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NPD Sales Results for November 2015 [Up3: Combined Hardware For PS4 + XB1 + Wii U]

And what point exactly is that? You said at first that PC gaming is only the largest if you look at certain games. But all the evidence I'm providing to you right shows PC going is the largest in every category, player numbers and software sales.

PC is the largest market. Period.

Do you understand what i mean by certain games ?
For eg where did fallout 4 , COD , SW BF , GTAV etc etc sell the most on ?
 
And what point exactly is that? You said at first that PC gaming is only the largest if you look at certain games. But all the evidence I'm providing to you right shows PC going is the largest in every category, player numbers and software sales.

PC is the largest market. Period.

That's not true though. We have plenty of sales data that shows otherwise. PC is certainly a large market, but the PC version of a game doesn't lead in sales. It rarely does. Especially not in the first few months.

It has been gradually climbing since the drop to $299. I think it was around the eighties or lower when the UC bundle was running wild Black Friday weekend.

Good to know.


It was insider rumblings I believe. Perhaps Kagari? Don't quote me on that for certain though. What I can remember is that the knowledge from people in the know was that it was a 6 month exclusivity deal for TR on Xbox One prior to the UC4 delay. After the delay, the timing remained 6 months for the PC version and 1 year for PS4.

I'll try to find the posts, so gimme a bit.

Edit: Found it: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=172764680&postcount=254 It's insider rumblings but seems entirely plausible with how the entire deal went down. I believe it.
 
It was insider rumblings I believe. Perhaps Kagari? Don't quote me on that for certain though. What I can remember is that the knowledge from people in the know was that it was a 6 month exclusivity deal for TR on Xbox One prior to the UC4 delay. After the delay, the timing remained 6 months for the PC version and 1 year for PS4.

I'll try to find the posts, so gimme a bit.

Edit: Found it: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=172764680&postcount=254 It's insider rumblings but seems entirely plausible with how the entire deal went down. I believe it.

Wow. Thanks dude. Crazy decision.
 

Trojan

Member
One thing is for certain though. S-E definitely did not expect sales to be this poor when drafting the timed exclusivity deal with MS. If they had expected sales to be this bad, MS would have balked at how much money/incentives S-E wanted for the deal to offset the damage to the franchise and the deal never would have been signed.

I think it's pretty obvious that no one expected sales to be this bad...everyone seems surprised it's tanked.

However, I actually think Square Enix may have made a smart move signing this contract...if one assumes they would have released for all platforms on the same date if they hadn't signed the deal.

If TR was destined to tank no matter what even with no exclusivity deal (too much sales competition, not much mainstream appeal, etc), Square would have been royally fucked because they bear the sole burden for that sales deficit. I think this game would not have burned up the charts without this deal...Fallout 4 vastly overshadowed it, it would likely not have a PS4 bundle, and the release window was too crowded. So maybe they get a small sales bump if they release on PS4 simultaneously, but I think it would have been less than what they got from this deal.

Instead, Square was able to have Microsoft's likely-guaranteed money and co-publishing status to help offset sales deficits. They took a risk-mitigation strategy so MS could help if shit hit the fan, and that's exactly what happened.

Even though it's easy to bag on the deal as being shitty, people aren't really considering how vulnerable SE would be without this deal. Many of the what-if scenarios assume that sales would be great if it released on PS4 as well, but I don't see much that supports that.
 
Did you miss the certain games part ?
For eg where did fallout 4 sell the most one ?
Last time I checked Bethesda never said which platform had the most sales, just shipped copies. But if we're looking at certain games, PC makes up more than half of Skyrims sales and counter strike has more active players than any FPS on either console.
 

heidern

Junior Member
Nintendo's line up for the last quarter of the year has been a complete disaster, I don't remember something like this. The only game that is performing well is Yoshi’s Woolly World.

Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon didn't do too bad since it sold on par with Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity.

October:

[WIU] Yoshi's Woolly World - 165,000
[3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes - 83,000
[3DS] Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash - 35,000
[WIU] Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water - Nintendo eShop only

November:

[3DS] Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon - 115,000
[WIU] Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival - 36,000
[WIU] Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash - 18,000

December:

[WIU] Xenoblade Chronicles X

They would have been better off delaying AC and Mario Tennis to next year. Perhaps even should have delayed Mario Maker to November and have that as their big holiday game. Nintendo's IP and brand quality is a critical asset to them, risking their reputation like this is a serious error of judgement IMO.
 

watdaeff4

Member
I think it's pretty obvious that no one expected sales to be this bad...everyone seems surprised it's tanked.

However, I actually think Square Enix may have made a smart move signing this contract...if one assumes they would have released for all platforms on the same date if they hadn't signed the deal.

If TR was destined to tank no matter what even with no exclusivity deal (too much sales competition, not much mainstream appeal, etc), Square would have been royally fucked because they bear the sole burden for that sales deficit. I think this game would not have burned up the charts without this deal...Fallout 4 vastly overshadowed it, it would likely not have a PS4 bundle, and the release window was too crowded. So maybe they get a small sales bump if they release on PS4 simultaneously, but I think it would have been less than what they got from this deal.

Instead, Square was able to have Microsoft's likely-guaranteed money and co-publishing status to help offset sales deficits. They took a risk-mitigation strategy so MS could help if shit hit the fan, and that's exactly what happened.

Even though it's easy to bag on the deal as being shitty, people aren't really considering how vulnerable SE would be without this deal.

You're possibly overlooking the damage done though.

Europe is the biggest fanbase for TR franchise

PS fanbase for TR is bigger than XB

Europe is owned by Sony.

Not a good combo.

I don't think RoTR would have done gangbusters in the US if it released on PS4 this year but it's reasonable to expect to have hit at least ~500k.

Then factor in the current almost non-factor it will have in Europe vs. what might have been.

I do agree to a degree that the deal may not be quite as bad as some make it out to be in the short term for the reasons you mentioned. It could be damaging though if the fanbases I mentioned don't "forgive" them and remembers the deal and continues to hold a grudge
 

Mory Dunz

Member
fsKHXLJ.png

Um, did Pokemon Snap end up outselling Super Smash Bros in NA?


December 1999 NPD will be interesting
 

Trojan

Member
You're possibly overlooking the damage done though.

Europe is the biggest fanbase for TR franchise

PS fanbase for TR is bigger than XB

Europe is owned by Sony.

Not a good combo.

I don't think RoTR would have done gangbusters in the US if it released on PS4 this year but it's reasonable to expect to have hit at least ~500k.

Then factor in the current almost non-factor it will have in Europe vs. what might have been.

I do agree to a degree that the deal may not be quite as bad as some make it out to be in the short term for the reasons you mentioned. It could be damaging though if the fanbases I mentioned don't "forgive" them and remembers the deal and continues to hold a grudge

Valid points, especially the last one that some fans will remember this for a long time and hold it against SE. We'll never know how it would have fared without this deal but it's an interesting discussion.

My main point is that we can't assume TR would have done well with a simultaneous release if they stuck with this same release window. Personally, I think that November release window was suicide. If they would have released in either June/July or January '16 they would be much better off. In that scenario, a simultaneous release would be best. But in that brutal November release window, I think Square actually benefited from this deal because MS helps bail out the sinking ship and they have more guaranteed money.
 

Mory Dunz

Member
They would have been better off delaying AC and Mario Tennis to next year. Perhaps even should have delayed Mario Maker to November and have that as their big holiday game. Nintendo's IP and brand quality is a critical asset to them, risking their reputation like this is a serious error of judgement IMO.

As much it would've gotten them from gaf and the media, it would definitely be better for them sales-wsie, and therefore moneywise.

There's no way those games do as poorly as they did if they were actually....fully fledged looking games.
 
That's not true though. We have plenty of sales data that shows otherwise. PC is certainly a large market, but the PC version of a game doesn't lead in sales. It rarely does. Especially not in the first few months.
If you want compare individual games like COD or Battlefront, sure, they sell more on console. But again, your looking at individual games and not the whole market. League of legends gets many times more active players a day than any console game and games like World of tanks and Counter Strike generate more revenue than any most console games.

If you want to point to console sales of certain game, I can point to PC sales of many more.
 

watdaeff4

Member
Valid points, especially the last one that some fans will remember this for a long time and hold it against SE. We'll never know how it would have fared without this deal but it's an interesting discussion.

My main point is that we can't assume TR would have done well with a simultaneous release if they stuck with this same release window. Personally, I think that November release window was suicide. If they would have released in either June/July or January '16 they would be much better off. In that scenario, a simultaneous release would be best. But in that brutal November release window, I think Square actually benefited from this deal because MS helps bail out the sinking ship and they have more guaranteed money.

I agree no matter how many platforms it's on the release date was not in its favor.


I'm curious why are you pleased about that?

Because console wars are serious business.
 

Conduit

Banned
Ah, guess I didn't realize people buy consoles based on aesthetics.

I probably would skip out on the 360, PS3, DS, and PS4 in that case.

The Vita looks good though. That's why it's selling millions. Heck I bought one.

You based his whole post on how the console look. What about other stuff he mentioned? His post is not wrong though.
 

jiggle

Member
I do agree to a degree that the deal may not be quite as bad as some make it out to be in the short term for the reasons you mentioned. It could be damaging though if the fanbases I mentioned don't "forgive" them and remembers the deal and continues to hold a grudge



Just put the Demise of the Tomb Raider on PSN+ soon after it bombs next year
kinda like how EA gave away PVZGW
 
i think peeps writing off the PS4 release of RotTR are speaking too soon. Releasing after U4 + it being well-reviewed will help the remastered (LOL) definitive edition sell well on PS4.

No it will be DOA.
UC4 will more than satisfy the PlayStation crowd. Just going from the controls of ROTR to the UC4 beta was a pretty shocking difference in quality. It's going to launch as a GOTY edition and absolutely no one is going to care
 

Conduit

Banned
This is fucking insane. I know SE got paid, but man, what a way to cripple your franchise. Any momentum they had from the first game has been completely wiped out. I don't think the PS4 version is going to save them. And this is coming from the US, where the XB1 is strongest. Sales of this game are probably astronomically worse every where else.

It's all about MS's passion.
 
If you want compare individual games like COD or Battlefront, sure, they sell more on console. But again, your looking at individual games and not the whole market. League of legends gets many times more active players a day than any console game and games like World of tanks and Counter Strike generate more revenue than any most console games.

If you want to point to console sales of certain game, I can point to PC sales of many more.

I might have missed your earlier points but are you trying to prove that the PC market is in general a more lucrative market than consoles?
 

Conduit

Banned
I saw some people saying Fallout 4 actually sold more on X1? What am I missing?

FO4 < 2.38
4 ~ 53.11%

SW < 1.73
4 ~ 51.16%

NSF < 390
4 ~ 64.64%

TR ~ 201
1 ~ 87.44%

Xbone version of Fallout 4 with bundles is ahead of PS4 version by a 10k-15k difference. COD BO3 standalon sold better on Xbone, but with bundles PS4 is ahead :

XB1 42% of 4.6m = 1.932.000

PS4 41% of 4.6m = 1.886.000

PS4 bundle: 251k
 
I might have missed your earlier points but are you trying to prove that the PC market is in general a more lucrative market than consoles?
I did note in an earlier post that PC revenue passed console revenue if that's what your talking about. But I've mostly been talking about the whole market with player numbers and total sales.
 
I did note in an earlier post that PC revenue passed console revenue if that's what your talking about. But I've mostly been talking about the whole market with player numbers and total sales.

Ahh gotcha. Thanks for doing a summation.

Wouldn't overall console sales dwarf PC? Especially with market leaders like COD and such doing such massive numbers on consoles?
 

jackdoe

Member
However, I actually think Square Enix may have made a smart move signing this contract...if one assumes they would have released for all platforms on the same date if they hadn't signed the deal.
There is almost no way S-E would have released Rise of the Tomb Raider this November had it not been for the timed exclusivity deal.
 

watdaeff4

Member
It will probably be $299 or $249 if you're lucky. $199 is almost impossible.

I wouldn't say impossible. It all depends on what their strategy is.

If you go by their words and they just want to make the best experience (and most profit) for the gamers (investors) and not trying to compete with Sony then I agree with you.

If you go by their actions (e.g. Slashing price till Christmas in response to Sony) and they are appearing to want to stay at least at the same pace if not outsell Sony (in the US) then I think it's entirely possible depending on what their mft costs will be 6-9 mo tha from now.
 
I did note in an earlier post that PC revenue passed console revenue if that's what your talking about. But I've mostly been talking about the whole market with player numbers and total sales.

Its not really that simple.

Even with player numbers and total sales, there are certain genres that always do better on consoles. These are the AAA titles that push a significant amount of revenue every year. That's really not up for debate.
These genres fall perfectly in line with the type of experience that the audience has come to expect from the purchase and precisely the kind of titles that they give two shits about the PC version for.

For Counterstrike, it's at 17M. COD pushes 20M+ every year at a higher arpu. A lot of the PC growth is in developing markets, China, and competitive gaming, not US/EU, as those are largely saturated.

No one is saying the PC market is small overall, because that's dumb--but it is a fraction for the bigger tentpole titles. It's like trying to argue that console mobas are bigger than LoL, objectively wrong.

My original point was there is literally no reason that either console maker has to react to a cheaper PC with a fragmented set of publisher platforms and 1 giant that is somehow taking away sales--it isn't.
To the poster than mentioned "people are used to multiple sign-ons", for watching something, they usually only have a few on a single device. The ease of the console sign-in is always seen as easier, because it is. If I forget my Origin password, doesn't matter, I can still login and play with friends on the platform. Same with battle.net.

More than enough money for all. Nothing is replacing consoles or PCs, be it mini-consoles or mobile games.

For Tomb Raider, well, that's certainly a case for study.
The sales are terrible.
 

Melchiah

Member
... this is only the second game I'm surprised about people viewing as bombs, wait until I do it a third time before calling out a pattern.
So about the slopes of the expected attach rates, they are decreasing as the generation progresses, then?
So only when would 175K be acceptable, maybe if it was a launch title day and date as the console?

Was the first game The Order: 1886?
 
... this is only the second game I'm surprised about people viewing as bombs, wait until I do it a third time before calling out a pattern.
So about the slopes of the expected attach rates, they are decreasing as the generation progresses, then?
So only when would 175K be acceptable, maybe if it was a launch title day and date as the console?

It's not about the number of consoles purchased, it's about the MAU.
 
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