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August 2008 NPD Article (Edge Online)

J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Time for the monthly Wii Play sales analysis. :D

Direct link to Edge-Online article about August 2008 NPD.

Things didn't work out to get a full request answered from NPD. I'm hoping to still get something of interest for a very short followup later this week.

Some stuff on Madden revenue:
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Other factoids of potential interest:
Xbox 360 LTD ASP is $376.49 (official figure)
Tales of Vesperia, #58, 33,000 units
Wii will pass 22 months at its launch price, breaking the record set by the Xbox 360's 21 months, and I don't expect Wii to drop until mid-2009, putting it out near 30 months at its launch price.

As always, constructive criticism is welcome. If I made an error, kindly let me know and I'll get it fixed ASAP. Thanks, guys.

In case you'd like to review previous threads:
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December and all of 2007
November 2007
October 2007
 
B JRPG on the 360. Not heavily advertised, and only recording sales for a few days. Sounds about right.
 
Man God said:
B JRPG on the 360. Not heavily advertised, and only recording sales for a few days. Sounds about right.
Click to expand...
Where would it have done better in 4 days? Please tell me.
 
jj984jj said:
Where would it have done better in 4 days? Please tell me.
Click to expand...

PS2, GCN (if titled ToS2), maybe DS. :lol

360 fans aren't quite enamored with the JRPG. They don't have an FF caliber game either, just a lot of B rank also rans, so we can't lay the blame entirely on the system.

Seriously though, it's a Tales game. It did about what you'd expect.
 
Man God said:
Blue Dragon had a rather large ad campaign behind it. Neither Scamco game did.
Click to expand...


Again they had the same amount of ads. Blue Dragon is not Lost Odessy. A younger looking RPG on the Xbox is doomed to faliure in America
 
Man God said:
PS2, GCN (if titled ToS2), maybe DS. :lol

360 fans aren't quite enamored with the JRPG. They don't have an FF caliber game either, just a lot of B rank also rans, so we can't lay the blame entirely on the system.

Seriously though, it's a Tales game. It did about what you'd expect.
Click to expand...
I seriously doubt it would've done better on PS2, both Legendia and Abyss had worse debut months than 33k and they both had almost a full month to perform. And there's no way of telling how ToS even did in 4 days.

As for DS... :lol :lol :lol :lol
 
Enjoyed the price point discussion as well as the overall economy tie in. Little surprised on ToV, but relative to 4 days I guess kind of eh. Anyhow, great read as always.
 
jj984jj said:
I seriously doubt it would've done better on PS2, both Legendia and Abyss had worse debut months than 33k and they both had almost a full month to perform. And there's no way of telling how ToS even did in 4 days.

As for DS... :lol :lol :lol :lol
Click to expand...

I was joking about the platforms. In the case of Tales success has more to do with advertising. The reason ToS did so well is that Nintendo Power and IGN Cube pimped the shit out of it for months and months.
 
Case said:
:( @ ToV

And the fact that it was a good game had nothing to do with it :o
Click to expand...

Abyss is a good game (some say better than ToS, some worse) but it didn't sell nearly as well in the US.
 
Didn't TotA only sell like 12k in its first month or something?

I don't quite remember where or what I read, except that it was horrible.
 
Man God said:
Abyss is a good game (some say better than ToS, some worse) but it didn't sell nearly as well in the US.
Click to expand...
Yea, Abyss is a better game if you like endless back tracking, horrible pacing, and annoying ass terminology being shoved down your throat at all times ;)
 
Edge-Online said:
In August 2007 Microsoft announced its first Xbox 360 price cut, which makes the year-on-year comparison unfair.
Click to expand...

What first price cut was announced in August? They announced the firesale on one model but that was it. Ironically, Edge-Online is the same place where Shane Kim said the following:

"The price reduction we announced yesterday is not a system price reduction; I want to be really clear about that because I don’t want people to accuse us of doing something that we didn’t do."

http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/shane-kim-writes-edge
 
Thanks as always JVM!

There does seem to be an error with your months post-release for Wii Play. It reads 29 months and I believe you meant 19 months.
 
Case said:
Yea, Abyss is a better game if you like endless back tracking, horrible pacing, and annoying ass terminology being shoved down your throat at all times ;)
Click to expand...

Don't forget load times! (Especially world map battles.)
 
WrikaWrek said:
I remember when No more Heroes selling 30+K units in February was good.

But for TOV in four days to sell 33k, it's bad.
Click to expand...
Yeah double standards are a bitch aren't they.
 
OldJadedGamer said:
What first price cut was announced in August? They announced the firesale on one model but that was it. Ironically, Edge-Online is the same place where Shane Kim said the following:

"The price reduction we announced yesterday is not a system price reduction; I want to be really clear about that because I don’t want people to accuse us of doing something that we didn’t do."

http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/shane-kim-writes-edge
Click to expand...
August 2007
 
Saint10118 said:
Thanks as always JVM!

There does seem to be an error with your months post-release for Wii Play. It reads 29 months and I believe you meant 19 months.
Click to expand...
*counts on fingers again*
You're right! :lol Thanks. I'll send in the correction ASAP.
 
WrikaWrek said:
I remember when No more Heroes selling 30+K units in February was good.

But for TOV in four days to sell 33k, it's bad.
Click to expand...

NMH was made for peanuts.

ToV, while certainly not endowed with the world's largest budget, is at least a step or two above that.

NMH is also most likely a one off game, ToV is from a long running nearly yearly series with a devoted but small fanbase.

No worries though, no one here is saying that ToV bombed. It'll probably turn a profit.
 
WrikaWrek said:
I remember when No more Heroes selling 30+K units in February was good.

But for TOV in four days to sell 33k, it's bad.
Click to expand...
It's weird how everything doesn't exist in a vacuum.

I don't know if anyone has PS2 Tales first month numbers, but I imagine this one will end up in the same vicinity LTD as those.
 
WrikaWrek said:
I remember when No more Heroes selling 30+K units in February was good.

But for TOV in four days to sell 33k, it's bad.
Click to expand...
No one remembers that because it never happened.
 
You know, that was overall a very good and fair read. It was quite comprehensive and took into consideration a number of relavant facts.

Only thing that wasn't very accurate was the comparison of how MGS titles faired in their first months. Ninja Gaiden, for example, was released on 6/5 and Too Human on 8/22. A 10 day performance shouldn't be compared to a 26+ day performance, all things being equal.

And though I know that pressure is being put on Sony for a price cut, the moves made last year and the financials made public should make it quite clear that such a move would be BAD for their business. They are looking at a 10 year cycle, and they will never see through if they are overly concernced with market share and not profitability. I'd like to see a PS3 price cut too (don't own one yet), but it just wouldn't be fiscally responsible this year.
 
Would it be safe to assume that ToS Wii will outsell ToV?

Considering how ToS did on GCN, it would make sense. But there's no where near as much hype for this one.
 
botticus said:
It's weird how everything doesn't exist in a vacuum.

I don't know if anyone has PS2 Tales first month numbers, but I imagine this one will end up in the same vicinity LTD as those.
Click to expand...
Tales of the abyss sold 12k...(first month).
 
BTW, I thanked you in the other topic jvm, but thanks again for the ToV numbers!

Man God said:
I was joking about the platforms. In the case of Tales success has more to do with advertising. The reason ToS did so well is that Nintendo Power and IGN Cube pimped the shit out of it for months and months.
Click to expand...
Oh ok, I thought you were just joking about the DS. :lol
 
avatar299 said:
would be relevant if you compared the days nmh had as well
Click to expand...

It was launched in 22 January. Didn't chart.

Then in february it got 30+k.

I was just making a comparison, probably not so clever comparison. I think these days you can't just throw a game out there in the shelves, you gotta market it, and from what i hear, ToV had little to no marketing (No more heroes too i think).

So if it did 33k in 4 days, it really means that at least fans of the series were waiting for it.
 
Darth Tigris said:
You know, that was overall a very good and fair read. It was quite comprehensive and took into consideration a number of relavant facts.

Only thing that wasn't very accurate was the comparison of how MGS titles faired in their first months. Ninja Gaiden, for example, was released on 6/5 and Too Human on 8/22. A 10 day performance shouldn't be compared to a 26+ day performance, all things being equal.

And though I know that pressure is being put on Sony for a price cut, the moves made last year and the financials made public should make it quite clear that such a move would be BAD for their business. They are looking at a 10 year cycle, and they will never see through if they are overly concernced with market share and not profitability. I'd like to see a PS3 price cut too (don't own one yet), but it just wouldn't be fiscally responsible this year.
Click to expand...

Yep out of all the systems the PS3 seems the most primed for long term success. Blu-Ray, HDD standard, Free online plus Next-gen graphics and quasi-motion control. Once this machine hits the magical $199 price-point Sony will sell shit-loads. There's really no need to rush to a price cut now and flush millions of dollars down the toilet though, they are selling fine and on-par with 360 at the moment.
 
Out of all systems the Wii is primed best for long term success. It probably won't be $199 until nearly 3 years into it's lifespan and it will sell amazingly well at that pricepoint. It already has a catalog library of evergreen sellers that could see it through the generation, and it will just keep on keeping on.

Hell the first real "pricedrop" for the Wii might just be a bundle with Wii Sports Resort and Motionplus.
 
PSGames said:
Yep out of all the systems the PS3 seems the most primed for long term success. Blu-Ray, HDD standard, Free online plus Next-gen graphics and quasi-motion control. Once this machine hits the magical $199 price-point Sony will sell shit-loads. There's really no need to rush to a price cut now and flush millions of dollars down the toilet though, they are selling fine and on-par with 360 at the moment.
Click to expand...


Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
 
HK-47 said:
And why is that?
Click to expand...
I don't know, common sense, history.

ToS wii has already seen more ads and hype than tov has just by NP alone.

Plus the wii demographic looks like it would receive this game in a more favorable light than 360 owners.
 
jvm said:
Wii will pass 22 months at its launch price, breaking the record set by the Xbox 360's 21 months, and I don't expect Wii to drop until mid-2009, putting it out near 30 months at its launch price.
Click to expand...

Wow, makes me remember when price drops were a rare commodity and actually mattered (i.e. not $30).
 
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