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

David___

Banned
So given that Titanfall obviously hasn't done what MS expected, what are the odds of them paying for another big third party exclusive this generation?

Unless EA, Activision, Ubisoft, etc all go broke and can't fund games, they aren't ignoring a rapidly increasing 7 million userbase. If we're seeing any 3rd party exclusives at all again from MS its going to happen only because MS funded it.
 

Drakeon

Member
It is very safe to say now that PS4 has surpassed WORLDWIDE LTD sales numbers of Wii U. Sony smashing competition in a home console front...

RIP Vita. I still believe that is the best handheld console ever made, with lots of games and great functionality for doing lots of things on it, but this sales are terribad. :(
Didn't Sony pass worldwide sales of Wii U a while ago? I thought Wii U was at like 4 million worldwide.
 

Sacrimoni

Banned
The vita seems to be selling as much as expected given what we know about the system

The 3ds seems to be selling quite poorly though
 
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.
 

TheCloser

Banned
I think very likely:(. I hate third party exclusives.
As long as the ps4 has a higher install base, no one will sell their ip to Microsoft. If it truly hits the 2:1 mark, a lot of games will not come to xbox. The first exam of this will be pes 2015. It's a franchise that doesn't do well on Xbox platforms.
 
Absolutely. The problem is that they never really showed the amazing cloud AI - only talked about it. When players did finally get to see it the reason was pretty clear - it amounted to a bunch of grunts standing around lobotomized.

It actually could have been a great marketing idea to make the grunts too strong, which would have been pretty trivial to do, then claim they underestimated the power of the cloud after inevitable player backlash from the beta and then dumbed them down a bit. Suddenly the cloud is perceived as being "too powerful" (imagine the headlines there..) and Respawn/MS are willing to near instantly benevolently act on player requests.

the only thing they ever really showed for radiant ai was somone going to bed when it was night, and some wolves killing a rabbit and thats pretty much the entire extent of that system.
 

Sandfox

Member
Grimløck;108612765 said:
and titanfall was a new IP. there's no reason to downplay TF's success; it did remarkably well.

TF was successful and the Xbox One probably owes a lot to it, but the Infamous series is in fact not that big of a seller.
 

Zalman

Member
sony and microsoft are fairly even. neither have any megafranchises except for gran turismo and halo. naughty dog games and god of war sell about 4-5m and so do the gears of war titles.
I don't really feel like listing everything, but it's pretty clear Sony has the edge when it comes to exclusives and acquired studios. At least in quantity. Whether you prefer one or the other is entirely subjective.

Didn't Sony pass worldwide sales of Wii U a while ago? I thought Wii U was at like 4 million worldwide.
Should be at 5 million now, I think.
 

AniHawk

Member
It's not too late in my view. They actually have one more chance to rebrand it and save the machine so that it doesn't end up with a sub 20 million userbase in its lifetime. Vita has a lot of games now but no one knows about it or cares. They need to keep building up the library but their killer game has got to be minecraft with an online mode and ad hoc mode as well. This needs to be bundled with the vita and a memory card at $149. They need a heavy marketing push via tv and youtube to let everyone know that you can play minecraft on your vita anywhere at anytime. The other thing they need is also one more cod. A proper one, maybe built by bluepoint? It should be built off the Cod 4 base and include all the fan favorite maps over the length of the franchise and some new ones as well. It should have a campaign and it needs a zombies mode. They also need a gta game. There is no denying Gta's ability to move systems. All these things are going to cost money and Sony will need to bankroll these projects. Do they want to? The answer is no. If a Vita was $150 and it had gta, minecraft, a viable cod and a gran turismo game, it sells well in Europe.

it is too late. the system is basically on its way to doing a sega saturn 1998 impression, and this is its third year on the market. i don't think there's any coming back from sales around 2k/week.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

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.

EA probably feel fine. Revenue coming in from two different streams.

Maybe respawn is a bit worried tho with the sequel. I mean if it gets zero funding from MS and fails to take of due to EA's decision with TF1 then it might not be the revenue generator that EA expects.
 

stonesak

Okay, if you really insist
Has anyone posted the "sold to retailers is considered a sale by (in this case) Microsoft" line yet? May have missed it in this mega thread, but it's always gold.
 

ethomaz

Banned
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 doubt EA/Respawn fell fine...
 
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.

Titanfall increase the Xbox ONE sales in 90-100%
Titanfall is the best seller
In UK titanfall (Xbox one version) is still in 1-2 place letting infamous in 3-4th

Titanfall is a new IP

I think titanfall is a big success,
 
Here are the tweets:

iN7OEUU.png



And they're nonsense. Microsoft + Sony + Nintendo take NPD numbers very seriously and use them as a very real metric of hardware and software performance in the retail sphere.

He would make complete sense if you could download console hardware as well as games.
 

Dire

Member
So given that Titanfall obviously hasn't done what MS expected, what are the odds of them paying for another big third party exclusive this generation?

In spite of people claiming that Microsoft has infinite money - they don't.

I imagine a lot here are underestimating the costs involved in maintaining a huge scale worldwide marketing campaign for months. Microsoft almost certainly dropped 9 figures on Titanfall and are likely going to lose an enormous amount of money on it after all is said and done. This comes at a time as there's still a big push for MS to get rid of the XBox division. I expect to see them start acting incredibly bearish for the foreseeable future, perhaps excepting what's already been planned for E3.

Ironically that could be a great thing for gamers. Imagine Microsoft starting to support more small scale third party low investment <-> low risk development a la Ken Levine's going from Bioshock to a more indie style 20 man digital only project aiming for innovation.
 
Yes, but the last WiiU numbers we got were in December and are now out of date. We will be getting more in a few weeks.

The last Wii U numbers we got (5.86 million as of December 31st) were shipments.

There is a very real discrepancy between shipped and sold with Wii U numbers.

With PS4 numbers, shipped and sold are synonymous.
 

Feorax

Member
Titanfall increase the Xbox ONE sales in 90-100%
Titanfall is the best seller
In UK titanfall (Xbox one version) is 1-2 place letting infamous in 3-4th

Titanfall is a new IP

I think titanfall is a big success,

This.

Coupled with the money they got from MS, EA are probably pretty happy with Titanfall. Not that I expect the next game to be exclusive, however.

The big losers from the deal were MS.
 
Unless EA, Activision, Ubisoft, etc all go broke and can't fund games, they aren't ignoring a rapidly increasing 7 million userbase. If we're seeing any 3rd party exclusives at all again from MS its going to happen only because MS funded it.

I'd be willing to bet with the escalating costs of AAA development, there are more than a few formerly huge franchises up for grabs to the highest bidder, regardless of install base.

If it's a choice between a game getting made as an exclusive, or not being made at all, you have to think that some publishers will still cut deals.

MS or Sony can guarantee a certain level of funding and supply marketing creative, production, and media ... which will be attractive. Just because you're multiplatform doesn't guarantee success, right?

And if MS or Sony is offering a somewhat sure thing? Have to think the 2-3ish million lead and momentum for Sony at this point isn't as high on the priority list for a publisher with debt and a decent back catalog to mine.
 
If Second Son sold over a million units and Titanfall beat it out, at what point do we need to hold off on claiming Titanfall sold over a million units?

Yeah, but dude, you're forgetting something:

Infamous sold over a million copies worldwide.

Titanfall beat Infamous in North America. We don't know if this is the case worldwide. It probably is, but it is not a guarantee. Don't equate U.S. sales with worldwide.

The real question I'm wondering is, is how much TF sold on XB1 vs. PC in March. I assume the XB1 version sold more, but I imagine the PC version was fairly competitive with it, due to the larger install base.
 

IN&OUT

Banned
TF was successful and the Xbox One probably owes a lot to it, but the FInfamous series is in fact not that big of a seller.

TF vs Infamous sales are almost identical, what makes ISS sales so impressive is its only on PS4 vs Xbone+PC + a seven figure Marketing budget from MS.

I would say that TF sales were very underwhelming giving the crazy manufactured hype all media was trying to create.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
You and i have a different definition of great. Homefront sold a million so I don't see your point. In fact, Ea hasn't even announced 1 million sold. Is it a great debut? Nope. It's average at best not by amount of sales but because of the initial investment and the giant expectations. The difference between this game and Cod 4 is the lack of word of mouth advertising. Titanfall's price has been slashed at least once since it's release. I don't know about you but big games don't get their price slashed within a month from release. I don't know any retailer that sold gta V at a reduced price in the first 3 months.

Homefront sold 1 million worlwide, it debuted at 3 on the NPD. Titanfall reached that number just in the NPD, along with this only being physical. PC digital(the vast majority of the userbase) is not here, neither is the 360 version, or any other region.
 

AniHawk

Member
I don't really feel like listing everything, but it's pretty clear Sony has the edge when it comes to exclusives and acquired studios. At least in quantity. Whether you prefer one or the other is entirely subjective.

i'm not talking subjective taste but objective sales, which demonstrate the pull of each franchise.
 

stonesak

Okay, if you really insist
In spite of people claiming that Microsoft has infinite money - they don't.

I imagine a lot here are underestimating the costs involved in maintaining a huge scale worldwide marketing campaign for months. Microsoft almost certainly dropped 9 figures on Titanfall and are likely going to lose an enormous amount of money on it after all is said and done. This comes at a time as there's still a big push for MS to get rid of the XBox division. I expect to see them start acting incredibly bearish for the foreseeable future, perhaps excepting what's already been planned for E3.

Ironically that could be a great thing for gamers. Imagine Microsoft starting to support more small scale third party low investment <-> low risk development a la Ken Levine's going from Bioshock to a more indie style 20 man digital only project aiming for innovation.

Not to mention with Xbox's future still uncertain I doubt many publishers want to risk the wrath of Kaz.
 

Feorax

Member
I'd be willing to bet with the escalating costs of AAA development, there are more than a few formerly huge franchises up for grabs to the highest bidder, regardless of install base.

If it's a choice between a game getting made as an exclusive, or not being made at all, you have to think that some publishers will still cut deals.

MS or Sony can guarantee a certain level of funding and supply marketing creative, production, and media ... which will be attractive. Just because you're multiplatform doesn't guarantee success, right?

And if MS or Sony is offering a somewhat sure thing? Have to think the 2-3ish million lead and momentum for Sony at this point isn't as high on the priority list for a publisher with debt and a decent back catalog to mine.

But are these the types of games that MS are going to drop 10 figure sums on with the expectation that they'll shift consoles in the thousands? You would think anything that would move consoles like that would be successful enough to sustain itself.
 

ethomaz

Banned
This.

Coupled with the money they got from MS, EA are probably pretty happy with Titanfall. Not that I expect the next game to be exclusive, however.

The big losers from the deal were MS.
I don't see EA pretty happy with the situation... they bet in the wrong horse. No MS funding will backup the money they will profit with more 2 million TF sold on PS4 at $60.
 

Mechazawa

Member
Yeah, but dude, you're forgetting something:

Infamous sold over a million copies worldwide.

Titanfall beat Infamous in North America. We don't know if this is the case worldwide. It probably is, but it is not a guarantee. Don't equate U.S. sales with worldwide.

The real question I'm wondering is, is how much TF sold on XB1 vs. PC in March. I assume the XB1 version sold more, but I imagine the PC version was fairly competitive with it, due to the larger install base.

Oh, I didn't know Second Son's million was for worldwide.

I certainly hope Titanfall did well on PC, although I wouldn't be surprised if Origin drugged it through the mud a bit.
 

Raydeen

Member
I don't think MS's heart is in it anymore sadly.

White papers will be written on this fiasco entitled "How to kill a much loved brand".

The deafening silence at MS. The complete lack of action. NO ONE WANTS KINECT!

No VR opportunities.

It's all sunshine and roses from Sony (bar Vita - Sony's very own mini Xbone).

Even a die hard Xbot (yes I remember those dancing green bananas in the heyday!), I have to say you've blown it. Bye. Hello PS4.
 
TF vs Infamous sales are almost identical, what makes ISS sales so impressive is its only on PS4 vs Xbone+PC + a seven figure Marketing budget from MS.

I would say that TF sales were very underwhelming giving the crazy manufactured hype all media was trying to create.

Are we going to pretend that Sony didn't have just as big an ad campaign for I:SS? Hell, I saw a lot more ads for I:SS than I did for TF.

And I do mean a lot more. Sony went all out to market I:SS. It's the biggest ad campaign for a game I've seen from them since The Last of Us...
 

JawzPause

Member
But.... RIP Vita. I still believe that this is the best handheld console ever made, with lots of games and great functionality for doing lots of things on it. But these sales are terribad. :(
I really hope it isn't dead as I plan on buying one in the summer
 
Any Japanese pubs giving exclusivity to XB1 would be beyond foolish. Hindering fan base growth for short term gains.

Unless of course they aren't able to fund the game in the first place without Microsoft's dollar.

Street fighter is a far more likely candidate. Its not that capcom can't afford it, its that internally they may not want to.
 

MavFan619

Banned
It is very safe to say now that PS4 has surpassed WORLDWIDE LTD sales numbers of Wii U. Nintendo announced few months ago that they aim to reach 6.2mil shipped WiiU consoles by end of Q1. Sony is easily smashing competition on a home console front...

But.... RIP Vita. I still believe that this is the best handheld console ever made, with lots of games and great functionality for doing lots of things on it. But these sales are terribad. :(
Yeah poor Vita I love mine and want continued support but :(
 

IN&OUT

Banned
Are we going to pretend that Sony didn't have just as big an ad campaign for I:SS? Hell, I saw a lot more ads for I:SS than I did for TF.

And I do mean a lot more. Sony went all out to market I:SS. It's the biggest ad campaign for a game I've seen from them since The Last of Us...

Sony marketed ISS, but it was nothing like what MS did with TF. Also TF was touted to be the biggest game in console history since its debute in E3...it ended up average all around.
 

kess

Member
I'd be curious to see how the Dreamcast software sales stack up against the Wii U. I mean, the Wii U must have about as many games right now in the US but it sure doesn't feel like it.
 
So Xbox One sold fewer units on a weekly basis compared to last month. That's a very bad sign with Titanfall and the retailer price cuts in mind.

I don't see how MS can be happy with this 311k figure, down 3.5% MoM with their biggest release of the year and price cuts. Horrible, just awful.
 
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