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NPD Sales Results for January 2014 [Up3: PS4/XB1 #1/#2 best selling; Poke/SM3DW/ALBW]

Two points

One - relax everybody. This doesn't mean the industry's dead or all similar hyperbole on this thread. All it means is that gamers are out of money after a huge Dec and very few new games in Jan. Most Nov/Dec see gamers spending on 2-3 $60 games. This one saw a lot (8m odd) of them spend $400 - $500 on a new console. Obviously they're not going to spend more on games immediately.

Two - Microsoft is in serious $hit. I got it totally wrong at work where I predicted the PS4 "winning" the NPD by a tiny (10-15%) margin. This blows my forecast out of the water. All my estimates to date have assumed they'd at worst be 50-50 in NA. Time to change those numbers. My guess is that they will wait till the Titanfall launch in March (if you aren't already sick of the marketing/hype for this game you will be very soon imo). If that does not get them back in the saddle for March NPDs they will likely drop price before E3. If they "win" the March NPDs they will likely wait till e3 to drop price. Either way a price cut is coming. They are getting absolutely annihilated by the PS4 outside the US. They need to at least claw back to where the 360 was. The ironic thing is that that sort of thinking is a self fulfilling prophecy. If most people think they are going to drop price sales will likely drop enough to make the price cut inevitable.
 
I guess it's not surprising that last gen sales have dropped considering how many units are in the US. It's gotta be close to 100M consoles sold in the US that gen. People that want those systems have gotten them by now.
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Agreed. This gen is looking to be a lot more like the PS2 gen. Only with Nintendo doing a lot weaker, and Microsoft managing to do a bit better (so far...) relative to the GC and original XB.

That gen was healthy, no reason to believe this gen won't be healthy. Nintendo and Microsoft made huge mistakes with their consoles, Sony did many things right. The market has spoken and just because this gen will be a lot more lopsided doesn't mean the industry is screwed.

I would like to point out that PS2 did also have a bunch of casual disney channel and barbie style shovelware too which appealed to the casual market. That is something that the PS4 wont have thanks to the mobile market.
 

DrkSage

Member
Ok serious question: what happened to all the wii owners?

I was a wii owner when it released but halfway trough the generation a switched to ps3. Did most of them did the same and switched to Ps3/Xbox 360??? Just wondering
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
Why do dev costs matter? What matters is the audience and we've proven time and time again that the audience for games consoles continue to grow.

Not in the last few years and now even a new generation is not helping. So it costs more for them to make games to a smaller audience which is not good for anyone. There is a chance of the market being pre PS2 in size when this is all said and done. It will be a blood bath for gamer and the industry if things don't change quick.
 
I agree with you on that. Mid tier games, when they existed, were things like Killer7 or Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Indie games, as they exist now, don't offer that same sort of experience. The budgets and team sizes just aren't there. Yet.

The budgets are certainly there, they are just coming from western developers. Perhaps you simply don't like their games, but a mid tier market does exist...
 

Tobor

Member
I just don't see it. I feel like team sizes must have been somewhat larger than indie devs we have today. I'm just saying sometimes it doesn't feel like they can make something with huge scope. IDK I really just don't feel like they replace mid-tier studios. Indies can just be something else they don't need to be what something else was and that's fine.

Can you give me an example of a mid tier developed game with a "huge scope"? All I think of is licensed crap, niche weird stuff like EDF, and quirky cool stuff like Katamari Damacy.

Meanwhile, now, in addition to the same niche weird stuff and quirky cool stuff, we have what I genuinely consider to be "huge scope" projects, like Minecraft, Starbound, and DayZ.

What have we really lost? A sea of licensed crap, which is all on mobile.
 

damisa

Member
We may also see another large drop off for xbox one next month if it follows the PS3 pattern:
Jan 2007 243,554 first month of ample supply
Feb 2007 127,000 large drop off in sales

Xbox one:
Jan 2014 143,000 first month of ample supply
Feb 2014 ???
 

TheHater

Member
Ok serious question: what happened to all the wii owners?

I was a wii owner when it released but halfway trough the generation a switched to ps3. Did most of them did the same an switched to Ps3/Xbox 360??? Just wondering
I would guess half of them were casual gamers like my aunts that just got sucked into the Wii crazy that was going around in 2007/2008.
 

darkside31337

Tomodachi wa Mahou
Ok serious question: what happened to all the wii owners?

I was a wii owner when it released but halfway trough the generation a switched to ps3. Did most of them did the same an switched to Ps3/Xbox 360??? Just wondering

Some moved onto other traditional gaming platforms.

Most of them replaced their Wiis with iOS devices.
 
What does that have to do with what he said?

I agree with him that the market won't buy a $300 console to play Donkey Kong.

I was just saying paying $300 to play Donkey Kong should be more appealing than paying $400 to $500 to play an EA game.

Sadly it isn't to most
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
Ok serious question: what happened to all the wii owners?

I was a wii owner when it released but halfway trough the generation a switched to ps3. Did most of them did the same and switched to Ps3/Xbox 360??? Just wondering

Combination of mobile gaming, ftp browser stuff like farmville or just quit.
 

numble

Member
Apologies, then. The "parody" quip was only regarding the console market stuff. I loathe the "indies aren't real games" shit as much as every other sane person.

But I still don't see the "industry collapse" everyone else keeps talking about. PS4 at least seems to be doing very well. Wii U isn't worth talking about and XBO...I just don't know about that one yet. It may not do as well as I thought it would (respectable, but profitable, 2nd).

Until PS4 starts trending below PS2 (or PS1, for that matter) long term, the industry'll be okay.
How much did it cost to develop a PS2 game? How much does it cost to develop a PS4 game? We've already seen tons of studios collapse just in the transition to the Wii/PS3/360 generation, and that was cheaper to develop for.
 

crinale

Member
Ok serious question: what happened to all the wii owners?

I was a wii owner when it released but halfway trough the generation a switched to ps3. Did most of them did the same and switched to Ps3/Xbox 360??? Just wondering

As for Wii Fit crowd they've lost weight successfully so mission accomplished. Why bother getting another one?
It actually shows how effective Wii Fit was IMO
j/k
 

C4Lukins

Junior Member
Nintendo, for the love of god, lower your 3DS software prices, do it man.

Yeah I think that is the major problem with 3DS, and Nintendo in general as far as handhelds. The actual system itself is reasonably priced. But if I was to purchase it now, I would hope that I could buy several of the bigger games for it without breaking the bank. If you were to purchase a 360 or PS3 now, you could get 10 games at 20 dollars or less each. Really you could get 20 great games at around 5 bucks each with little effort. With Nintendo you know that their flagship games are never going to become impulse buys. And the big exclusive games you want are going to be a signifigant investment, not just today but 2 years from now. It is an old model, and it does not work with the amount of competition they are facing.
 

UberTag

Member
I welcome the current video game industry crash with open arms.
Publishers have been selling the same damn games to us in prettier clothes for far too long.
With the PS4/XB1 gen arriving and them not willing to change things up, it is now time for these guys to get kicked to the curb.
All hail our new indie game overlords.

The end result is that Microsoft is going to suffer substantially this gen; they will be a distant second in all major markets, they will gradually lose Xbox Live memberships, their software sales will erode, and unless Sony manages to mess up their positioning for next-gen and beyond (doubtful given the lessons learned from the PS3), their entire videogame ecosystem is now in question.
I picked today to cancel automatic renewal of my Xbox LIVE subscription for the first time since 2005. Just to twist that knife in a little deeper.
 

NandN3DS

Banned
I hope Nintendo makes enough money from core Nintendo fans to release another console in about 4 years because I like the Nintendo difference.
 

Talamius

Member
Re: Wii and third parties, I think there was a ton of long term damage done when third party devs largely dismissed it. You had 100 million potential customers and didn't seem to care enough to attempt to market to them. So, when they got tired of Wii, where were they supposed to go?

It appears they went to Facebook and mobile.
 

A_Gorilla

Banned
I would like to point out that PS2 did also have a bunch of casual disney channel and barbie style shovelware too which appealed to the casual market. That is something that the PS4 wont have thanks to the mobile market.

Could indie games fill the void left low and mid-tier developers?
 

Curufinwe

Member
We may also see another large drop off for xbox one next month if it follows the PS3 pattern:
Jan 2007 243,554 first month of ample supply
Feb 2007 127,000 large drop off in sales

Xbox one:
Jan 2014 143,000 first month of ample supply
Feb 2014 ???

Less than 100K is possible.
 

BlackJace

Member
On what grounds? Lack of mid-tier titles and systems? That's ok if you ask me. If I sit in front of my TV I expect a grand experience with spectacular visuals, sounds and gameplay. When I want bite size gaming I'll reach for my iPad/iPhone.

Those big, grand scale games you like so much are draining whatever life this industry has left at an alarming rate. A healthy industry shouldn't be a spectrum with only two extremes.
 

Mooreberg

Member
Is there some alternate reality where the PC desktop market hasn't been in free fall and the top mobile games aren't Flappy Dong and Candy Crush Lawsuit? There is a pretty clear distillation of what works on each platform at this point. For most people on this forum, it is still going to be Steam and console games.
 

MechaX

Member
On what grounds? Lack of mid-tier titles and systems? That's ok if you ask me. If I sit in front of my TV I expect a grand experience with spectacular visuals, sounds and gameplay. When I want bite size gaming I'll reach for my iPad/iPhone.

We're already in an industry phase where to really play in development, you have to throw millions upon millions of dollars at something (like Ubisoft, EA, etc) and one or two missteps can equal the complete shuttering of a company. Alternatively, you can just make your Candy Crush flavor of the month with shitloads of microtransactions for absolutely no effort. Why would you want things to get even worse in that regard?
 

NandN3DS

Banned
Re: Wii and third parties, I think there was a ton of long term damage done when third party devs largely dismissed it. You had 100 million potential customers and didn't seem to care enough to attempt to market to them. So, when they got tired of Wii, where were they supposed to go?

It appears they went to Facebook and mobile.


Yes
 

FiggyCal

Banned
Because the market has to expand. Costs have gone way, way up. Profits are way, way down.

There is a point where the opportunity cost of making a console game is just going to be so high.

And let's be real. The PS4 is not going to match the PS2.

I'm sorry, but that isn't the case. While no word on profit: "From 2005 to 2010, the entertainment software industry's revenue more than doubled." http://www.theesa.com/games-improving-what-matters/economy.asp

We are seeing a continued growth of the console market. The console audience could not have possibly disappeared from the time of GTA 5's launch in September to January.
 

AniHawk

Member
We may also see another large drop off for xbox one next month if it follows the PS3 pattern:
Jan 2007 243,554 first month of ample supply
Feb 2007 127,000 large drop off in sales

Xbox one:
Jan 2014 143,000 first month of ample supply
Feb 2014 ???

it's possible that a lot of returns were factored into the xbox one's sales for january and that february might be higher as a result. that's what happened with the wii u last year.
 

Fdkn

Member
Ok serious question: what happened to all the wii owners?

I was a wii owner when it released but halfway trough the generation a switched to ps3. Did most of them did the same and switched to Ps3/Xbox 360??? Just wondering

They are playing Candy Crush Saga now
 

Jamix012

Member
I'm sorry, but that isn't the case. While no word on profit: "From 2005 to 2010, the entertainment software industry's revenue more than doubled." http://www.theesa.com/games-improving-what-matters/economy.asp

We are seeing a continued growth of the console market. The console audience could not have possibly disappeared from the time of GTA 5's launch in September to January.

From 2005 to 2010? You're shitting me right. The console market grew from 2005-2010, so it isn't shrinking! (despite shrinking from 2010-2014.) GTA V's performance was impeccible, but one successful piece of software cannot carry the industry, the same way the PS4 can't on it's own either.
 
PS4 almost doubling Xbox One eh? Good. Gooood. Sooner that price drop hits, sooner I get my hands on an Xbox.

image.php



might get a XO for Halo 2 anniversary (seeing as a love Halo 2)
 

njean777

Member
Should they use the even worse Japanese numbers or the non-existent European ones?

Idk the numbers look fine from last gens. I don't know why people are expecting this gen to magically sell 1million per month of units for a whole year or something. But this is gaf and hyperbole is king. #consolegamingisdead
 
Ok serious question: what happened to all the wii owners?
Many of them were casuals that only got into the Wii waggle fad, many of the Wiis were for kids who are now playing on a tablet instead, and many were people that didn't want to pay $400 just to play Super Mario 3D (OK that last one is me.)
 
From 2005 to 2010? You're shitting me right. The console market grew from 2005-2010, so it isn't shrinking! (despite shrinking from 2010-2014.) GTA V's performance was impeccible, but one successful piece of software cannot carry the industry, the same way the PS4 can't on it's own either.

not to mention much of the growth was driven by Nintendo
WHOOPS
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
I'm sorry, but that isn't the case. While no word on profit: "From 2005 to 2010, the entertainment software industry's revenue more than doubled." http://www.theesa.com/games-improving-what-matters/economy.asp

We are seeing a continued growth of the console market. The console audience could not have possibly disappeared from the time of GTA 5's launch in September to January.
Do I still need to respond or do you see your issue?
 
I hope Sony doesn't merely just rest on its laurels and think this is just going to last on its own.

They seem to be very passive in the last months since launch,

Its like they went "Well we're in the lead now. We can just kick back and relax!".

I don't think they realize how tenuous this lead is. It is something that could be EASILY overturned if MS takes some proactive and aggressive steps like price drops, game announcements, etc.

Sony needs to be far more of a domineering force in the industry if they want to keep the lead they have. They need to keep matching Microsoft blow for blow.

Sony needs to be as determined and purposeful as they were last year. The enthusiasm they garnered last year paid big dividends, but it isn't going to last forever if Sony doesn't maintain it.
 
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