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NPD Sales Results for November 2013 [Up3: Zelda, Pokemon, Mario, 3DS, Wii U]

Dayum. Horrific numbers for Wii U and Vita. Look at the bright side, both might be clearanced out in 2014 so they can be had for a discounted price.
 

libregkd

Member
Just look at the top 10.

CoD + BF + AC + Sports Games. That is really telling of where the industry is heading. Even with that launch from PS4/XB1 this generation will be leaded by 100 versions of those games, everyone obviously focusing so much on Nintendo but I would say for every system say goodbye to the niche games that we love so much, every game released will be so predictable.
These games are on 4-6 platforms. I'd be surprised if they weren't in the top 10.

I'm far more interested in seeing individual sales rather then have them all lumped together.
 
The only thing that can save the Vita is someone cracking that thing wide open for pirates. Would be total shit for software makers but Sony would bring in the bucks for system sales much like PSP

?

Sony will take those hardware sales if it meant people will still buy the software. Having the Vita cracked would be a nail in its coffin.
 
Where's Peterboy?

Got all uppity with me last night for calling doubt on MS's claim that they sold '2million' XB1's to customers because they have a history of spin and obfuscation with such matters.

And bang, here we have it again today - apparently steady sales numbers over a short period beats total sales. Who are you fucking kidding.

Calm down friend. The stuff people were talking about in the "2 million" sold thread is that they "believe" MS straight up fabricates sales numbers. Which was (and still is) a ridiculous accusation. No one provided any actual proof of that. Just regurgitation of the same link about the Surface lawsuit (which is NOT the same thing as straight up making up numbers).

The press release by Major Nelson, while kind of silly (and poorly worded) is what always happens when a company doesn't win NPD. Nintendo spun their numbers to look good. Sony used to spin the crap out of their numbers almost every NPD during the PS3 era (were you around then?). And you know what, who cares? I really don't get why people even pay that much attention to PR releases.

I do think Major could have worded it better. He should have just said that the XB1 sold the fastest per week on average and left it at that. That in itself is pretty impressive.

Honestly, regarding the XB1/PS4 debate, I don't get why so many people here are getting so excited/emotional. This is really just about "who shipped more consoles?" They're both going to sell out. MS very likely could have had roughly about the same amount of consoles in its first 9 days worldwide that the PS4 had in its first 9 days. We know they both sold about the same in their first weekends. PS4 got to first focus just on NA (primarily the US), while MS spread out their consoles to their 13 countries. Since it's so early, Sony's one week advantage and their ability to strike NA hard first is possibly making a difference in the US numbers (and hence their Nov NPD win).

What we're probably going to see for December is that PS4 might have a harder time restocking in the US since they have more countries to supply. I wouldn't be surprised if MS won Dec NPD as I bet they're going to focus hard on the US in December. PS4 will probably win Europe easily (I would include the UK in that).

Since this is the holidays, both I'm sure will sell (or almost) out. This says nothing about demand for either. PS4 could have a higher demand (it likely does). But since they can only make so many consoles, they will be supply constrained.

Things really won't get interesting and meaningful until January. Or even February.
 

Yamauchi

Banned
The scary part is that this was the holiday push. You might get some hits in december but this was the big one for all 3.

So if Nintendo is struggling during the holiday how are they going to do during the dry spell after holiday time period until mario kart
You have forgotten Cranky Kong!
 

Boss Man

Member
The one thing keeping the Vita (barely) going is that software sales are pretty good for the thing.
I do think that as the PS4 install base gets bigger Vita sales will see a little boost. I know I'm interested in the Remote Play stuff, at least.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
When something is failing people always blame the marketing. Blackberry's CEO blames the marketing. Palm fans blamed the Marketing. Apple fans in the 90's blamed the marketing and then low and behold, when they started shipping good products their sales improved.

It's never the marketing.

I think you need to read up on advertising history if you think marketing is never a factor lol

Unless you're being weirdly sarcastic.
 
I thought it was supposed to skyrocket since it goes so well with the PS4, something something remote play.

I have a Vita and never understood why people thought it would be such a huge deal. The remote play push has felt like Sony waving the white flag on the Vita being a good selling system on it's own.
 

Jamix012

Member
I really don't count the Wii as it really was less of a games console and more of a toy. You might as well say that Symbian outsold the iPhone at that point, when in reality Symbian was only selling at the very, very low end and was really nothing compared to the iPhone. And I was meaning that halfway through last gen, around the time Kinect was released and J Allard left the PS3, like Samsung, got its shit together and started to rise a comparable level as that of its competition.

if you don't count the Wii your discussion is pretty much irrelevant to any GAFfers.
 

Branduil

Member
Exactly.

Value proposition is huge. They are selling inferior hardware at a high price and telling us that we should like that because Nintendo is "going against the grain"

In reality they are trying to save money on something they see as not as important but trying to sell it at a price that barely reflects that. The tablet controller was a terrible get and doesn't even have the same functionality as something that is modern

Nothing about the console appeals to casuals for the reasons they enjoy tablets. Nothing about the hardware inspires core gamers who don't only play Nintendo games. The only people buying are people who like Nintendo games only and nothing else. But then they aren't even doing a good job of releasing games for that group of people either.

They need to release another console next year that drops the tablet and has a better parity hardware-wise to a PC

Nobody is going to buy a console that is just a PS4+Nintendo games-good online system. The Gamecube failed for a reason.

They don't have the support of third parties and probably never will. They don't output enough software in a wide enough variety of genres to make up for that. Their hardware is too expensive for what it is.

I think their only real path at this point is a single, unified, cheap software platform. This would allow them to instantly double their software output. And they need to make new software in genres they've rarely touched recently. They need to make non-Mario sports games. They need to make shooters. They need to make RPGs.
 

AniHawk

Member
yeah nintendo got their shit kicked in this month.

wii u and 3d world are self-explanatory. i think with having the whole of december they'll sell incrementally better. that's still not anywhere near good though.

3ds is doing okay but it should have topped a million with $99 hardware on the market. pokemon absolutely dropped off as well, and zelda did okay with 400k games (once you include the bundles).

i think in 2014, they need to have $200 hardware. really, get rid of the gamepad. at this point it's not even about getting it into people's homes- it's about reducing cost of producing each console. these are going to be lean years up ahead.

the 2ds needs to drop down to $100 eventually, but not for a while. instead, nintendo should advertise all their handheld games this year and make sure interest in the 3ds doesn't drop off like it did with the wii u. i feel that 2013 will be its peak year in the states. smash bros., yoshi, and others will probably sell well, but they've burnt all their system-sellers now. i think the worst part of the 3ds is that the games are super expensive for handhelds. $40 isn't much of an agreeable price. it wasn't ten years ago, it wasn't five years ago, and it isn't now.

2015 would be a good time to actually release one new piece of hardware. i don't think they can afford to have a tailing off period and it seems the 3ds is going to drop off sooner than later. it's a risky proposition, but if they spend the next two years creating some sort of hybrid system, it might pay off. it depends on marketing though. whatever they make next, they need to communicate why people want the thing and don't let up, and don't have ten months after launch where there aren't first-party releases.
 
When something is failing people always blame the marketing. Blackberry's CEO blames the marketing. Palm fans blamed the Marketing. Apple fans in the 90's blamed the marketing and then low and behold, when they started shipping good products their sales improved.

It's never the marketing.

They sale overpriced hardware. They also started to do some very good marketing (Think Different, aggressive product placement with their non-beige machines, the wow-factor of OSX).
 
Just look at the top 10.

CoD + BF + AC + Sports Games. That is really telling of where the industry is heading. Even with that launch from PS4/XB1 this generation will be leaded by 100 versions of those games, everyone obviously focusing so much on Nintendo but I would say for every system say goodbye to the niche games that we love so much, every game released will be so predictable.

You're taking rubbish. The list in the OP offers a very limited spectrum of the industry, there are now more than ever more outlets and varieties of software available for consumers. Nintendo is not the sole patron of quirk and creation, there is a lot of creativity and new talent in the industry. Sony's focus on indie titles should give you an indication of how those 'niche games' will continue to flourish.
 

Boss Man

Member
When something is failing people always blame the marketing. Blackberry's CEO blames the marketing. Palm fans blamed the Marketing. Apple fans in the 90's blamed the marketing and then low and behold, when they started shipping good products their sales improved.

It's never the marketing.
Not too sure that Apple makes this point well.
 

Dire

Member
Spinning would be if they said that the XboxOne was the best selling console over the last 9 days of november.(assuming that the XboxOne sold more units than the Ps4 between launch on the 22nd and end of november.)
But saying the XboxOne was the fastest selling console in november with 900k in 9 days is just wrong when the Ps4 sold a million on a single day. That wouldn't be spinning anymore.

Except I'm missing something here and preorders are counted for the months they were placed in and not the months they were shipped. The the Ps4s million on Day1 would probably shrink drastically if you go by that standard.

Again as in the other thread people are assuming company PR lines, particularly Microsoft's, are black or white - truth or false. They can make all sorts of assumptions and misleading calculations to justify any statement. The PS4 came out on November 15th. The XBone came out on November 22.

What they mean by fastest selling is total_sales/days_on_market. Days on market is easy. For the XBone that's 9 days. For the PS4 that's 16. We also know that the XBone sold 909,132 units. Let's assume the PS4 massively outsold the XBone and still prove Microsoft PR correct. So we'll say the PS4 sold 1.5million units. Now the math is simple:

PS4 = 1,500,000 / 16 = 93,750 units per day.
XBone = 909,132 / 9 = 101,015 units per day.

So the XBone could have gotten crushed in sales and Microsoft can still justify calling it "The fastest selling console in November." They're already being sued right now for making misleading media statements. You have to take everything Microsoft says going forward with one hugely cynical grain of salt.
 

Portugeezer

Member
Not even PS4 remote play helped much, that or I guess everyone keeps buying eachothers used Vita's...

But damn, the platform seems okay as far as games are concerned.
 
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