https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c6pSf132jcJustin and Danny discuss why all the hype over console sales numbers mean next to nothing at this stage in the game.
Yet on Gamespot's front page:
Sales matter when they fit a narrative the gaming media wants to tell.
Sales matter when they fit a narrative the gaming media wants to tell.
PS4 and XBone have not been out a month, are not available in all territories, and have yet to meet market demand. Meanwhile, the Wii U has a years worth of awful sales under it's belt. Apples and orangesYet on Gamespot's front page:
Sales matter when they fit a narrative the gaming media wants to tell.
Resolution doesn't matter either. :)
And the Wii U has had it's first real marketing push and now has games worth buying.Originally Posted by Officerrob
PS4 and XBone have not been out a month, are not available in all territories, and have yet to meet market demand. Meanwhile, the Wii U has a years worth of awful sales under it's belt. Apples and oranges
Do early sales matter or not? Gamespot tells us they don't in one article and then tell us it's clear that the early sales of the XBOX One and PS4 have buried the Wii U in another article.
As always, this is a story that takes years to tell.
Selling 1 million units in two countries over the span of 24 hours is a significant thing. It is in a complete league of its own, launch wise, compared the Wii U's 600k in one week sales, and the Xbox One's 1 million in 13 countries figure.
Yeah.
Gamespot sounds like they are trying to make the XBONE look better.
Gamespot sounds like they are trying to make the XBONE look better.
Actually watch the video and you would realize that he is talking about expanding the market (general interest) for the Wii U. As far as sales go he pointed out that nintendo will be ok but chances are the 3DS will be the breadwinner going forward instead of the Wii U.
Sales matter when they fit a narrative the gaming media wants to tell.
edit: wrong thread
These sites are trying too hard.
Agreed. They made some great points.
While launch numbers are not indicative of future performance, they're great at establishing early momentum in the consumer sphere and work wonders to convince publishers to green-light their post-launch projects for the system.
It doesn't matter that they have sold almost more than the Wii U in weeks than a year.
Saying they don't matter is extremely idiotic. Are they indicative of the coming years? Probably not. Do they matter? Of course they do! I'm sure Sony and Microsoft will brief share holders on these console sales by saying "These are great numbers, record breaking for our company and the industry, but they don't matter."
I'm getting sick of video game personalities and writers putting on their analyst caps for clicks.
I'm getting sick of video game personalities and writers putting on their analyst caps for clicks.
I have been straight down the middle the past two gens and have always rolled my eyes and scoffed at calls of media bias, BUUUUT the continued minimizing of Sony's recent success is becoming harder to rationalize.
Last edited by Nealand Liquor; Today at 08:18 AM.
Reason: edited for clarity
How is selling 2 million consoles in only two territories not a big deal?
I like how he says it doesn't really make a difference because there's really not that many consoles out there right now and they'd sell out anyway. I've been gaming since the Atari. The fact that Sony even had two million consoles on store shelves is mind-blowing to me let alone the fact they sold out.
I'm not saying that the Xbox One selling a million plus isn't impressive either. It is. But we're talking like 23 countries versus two.
I'm not suggesting either the PS4 or Xbox One are going to be selling out for the next year like the Wii, but blowing off the fact that there were literally a million plus consoles on store shelves that sold out as no big deal seems a little revisionist history to me.
I like how he says it doesn't really make a difference because there's really not that many consoles out there right now and they'd sell out anyway. I've been gaming since the Atari. The fact that Sony even had two million consoles on store shelves is mind-blowing to me let alone the fact they sold out.
I'm not saying that the Xbox One selling a million plus isn't impressive either. It is. But we're talking like 23 countries versus two.
I'm not suggesting either the PS4 or Xbox One are going to be selling out for the next year like the Wii, but blowing off the fact that there were literally a million plus consoles on store shelves that sold out as no big deal seems a little revisionist history to me.
Sony sold 2 million in 30 countries and Microsoft launched in 13 countries and sold over a million.Originally Posted by GillianSeed79
How is selling 2 million consoles in only two territories not a big deal?
I like how he says it doesn't really make a difference because there's really not that many consoles out there right now and they'd sell out anyway. I've been gaming since the Atari. The fact that Sony even had two million consoles on store shelves is mind-blowing to me let alone the fact they sold out.
I'm not saying that the Xbox One selling a million plus isn't impressive either. It is. But we're talking like 23 countries versus two.
I'm not suggesting either the PS4 or Xbox One are going to be selling out for the next year like the Wii, but blowing off the fact that there were literally a million plus consoles on store shelves that sold out as no big deal seems a little revisionist history to me.
But not compared to the PS4. The way the PS4 shot out the gate just shows how weak the Wii U's launch was. The PS4's first two days in the UK made up more than half of the Wii U's first week sales in the US even though the US market is much bigger than the UK's.Originally Posted by Infinite_Daremo
Compared to what its doing now... Yes.
Ah. I'm an idiot. Thanks for calling me out. Apologies. I still think the sales between MS and Sony aren't something to be scoffed at. Both sales figures are pretty impressive.Originally Posted by geek_box12
Sony sold 2 million in 30 countries and Microsoft launched in 13 countries and sold over a million.
Seems to be a widespread effort to downplay console launch numbers, not sure why. They are not directly indictative of a products life cycle sales curve but they certainly give a huge insight into the reception of a product. It seems to be a long running fallacy or retcon that consoles always sell out at launch, not sure where that's from either but this time last gen we had threads of people posting pics of stacks like 9 deep of consoles sitting on display areas in stores.
Tell that to the third parties that had games bomb left, right and centre at the Wii U launch.
Strange the media is trying to downplay a strong start for their hobby of choice, all signs are encouraging thus far
Of course it doesn't matter, xboxone isn't winning that's why.
Lol Gamespot. Fuck Gamespot.
Sales matter but in a way it's not exactly "telling" until after holidays, the "dead months" jan to march, which was probably one of the reasons Titanfall infamous (and probably drive club) was saved for early spring.
It is kind of hilarious how media has been downplaying it
It is kind of hilarious how media has been downplaying it
Their press release claimed they had mostly sold through their shipment, and had sold over a million. So unless you think MS is magic and can produce 500K+ units per week, then they're still sitting closer to 1 million than 2 million.Originally Posted by Chitown B
and MS is way over a million. they sold a million in one day. it's been 11 days.
Last edited by KoopaTheCasual; Today at 08:53 AM.
Originally Posted by SolidSnakex
The Wii U had a strong launch?
This. It was decent in comparison to PS360 only because they had supply. But it was far from a knockout launch.
Indeed. The PS4 and ONE had strong launches, the WiiU, not so much.Originally Posted by SolidSnakex
It sold 400k in a week in a market where a supply constrained PS4 moved a million a day. It was also well known that the console really wasn't selling out while it's very hard to find a PS4.
Look at those people going after those PS4's lol.
I don't really get the point of these articles.
Are they trying to say tepid launch sales would be a better scenario?
Yes, an initial launch boom doesn't mean long term success. What of it?
No one's claiming that it does, but it's a current success - there was strong demand at launch, there is consumer interest - and no, not all products sell out at launch.
Early adopters are good evangelizers of your product - provided it's a good product.
They create a multiplayer community that increases the value of the product and ecosystem to potential buyers.
They create a business case for the greenlighting of projects by decision makers at publishers.
Launch sales are not the be all and end all, but they are by no means meaningless.
Are they trying to say tepid launch sales would be a better scenario?
Yes, an initial launch boom doesn't mean long term success. What of it?
No one's claiming that it does, but it's a current success - there was strong demand at launch, there is consumer interest - and no, not all products sell out at launch.
Early adopters are good evangelizers of your product - provided it's a good product.
They create a multiplayer community that increases the value of the product and ecosystem to potential buyers.
They create a business case for the greenlighting of projects by decision makers at publishers.
Launch sales are not the be all and end all, but they are by no means meaningless.
Last edited by shinra-bansho; Today at 09:01 AM.
We knew by early December that that the demand for the WiiU was not particularly strong. It didn't have a great launch past the first week. Using the WiiU to dismiss other, stronger launches, isn't convincing.I don't see any contradiction in the two articles. Wii U is failing badly and launch numbers don't indicate the future.
Using the Wii U isn't a very convincing counterpoint, for the simple fact that there is no Destiny/Titanfall/Watch Dogs like titles that was hitting the system via 3rd parties 6 months from launch, that 1st party titles like Driveclub/Infamous are also coming so soon after launch as well and even if some get delayed it wouldn't be as crippling as Nintendo delaying their titles because there is enough to cover for the absence of another. Same couldn't be said for Nintendo.
It's commonly said that games are what sells consoles and if the PS4One drop as extremely as the Wii U did despite having a constant stream of games then that will be a huge shocker.
It's commonly said that games are what sells consoles and if the PS4One drop as extremely as the Wii U did despite having a constant stream of games then that will be a huge shocker.
Stop saying that nothing matters!
Console wars articles get clicks, it's just the way it is
I thought we already had this thread? But either way they are right. At the moment the hardcore fans are the ones rushing to pick up these next-gen consoles. But that doesn't tell us anything about how it will appeal to a wider audience in the next year or two.
The only thing that I can say about the 2 launches now is "congratz, you don't suck like the Wii U!"
The only thing that I can say about the 2 launches now is "congratz, you don't suck like the Wii U!"
They mean nothing, unless they could possibly be an indicator of where the generation is heading. In which case I'd say it's quite interesting.
so if launch numbers were really low it wouldn't matter either right?
I agree. Current sales are not a reflection of demand, just how many units each company was able to make. It is at least encouraging however that they were both able to sell out, and I'd imagine the PS4's early lead matters at least a little to developers. But the real test of these consoles is if they can keep selling after the first 20m when they've saturated the hardcore fans.
Either the PS4 and XBONE numbers are meaningful at this stage or they are not.I don't see any contradiction in the two articles. Wii U is failing badly and launch numbers don't indicate the future.
You can't trot them out for one article and proclaim the Wii U dead and then trot them out for another article and say the numbers don't matter.
The hardcore are always the ones buy consoles at launch. The significant thing with these launches is that there are a record number of hardcore gamers buying these consoles. This is in stark contrast to the people who were claiming that hardcore and casuals were shrinking because of iPads or whatever.Originally Posted by watershed
I thought we already had this thread? But either way they are right. At the moment the hardcore fans are the ones rushing to pick up these next-gen consoles. But that doesn't tell us anything about how it will appeal to a wider audience in the next year or two.
The only thing that I can say about the 2 launches now is "congratz, you don't suck like the Wii U!"
Depends how low, but yes I'd say it wouldn't matter either. For reference judging by launch numbers we could have assumed the PSP and PS3 would have dominated the UK, as they both sold over twice as many launch units there compared to the 360 (which only did something like 70k), but that wasn't the case. Over the next three months we'll have a way better understanding of where both they machines are heading, and whether the Xbox is as doomed as people were saying.Originally Posted by bigboss370
so if launch numbers were really low it wouldn't matter either right?
Last edited by SparkTR; Today at 10:24 AM.
I didn't hear that. The talk about consoles being doomed was that casuals were no longer interested, not that hardcore gamers had lost interest. Right now we are seeing the hardcore fans rushing to buy these new next-gen consoles. But that doesn't say anything about what will happen after these initial consumers have made their purchases.The hardcore are always the ones buy consoles at launch. The significant thing with these launches is that there are a record number of hardcore gamers buying these consoles. This is in stark contrast to the people who were claiming that hardcore and casuals were shrinking because of iPads or whatever.
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