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NPD Sales Results for March 2014 [Up4: FFX/X-2 HD]

This is a US sales thread. I don't see how a UK marketing campaign is relevant in here. If US based members can chime in on the kind of marketing campaign Infamous and Titanfall received there, then that would be useful.

Because if they were marketing it that heavily here, it stands to reason and all common sense that they would market it just as heavily in the US. You don't spend that kind of money marketing a game in just one region/market, you dedicate those kinds of resources when you're planning a multi-regional marketing blitz and that's exactly what Sony did with I:SS.


We know it was a multi-million campaign in the UK/EU, it was undoubtedly the same in the US. The idea that Sony would only spend that kind of money to market the game in one region is laughable in the extreme.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
So TF figures are Xbone only?

Close to 1 million? Amazing for a 2.5m userbase... that shows most guys that wanted TF bought Xbone before March.

It's PC too, but retail...which is not exactly booming. Big reason why PC doesn't show up too much here.
 

IN&OUT

Banned
And the PS3 install base was what?

Well, yeah. I still believe that TF seriously didn't meet MS/EA/Respawn expectations at all (sales wise) . Also any game that recieved similar push would pull similar numbers easily.

Thing was giving away for free! Yet barely broke 1m sales in 2 weeks?!
 
Could the reason be that people don't want an Xbox. And I have a feeling the whole DRM debacle left a sour taste in most peoples mouth.

Most people don't want to have two consoles. And when you can only get one then you really need to be huge titanfall/halo/forza fan to buy Xbone
 

Aaron

Member
Once you get over the wow factor of the dropping mechs, Titanfall is just another COD. Same modes, same weapons, same progression... but less content in all areas. Both EA and MS beat the wow factor of those mechs into the ground over the past nine months, so it's no surprise there hasn't been much message board chatter about it. They should have been more risky and ambitious with it, instead of playing it super duper safe.
 
Not sure. Don't remember much of the post from last E3 about TitanFall and how much it would sell and if it would save the X1. I do remember post about the X1 falling flat on it's face and not selling because of all the crap it said, and price point and less power and all... yet it's sold 60% more than the 360 in the same time.

Seems like they're doing just fine.

It's lucky you only remembered the bit that supports your argument!
 
A lot of people [early adopters/hardcore users] who wanted to play Titanfall puchased the console before March. And when March came, console did not managed to attract new users. Game is definetley not a strong "system seller" for general population. It did not move casual COD crowd [which is incredibly large group of gamers].


Guess so, seems like the only logical explanation
 
I wonder how Microsoft feels about paying for the Titanfall exclusive deal. EA/Respawn surely feel fine, they got the money and the sales, but I don't see how Microsoft is going to benefit from it in any longterm fashion considering how it's barely a blip of help now.
I'm not sure what the expectations were, they must have understood MP only limited its appeal. They must have sold a lot of hardware at Christmas based on that deal as well.
 

Coolwhip

Banned
Can't someone make a website with just this image, but updated live with some statistics? Would be great to have for the console warz.

ps4sales6fypj0.jpg
 

Floex

Member
I absolutely love how people seem to ignore the slow ass start of the Playstation 1 back in the day...what a failure of a console that was, right? Hahaha

Lol. Seeing as the Playstation was unknown quantity at time it was always going to be expected to start slow. Xbox isn't some new boy on the block, you know. Terrible argument.
 

TheCloser

Banned
There's a reason why you can't find it to begin with.
Yes because they haven't sent any new supply to retailers in months in an attempt to clear stock for the incoming model. They did this with the psp as well. Please, at least know what you're talking about before you talk.
 
Can't someone make a website with just this image, but updated live with some statistics? Would be great to have for the console warz.

ps4sales6fypj0.jpg


I love the " shipped" behind the Xbox one... why only there? if a chart is made everything on it should be compared the same and not as somebody likes it to have so it looks better....

what if MS "shipped" 100 million xbox one`s. Would they lead ? well in this chart yes...
 

mclem

Member
Lol. Seeing as the Playstation was unknown quantity at time it was always going to be expected to start slow. Xbox isn't some new boy on the block, you know. Terrible argument.

But they both have 'one' in the name! Therefore they're the same!.
 
"Just as big" is a bold claim and leap of logic.

It really isn't. From personal experience, I saw advertising that was heavily in favour of I:SS. The ads were literally everywhere with TV ads running almost non stop, it played in front of every single movie in the cinema as well as bus and tube ads. And let's not forget it sponsoring Agents of SHIELD.

In comparison, I saw no cinema ads, hardly any TV ads and very few bus/tube ads for TV.

It was an ad campaign that surpassed that of The Last of Us in my opinion. It was huge and rightly so, the game is amazing and Sucker Punch deserved to see the series finally become a huge success.
 
Sony really needs to get around to creating PS4's in a more efficient pace.

Right now, it seems like there they are still having problems keeping the supply up with the demand.

It seems like they have produced around an average of a million units per month.

Not bad, but even that cannot match the consumer interest, as of yet.
At the Best Buy in my town, there were 4 PS4s. Then again, the Xbox display is bigger and facing the store entrance while the PS4 display is facing the stereo equipment across an aisle.

The Vita presence is paltry. Amazon or PSN Store gets my Vita dollars these days.
 

Dynedom

Member
I wonder how Microsoft feels about paying for the Titanfall exclusive deal. EA/Respawn surely feel fine, they got the money and the sales, but I don't see how Microsoft is going to benefit from it in any longterm fashion considering how it's barely a blip of help now.

I'd imagine it's the other way around in ways until we get the official XBO numbers for Titanfall.

If the number of XBO's sold this month was due more to the discounts and NOT Titanfall, MS would have to be pretty disappointed. Otherwise, they have to be at least grateful they HAD Titanfall and that it potentially boosted their sales.

EA, on the other hand, will surely see this as a bungled opportunity to have raked in some easy cash. They don't care if the XBO is staying afloat outside of recovering their "investment".
 
I love the " shipped" behind the Xbox one... why only there? if a chart is made everything on it should be compared the same and not as somebody likes it to have so it looks better....

what if MS "shipped" 100 million xbox one`s. Would they lead ? well in this chart yes...

Yeah that's BS and pretty F-ing obvious that someone is trying to make the Xbone look like it's doing better than it is. Either change all the quantities to their shipped #s or change the Xbone's shipped quantity into the actual sold quantity. Otherwise this is just dishonest propaganda to make the Xbone look like it's not doing as badly as it actually is (relative to the PS4)
 

Ethelwulf

Member
Mother of god. I'm waking up, just found this!
Do we know if Titanfall sold more than ISS excluding PC? Any clues on how many PS4 were sold?
 
Yeah that's BS and pretty F-ing obvious that someone is trying to make the Xbone look like it's doing better than it is. Either change all the quantities to their shipped #s or change the Xbone's shipped quantity into the actual sold quantity.

they are all shipped numbers, its just that for ps4 and wii shipped also happens to mean sold
 
I love the " shipped" behind the Xbox one... why only there? if a chart is made everything on it should be compared the same and not as somebody likes it to have so it looks better....

what if MS "shipped" 100 million xbox one`s. Would they lead ? well in this chart yes...

We are just working with what we have.
otherwise we would have no current data for the Xbone.
 
Because if they were marketing it that heavily here, it stands to reason and all common sense that they would market it just as heavily in the US. You don't spend that kind of money marketing a game in just one region/market, you dedicate those kinds of resources when you're planning a multi-regional marketing blitz and that's exactly what Sony did with I:SS.



We know it was a multi-million campaign in the UK/EU, it was undoubtedly the same in the US. The idea that Sony would only spend that kind of money to market the game in one region is laughable in the extreme.

Again, that's not the issue. I find it highly unlikely that the US marketing spend for Infamous was anywhere near what EA/MS spent for Titanfall in the US. Sony aren't stupid, they will have deployed resources where they would make the most difference.

Also, the $100m figure quoted by that article does not seem realistic. There is absolutely no way that the corporate heads in Sony would allow so much to be spunked on a single game. Especially one with such a marginal appeal. Even with the solid 1m sold figure, that derives revenue to Sony of around $30m, afaik, Sony rarely make games that require more than 2m sales to break even with marketing included.

What you are not taking into account is the extraordinary spend by MS to include TF in every sale with the hardware over the last month, that alone will have cost more than the total marketing spend for Infamous. Even if MS have sold just 600k TF bundles, that alone would cost them $25-30m, and they still have a lot of stock left in the retail channel. That must be included in the marketing budget for TF, it's not free for MS to go down that route. The other cost would be whatever MS paid EA to delay the 360 version, it's pretty clear now that the delays to the 360 version were not for technical reasons, so that means EA must have had an incentive to delay that SKU. Again, that's another $5-7m. The last bit of indirect marketing spend was funding retailer price cuts or incentives, that all comes from the marketing budget. Then direct marketing spend, which in the US for a shooter will have been higher than for a hero sandbox. The marginal appeal for the genres are in different leagues in the US, and the nation as a whole is much more open to Xbox as a brand, something MS will have wanted to capitalise on with TF's marketing.

While in Europe or here in the UK I could see Sony spending the same kind of money on Infamous in terms of marketing as MS for TF, in the US I don't see it. Based on the appeal of the genre, the multiplier for marketing spend on shooters is much higher than for hero sandbox games. Add in the pre-existing hype, manufactured or otherwise, for TF and that multiplier increases.

Finally, I think it has to be taken into account that Infamous is just another game to SCE, it's nothing special. Fun game, great graphics, but it is just another title from their first party studio line up. TF was supposed to be the game changer for MS and in the US I believe the marketing spend will have reflected that.
 
And I never include PC in all my previous posts, so don't waste time try to figure out TF breakdown.

For FF fanboy/girl, the number from Senior Research Analyst is just one platform.

Updated

Hardware

PS4: 371k
Xbone: 311k
3DS: 159k
360: 111K
Wii U: 70k
PS3: 67K
Wii: 28k
Vita: ~10k
PSP: 5k

Software

TitanFall> 1 million (X1 version)
Infamous: Second Son &#1617;<500k
South Park: SoT< 440k, 360 55%
Dark Souls 2<350k PS3 ~51%
MGSV: GZ =278k, PS4 ~ 54%, XBO ~ 20% (both combined 204k), PS3 ~ 19%
FFXHD - 260k (208k PS3, 52k Vita)
Yoshi's New Island <160k
GTA V ~150K
Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze - 84K (highest selling Wii U game this month)

Total PS4 software = 6.78M
Total XBO software = 7.48M
 
It really isn't. From personal experience, I saw advertising that was heavily in favour of I:SS. The ads were literally everywhere with TV ads running almost non stop, it played in front of every single movie in the cinema as well as bus and tube ads. And let's not forget it sponsoring Agents of SHIELD.

In comparison, I saw no cinema ads, hardly any TV ads and very few bus/tube ads for TV.

It was an ad campaign that surpassed that of The Last of Us in my opinion. It was huge and rightly so, the game is amazing and Sucker Punch deserved to see the series finally become a huge success.
Marketing spend tends to fall in line with expected potential sales and returns. And by most account Sony expects much less from Infamous: Second Son than EA and Microsoft are expecting from Titanfall.

You're essentially arguing incompetence on the part of Sony in terms of forecasting and/or highly inefficient spending, in spending as much on advertising to achieve half the sales.

Second Son sold a million. Yay. It will ultimately sell a few million I imagine. It will not, nor is it intended to be, Sony's next big thing, in the same way that EA want Titanfall to be their COD. Baird & Co expects EA to ship 2.4M units of the title in the quarter ending March, and 6M total in 2014.

Also your prior quote about analysts thinking the title could cost hundreds of millions is disingenuous, in itself. It precedes a very general comment about how much AAA titles can cost.
 
Can't someone make a website with just this image, but updated live with some statistics? Would be great to have for the console warz.

ps4sales6fypj0.jpg


Looks like despite MS giving only shipped numbers the gap is increasing at accelerated pace.

I don't see any realistic option for Microsoft to improve situation right now and by realistic I mean not throwing few bilions of dollars to sell xbone for 300$ with kinect and taking nearly $200 hit on each unit sold like Sony did with ps3.
 

Riky

$MSFT
Mother of god. I'm waking up, just found this!
Do we know if Titanfall sold more than ISS excluding PC? Any clues on how many PS4 were sold?

I thought it was said the million Titanfall sales didn't include PC, if so it doubled ISS sales just on X1.
 
they are all shipped numbers, its just that for ps4 and wii shipped also happens to mean sold

There is zero indication on the graph that any of those are the shipped numbers aside from the Xbone. May I ask where/how you're certain that the rest of the numbers are shipped ones as well?
 

Copenap

Member
I love the " shipped" behind the Xbox one... why only there? if a chart is made everything on it should be compared the same and not as somebody likes it to have so it looks better....

what if MS "shipped" 100 million xbox one`s. Would they lead ? well in this chart yes...

Yeah that's BS and pretty F-ing obvious that someone is trying to make the Xbone look like it's doing better than it is. Either change all the quantities to their shipped #s or change the Xbone's shipped quantity into the actual sold quantity. Otherwise this is just dishonest propaganda to make the Xbone look like it's not doing as badly as it actually is (relative to the PS4)
Wow, easy fellas. You can't really be picky about sales numbers as we can only work with what we got and for Xbone numbers that happens to be shipped and for PS4 it's sold through. Though I thought WiiU numbers are only shipped as well, can't remember reading sold through numbers.
 

Dynedom

Member
I thought it was said the million Titanfall sales didn't include PC, if so it doubled ISS sales just on X1.

I actually don't know how to read this. Titanfall probably didn't move as many additional consoles as liked but it shows people bought the One back in 2013 for Titanfall (I'm assuming a good attach rate in NA here). Then again, should they be happy about that? It might be the equivalent of meeting expectations in an environment where you need them exceeded.

What this may also tell is the effect of the discounts/bundles i.e. they didn't do much in the end. They need a permanent price drop.
 
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