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NPD March 2012 Sales Results [Up3: ME3 Total, Binary Domain]

Spiegel

Member
Ah ok it just got a mention earlier in this thread, probably some site reporting old news again

3 3DS games (Kart, 3D Land and RE:R) and 5 multiplatform games with a 3DS version (multiple versions combined) were in the all formats top 25 in February.

That's all we know. Well, that and that joystiq doesn't know how to read, understand and report NPD numbers correctly.
 

donny2112

Member
I think Ocarina 3d will probably drop out of the must buy, title, and end up selling more line with Mario 64 DS - that is, phenomenally well, but not one in the league of Kart DS or NSMB DS or a Pokemon.

Doubt Ocarina will do that well, but as far as individual Pokemon titles go, Super Mario 64 DS should be well above that for DS. It sold surprisingly well every month and was a launch game. Still see kids playing it on the DSs nowadays. If you go the combination route, then, yeah, Pokemon would probably be higher, though.
 

Pociask

Member
Doubt Ocarina will do that well, but as far as individual Pokemon titles go, Super Mario 64 DS should be well above that for DS. It sold surprisingly well every month and was a launch game. Still see kids playing it on the DSs nowadays. If you go the combination route, then, yeah, Pokemon would probably be higher, though.

To the Mario 64 DS sales, wow. I knew it had done well, but didn't realize it was that good.

The Ocarina 3D vs. 64 DS sales comparison will be interesting, since they're both upgraded ports of the two most well received games for the Nintendo 64. And on that note, I wonder if Nintendo is feeling some vindication over the 64. Sure, they lost that phase of the console war, but the games they developed for that system continue to help them move hardware TODAY. It's really pretty amazing.
 

Dalthien

Member
I think their logic is sound. Their figures may not have been. I think you could pretty easily make the case that they could have done a port for cheap and got enough upfront sales to justify it.
That's the thing though - it WOULD have been a cheap port. I agree with you that it was a calculated decision to skip Wii - but it was still a boneheaded decision.

The Wii was clearly the dominant console for Sonic this gen. That's where they built up the biggest fanbase. As it turns out (although they wouldn't have known it when they started development), they actually would have had a pretty open field to themselves on the Wii this past holiday season. A new full-fledged Sonic game could have been the #2 title on Wii (for traditional gaming stuff - not dance/exercise stuff) for parents shopping this holiday season.

But even ignoring all that - they put out a 3DS version of the game for crying out loud. They already made the decision to spend the time and money working on a version that would have worked on Wii-capable hardware. To then skip the Wii (which would have been the best-selling version over the holidays - quite easily IMO), was just an asinine business decision.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
One question: how much does Easter impact hardware sales? I mean, could we expect at least stable weekly numbers next month for most of the consoles, despite April will be a month with 4 weeks, or there will be another drop in weekly sales, despite Easter Holidays?
 
I would like to have a WW figure for Sonic Generations, it seems a constant seller.
It's worth noting the game was also seemingly supply constrained in 2011. Same thing happened to RE Revelations and Tales of the Abyss upfront, retail seems pretty afraid of ordering much of anything on 3DS that's not Nintendo published due to all that excess launch period inventory.

Nintendo really needs to get some 3rd party hits in the west to restore confidence.
 

donny2112

Member
Retail has been jittery about ordering much of anything outside of the very top sellers for a few years now, since the economic problems started. Now, the retail impression for Nintendo systems may be that only the big Nintendo games will sell a lot, anyways, but just saying that the general reticence is not limited to Nintendo systems.
 

muu

Member
If Third parties want to really succeed on 3DS, they need new AAA IPs. I don't think any non-Nintendo existing franchises will work that well on any handheld. They need something new, designed especially for the 3DS and advertise it.

Third parties need to make AAA IP that fits an 'E' rating. We've seen tons of new series pop up but so much of it is for 13 and up, for 17 and up... obviously there's a sizable crowd of teens and tweens eating stuff up like Call of Duty, but not all families are going to let the kids touch that stuff from age 7, and stocking stuffer gifts are still less likely to cause friction if they don't have pictures of severed heads and guys holding deagles. I guess Activision's tried a little bit with Spyro, but for the most part I don't see any of the big 3rd parties doing much in the way of trying to compete with Mario, and when they do it still seems more often than not they mistake 'Everyone' with 'Just for Kids.'

On that thought, are the big publishers making a big push on the iOS/Android markets? I was under the impression that those are still sectors where a couple absolute smash hits are raking in pretty much all the profit, and the smaller junk games don't go much further than earning smaller companies chump change. It'd make sense if those Assassin's Creed and Battlefield mini games were earning them huge amts of money, but otherwise I don't see how they could ignore a market w/ potential to sell a million $40 games with PS2-level production values.
 

AniHawk

Member
Actually, I think the decision not to port Generations to the Wii was mostly due to a lack of resources.

The Sonic HD team has never done Wii development period. Sonic 06 wasn't released on the Wii and Unleashed was ported by Dimps. All Wii-exclusive Sonic games on the other hand were made by a different team altogether.

So, who should have done the porting? For one reason or another the HD team isn't doing Wii development, the Sonic Wii team is probably already working on a Sonic game for Wii U (Given the past sales of Sonic games on Nintendo platforms, I'm confident that Sega won't want to bring its flagship franchise too late on this particular console). The only studio that's left if Sega didn't want to give the franchise to yet another studio was Dimps -- and Dimps had its hands full with Sonic Generations 3DS, SFxT and Sonic 4.2.

this is the likeliest case. if they had the team available, i'm sure they would have made a wii and maybe even ds version.
 

NavNucST3

Member
One question: how much does Easter impact hardware sales? I mean, could we expect at least stable weekly numbers next month for most of the consoles, despite April will be a month with 4 weeks, or there will be another drop in weekly sales, despite Easter Holidays?

Easter is generally the third largest retail season here.
 

Fabrik

Banned
Third parties need to make AAA IP that fits an 'E' rating. We've seen tons of new series pop up but so much of it is for 13 and up, for 17 and up... obviously there's a sizable crowd of teens and tweens eating stuff up like Call of Duty, but not all families are going to let the kids touch that stuff from age 7, and stocking stuffer gifts are still less likely to cause friction if they don't have pictures of severed heads and guys holding deagles. I guess Activision's tried a little bit with Spyro, but for the most part I don't see any of the big 3rd parties doing much in the way of trying to compete with Mario, and when they do it still seems more often than not they mistake 'Everyone' with 'Just for Kids.'

Yeah I agree. They need to make games that appeal to everyone. But at the same time ambitious and not half-assed. They need to create word of mouth, started by hardcore gamers and good press reviews. I can't even name one third party game that was remotely ambitious and with universal appeal that appeared on any handheld system.
 

impact

Banned
http://www.nintendo.com/games

Nintendo 3DS:

1. Kid Icarus: Uprising - 140k
2. Mario Kart 7 - 118k
3. Super Mario 3D Land - 100k
4. Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
5. Skylanders Spyro's Adventure
6. Resident Evil® Revelations - ~27k
7. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
8. Sonic Generations
9. Pokémon Rumble Blast
10. Tales of the Abyss 3D

Why are mediocre games outselling RE? Also are there any Tales of the Abyss LTD numbers?
 

StevieP

Banned
this is the likeliest case. if they had the team available, i'm sure they would have made a wii and maybe even ds version.

I think what some people are saying is that it would've been smart to make the game for Wii in the first place, as Sonic games have sold best there. Or at the very least, take 5-10 extra guys from the main team to downport it (i.e. what Treyarch did for their CoD titles)
 

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
Why are mediocre games outselling RE? Also are there any Tales of the Abyss LTD numbers?

Re:R sales are disheartening. I try to spin it for myself and I simply can't. And that's not good, considering, ya know, in the industry and all. Spread the word people. It's a good game with crazy production values.
 

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
To date, Sonic Generations across all retail platforms isn't that much more than Sonic Colors DS. That's not including Japan.
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
They should have just re-branded NG3 as a Dynasty Warriors game. If I was forced to choose between playing 40 hours of NG3 or 40 hours of another DW clone I would ask if being beaten was an option and then take NG3 as a second choice. But the DW games still sell, for some reason.
 
Re:R sales are disheartening. I try to spin it for myself and I simply can't. And that's not good, considering, ya know, in the industry and all. Spread the word people. It's a good game with crazy production values.
AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON.COM:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050SVLI2/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I know people who have recently bought a 3DS with Revelatons, so it should keep selling to future 3DS owners.

Can't wait to see some shipment figures, probably close to 600k worldwide? :)
 

SmokyDave

Member
Why are mediocre games outselling RE? Also are there any Tales of the Abyss LTD numbers?
Because it was a poor fit for the 3DS platform. I was sure of this before release and the sales figures have not surprised me at all. I dunno if it's controls, demographic or what. I just know I played the demo and it totally turned me off.
 

StevieP

Banned
Because it was a poor fit for the 3DS platform. I was sure of this before release and the sales figures have not surprised me at all. I dunno if it's controls, demographic or what. I just know I played the demo and it totally turned me off.

It was more akin to classic RE than modern RE. Did you hate classic RE?
 
Because it was a poor fit for the 3DS platform. I was sure of this before release and the sales figures have not surprised me at all. I dunno if it's controls, demographic or what. I just know I played the demo and it totally turned me off.

Now, now, I thought the same, but having played the full game on the OH 3ds, I honestly think it's a cracking title and one I'd love to see available on another handheld that just so happens to have the most lovely OLED screen.

Revelations episodic nature is the future for portable RE. They need to build on it and release more titles on both 3ds and Vita. Hell, go for iPad too.
 
Can figure out some more numbers from Nintendo's top 20.

RE(PS3) did worse than Mario Party which was 230K, so the 360 version is better than 352K.

Twisted Metal is also better than 352K which means it did better than 131K in March. Pretty good legs there.

Kid Icarus did 135K and was in the top 10. I think that would mean that Twisted Metal also made the individual SKU top 10 for March.

Thread
If anyone else can figure out any of the other games in that top 20, we could figure out other numbers.
 
I'm certain Sonic Generations on Wii would have sold gangbusters. In fact, they should have had Dimps do that instead of the 3DS version.

And make it not suck.

Of course, Wii was tapering off, but anyone should have expected it to get the usual holiday boost, along with Skyward Sword.
 

Hero

Member
Not having a Wii release of Sonic Generations was one of the most bone-headed decisions Sega could've possibly done.

They built up the fanbase on the Wii with the various early Sonic Wii games but then Mario and Sonic at the Olympics and then Sonic being a guest in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the exclusive Sonic Colors and then you don't decide to release a Sonic game that has retro roots? Dumb dumb dumb.

For comparison, how much did Sonic Colors do compared to Generations in an equal amount of time?
 
Completely random thought, but considering how much kickstarters seem to work these days. How hard would it be to pool money together to pay NPD for the results and then have the information exclusive to those who contributed to get the numbers? This whole NPD info block is such bullshit.
 

Shiggy

Member
Not having a Wii release of Sonic Generations was one of the most bone-headed decisions Sega could've possibly done.

They built up the fanbase on the Wii with the various early Sonic Wii games but then Mario and Sonic at the Olympics and then Sonic being a guest in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the exclusive Sonic Colors and then you don't decide to release a Sonic game that has retro roots? Dumb dumb dumb.

For comparison, how much did Sonic Colors do compared to Generations in an equal amount of time?

For what reason didn't they release a Wii version?
 
Completely random thought, but considering how much kickstarters seem to work these days. How hard would it be to pool money together to pay NPD for the results and then have the information exclusive to those who contributed to get the numbers? This whole NPD info block is such bullshit.

Really doubt anyone wants to take that tax burden.
 
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