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[TharpDaddy]

Microsoft just shot themselves in the foot.

I don't know how much the rest of you know about game sales culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in Movies where you can become successful by posting revenue. If you screw someone over in games sales, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the neogaf posters, after hearing about this, are not going to want to purchase any software for their hardware, nor will they purchase any of Microsoft games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Microsoft has alienated an entire forum with this move.

Microsoft, publicly apologize and release sales numbers for Halo 5 or you can kiss your business goodbye.

I love a quality satire post. 10/10

 

[Katana_Strikes]

At least this confirms that the Spectre beating number for the UK meant everything lumped in.

 

[orochi91]

I wonder how many of the people complaining in this thread is in the "industry".

So humour me for a moment:

What's your opinion of Sales dedicated threads about NPD, Media Create and various other European sales trackers? Do numbers not matter all of a sudden?

Either way we'll find out Halo 5 sales in the NPD thread in several days, unfiltered by PR spin.

 

[NoLongerALurker]

Microsoft just shot themselves in the foot.

I don't know how much the rest of you know about game sales culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in Movies where you can become successful by posting revenue. If you screw someone over in games sales, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the neogaf posters, after hearing about this, are not going to want to purchase any software for their hardware, nor will they purchase any of Microsoft games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Microsoft has alienated an entire forum with this move.

Microsoft, publicly apologize and release sales numbers for Halo 5 or you can kiss your business goodbye.

 

[Mushroomer25]

Lol. Gotta love any thread MS-related.

I wonder what has the biggest spin; the MS PR dept. promoting the sales or the Console warriors downplaying them?

It's like a ballet, as each side spins faster in opposing directions - until the actual facts become irrelevant.

 

[Trup1aya]

I think some of us are just tired of feeling lied to.

What's the lie? Everyone should know by now that no company is going to post numbers unless the numbers will generate a positive story.

Apparently to the gaming world, anything shy of Halo's former glory is a signal of Halo's impending death... No surprise they didn't give the Warriors that ammo...

 

[jayu26]

At least this confirms that the Spectre beating number for the UK meant everything lumped in.

Holy shit, I didn't even think of that. Does it make sense that that number also included hardware? I think it was explained using software alone.

 

[boredandlazy]

So humour me for a moment:

What's your opinion of Sales dedicated threads about NPD, Media Create and various other European sales trackers? Do numbers not matter all of a sudden?

Either way we'll find out Halo 5 sales in the NPD thread in several days, unfiltered by PR spin.

NPD doesn't include digital though. Plenty of straws to grasp regardless of which angle you're coming from.

 

[MaulerX]

Here's my estimated math IMO... Either way its good for NPD and other things..

175mil / $500(avg # factoring in consoles + controllers) = 350k of a blend of consoles/ controllers


225mil/ $75(avg # factoring in standard, LE and CE editions) = 3 million copies sold approx.


If the above is true (speculation), then id say that's pretty damn good IMO.

I was just trying to work out something similar. I think it's safe to say the game sold anywhere from 2-3 million (and that's being real conservative).

 

[etta]

There is nothing sad about wanting to know about sales. At the end of the day it's still a gaming industry and knowing sales numbers helps get a better understanding of what consumers want and how the market is doing. Just because one is fascinated with numbers and reviews doesn't mean they want a game to fail.

People want numbers, not blatant attempts at obfuscation.

Okay so you want hard unit numbers to judge how well the game did, that's fine.
But what about the fact that the Halo brand has had growth? Is that not a good metric to use when you want to measure success?

 

[jroc74]

All them bundles.

Wait, people seriously believe that Halo sold over 6 million copies? Seriously?

Yea when I did the math like that one poster and got that number...I just said to myself oh boy....

NPD thread cant get here soon enough.

 

[TBiddy]

So humour me for a moment:

What's your opinion of Sales dedicated threads about NPD, Media Create and various other European sales trackers? Do numbers not matter all of a sudden?

Either way we'll find out Halo 5 sales in the NPD thread in several days, unfiltered by PR spin.

I don't have a huge interest in whether the PS4 sold 300k, 350k or 400k consoles or whether Halo 5 sold 1 million, 2 million or 3 million copies, to be honest. But I get why people are curious.

But the level of entitlement and negative spin in this thread is unbelievable.

How often do you know exact sales numbers for AAA games within the first week?

 

[BokehKing]

What's the lie? Everyone should know by now that no company is going to post numbers unless the numbers will generate a positive story.

Apparently to the gaming world, anything shy of Halo's former glory is a signal of Halo's impending death... No surprise they didn't give the Warriors that ammo...

But they still did give that ammo with that ridiculous PR statement.

If anything it alludes to what we already know, halo sold decent due to misleading marketing campaigns, and the population will drop back to halo 4 numbers onnFtiday when black ops 3 comes out and even further when battlefront drops

 

[orochi91]

NPD doesn't include digital though. Plenty of straws to grasp regardless of which angle you're coming from.

So true, we have this one dude in this thread whose convinced digital sales will account for more than 40% sales for Halo 5 lmao

His entire basis for the argument is that 9 of his friends bought it digital in the UK and only 1 got it physical.

 

[boredandlazy]

Yea when I did the math like that one poster and got that number...

I just said to myself oh boy....

NPD thread cant get here soon enough.

NPD willl only cover the first half of the launch week won't it? It could have sold 5 million copies in the latter half.

 

[yukianderson]

Halo 5 : Hunt for the true numbers.

 

[kpaadet]

That statement will be studied in Spin schools for generations lol.

 

[Primethius]

Okay so you want hard unit numbers to judge how well the game did, that's fine.
But what about the fact that the Halo brand has had growth? Is that not a good metric to use when you want to measure success?

I think that's partly why we want numbers. Has it had growth in sales? These numbers show revenue. It include a lot of things (including the $500 bundle) and that will muddy up the numbers quite a bit depending on how popular that bundle was.

 

[watdaeff4]

Asking for numbers is downplaying now?

What are Destiny's numbers reported from Activision?

COD?

Madden or any from EA?

Did Sony release numbers for Until Dawn or Nathan Drake collection?

 

[theprodigy]

At least this confirms that the Spectre beating number for the UK meant everything lumped in.

???
what's this about

 

[leeh]

I literally cannot believe that you're doing this.

I can't believe the effort people went to to downplay any good news the game got. Really evident in here. People are reading between lines which aren't there in the first place.

 

[KurtSloane]

Disingenuous reporting by including hardware.

So desperate for good or when they can't give amount of games sold.

 

[RE_Player]

Okay so you want hard unit numbers to judge how well the game did, that's fine.
But what about the fact that the Halo brand has had growth? Is that not a good metric to use when you want to measure success?

How do we know the Halo brand has grew though? Perhaps there are less people interested in Halo but they are more engaged, buying a lot of hardware and software.

 

[Boke1879]

I don't have a huge interest in whether the PS4 sold 300k, 350k or 400k consoles or whether Halo 5 sold 1 million, 2 million or 3 million copies, to be honest. But I get why people are curious.

But the level of entitlement and negative spin in this thread is unbelievable.

How often do you know exact sales numbers for AAA games within the first week?

Normally MS have more than offered those numbers for halo games in the past if they sold a lot

 

[watdaeff4]

So true, we have this one dude in this thread whose convinced digital sales will account for more than 40% sales for Halo 5 lmao

His entire basis for the argument is that 9 of his friends bought it digital in the UK and only 1 got it physical.

What are the typical % digital sales for a retail release? 20-30 at most in 2015?

 

[Podge293]

i'll admit didn't read all the thread... first page went on alot about the 500 console bundle... at 400mil divided by 500 dollars, that's still a decent 800k copies of halo sold

and we all know MS didn't sell 800k of consoles in a week so i'd guess sales are around 3-4 mil for the game itself

 

[Primethius]

What are the typical % digital sales for a retail release? 20-30 at most in 2015?

20% generally. 30 is really high end.

 

[Toki767]

They say biggest launch in Halo history and then highest selling Xbox One launch, so obviously not highest selling launch in Halo history.

 

[AP90]

I was just trying to work out something similar. I think it's safe to say the game sold anywhere from 2-3 million (and that's being real conservative).

Yep. I'm not sure where digital falls into the mix, but id say the NPD results thread for Oct. will be very popcorn worthy for console sales.

Edit: And, the more people by digital direct from xbl or pan results in more profits as there are no real discounts for a period of time on those. So full price it is.

 

[Ragged Gloves]

Congrats to 343i and to the players having fun with Halo 5 !!! This game will be the first we buy when we get an Xbox One down the road.

 

[FATALITY]

Well, I bet it's above 6 million units, and most of that in the USA. (400 million / 60 us per game = 6.66 million)

And people were saying Halo was dead in USA and uncharted 4 would beat it easily. Haha.

do you think halo 5 sold 5 million in us in one week ha ha ha
unless some disaster happens
yeah uncharted 4 will outsell halo 5.

 

[watdaeff4]

20% generally. 30 is really high end.

I can't see Halo 5 doing more than that.

I would say then 25% at the most.

 

[orochi91]

What are the typical % digital sales for a retail release? 20-30 at most in 2015?

This was posted by a mod in the UK thread:

Here are some examples of how digital downloads have done as reported by publishers themselves. There are two 2014 examples and two 2015 examples if you want to see the trend and recent data:

Witcher 3: 25% of total sales http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1116442 (Keep in mind this is a major PC franchise)
Ubisoft in 2014 on PS4/XB1: 10% http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=852745
EA in 2014 on PS4/XB1: 10-15% http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=860335
EA 2015 with Battlefield Hardline PS4/XB1 (similar game to Halo): 20% http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1041340

I've talked to people in the industry who have said week one can be a bit higher (30% being quite generous, as that's usually only a day 1 type of figure), but not much higher.

 

[Lothars]

Normally MS have more than offered those numbers for halo games in the past if they sold a lot

Exactly which is why I am curious on them not releasing numbers for Halo 5.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

How do we know the Halo brand has grew though? Perhaps there are less people interested in Halo but they are more engaged, buying a lot of hardware and software.

Right. Engagement is the most valuable metric. Engagement, and emotional engagement especially. It's important to know what metrics are actually meaningful. This is where PR comes in for most folks.

Sales figures are a vanity metric. You can't draw meaningful conclusions from that. Meaningful as in a metric that helps you actually make decisions. Sales metrics for just a game as opposed to a brand don't paint a complete picture at all - share metrics are also very important, as well as consumption metrics. Economic value metrics, conversation rate metrics (which have been huge for Halo 5 specifically) and so many more.

Sales figures are such an incomplete metric for a business and its shareholders. There is far more to the big picture.

 

[Dash_Riprock]

So first it was sales numbers don't count because digital sales are't factored in. Now, numbers don't matter at all, and only revenue matters.

Which is it?

 

[orochi91]

I can't see Halo 5 doing more than that.

I would say then 25% at the most.

Agreed.

 

[Caja 117]

do you think halo 5 sold 5 million in us in one week ha ha ha
unless some disaster happens
yeah uncharted 4 will outsell halo 5.

WW, or in the USA?

 

[orochi91]

So first it was sales numbers don't count because digital sales are't factored in. Now, numbers don't matter at all, and only revenue matters.

Which is it?

All of the above, according to a few Halo fans in this thread.

 

[FATALITY]

WW, or in the USA?

WW

 

[thekonamicode]

Probably not subs but the rest. "Hardware" can mean a lot of things.

Yeah, those Halo 5 controllers add up to a lot of revenue I'm sure!

 

[jayu26]

They say biggest launch in Halo history and then highest selling Xbox One launch, so obviously not highest selling launch in Halo history.

Yeah, that first sentence is kind of confusing.

 

[Trey]

So first it was sales numbers don't count because digital sales are't factored in. Now, numbers don't matter at all, and only revenue matters.

Which is it?

Ask the particular people who posted those deflections.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Uhh what? He's asking a question and why exactly can't all of those things be included?

That's the entire point of the PR. To obfuscate things. Hence, people trying to figure it out.

I'm not saying they aren't included, but when we have people trying to, in some form, focus almost exclusively on the controllers in an effort to not give the game itself any credit at all for the figures mentioned, the true intention just comes off as pretty transparent.

 

[Trup1aya]

But they still did give that ammo with that ridiculous PR statement.

If anything it alludes to what we already know, halo sold decent due to misleading marketing campaigns, and the population will drop back to halo 4 numbers onnFtiday when black ops 3 comes out and even further when battlefront drops

Sure it's ammo, but people are just shooting in the dark... "Halo might be less popular, but generates a lot of money is better" PR than "halo is dying"

I don't think you can draw anything about whether or not people will still play the game based on week one sales... Those two items are completely unrelated...

You also can't assume that a significant amount of people bought the game solely because they were "mislead" by marketing... What evidence do you have to suggest that... H2 and H3 marketing was just as "misleading" and people still liked the gameplay.

Just about the ONLY things you can infer from this is that this game is less popular than previous entries AND the IP still generates a lot of money. Beyond that anything is just salty drivel...

 

[Boke1879]

Exactly which is why I am curious on them not releasing numbers for Halo 5.

I think because at least at this point it's sold less than previous entires

 

[etta]

How deep does the conspiracy go?

please find out and report back asap

Pretty much, grasping at straws.

MS PR spin would win that round if a handful of posters would employ some critical thinking

That doesn't really carry any weight coming from you

I think that's partly why we want numbers. Has it had growth in sales? These numbers show revenue. It include a lot of things (including the $500 bundle) and that will muddy up the numbers quite a bit depending on how popular that bundle was.

Well yea, of course it had growth. If people are buying Halo related items, be it the game, console, or controllers, the 400 million is a solid number. Brand growth = brand success. Now if it sold abysmal software numbers, but sold a lot of the other stuff, then yes, you could say that those low numbers have a significance. But do you really think the split on that 400 million is that low in favor for the software numbers?

 

[Diablohead]

Dawg told me Halo is dead

It wasn't dead, it was DAD

big important difference.

 

[djblackice]

So first it was sales numbers don't count because digital sales are't factored in. Now, numbers don't matter at all, and only revenue matters.

Which is it?

Depends on that person's goalposts and judging by some of the usual suspects, they seem to be off the field at this point and in the parking lot.

 

[Flintty]

What the actual fuck, GAF?

Good news.