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NPD December 2012 Sales Results [Up2: Xbox 360, All Nintendo Hardware, NSMB Wii U]

Busaiku

Member
What does Nintendo of America have to do with it? They just play the hand they're dealt. Fire Emblem is not a big seller in the US, there's not much they can do with that. I doubt Brain Age is going to come close to what it was on DS like 8 years ago. There's only so many options, they can't create a new Mario or Zelda out of thin air.

I actually thought that NCL had more games out, but I guess there are just that many 3rd party games.
Well, in this instance, they still need to make sure Professor Layton And The Azran Legacies hits this year.
Maybe get Culdecept over here as well. Yeah it wouldn't be amazing, but they can't just leave the Summer completely empty again.
 

fernoca

Member
Just remembered Epic Mickey 2.
Was out a full month on this NPD, and with 4 additional platforms; it didn't made the 1.3 million the first one did on the first month; on Wii alone back in 2010.
 

QaaQer

Member
I've bought 6 vita games, which I bet don't register on the list since they're all digital. 3DS, none. That's what happens when you have a good store and don't treat me like shit by killing my purchases if I sell my handheld and buy another at a later time.

I have two carts for mine, P4 and AC:L. The rest of my games are digital.

The other thing is that the vita skews towards an older crowd than the 3ds. you know, people with credit cards and disposable income who are willing to pay for convienience.

so maybe I'm delusional, but I like to think that the average vita owner buys enough digital software to make the system worthwhile for sony and for some publishers for the next 2 or 3 years.

I mean, unlike the know-everythings here, I don't know what #s of systems sony has to sell to make the vita a worthwhile proposition. Maybe 1-2 million per year for a portable system in the US is enough, assuming a good attach rate.
 

JaxJag

Banned
I have two carts for mine, P4 and AC:L. The rest of my games are digital.

The other thing is that the vita skews towards an older crowd than the 3ds. you know, people with credit cards and disposable income who are willing to pay for convienience.

so maybe I'm delusional, but I like to think that the average vita owner buys enough digital software to make the system worthwhile for sony and for some publishers for the next 2 or 3 years.

I mean, unlike the know-everythings here, I don't know what #s of systems sony has to sell to make the vita a worthwhile proposition. Maybe 1-2 million per year for a portable system is enough, assuming a good attach rate.

If that was true, then why aren't we seeing more 3rd party support for the Vita?
 

Drakeon

Member
I've bought 6 vita games, which I bet don't register on the list since they're all digital. 3DS, none. That's what happens when you have a good store and don't treat me like shit by killing my purchases if I sell my handheld and buy another at a later time.

I'm doing the same. I have a few physical vita games, but mostly going digital now because I'd rather not switch carts. Would never attempt this on any Nintendo platform though, can't stand their backwards online systems and tying game purchases to systems instead of an account.
 

Agent Icebeezy

Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
I have two carts for mine, P4 and AC:L. The rest of my games are digital.

The other thing is that the vita skews towards an older crowd than the 3ds. you know, people with credit cards and disposable income who are willing to pay for convienience.

so maybe I'm delusional, but I like to think that the average vita owner buys enough digital software to make the system worthwhile for sony and for some publishers for the next 2 or 3 years.

I mean, unlike the know-everythings here, I don't know what #s of systems sony has to sell to make the vita a worthwhile proposition. Maybe 1-2 million per year for a portable system is enough, assuming a good attach rate.

All of my PSV games are from retail

Virtua Tennis 4
Lumines
Fifa Soccer
Wipeout
Hot Shots Golf
MLB The Show
Persona 4 Golden
Assassin's Creed Liberation
Modnation Racers

I did download Playstation All-stars for it, but that is only because I bought the PS3 version for that to happen.
 

fernoca

Member
And seems New Super Mario Bros. 2 has nice legs... :p

Aug: 240k
Sep: 295k
Oct: 135k
Nov: ---
Dec: ---
Total: 670k
LTD: 1.45 million = 780k in November/December

Which on average is 390k per month in November/December, which is more than when it debuted too.
 
To make Vita's software sales anywhere near good, the digital sales would have to be well over 50% of sales. We have gotten no indication of such things. Also, if the real world behaved how Vita did anecdotally, the system would be on its deathbed. How many digital games a person buys on here has little to do with overall sales

Edit: I'd hate to see 3DS sales if NSMB2 hadn't made it out this year.
 

QaaQer

Member
If that was true, then why aren't we seeing more 3rd party support for the Vita?

worthwhile for Sony

But I see your point. Nonetheless, I don't see much difference with the 3ds support 3rd party, non-japanese wise.

I just don't see the appeal for 3rd party mobile game companies developing for either system when the market on iOS and--to a lesser extend--Android is soooooo much larger.

but whatever. Even if vita and/or wiiu fail, I'll enjoy whatever games the systems have to offer.
 

QaaQer

Member
Why would Vita owners buy digital software when the memory cards are so cost prohibitive?

cuz you can delete them and redownload them whenever you want. You can even transfer them to your PC or PS3 if you want the space on your vita, but don't want to redownload them in the future. Besides, 16 gigs for $40-50 will let you have 5-10 games on your device at one time.
 
Merged 3DS and Vita standalone titles with no bundles:

500k>
bird
>400k>
ssf4
logo sw3
kh3d
sonic

>300k>
mario sonic
skylanders
logo potc

>200k>
re:r
asphalt
logo batman2
rayman
cars2

mk
umvc3
u13
mlb12
mr:rt

3DS games bolded. This isn't including titles from 100K to 150K for 3DS as well, but is including those for Vita. It's not really comparable when you take out the bundles, albeit not knowing what they sold standalone. They were obviously spurred by their bundle sales though looking in comparison with the standalone titles.

...and this is why it was stupid for Sony not to pay to have Angry Birds on the Vita. Idiots.
 
cuz you can delete them and redownload them whenever you want. You can even transfer them to your PC or PS3 if you want the space on your vita, but don't want to redownload them in the future.

Still sounds like a bad deal. And what if I want to play more than one game on a trip? Plus the games are hardly ever on sale and you can't sell your games used.

I think the mythical digital Vita games sales are dubious at best. It really doesn't make much sense.

edit -

They want all their games on 1 cart is the reason. They are willing to pay a premium for this.


This can't be a big market.
 
Almost no new games for it in a market that is completely saturated with iOS, smartphones, and tablets.

Those sales are great. People need to stop comparing it to previous generations of handhelds because it's a totally different marketplace now.

People are not even comparing it to last gen. The 3DS sales fell 21% from last year. That´s very bad if you include NSMB2 and the 3DSXL that launched this year.
 

Rat Salad

Banned
I would so luv to see the press release that the 360 has sold more the PS2 in its lifetime in America. Sony Gaf would be having so much salt in dem tears.
 

VanWinkle

Member
Still sounds like a bad deal. And what if I want to play more than one game on a trip? Plus the games are hardly ever on sale and you can't sell your games used.

I think the mythical digital Vita games sales are dubious at best. It really doesn't make much sense.

Nobody's saying there's this huge amount of digital sales, but they aren't non-existant. For example, LBP Vita has 3,300 ratings in the NA store (you have to buy the game on the PS Store to rate it), and there's no way even half of the people that buy it will rate the game.
 
Nobody's saying there's this huge amount of digital sales, but they aren't non-existant. For example, LBP Vita has 3,300 ratings in the NA store (you have to buy the game on the PS Store to rate it), and there's no way even half of the people that buy it will rate the game.


Untalkative_Bunny kinda did:


I have two carts for mine, P4 and AC:L. The rest of my games are digital.

The other thing is that the vita skews towards an older crowd than the 3ds. you know, people with credit cards and disposable income who are willing to pay for convienience.

so maybe I'm delusional, but I like to think that the average vita owner buys enough digital software to make the system worthwhile for sony and for some publishers for the next 2 or 3 years.

I mean, unlike the know-everythings here, I don't know what #s of systems sony has to sell to make the vita a worthwhile proposition. Maybe 1-2 million per year for a portable system in the US is enough, assuming a good attach rate.
 

QaaQer

Member
Well he admitted he may be delusional lol and he didn't say there was a huge amount of sales, just that there's enough to keep support afloat, which would very well be the case.

yup. It's like having a downs kid, you love him and hope he can make a go of it, but you know he is never going to be president.
 

neptunes

Member
Still sounds like a bad deal. And what if I want to play more than one game on a trip? Plus the games are hardly ever on sale and you can't sell your games used.

I think the mythical digital Vita games sales are dubious at best. It really doesn't make much sense.

edit -




This can't be a big market.
I think it's safe to assume that right now most Vita owners are probably enthusiasts and would be more open to DD than the casual consumer market that buy into a system later on in a console's life.
 
Anyone got that graph of US console sales that Microsoft gave out the beginning of 2012? Had everything on it all the way back to N64/PS1
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
Still sounds like a bad deal. And what if I want to play more than one game on a trip? Plus the games are hardly ever on sale and you can't sell your games used.

I think the mythical digital Vita games sales are dubious at best. It really doesn't make much sense.

edit -




This can't be a big market.

I would figure most vita owners who are PS+ members would be doing this eventually. Just wait for a sale like I did. The savings from the PS+ games basically paid for the card for me.
 
Indeed. Take out the bubble that is Japan and the 360 will be the best selling console in the west this generation.
...

You don't have to take out Japan for the 360 to be the best selling console in the west. Japan by being in the east means it isn't included.

edit: I've imbibed, but that sentence regardless of intoxicants was amazing.
 

TheNatural

My Member!
The 3DS is down 21% and that with the release of all Mario heavy weight titles, and the 3DSXL. This is not a positive thing you know.

To be fair, last year had Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario Land 3D come out. This year had a lukewarm received Paper Mario game come out.

Holiday 2013 will obviously be better though, with Pokemon and Metroid Dread out in October, Majora's Mask 3D Master Quest and Super Mario 3D Land 2 coming out in November, and Smash Bros 3DS coming out in December.
 

Miles X

Member
Might take awhile. The PS2 was at ~46 million before it stopped getting tracked by NPD.

my guesstimations

2012: 38m
2013: 42m (4m, down 1.3m YOY) Though perhaps less, it has a strong Q1/Q2 and an actual price cut may steady sales. That or it might do nothing.
2014: 44.5m (2.5m) PS2 managed this 3 full years after 360 debuted
2015: 46.2m (1.7m) 10th anniversary =P They should cut to $99 at this point, and do one last batch of bundles to push it over the edge and overtake.
2016 and beyond: 47m (1m~)

In its full 7th year the 360 has just done 5.3mill, in PS2's full 7th year it did 4m.

Then after that:

8th: 2.5m
9th: 1.8m
10th: 730k
11th/12th: 300k~

That's with battling new consoles for much longer than 360 will be at that point in time. I don't see why 360 can't continue to maintain higher than PS2 sales in the same timeframe.
 

ohlawd

Member
To be fair, last year had Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario Land 3D come out. This year had a lukewarm received Paper Mario game come out.

Holiday 2013 will obviously be better though, with Pokemon and Metroid Dread out in October, Majora's Mask 3D Master Quest and Super Mario 3D Land 2 coming out in November, and Smash Bros 3DS coming out in December.

please, real games like SMTIV are better than those fake games.

But we don't live in a perfect world where Atlus is king and every thing they touch sells 20 million units.
 
Persona 4G selling between 50k-100k copies in the US so far is actually pretty good. It's been out for less than 2 months and if I'm not mistaken, that puts it on track to sell as well or better than the PS2 Persona games did here.
 

TheNatural

My Member!
please, real games like SMTIV are better than those fake games.

But we don't live in a perfect world where Atlus is king and every thing they touch sells 20 million units.

Sorry, forgot the long in development exclusive Final Fantasy VII 3D remake as well.
 
I would put it more like Non Nintendo handhelds are done in the US LOL

And Nintendo handhelds have a much smaller pool to pull from.

It might have sold a million + but in Nintendo history... that low of sales in December is usually relegated to their consoles. We can see the market has changed... so what can be done?

Or are we on the spiral of doom for dedicated gaming handhelds?
 

creamsugar

Member
Some LTD title count, not include console bundle or special ed


3rd party

360
>5M = 4 (cod)
>1M = 63
>0.5M = 151

Wii
>5M = 2 (jd2&3)
>1M = 30
>0.5M = 96

PS3
>5M = 2 (cod)
>1M = 29
>0.5M = 76


All

360
>5M = 5
>1M = 78
>0.5M = 175

Wii
>10M = 2
>5M = 10
>1M = 51
>0.5M = 127

PS3
>5M = 2
>1M = 36
>0.5M = 99
 

Nilaul

Member
Do we really need next gen? The answer is no. Its yes for us hardcore gamers, who are tired of the same things all over again. In reality this gen could had continued for another 3-4 years. The general public seam to be satisfied with what they have now. Its the developers that are complaining, and seem to be in a blind illusion that extra power will give them divine inspiration. In 3 years will probably be playing the same repetitive games, but slightly more prettier.
 

djyella

Member
Yeah I see them releasing the pokemon news etc. so early as an attempt to get people to buy early instead of waiting until pokemon is out. Assure them its indeed coming soon and maybe they will bite early and sample what's out now

I wish they would do this with the WiiU. Even though I know certain games will come out it would still be nice to see them. I have a feeling they will show more once we get out of the launch window...unless that was just all talk because they really didn't have anything. I still have a feeling they will blow us away at E3 and show what the console can really achieve compared to the upcoming ones...Maybe thats their plan. Anyway, I didn't contribute to this NPD but I got 4 games for the new year :)
 

Miles X

Member
Do we really need next gen? The answer is no. Its yes for us hardcore gamers, who are tired of the same things all over again. In reality this gen could had continued for another 3-4 years. The general public seam to be satisfied with what they have now. Its the developers that are complaining, and seem to be in a blind illusion that extra power will give them divine inspiration. In 3 years will probably be playing the same repetitive games, but slightly more prettier.

Yes we do. It's funny how much this flip flops month to month on the basis of NPD numbers. Wait till April when 360 is doing 150k in a month and the tide will turn again!
 
Do we really need next gen? The answer is no. Its yes for us hardcore gamers, who are tired of the same things all over again. In reality this gen could had continued for another 3-4 years. The general public seam to be satisfied with what they have now. Its the developers that are complaining, and seem to be in a blind illusion that extra power will give them divine inspiration. In 3 years will probably be playing the same repetitive games, but slightly more prettier.

Answer is hell yes. People can drop 600 dollars every 2 years on a phone or a tablet, but they want to keep their consoles for the rest of their lives?

Nah. Wii U performance isn't an indicator of what the other 2 will sell.
 

TheNatural

My Member!
And Nintendo handhelds have a much smaller pool to pull from.

It might have sold a million + but in Nintendo history... that low of sales in December is usually relegated to their consoles. We can see the market has changed... so what can be done?

Or are we on the spiral of doom for dedicated gaming handhelds?

Too much hyperbole in this post. The only doom is relegated to companies thinking there isn't a definite price ceiling for handhelds. GBA debuted at $99. DS Lite was $130. They sold ridiculous. It's only recently that ridiculous pricing has come into play. There's a reason why the original DS is still selling well despite being dead: its because you could buy DSi's on sale for $89 at many retailers this holiday.

The only thing that needs to be rethought is what companies keep jamming into their system. Adding another $50 or $60 to a price of a handheld for a touchscreen, two screens, camera, 3D, gyro, or whatever else needs to be seriously rethought. A modestly powerful Gameboy reboot with the basics at $125 would destroy everything in it's path if Nintendo had some common sense, and that's the truth.
 
I wish they would do this with the WiiU. Even though I know certain games will come out it would still be nice to see them. I have a feeling they will show more once we get out of the launch window...unless that was just all talk because they really didn't have anything. I still have a feeling they will blow us away at E3 and show what the console can really achieve compared to the upcoming ones...Maybe thats their plan. Anyway, I didn't contribute to this NPD but I got 4 games for the new year :)

If they talk about games now, come E3 there's no surprise and there's not as big a potential for hype. Wait until E3 and show off (if you have it) amazing stuff, you can at least try to fight against the 2 new consoles, even if you risk being drowned in a hype storm.
 
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