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NPD Sales Results for October 2015 [Up1: Xbox #1]

Fun fact: based on the NPD numbers mentioned earlier in this thread, Halo 5 had more sales per day in its opening month than Reach. Definitely less than 3, but it's definitely a different picture than some are painting here.

What the... is this for real ? This implies that a game is selling the same amount each day during the month.
 

cameron

Member
Fun fact: based on the NPD numbers mentioned earlier in this thread, Halo 5 had more sales per day in its opening month than Reach. Definitely less than 3, but it's definitely a different picture than some are painting here.

You can't extrapolate 5 days of sales as a linear trend for the month. It would make a nice Arstechnica article, though.
 

panda-zebra

Member
Fun fact: based on the NPD numbers mentioned earlier in this thread, Halo 5 had more sales per day in its opening month than Reach. Definitely less than 3, but it's definitely a different picture than some are painting here.

Your fun fact only seeks to impart its own distorted image.
 

hawk2025

Member
Fun fact: based on the NPD numbers mentioned earlier in this thread, Halo 5 had more sales per day in its opening month than Reach. Definitely less than 3, but it's definitely a different picture than some are painting here.


Fun fact:

Put that in a graph and extrapolate for a full year. That will be fun.

Oh, I hear Arstechnica is hiring!
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
Fun fact: based on the NPD numbers mentioned earlier in this thread, Halo 5 had more sales per day in its opening month than Reach. Definitely less than 3, but it's definitely a different picture than some are painting here.

You can't be serius lol.
 

truth411

Member
Destiny bundle for PS4 was an anomaly. It happen 10 months in the 1st year of launch so there was still new generation hype. It was the white console color sku, so that had its own attraction. Also there long thread on slickdeals in summer 2014 of people buying used systems from cowboom and trading them into Gamestop when they were giving $398 trade in value for them if you purchased a XB1 or PS4. You were also able to put the credit toward the White PS4 Destiny bundle. Which most were doing.

No doubt Halo 3 was the high mark for the series as far as sales go. Sept. 2007 MS moved about 520K Xbox 360. I will add though a month before the core Xbox 360 price dropped to $280.


It still is...

Halo 5: Guardians Smashes Record with Biggest Halo Launch in History

One week after launching worldwide, Halo 5: Guardians has made history as the biggest Halo launch and fastest-selling Xbox One exclusive game to-date, with more than $400 million in global sales of Halo 5: Guardians games and hardware, pushing the franchise to over $5 billion lifetime. With the highest week one attach rate for a Microsoft first party title on Xbox One, the game was the most played of any game on Xbox One, as well as the most played on Xbox Live.
https://news.xbox.com/2015/11/04/halo-5-guardians-biggest-halo-launch-in-history/
Sorry bro, you've been fooled by M.S. PR Spin. Those are shipped numbers not sell through.
 

FATALITY

Banned
lol
this thread.

halo sales are bad for a halo game.
ps4 and xbone "bombed"

these are facts, there is no need to spin.
i wish i could find all the halo 5 sales prediction from xbox fans before e3 this year.
that would be gold.
 
Fun fact: based on the NPD numbers mentioned earlier in this thread, Halo 5 had more sales per day in its opening month than Reach. Definitely less than 3, but it's definitely a different picture than some are painting here.

I appreciate what you're trying to do.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to do a proper comp because of the days in release, as you point out.

However, games, in the launch month, experience an exponential decay rate. Sales start at their highest point, decline sharply for a number of days, before smoothing out.

Random internet picture as example (although not completely accurate, as some seasonality bumps occur on Saturdays and Sundays, with mid week having small dips from the curve, and of course the curve will not bottom out at 0. It's just illustrative):

exponential-decay.gif


Y would be sales, and X would be time.

Games do not sell X,000 copies on day 4 and the same X,000 copies on day 15. The earlier the day, the higher the % of the overall sales in the period that day accounts for.

But yes, monthly comparables are terrible. And yes, if you lined up all the games and looked at the sales after X number of days, then it would be a better comparison. But regardless, the gap here is so large as to make that kind of comparison meaningful, but not result changing.

Enjoy the game. The franchise isn't going anywhere, and some dumb sales number of a product shouldn't impact anyone's enjoyment of it.
 

mejin

Member
Fun fact: based on the NPD numbers mentioned earlier in this thread, Halo 5 had more sales per day in its opening month than Reach. Definitely less than 3, but it's definitely a different picture than some are painting here.

TgfbS.gif
 

pastrami

Member
I can't imagine either company being too happy with October. But all the spinning is pretty interesting to read.

November will probably be great for both companies, but October was a complete dud.
 

Bgamer90

Banned
I appreciate what you're trying to do.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to do a proper comp because of the days in release, as you point out.

However, games, in the launch month, experience an exponential decay rate. Sales start at their highest point, decline sharply for a number of days, before smoothing out.

Random internet picture as example (although not completely accurate, as some seasonality bumps occur on Saturdays and Sundays, with mid week having small dips from the curve, and of course the curve will not bottom out at 0. It's just illustrative):

exponential-decay.gif


Y would be sales, and X would be time.

Games do not sell X,000 copies on day 4 and the same X,000 copies on day 15. The earlier the day, the higher the % of the overall sales in the period that day accounts for.

But yes, monthly comparables are terrible. And yes, if you lined up all the games and looked at the sales after X number of days, then it would be a better comparison. But regardless, the gap here is so large as to make that kind of comparison meaningful, but not result changing.

Enjoy the game. The franchise isn't going anywhere, and some dumb sales number of a product shouldn't impact anyone's enjoyment of it.

Good post.
 

onanie

Member
Hi guys so November will be the big tell tale month. I see a lot of talk of halo etc. I believe this was uncharted release month, has there been any discussion on this? Numbers etc. I know Sony thought a lot of customers had moved from 360 to ps4 and expected/wanted uncharted to do well. Has this been discussed here? Is there a reason it is so low in the charts. Number 9 must be dire low, surely? I'm a big uncharted fan, I wanted it to do better

Yeah, Uncharted 4 didn't do so well.
 
I appreciate what you're trying to do.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to do a proper comp because of the days in release, as you point out.

However, games, in the launch month, experience an exponential decay rate. Sales start at their highest point, decline sharply for a number of days, before smoothing out.

Random internet picture as example (although not completely accurate, as some seasonality bumps occur on Saturdays and Sundays, with mid week having small dips from the curve, and of course the curve will not bottom out at 0. It's just illustrative):

exponential-decay.gif


Y would be sales, and X would be time.

Games do not sell X,000 copies on day 4 and the same X,000 copies on day 15. The earlier the day, the higher the % of the overall sales in the period that day accounts for.

But yes, monthly comparables are terrible. And yes, if you lined up all the games and looked at the sales after X number of days, then it would be a better comparison. But regardless, the gap here is so large as to make that kind of comparison meaningful, but not result changing.

Enjoy the game. The franchise isn't going anywhere, and some dumb sales number of a product shouldn't impact anyone's enjoyment of it.

Exactly which was illustrated nicely in the UK Charts. Halo 5s 2nd week fell by 78%
 

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
Enjoy the game. The franchise isn't going anywhere, and some dumb sales number of a product shouldn't impact anyone's enjoyment of it.

I think this bears repeating. The numbers are bad and some shake-ups might well occur within 343 and so forth. But this isn't a death warrant or anything.
 

Percy

Banned
lol
this thread.

halo sales are bad for a halo game.
ps4 and xbone "bombed"

these are facts, there is no need to spin.
i wish i could find all the halo 5 sales prediction from xbox fans before e3 this year.
that would be gold.

Halo 5 gonna sell more in it's first month than Uncharted 4 will across it's lifetime sales!

Some of the predictions in older NPDs were just hilarious.
 

QaaQer

Member
Yeah, Uncharted 4 didn't do so well.

Nor should it. I think the collection will also hurt uc4 sales. Here is my experience:

I played the demo before release. I started it up and got lost looking for a switch to flip to turn an elevator back on, so frustration ensued. Then I had to battle furiously some helicopter with like 2 minutes of getting used to the game systems. I died many times, more frustration. I thought, "da fuq? This is horrible. I should buy the collection because there has to be something there. Millions of gamers can't be wrong." As a side note, this is also the reasoning I used when I bought a wiiu and $350 of software. So, I then played uc1, and aside from ten minutes of likeable dialog, I was astounded at how bad the game is, truly bad. I also feel the same way about the wiiu, BTW.
 

xch1n

Member
I'm sorry it seemed like I was saying it was linear, it's obviously not. But given that five is much less than fifteen, comparing them straight up, as has been done in this thread, is flawed. Thanks for the charts, and admission that the comparison is sufficiently skewed as to be compared with caveats. I've learned to not post from my phone. Halo is definitely declining from its halcyon days. It's not "over."
 

onanie

Member
Nor should it. I think the collection will also hurt uc4 sales. Here is my experience:

I played the demo before release. I started it up and got lost looking for a switch to flip to turn an elevator back on, so frustration ensued. Then I had to battle furiously some helicopter with like 2 minutes of getting used to the game systems. I died many times, more frustration. I thought, "da fuq? This is horrible. I should buy the collection because their has to be something there. Millions of gamers can't be wrong." As a side note, this is also the reasoning I used when I bought a wiiu and $350 of software. So, I then played uc1, and aside from ten minutes of likeable dialog, I was astounded at how bad the game is, truly bad. I also feel the same way about the wiiu, BTW.

Interesting to hear your experience. I've not played UC1 myself.
 

De_Legend

Banned
Fun fact: based on the NPD numbers mentioned earlier in this thread, Halo 5 had more sales per day in its opening month than Reach. Definitely less than 3, but it's definitely a different picture than some are painting here.

Fun post you meant, yes.
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
They're angry cause Halo 5 did really well, Xbox One outsold PS4, and they're trying hard to turn this all into bad news.

sage mode activated

I know the series has seen a huge decline, but did all of those games ship in October? Like the Halo 5 comparisons, I think this is a huge variable as November can really skew things. Again, not saying there isn't an obvious decline, just that addressing the percentage of the decline isn't necessarily that straight forward based on those raw values.

Some launched in Nov and some late Oct. AC3 was late October. Not sure how to explain such high sales numbers for the worst AC game since the original. Maybe the setting? (America Fuck Yeah). lol

AC4 was released at PS4/XBone launch so that likely contributed to that bump.
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
Guys, do you think Halo 5 will sell 2 million ( retail ) in the US by end of this year?
It need to sell more than double of what sold first week...

For a comparation, Halo 3 sold 3.3 millions the firsts 2 weeks, and 4.82 millions in 2007.

Halo 4 sold 3.2 millions first NPD, and over 5 millions in 2012.

Halo Reach has sold 3.3 millions first NPD and less than 4.87 millions in 2010.
 

vpance

Member
I wouldn't be surprised if Uncharted underperforms big like Halo too.

If you're not COD or BF you need to be some sort of open world RPG/looter to hit the jackpot in sales these days. GG (and SSM before they fucked themselves) are on the right track going in that direction with Horizon, and I hope ND throws their hat in the ring too for their next new IP. The genre still has much room to improve and it'd be interesting to see what they can pull off.
 

kadotsu

Banned
I'm sorry it seemed like I was saying it was linear, it's obviously not. But given that five is much less than fifteen, comparing them straight up, as has been done in this thread, is flawed. Thanks for the charts, and admission that the comparison is sufficiently skewed as to be compared with caveats. I've learned to not post from my phone. Halo is definitely declining from its halcyon days. It's not "over."

Halo is most definitely not over. Just look at once top of the world franchises like Final Fantasy. They were confident until XII. Then costs exploded and SE started to chase the CoD audience, which led to XIII, which in turn led to XIV being released early in a shit state. They turned it around with ARR and are very profitable right now and they seem to be back in the conversation with XV (highly subjective).

MS will need to rethink Halo. The eSports angle seems (so far) to be a dud. Maybe things will change after the first major. Warzone already seems like a focus on a smaller audience raising the average price of purchase with microtransactions. If I was to guess 343's next move it would be to focus on Masterchief on the campaign side and create a co-op, loot driven strike mode to rival games like Destiny and The Division.

That said Halo games will be made for the next 20 years.
 
I apologize if this has been asked before but have we received any more updates regarding some of the other niche releases like Dragon Quest, ToZ and Disgaea 5?

I loved NPD George but he is no creamsugar when it comes to giving numbers. I need my niche games sales figure =/
 

onanie

Member
I'm sorry it seemed like I was saying it was linear, it's obviously not. But given that five is much less than fifteen, comparing them straight up, as has been done in this thread, is flawed. Thanks for the charts, and admission that the comparison is sufficiently skewed as to be compared with caveats. I've learned to not post from my phone. Halo is definitely declining from its halcyon days. It's not "over."

Halo reach did not sell at a constant daily rate for fifteen days. It too, would have been front loaded in the first five days.

What you have suggested is something even Microsoft PR would be proud of.
 

FATALITY

Banned
I wouldn't be surprised if Uncharted underperforms big like Halo too.

If you're not COD or BF you need to be some sort of open world RPG/looter to hit the jackpot in sales these days. GG (and SSM before they fucked themselves) are on the right track going in that direction with Horizon, and I hope ND throws their hat in the ring too for their next new IP. The genre still has much room to improve and it'd be interesting to see what they can pull off.

that wont happen. every halo trailer was generic and boring.
uncharted 4 looks insane
 

De_Legend

Banned
Nor should it. I think the collection will also hurt uc4 sales. Here is my experience:

I played the demo before release. I started it up and got lost looking for a switch to flip to turn an elevator back on, so frustration ensued. Then I had to battle furiously some helicopter with like 2 minutes of getting used to the game systems. I died many times, more frustration. I thought, "da fuq? This is horrible. I should buy the collection because there has to be something there. Millions of gamers can't be wrong." As a side note, this is also the reasoning I used when I bought a wiiu and $350 of software. So, I then played uc1, and aside from ten minutes of likeable dialog, I was astounded at how bad the game is, truly bad. I also feel the same way about the wiiu, BTW.

I would be shocked if U4 doesn't sell better than the first ones.
 

Kyoufu

Member
I wouldn't be surprised if Uncharted underperforms big like Halo too.

If you're not COD or BF you need to be some sort of open world RPG/looter to hit the jackpot in sales these days. GG (and SSM before they fucked themselves) are on the right track going in that direction with Horizon, and I hope ND throws their hat in the ring too for their next new IP. The genre still has much room to improve and it'd be interesting to see what they can pull off.

For Uncharted 4 to "underperform" in the US, it'd have to sell under what, 700k in its debut?

I don't see Uncharted 4 under 700k. Unlike 343i, Naughty Dog actually have a strong pedigree for delivering quality titles, especially recently.
 

Alo0oy

Banned
I wouldn't be surprised if Uncharted underperforms big like Halo too.

If you're not COD or BF you need to be some sort of open world RPG/looter to hit the jackpot in sales these days. GG (and SSM before they fucked themselves) are on the right track going in that direction with Horizon, and I hope ND throws their hat in the ring too for their next new IP. The genre still has much room to improve and it'd be interesting to see what they can pull off.

It's possible, but there's no indication whatsoever, every game can POSSIBLY bomb in its next entry.

The only indication we have is that each entry sold exponentially better than its predecessor. Something like 4m -> 7m -> 10m, that's a sign of a growing and healthy franchise, not the other way around.
 

xch1n

Member
Halo reach did not sell at a constant daily rate for fifteen days. It too, would have been front loaded in the first five days.

What you have suggested is something even Microsoft PR would be proud of.

If only we had equivalent time periods to compare, maybe we would be able to draw confident conclusions!
 

Ploid 3.0

Member
Yeah, it was already announced.

Wow I didn't know this, looked it up, and now looking forward to more.

Edit: It seems like Halo 5 was bound to be a disappointment unless it sold like 3-4 million in it's first few days, physical and not bundled. It's kinda good to have that kind of expectation, well unless it's budget dictated that kind of goal. It will be making some money on it's cards so there's extra revenue for them.
 
MS will need to rethink Halo. The eSports angle seems (so far) to be a dud. Maybe things will change after the first major. Warzone already seems like a focus on a smaller audience raising the average price of purchase with microtransactions. If I was to guess 343's next move it would be to focus on Masterchief on the campaign side and create a co-op, loot driven strike mode to rival games like Destiny and The Division.

That said Halo games will be made for the next 20 years.
343 just did rethink Halo and it's good. I don't get these kind of posts. Poor initial sales don't always reflect a poor game just like really good initial sales don't always equate to a rock solid game. I think over time Halo 5's popularity and the eSports Halo community will return because the matchmaking really does shine. I'm stoked for the release of forge and BTB. Game should only get better over time as new maps and additional game-types are the only thing missing.

that wont happen. every halo trailer was generic and boring.
uncharted 4 looks insane
That's not subjective or anything...
 
For Uncharted 4 to "underperform" in the US, it'd have to sell under what, 700k in its debut?

I don't see Uncharted 4 under 700k. Unlike 343i, Naughty Dog actually have a strong pedigree for delivering quality titles, especially recently.

This

Naughty dog are the drake of video games

They have the Midas touch
 
Uncharted 4 will set new sales record for the series.

When people bring games like AC and Halo and mention that they are declining, they also forget that their previous entries weren't exactly praised and loved by everyone.

In the case of Halo, Halo 4 and Master Chief Collection did a lot of damage to brand.
In the case of AC, Unity did the same to the brand and the series' sales as a whole were down.

I don't see any reason to doubt the sales of Uncharted 4 after The Last of Us. Bloodborne sold more than Demon/Dark Souls on PS4. Infamous:SS sold more than the two Infamous games on PS3. I see the the same sales trend for Uncharted 4.

It will be bigger opening than Uncharted 3, that is for certain.
 

Alo0oy

Banned
I apologize if this has been asked before but have we received any more updates regarding some of the other niche releases like Dragon Quest, ToZ and Disgaea 5?

I loved NPD George but he is no creamsugar when it comes to giving numbers. I need my niche games sales figure =/

We do know that Disgaea did well, no specific numbers though. One of those three had to bomb though, all three of them released at the same time serving the same audience, my money is on Dragon Quest.
 

onanie

Member
Can you try the uc2 demo? I'm curious as to other's reactions to it.

Currently not interested in trying/buying the remastered, but I have enjoyed the original UC2 quite a bit on PS3. For its time, it was like watching a Die Hard movie for the first time. Watching a Die Hard movie again now might be hilarious.
 
I'm sorry it seemed like I was saying it was linear, it's obviously not. But given that five is much less than fifteen, comparing them straight up, as has been done in this thread, is flawed. Thanks for the charts, and admission that the comparison is sufficiently skewed as to be compared with caveats. I've learned to not post from my phone. Halo is definitely declining from its halcyon days. It's not "over."

Uh, what? Games tend to be front loaded heavily. As in, the first five days. Look at the UK drop to see this in action (78% IIRC for Halo 5).

You're comparison is heavily flawed and your point doesn't even make sense.
 

Alo0oy

Banned
Uncharted 4 will set new sales record for series.

When people bring games like AC and Halo and mention that they are declining, they also forget that their previous entries weren't exactly praised and loved by everyone.

In the case of Halo, Halo 4 and Master Chief Collection did a lot of damage to brand.
In the case of AC, Unity did the same to the brand and the series' sales as a whole were down.

I don't see any reason to doubt the sales of Uncharted 4. Bloodborne sold more than Demon/Dark Souls on PS4. Infamous sold more than the two Infamous games on PS3. I will see the the same sales trend for Uncharted 4.

It will be bigger opening than Uncharted 3, that is for certain.

It's hard to see Uncharted sell even more than 10 million, it will probably hit all the milestones significantly faster, but it won't have the same legs.

I just don't see it selling 13-15 million.
 
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