Video game industry thread March: It's over, go to the next one

cloudeagle

Hi! Welcome to the sales thread. Here we talk about how games have sold, marketing, PR comments, analysis of analysts and all kinds of other business-related stuff. Occasionally we make poop jokes.

To kick things off, here's the most awesome thing ever that EA needs to finally unveil RIGHT NOW.

Also, some brief analysis on what's happening at Activision at the moment.

In a recent Twitter message, Schafer wrote:

“Getting mad at Activision for this kind of thing is like getting mad at an ape for throwing feces. It’s just how the beast communicates.”

And now, March's info.

Data care of NPD Group

PlayStation 2 118.3K
PlayStation 3 313.9K
PSP 119.9K
Xbox 360 338.4K
Wii 557.5K
Nintendo DS 700.8K

1. GOD OF WAR III* PS3 SONY Mar-10 1.10M
2. POKEMON SOULSILVER VERSION NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA Mar-10 1.02M
3. FINAL FANTASY XIII PS3 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 828.2K
4. BATTLEFIELD : BAD COMPANY 2 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS Mar-10 825.5K
5. POKEMON HEARTGOLD VERSION NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA Mar-10 761.2K
6. FINAL FANTASY XIII 360 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 493.9K
7. NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Nov-09 457.4K
8. BATTLEFIELD : BAD COMPANY 2 PS3 ELECTRONIC ARTS Mar-10 451.2K
9. WII FIT PLUS W/ BALANCE BOARD* WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Oct-09 429.6K
10. MLB 10: THE SHOW PS3 SONY Mar-10 349.2K
12 Just Dance Wii
13 CoD :MW2 360
14 MLB 2k10 360
15 NSMB DS DS
16 Mario Kart Wii Wii
17 CoD :MW2 PS3
18 GoW 1+2 PS3
19 Heavy Rain PS3
20 Mario Kart DS DS

Brainiac 8

I love that new thread smell...sort of like Blueberry Pie.

Pureauthor

Having never played Dante's Inferno, a part of me wonders if it deserves the sales it's getting.

Brainiac 8

Pureauthor wrote: »

Having never played Dante's Inferno, a part of me wonders if it deserves the sales it's getting.

My opinion says no....but hey, what do I know when it comes to the general gaming populace.

Gore and boobs have great selling power. Demon spitting nipples even more so. :P

Fencingsax

I wish that we could somehow get Steam numbers. Even annually.

THEPAIN73

Can't wait to see what this week looks like.

Pokemon for #1

Sipex

Pureauthor wrote: »

Having never played Dante's Inferno, a part of me wonders if it deserves the sales it's getting.

I've not played it and it doesn't look particularily innovative but one thing I can confirm is that it just looks plain fun. For a copy game it looks built well, the gameplay looks enjoyable and the controls sound tight.

In the end I don't see it winning any awards but fun still sells games.

UreshiiAkuma

THEPAIN73 wrote: »

Can't wait to see what this week looks like.

Pokemon for #1

I gotta admit, even though I still haven't finished the main story in Pearl, the gimmick of the poke-pedo has me tempted to pick up one of the new ones.

cloudeagle

Fencingsax wrote: »

I wish that we could somehow get Steam numbers. Even annually.

You and me both, brother.

Xagarath

UreshiiAkuma wrote: »

THEPAIN73 wrote: »

Can't wait to see what this week looks like.

Pokemon for #1

I gotta admit, even though I still haven't finished the main story in Pearl, the gimmick of the poke-pedo has me tempted to pick up one of the new ones.

Oh really?

THEPAIN73

UreshiiAkuma wrote: »

THEPAIN73 wrote: »

Can't wait to see what this week looks like.

Pokemon for #1

I gotta admit, even though I still haven't finished the main story in Pearl, the gimmick of the poke-pedo has me tempted to pick up one of the new ones.

It's awesome.

It raised the price by $5 but I am VERY glad they didn't sell it seperate.

Totally worth it. Might be the most fresh idea they have had in a while.

Figgy

cloudeagle wrote: »

Fencingsax wrote: »

I wish that we could somehow get Steam numbers. Even anally.

You and me both, brother.

That's how I read that.

Disturbing.

cloudeagle

Figgy wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Fencingsax wrote: »

I wish that we could somehow get Steam numbers. Even anally.

You and me both, brother.

That's how I read that.

Disturbing.

Hell, at this point I'd take the Steam numbers anally. Without them, we have no damn clue whether or not PC DD has compensated for the withering of retail PC or not. Personally I suspect the increase in PC revenue is due largely to MMOs and Facebook games, but without the numbers we'll never really know.

Rent

Hopefully FFXIII makes a huge splash

I already bought it, despite having no device to play it on, and the instant I land back in the States I'm picking up the 360 version, soooo

Brainiac 8

I'm sure FFXIII did fine.

I'm more interested in how the newest iteration of Pokemon did. My Gamestop where I got mine were nearly out of them when I picked mine up.

They got two full boxes of Gold/Silver.

Kor

Something that didn't make any sense to me. My wife (who works at gamestop) told me that yesterday while she was at work, she had 2 trade ins for Pokemon Heart Gold already. One of the guys that traded it in even said, "It's just not what I was expecting it to be."

I'd love to know what the hell he meant.

Pata

Kor wrote: »

Something that didn't make any sense to me. My wife (who works at gamestop) told me that yesterday while she was at work, she had 2 trade ins for Pokemon Heart Gold already. One of the guys that traded it in even said, "It's just not what I was expecting it to be."

I'd love to know what the hell he meant.

Perhaps he thought it was a totally new game.

cloudeagle

Kor wrote: »

Something that didn't make any sense to me. My wife (who works at gamestop) told me that yesterday while she was at work, she had 2 trade ins for Pokemon Heart Gold already. One of the guys that traded it in even said, "It's just not what I was expecting it to be."

I'd love to know what the hell he meant.

Doesn't Gamestop always get day-one tradeins of new awesome games people didn't like for truly stupid reasons, though?

sir_pinch-a-loaf

or quite possibly, people steal copies and trade them in for credit.

Santa Claustrophobia

cloudeagle wrote: »

Kor wrote: »

Something that didn't make any sense to me. My wife (who works at gamestop) told me that yesterday while she was at work, she had 2 trade ins for Pokemon Heart Gold already. One of the guys that traded it in even said, "It's just not what I was expecting it to be."

I'd love to know what the hell he meant.

Doesn't Gamestop always get day-one tradeins of new awesome games people didn't like for truly stupid reasons, though?

Don't be that guy. Not even as a joke. Some people just don't like 'new awesome' games for whatever reason.

Kor

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Kor wrote: »

Something that didn't make any sense to me. My wife (who works at gamestop) told me that yesterday while she was at work, she had 2 trade ins for Pokemon Heart Gold already. One of the guys that traded it in even said, "It's just not what I was expecting it to be."

I'd love to know what the hell he meant.

Doesn't Gamestop always get day-one tradeins of new awesome games people didn't like for truly stupid reasons, though?

Don't be that guy. Not even as a joke. Some people just don't like 'new awesome' games for whatever reason.

The reason I brought it up was that it's Pokemon, you should know by now what it is going into it.

Stealing it and then trading it in, though? That makes sense.

cloudeagle

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Kor wrote: »

Something that didn't make any sense to me. My wife (who works at gamestop) told me that yesterday while she was at work, she had 2 trade ins for Pokemon Heart Gold already. One of the guys that traded it in even said, "It's just not what I was expecting it to be."

I'd love to know what the hell he meant.

Doesn't Gamestop always get day-one tradeins of new awesome games people didn't like for truly stupid reasons, though?

Don't be that guy. Not even as a joke. Some people just don't like 'new awesome' games for whatever reason.

But trading it in THE DAY OF RELEASE, for whatever reason, is kind of silly.

Besides, I said SILLY reasons, like "this game doesn't have enough boobs" or somesuch.

Still sore over the ME2 thing, eh? :P

Capt Howdy

I see no pie!

Still can't find any data on Endless Ocean Blue World sales.

DarkWarrior

cloudeagle wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Kor wrote: »

Something that didn't make any sense to me. My wife (who works at gamestop) told me that yesterday while she was at work, she had 2 trade ins for Pokemon Heart Gold already. One of the guys that traded it in even said, "It's just not what I was expecting it to be."

I'd love to know what the hell he meant.

Doesn't Gamestop always get day-one tradeins of new awesome games people didn't like for truly stupid reasons, though?

Don't be that guy. Not even as a joke. Some people just don't like 'new awesome' games for whatever reason.

But trading it in THE DAY OF RELEASE, for whatever reason, is kind of silly.

Besides, I said SILLY reasons, like "this game doesn't have enough boobs" or somesuch.

Still sore over the ME2 thing, eh? :P

People get those games free a lot of the time because they work in the industry or know people who do or its even reps who just keep the games and then sell them for cash. I've seen plenty of sealed new games come in on launch day, even before launch day sometimes.

Brainiac 8

Capt Howdy wrote: »

I see no pie!

Still can't find any data on Endless Ocean Blue World sales.

Actually we haven't gotten any leaks from the sales of other 'non top 20' games have we?

Since I was wondering about TvC also. Hmmm....

Santa Claustrophobia

cloudeagle wrote: »

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

Kor wrote: »

Something that didn't make any sense to me. My wife (who works at gamestop) told me that yesterday while she was at work, she had 2 trade ins for Pokemon Heart Gold already. One of the guys that traded it in even said, "It's just not what I was expecting it to be."

I'd love to know what the hell he meant.

Doesn't Gamestop always get day-one tradeins of new awesome games people didn't like for truly stupid reasons, though?

Don't be that guy. Not even as a joke. Some people just don't like 'new awesome' games for whatever reason.

But trading it in THE DAY OF RELEASE, for whatever reason, is kind of silly.

Besides, I said SILLY reasons, like "this game doesn't have enough boobs" or somesuch.

Still sore over the ME2 thing, eh? :P

Yes. That's it. I still give a shit about that and am just pointing out that not everybody has a 'truly stupid reason' for trading in a Day One release to salve my wounded pride. I just want to talk about it some more...



Kor, trading in a Pokemon game on Day One because it wasn't what he was expecting is pretty silly. I've never played one and I'm pretty sure I know what to expect. It does make theft a more likely possibility.

UreshiiAkuma

Xagarath wrote: »

UreshiiAkuma wrote: »

THEPAIN73 wrote: »

Can't wait to see what this week looks like.

Pokemon for #1

I gotta admit, even though I still haven't finished the main story in Pearl, the gimmick of the poke-pedo has me tempted to pick up one of the new ones.

Oh really?

:winky:

toxk_02

Gamestop droppin' their fiscal year report
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=130125&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1403658&highlight=

Gamestop wrote:

Despite industry-wide retail contractions last year, leading U.S. and international video game specialty retailer GameStop says its just-ended fiscal 2009 brought the second-highest earnings in its history.

In its fourth quarter, which ended January 30th, 2010, it saw sales rise 0.9 percent year over year to $3.52 billion, although comparable store sales fell nearly 8 percent and profits dropped 7.1% to $215.9 million.

GameStop's full-year view of 2009 also sees comparable store sales -- which take into account revenues from stores open for a year or more -- down 7.9 percent. But total sales, which include those for both new and used games, rose 3.1 percent to $9.08 billion during the year, with profits that fell 5.3 percent to $377.3 million.

Fiscal Year 2009 (2008)

Sales
New Hardware: $1.76b ($1.86b) -5.3%
New Software: $3.73b ($3.69b) +1.1%
Used Products: $2.39b ($2.03b) +17.7%
Other: $1.20b ($1.23b) -17%

Gross Profit
New Hardware: $113.5m ($112.6m) +0.8%
New Software: $795m ($768m) +3.5%
Used Products: $1.12b ($974m) +15%
Other: $405m ($414.6m) -2.3%


2010 Forecast
New hardware: -5.0% to -15.0%
New software: +2.0% to +5.0%
Used products: +5.0% to +10.0%

At 5 percent up [in Q4], GameStop's new software sales are beating industry trends that actually show 6 percent declines -- "suggesting that GameStop’s core consumer base remains loyal and active despite increasing overtures from big box and online retailers," says Sebastian.

CEO Dan DeMatteo doesn't believe DLC opportunities are much of a deterrent to used game buyers, anyway: "Through our years in the used business, we have learned that the second-hand user is a value-oriented consumer... we don't believe that a $10 add-on piece of DLC is compelling to a used game buyer," he said on the company's call to analysts alongside its 2009 financial results today.

"Publishers can participate in our used business by offering add-on content for the most popular used titles, creating a win-win situation for publishers, retailers and consumers," he adds.

GameStop announced late last year that it will also begin offering console DLC downloads in its stores, and DeMatteo says that's another upside for publishers.

"We can market and execute DLC sales right in-store," he says. "There's a tremendous opportunity for us to encourage software developers and publishers to create DLC because we'll be able to market it. It's very difficult to discover, find... add-on content with the tools available [currently]."

DeMatteo envisages DLC being part of the regular add-on upsell GameStop employees are obligated to push at checkout. Store staff will take responsibility for educating consumers on available DLC for individual games, and on encouraging them to purchase the downloadables that go with the games they're buying in-store.

UnbreakableVow

This is from the last thread, but I have to answer:

Athenor wrote: »

Have you seen the GoW3 one yet?

He's not called VP this time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un5Ji7sO8kQ

It's because he lost his VP status in the MAG commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiwSCznhdPo

Apparently, in the "future" (November 2010), he has gained his old job title back

Consistency

lowlylowlycook

Heh. So you are saying that the fiction for the US commercials is by far the most well thought out part of the PS3 business?

Seems about right.

DarkWarrior

That. Is. AWEsome.

cloudeagle

Wait, so Gamestop is planning on selling DLC in stores?

Weren't the GTA4 and Patapon 2 "code in a box" experiments horrible failures?

Undead Scottsman

Holy crap!

Xbox 360 gaining USB storage support in 2010 update
Documentation obtained by Joystiq – and subsequently confirmed with two separate sources – reveals that "USB Mass Storage Device Support on Xbox 360" will soon be a reality. The document, authored by a senior software development engineer at Microsoft, states that due to "increased market penetration of high-capacity, high throughput USB mass storage devices, a 2010 Xbox 360 system update" will allow consumers to save and load game data from USB devices. The update is purportedly coming in Spring 2010.

Once the update occurs, Xbox 360 owners will be able to download Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie games, Games on Demand, DLC and Title Updates to the storage device. "USB storage devices may, however, have far greater memory capacity than MUs (at the date of writing, the largest MU is 512 MB), and may therefore support previously infeasible operations-such as installation of a full disc-based title." That's right, you can also store disc-based games to the USB device; however, it will require the disc to be in the tray for authentication, identical to the current functionality.

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/18/xbox-360-gaining-usb-storage-support-in-2010-update/
Thank god. This means I don't need to shell out 150 bucks for a 120gig drive.

EDIT: Whoops, I missed the second half of the article

According to the document, the USB mass storage device must be at least 1GB and the system will do a compatibility check. "The system partition occupies 512 MB of space, and by default the consumer partition occupies the remainder of the device capacity, or 16 GB, whichever is smaller." Upon inserting a blank USB storage device, "consumers are offered two choices: 'Configure now' or 'Customize'." The "Configure now" option will use "the entire device capacity, up to the maximum of 512 MB plus 16 GB" meaning, regardless of the overall size of the device you're using, the Xbox will only enable 16 GB of usable, non-system storage. The "Customize" option will allow you to "preserve some pre-existing, non-console data on the device" such as music.

It should be clear by now that Microsoft is simply pulling out of the Memory Unit business and not the highly lucrative Xbox hard drive business. With an artificial cap of 16 GB – still shy of the 20 GB hard drive that shipped with the original 2005 Xbox Pro and a fraction the size of the currently shipping 120 GB hard drive – USB storage support simply removes the onerous requirement for a Memory Unit on Xbox 360 Arcade units, and brings the Xbox 360 platform a feature that's been present on the PlayStation 3 since that console's 2006 launch.

If you're intent on circumventing Microsoft's cutthroat hard drive pricing the Xbox 360, you can use two USB storage devices for a maximum of 32 GB of usable storage; however, the console "has a fixed limit of two external USB mass storage devices" regardless of whether they're "formatted for the Xbox 360 or not." If you fill all three USB ports on the console, only the first two to be connected will be recognized.

With talk of a new (slim?) form factor for the Xbox 360 picking up, and plans to abandon (or at least obviate) Memory Units underway, we're guessing those Memory Unit slots could be cut entirely from future iterations of the console.

16 gig cap. Lame.

Wienke

Hmm.

Hassle-free, tax-free, instant gratification DLC?

Or, driving across town, paying 9.25% sales tax, and getting hassled about pre-orders?

Why wouldn't you want to buy it in store?

Lucedes

I bought the Patapon 2 code-in-a-box.

I needed a spare box.

Kor

Wienke wrote: »

Hmm.

Hassle-free, tax-free, instant gratification DLC?

Or, driving across town, paying 9.25% sales tax, and getting hassled about pre-orders?

Why wouldn't you want to buy it in store?

employee discounts?

toxk_02

cloudeagle wrote: »

Wait, so Gamestop is planning on selling DLC in stores?

Weren't the GTA4 and Patapon 2 "code in a box" experiments horrible failures?

I can't decide if it's lip service to developers/publishers or if they've realized they sell such a ridiculous amount of used games that pushing (and getting a cut of) $5 and $10 DLC at the counter may be worth pursuing.

Santa Claustrophobia

Kor wrote: »

Wienke wrote: »

Hmm.

Hassle-free, tax-free, instant gratification DLC?

Or, driving across town, paying 9.25% sales tax, and getting hassled about pre-orders?

Why wouldn't you want to buy it in store?

employee discounts?

The Lost and Damned came with a map with a TLaD themed image on the back. And we get people constantly saying they'll go out of their way to get SE versions for the free geegaws that come with it instead of saving a few bucks.

Sometimes, it's important somehow.

Lunker

I was told there would be punch and pie.

Threepio

I said I'd pick up a PSP go for $159. I just picked up both a Go and a DSi for less than that.

My job, as a rule, is fantastic, but sometimes it goes nuclear.

Astale

Selling in-store DLC will probably not be a huge money maker, granted, but I imagine it'll sell enough to make itself profitable. It'll only be an issue if they end up with floor space/shipping size issues, and it becomes a 'we can do in-store DLC or X, but not both' thing.

So, basically, it's a 'why not?'.