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April 2012 NPD Sales Results [Up3: Best selling game sold less than 236K, Kid Icarus]

Ridley327

Member
I don't think it's as anticipated as LA Noire. I'm thinking 550k-650k...

Nearly all of LA Noire's hype came from the last two months of buildup to the release, though. It was a complete no-show for such a long time.

I will say that if Max Payne 3 does worse, and especially that much worse, then the industry really does have some big problems.
 
Well this was a really bad month .
Next gen needs to get here , with each new gen we get more services , better hardware , new IP and people start getting hype.
It don't help that nothing much came out this month also .
 
So owning over 200 titles in the current generation isn't enough?

Not when you're saying the generation needs to end so that your entertainment can continue. You have 1000s of sources of potential entertainment that don't require hardware devs and publishers to invest millions and turn-over the user-base they make money off of.
 

kuYuri

Member
It did less than 300k....

It didn't.
How is it good news for a sequel to launch with sales of less than 236K when the IP debuted with 600K three years ago with a much smaller system install base?

Well it really didn't sell that well...

It's all relative because the whole industry is down in the US. But I mean come on, everyone was all down on the game before release, others saying they didn't even know it was coming out and some claimed it wouldn't sell, despite the first game being number 1 when it came out.
 

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
Apparently NPD didn't track a game from a retailer they track? Where is the logic behind this?

The only logic I can see is that NPD charts estimated industry sales, based on a combination of actual sales figures and extrapolation. This is how they can get away with selling the information they do. The information can't be broken down to see what retailer is selling what, and much of the "information" is based on their own analysis. Charting a retailer exclusive would, however, be tantamount to just flat out selling Gamestop's financial data regarding that particular game, which might be considered privileged corporate information.

That's the only real explanation I can possibly think of, and even that seems a little suspect.
 
Nearly all of LA Noire's hype came from the last two months of buildup to the release, though. It was a complete no-show for such a long time.

I will say that if Max Payne 3 does worse, and especially that much worse, then the industry really does have some big problems.

LA Noire could be sold as a game like GTA or Red Dead because it looked open-world though. Max Payne is a straight-up linear shooter that seems to embrace classic elements of the genre so I don't know if as many mainstream Rockstar fans will be interested.
 

impact

Banned
It's all relative because the whole industry is down in the US. But I mean come on, everyone was all down on the game before release, others saying they didn't even know it was coming out and some claimed it wouldn't sell, despite the first game being number 1 when it came out.

#1 in shit is still shit


shit, now I'm getting a boner
 

Loudninja

Member
It's all relative because the whole industry is down in the US. But I mean come on, everyone was all down on the game before release, others saying they didn't even know it was coming out and some claimed it wouldn't sell, despite the first game being number 1 when it came out.
I dont see how it matters if its number 1 when it still didn't sale all that good.

Its just not a good month.
 
Less than 236K for Kinect Star Wars?! Oh boy MS, people really love their Kinect. Aren`t they...? Now i understand why you want to torture all of us with Kinect 2.0 from the get-go when Durango hits the stores.


We. Need. New. Consoles
without useless crap like Kinect
 

Derrick01

Banned
Is it healthy for an industry to survive on 3 months out of a year though?

I'm not sure. It basically did for years and years until the last few years when publishers started putting out heavy hitters in the spring and late summer. But ME3 did sell around 3 million so far so it's not all doom and gloom (maybe for game quality though ;P). MLB seems to be doing well too.
 

Gartooth

Member
Wow, April was all around a terrible month. I hope that Kid Icarus remaining in top 10 individual SKU's means that the game will have long legs at retail, it deserves every sale.

Also surprised that the Witcher 2 on Xbox 360 didn't sell better than it did.
 
Pretty stupid to limit the game like that.

You have no idea what kind of arrangement and incentives Nintendo got from Gamestop. For such a niche game at a time when Wii software is selling like crap, it might've been the right way to get the game out to the people that want it without trying to compete for shelf space at Best Buy.
 

TheNatural

My Member!
I'm hoping for E3 to spur on some price drops. The industry is down, but with good reason. Why is it that the main SKU for 360 is still $300 and the PS3 $250?

Not only is it several years later since their launch, but they won't drop the price any further than htis and just release new SKU's to take the place in the price chain.

Budget gaming for buying a console has been dog shit this generation.
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Less than 236K for Kinect Star Wars?! Oh boy MS, people really love their Kinect. Aren`t they...? Now i understand why you want to torture all of us with Kinect 2.0 from the get-go when Durango hits the stores.


We. Need. New. Consoles
without useless crap like Kinect

Yeah, the fact that it was a terrible game had nothing to do with it. It's clearly Kinect's fault.
 

Ridley327

Member
LA Noire could be sold as a game like GTA or Red Dead because it looked open-world though. Max Payne is a straight-up linear shooter that seems to embrace classic elements of the genre so I don't know if as many mainstream Rockstar fans will be interested.

I agree that it is new territory for Rockstar (as strange as that sounds), but I think that it'll end up doing a lot better with how they've been selling the cinematic presentation, as well as what seems like is going to be a robust multiplayer mode.

I mean, RDR and GTA4 are still in the top 20 on the Live charts.
 

Loudninja

Member
You have no idea what kind of arrangement and incentives Nintendo got from Gamestop. For such a niche game at a time when Wii software is selling like crap, it might've been the right way to get the game out to the people that want it without trying to compete for shelf space at Best Buy.
Yeah I understand now.
 

Mooreberg

Member
Really surprised MW3 wasn't #1 considering how abysmal a month it was for software. Is Activision going to be satisfied with 236K out of the gate for a game that was in development for three years? They shovel licensed shit at a better rate than that.
 

Ridley327

Member
Really surprised MW3 wasn't #1 considering how abysmal a month it was for software. Is Activision going to be satisfied with 236K out of the gate for a game that was in development for three years? They shovel licensed shit at a better rate than that.

We've known for a bit that MW3 has been lagging behind Black Ops, so it's not too terribly surprising.

The only big surprise for me might be RE:ORC falling off the face of the planet, but given how toxic the WOM has been for that game, even that was expected.
 
You mean the company that still doesn't carry Wii'the Wii, or 3DS? A twitter message is one thing, actually buying 10,000 copies is another.....
We don't know how things went down but it's likely Gamestop paid a chunk for pressing and distribution. In store POP was comissioned by Gamestop, not Nintendo. This wouldn't happen unless they had money tied up in the title.

Monodo was Amazon's #1 game for a long while during the campaign. Of course they wanted those sales.

The 3DS is back in stock on Amazon.
 
We don't know how things went down but it's likely Gamestop paid a chunk for pressing and distribution. In store POP was comissioned by Gamestop, not Nintendo. This wouldn't happen unless they had money tied up in the title.

Monodo was Amazon's #1 game for a long while during the campaign. Of course they wanted those sales.

The 3DS is back in stock on Amazon.

Only via third party sellers. Amazon stopped directly selling Nintendo hardware last summer.
 

UberTag

Member
Isn't Star Wars Kinect an individual SKU since it only came out on 360 and yet it charted ?

EDIT: Also, Mario Party charted
It is. In fact, Star Wars Kinect X360 outsold all other titles last month.
However, you can still show up on a combined-SKU chart as an individual SKU if your sales outstrip the combined sales of your competition.

(Unless you're retail exclusive. Or digital only.)
 

antonz

Member
All the signs are there. Nintendo could benefit this transition if they play their cards right. We are seeing fatigue that hasnt been seen since probably 2004/2005.

Console sales are worse than they were in April 2005 and game sales are much worse. Over 1.1 million hardware units were sold in April 2005.
 
It is. In fact, Star Wars Kinect X360 outsold all other titles last month.
However, you can still show up on a combined-SKU chart as an individual SKU if your sales outstrip the combined sales of your competition.

(Unless you're retail exclusive. Or digital only.)
gotcha
so #1 is Star Wars Kinect for April :S
 
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