a week ago) or out in under 2 months.

 

[Qroach]

which ones of those games aren't out yet?

 

[Teasy]

which ones of those games aren't out yet?

Mario Sunshine
Eternal Darkness
Star Fox Adventures
Time Splitters 2
Metroid Prime
Medal of Honour: Front Line
Die Hard: Vendetta
James Bond: NightFire
Mario Party 4
Need for Speed: HP2


None of those are out in the U.K yet, they're all being released between now and the end of November. SMS is out tommorow, TS2 and Need for Speed is out by the end of October and the rest are in November. There are plenty of other good games coming between now and November of course but these are just the ones that catch my attention as the big titles (and of course there not all exclusives).

The only games in the first list that are already out in the U.K are Res Evil and WWE X8. Res Evil was released about a week ago AFAIR and WWE X8 was released a few days ago.

 

[wazoo]

The U.K was XBox's strongest European market by far at launch and probably still is so those numbers don't suprise me much. Its really the rest of Europe that XBox needs to conquer.

It is interesting to know that UK is equal to Germany+France in terms of sales market share.

Metroid Prime will be out in Jan. 2003.

 

[Teasy]

Metroid Prime will be out in Jan. 2003

Really?, has it been delayed?

Because according to all the stores I've seen here in England, Metroid Prime is scheduled for released on the 18th of November 2002.

 

[Qroach]

Ok, well call me surprised, you were saying you've played starfox in the other thread and it's not even out yet?

I'm a little curious how can you argue about the game when you can't buy it? All I can say is that it's a very, very good game. When it comes out go get it.

 

[Teasy]

Ok, well call me surprised, you were saying you've played starfox in the other thread and it's not even out yet?

Its not impossible to play games in the U.K before there released you know. For instance I played SMS a little while ago in a store demo and its not out yet either. As for SFA I have some friends with U.S machines and I played SFA for a little while at a friends house.

I'm a little curious how can you argue about the game when you can't buy it?

As I explained in the other thread I've played the game a little bit, but for the most part my opinion is based on reviews, opinions from people on the net and opinions from friends who have U.S machines.

All I can say is that it's a very, very good game. When it comes out go get it.

SFA seems like a good solid game and looks quite beautiful, so, as I said earlier, I will be getting it. All I've said is that its not THAT good. Its gameplay, from what I've heard/seen, is not so special. I'm not looking forward to it as much as I am looking forward to games like Eternal Darkness, SMS, Metroid Prime or TS2 as I know/expect all those to be great games (or at least I hope TS2 is a great game because I love the way there making the game very Goldeneye-like).

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Teasy. Do you even own a Gamecube?

 

[Teasy]

Teasy. Do you even own a Gamecube?

This isn't the form for the "stupidest questions ever asked" competition Johnny

Could you point out the comment in this thread that made you ask such a crazy question?

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

Didn't Mario's performance in Japan and America prove how it's not going to impact sales nearly as much as Cubites have been claiming since November '01?

I remember all the Mario threads with guestimates of no less than 100,000 Cubes moved the day SMS launched. I think some people in this very forum predicted 400,000 Cubes in a month for the US alone. And we all saw the *real* impact the game had on hardware sales-- no more than 30,000 in Japan the week of the launch there, and as far as I can tell Cube hardware sales are less now with the launch of SMS than they were when RE remake was released.

 

[Qroach]

Yeah I know, some people have very short memories.

 

[CaptainHowdy]

Didn't Mario's performance in Japan and America prove how it's not going to impact sales nearly as much as Cubites have been claiming since November '01?

I remember all the Mario threads with guestimates of no less than 100,000 Cubes moved the day SMS launched. I think some people in this very forum predicted 400,000 Cubes in a month for the US alone. And we all saw the *real* impact the game had on hardware sales-- no more than 30,000 in Japan the week of the launch there, and as far as I can tell Cube hardware sales are less now with the launch of SMS than they were when RE remake was released.

you mean breaking all sales records for a first week of sales? yea, that was horrible, and holding the number one spot in Japan for almost 2 months, terrible

 

[zurich]

Holding number one spot in Japan for almost 2 months??? You're spewing pom-poms (favoutite new word!) Howdy.

Japanese Console Game Chart
(Updated: September 30, 2002)
From: Sep 09 - Sep 15, 2002
6 8 Super Mario Sunshine Nintendo GC ACT 9,891 591,656

Japanese Console Game Chart
(Updated: September 23, 2002)
From: Sep 02 - Sep 08, 2002

4 6 Super Mario Sunshine Nintendo GC ACT 13,739 581,765

Dengeki Console Game Ranking Top 50
(Updated: September 27, 2002)
From: Sep 16 - Sep 22, 2002

8 11 Super Mario Sunshine Nintendo GC ACT 8,993 600,671

Dengeki Console Game Ranking Top 50
(Updated: September 20, 2002)
From: Sep 9 - Sep 15, 2002

7 8 Super Mario Sunshine Nintendo GC ACT 9,640 591,678

On its own, SMS is doing pretty well in Japan. Compared to the sales of SSBMX, its doing horribly. SSBMX hit 1 million within the month it was released, and there were a lot less GCs back then. For SMS being Nintendos #1 flagship title, its doing very poorly. It was handily outsold by even Gundam: Federation vs Zeon DX given the same period of time, not to mention Final Fantasy X's record breaking 1.9 million in one weekend deal.

Unlike North America, Japan provides sales stats on a weekly basis. Given these stats, its not wise to say that SMS is ripping shit up over there, when clearly its not. As a piece of software, its doing pretty well. For Super Mario, its not.

zurich

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

Great job, Howdy. You managed to completely ignore the point of my post: That SMS did not have the chart-shattering impact on hardware sales that everyone claimed it would. Not even close, in fact.

Thank you, come again.

 

[wazoo]

9,640 591,678

On its own, SMS is doing pretty well in Japan. Compared to the sales of SSBMX, its doing horribly. SSBMX hit 1 million within the month it was released, and there were a lot less GCs back then.

And the fact that SSM was released for the Christmas season has nothing to do with its sales ??

For SMS being Nintendos #1 flagship title, its doing very poorly. It was handily outsold by even Gundam: Federation vs Zeon DX given the same period of time, not to mention Final Fantasy X's record breaking 1.9 million in one weekend deal.

Gundam is big in Japan, Mario is big worldwide. You should check the sales report from the GDC on gamasutra, it will explain you what brand are popular.

Smash Bros has sold quite well but now it is over. SMS will have a larger life span. Everybody forgets that Mario 64 did not sell 10M copies in its first year. SMS is selling at least on par with M64, we'll see where it ends up (I think 5M).

 

[zurich]

And the fact that SSM was released for the Christmas season has nothing to do with its sales ??

I figure that big titles/franchises sort of transcend time, ie: it doesn't matter when they're released-> they'll sell. Look at GT3 in the US, it was released back before the PS2 hit critical mass and still did a million in one day (or atleast said the PR report). Same goes for FFX in Japan, it came out in.. July was it?

The holiday season certainly affects software sales, but given the proper title/franchise, that shouldn't matter, atleast in the short term. Christmas appeals more for people who are looking for something to fill up a gift "slot", and if software is there, convenient.

I'm sure Mario has tremendous staying power, as most new GCs sold will most likely have a 1:1 attach ratio with him, but the existing pickup has been poor.

zurich

 

[Vince]

Teasy. Do you even own a Gamecube?

HA!