[Industry] And with strange fiscal quarters, even death is doomed.

Sterica

Oh...hey everybody. We're doing this again, huh? You all fucked up. Again. I am extremely disappointed, so let's review the rules.

Again.

• This is about the business of making games. Do not get carried away into side topics like the state of gaming journalism, opinions on particular games, social issues in the industries, and so forth. Those topics are best reserved for other threads.
• STAY ON TOPIC. People going off-topic will likely end up jailed.
• No platforming fighting. The thread does not exist for people to represent their favored platform of gaming.
• You do not get to determine what is appropriate for the thread. If you feel something is off-topic, then report it.
• Do not post VGChartz. They are an unreliable source of data.
• No click-bait shit like top ten lists or Kotaku articles unless it's sales figures.
• REPORT PEOPLE VIOLATING THE RULES. Do not dogpile the person or get into a spat with them. Chances are you'll get infracted right alongside the offender.
• The above does not mean reporting people that disagree with you or called out your bullshit with actual data.
• Speaking of which, claims should be backed up with properly cited figures. Opinion is find, but don't make assertions without evidence and then rabidly defend them.
• This thread is not an uptight business club. As long as you stay chill and don't meander off-topic, you can have a lot of fun discussing this dysfunctional industry.

Sterica

August NPD

AUGUST US GAME SALES (August 4-August 31, 2013)
OVERALL DOLLAR SALES
Total retail sales: $521 (1%)
Non-PC hardware: $90.8 million (-40%)
Non-PC software: $293.4 (23%)
Accessories: $136.7 (7%)
Total software: $305 million (21%)

TOP 10 GAMES FOR AUGUST 2013
Title (Platforms) - Publisher
1. Madden NFL 25 - (X360, PS3) - Electronic Arts
2. Saints Row IV - (X360, PS3, PC) - Deep Silver
3. Disney Infinity - (X360, Wii, PS3, Wii U, 3DS ) - Disney Interactive
4. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist - (X360, PS3, Wii U, PC) - Ubisoft
5. Minecraft - (X360) - Microsoft
6. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team - (3DS) - Nintendo
7. NCAA Football 14 - (X360, PS3) - Electronic Arts
8. PayDay 2 - (X360, PS3) - 505 Games
9. Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn - (PS3, PC) - Square Enix
10. Pikmin 3 - (Wii U) - Nintendo

Viskod

Yay! Pikmin made it!

Aegeri

Are there any numbers yet for the American launch of the Wonderful 101? Because it seriously tanked in Japan and I am hoping it (somehow) managed to do better in the US.

But what I really want to know: How is the console version of Diablo 3 doing? I heard it came out at number 3 in the UK, but I am really curious how it is doing because it will probably determine Blizzards future relationship with consoles.

Allforce

Gotta wait til next month for those numbers.

Ov3rcharge

If a game parodying Japanese culture tanked in its home country then there is little hope for it here.

Raybies666

Wooo! The thread is back. Has anyone seen preorder numbers for the 2ds? I don't have time to trawl the internet to find out.

Man, if that thing doesn't fly off shelves on Pokemon day or sell bazillions by christmas, I'll be mighty surprised.

Sagroth

My god, the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is STILL charting that well?

Insane.

Automaticzen

I was surprised to see Saints row IV above Blacklist, but then I thought about it a bit.

CCS

Did we get any data for Wii U sales?

Sterica

Nintendo and Sony didn't give sales numbers for August.

So, "bad" in other words. The price drop might change that, but don't hold your breath.

Aegeri

I read the vita price drop elevated sales from 20k to around 30k. Not great in other words.

Hopefully Sony have not left their move on dropping price too late.

UnbreakableVow

I can't believe Blacklist did that well

It seems like there was virtually no hype or advertising for that game

Spoit

NPD doesn't track PC sales right? I'm really suprised payday 2 did 8th place when they said a few days ago that it only sold ~300k physical copies (1.3M digital)

Henroid

Rorus Raz wrote: »

Nintendo and Sony didn't give sales numbers for August.

So, "bad" in other words. The price drop might change that, but don't hold your breath.

I keep forgetting its voluntary. Did the Ouya company (do they just call themselves "Ouya" too or are they "Team Ouya"?) release any data? Because their first NPD month was really harsh for them too.

I really hope the holiday season leads to a blowout of hardware sales. Imagine if after all this people just aren't interested.

Spaffy

Could Wonderful 101 see a port to other platforms? I gather the gesture commands can be input with the right analogue stick. It would be a shame to see it disappear with such dismal figures as it's meant to be great.

muninn

Interesting to see PAYDAY2 doing so well as well. I guess it fills a particular niche right now.

Sterica

Henroid wrote: »

I really hope the holiday season leads to a blowout of hardware sales. Imagine if after all this people just aren't interested.

I mean, it shouldn't be surprising that the current gen isn't selling right before the launch of new hardware, and the top seller IS next-gen hardware (for a handheld, anyways).

Sales will pick up, for sure. Well, except for Wii U. I don't think $50 is enough to move systems, and Nintendoland would probably spur more people to buy a system than HD remakes. Wii U sales will have to increase a LITTLE, but Nintendo is going to be a laughingstock if the Wii U cannot beat the previous generation this holiday season. And they would deserve the derision, as they have utterly squandered their lead.

The Wolfman

I don't know if there's anything left for Nintendo to do, other than their standard game plan: release their games and carry on, with maybe another price drop or two. For customers, either you want one or you don't, and those who do are just waiting for the right magic games/price ratio. For developers, well they made their decision months/years/decades ago on whether they'll make games for it or not (how far back is directly related to your level of cynicism).

Basically, they're damned if they do and they're damned if they don't, and next to nothing is going to matter, barring some extreme event.

Drascin

Pretty much. At this point I don't think Nintendo can really change gameplans all that much, so might as well just walk forward and weather a subpar generation again until either games reach critical mass or the next idea strikes. But at this point it does look like WiiU might be another Gamecube - great console, some great games, but not too many of them and not a lot of sales. A pity. Ah well. Still probably going to get one at some point in the future, though.

Sterica

I mean, Pikmin 3 cracked the top ten, so it's not completely terrible.

UnbreakableVow

And that's Pikmin

Pikmin isn't some huge franchise

So what does that mean? That when Mario hits, it'll get closer to the top?

Or does it mean Wii U owners are just starved for pretty much anything first party?

Athenor

Go Volition! They definitely deserve it, given how amazing SR4 is.

Spaffy wrote: »

Could Wonderful 101 see a port to other platforms? I gather the gesture commands can be input with the right analogue stick. It would be a shame to see it disappear with such dismal figures as it's meant to be great.

Only if some other company pays Nintendo back for the entire development cost they put into the game. This isn't like a Ninja Gaiden 3 situation, where Nintendo only published in the US. Nintendo fully funded both Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2. And Platinum games never sell well, not that such is any defense.

Really, Nintendo needs to ramp up their advertising something fierce. I know they scaled back when things took a turn for the worse earlier this year, but at the time they justified it as not seeing a reason to advertise when there were no games for the system. Well, with what's about to hit.. maybe it's time to reverse that opinion?

I can't tell you how many times over the summer I saw Sony's big ad for the PS4, the 2 minute one, tacked on the front of youtube vids. Nintendo needs to do similar.

Viskod

The Wonderful 101 is probably going to be the next Psychonauts. The greatest game that no one played, but learned about waaaaaaaaaaay later.

Athenor

You could say that about any Platinum game, though. Luckily, the studio seems to know how to work within constrained budgets, so they don't cost their publishers too much in the long run.

Shady3011

Lost Planet 3 sold less than 10k copies.

Lanrutcon

Viskod wrote: »

The Wonderful 101 is probably going to be the next Psychonauts. The greatest game that no one played, but learned about waaaaaaaaaaay later.

The Wii U needs a killer app from a franchise that people recognize. A new, unproven IP isn't good enough (regardless of the game's actual quality).

Shady3011 wrote: »

Lost Planet 3 sold less than 10k copies.

The game had like, no marketing at all. It looks like it was sent out to die. Not that the game is anything but average, mind you.

Shady3011

They gave it a death sentence when they handed it to Spark Unlimited.

cooljammer00

Oh, so Splinter Cell WASN'T buried during that late summer release? I guess that means The Bureau was.

cooljammer00

Also, Lost Planet 3, from what little I saw of it, looked extremely competent.

Drascin

Lanrutcon wrote: »

The game had like, no marketing at all. It looks like it was sent out to die. Not that the game is anything but average, mind you.

No kidding. I like to think I'm more on top of things than most people and I only knew that game so much as existed when I saw its "coming soon" banner in my Steam page.

fearsomepirate

Lanrutcon wrote: »

Viskod wrote: »

The Wonderful 101 is probably going to be the next Psychonauts. The greatest game that no one played, but learned about waaaaaaaaaaay later.

The Wii U needs a killer app from a franchise that people recognize. A new, unproven IP isn't good enough (regardless of the game's actual quality).

Like Wii Sports or Wii Fit?

Another phoned-in NSMB failed to sell the system. The tablet failed to sell the system. Their bizarre refusal to admit anyone outside of Nintendo has ever had a good idea about how to use the Internet has failed to sell the system. Abandoning motion control has failed to sell the system.

At this point, what they should do is go out and recapture the original Wii audience, but I suspect what they'll actually do is limp along for another two years, get distracted by another weird new gadget, stop producing Wii U games, and let the console die a slow, ignominious death.

Hedgethorn

CCS wrote: »

Did we get any data for Wii U sales?

Leaks over at GAF suggested about 30k sales for both the Wii and WiiU in August.

The Ouya was under 8k.

Allforce

Lost Planet only had 4 days as well. Still a bomb when Capcom estimated 1.2 MILLION in sales for that title.

Other numbers more fleshed out from GAF

-WiiU was around 32K
-Vita almost beat WiiU
-The Pikmin total of 115k given by Nintendo includes digital, but over 100k went at retail.
-Disney Infinity sold only about 16% of its 275k total on WiiU. Wii 25%. 360 was top platform
-Tales of Xilia > 100K
-Angry Birds WiiU sold less than 1500 copies
-Killer is Dead sold less than 15k
-Splinter Cell sold 300k, 70% on 360, 1.6% on WiiU.
-Ouya sold 4K, Shield < 2k

Brainiac 8

Pikmin and Dream Team charting is awesome.

Ouya, that was never going to end well.

Viskod

Wait Allforce, am I reading that right? That Disney Infinity sold more copies on the Wii than the Wii U?

fearsomepirate wrote: »

Lanrutcon wrote: »

Viskod wrote: »

The Wonderful 101 is probably going to be the next Psychonauts. The greatest game that no one played, but learned about waaaaaaaaaaay later.

The Wii U needs a killer app from a franchise that people recognize. A new, unproven IP isn't good enough (regardless of the game's actual quality).

Like Wii Sports or Wii Fit?

Another phoned-in NSMB failed to sell the system. The tablet failed to sell the system. Their bizarre refusal to admit anyone outside of Nintendo has ever had a good idea about how to use the Internet has failed to sell the system. Abandoning motion control has failed to sell the system.

At this point, what they should do is go out and recapture the original Wii audience, but I suspect what they'll actually do is limp along for another two years, get distracted by another weird new gadget, stop producing Wii U games, and let the console die a slow, ignominious death.

I don't think W101 being a new IP is its biggest hurdle, I believe that credit goes to the system not selling very well and the fact that the people who typically review games are for the most part, ridiculous hacks when it comes to reviewing something that is different and/or takes skill.

The original Wii audience doesn't exist anymore. You either bought a Wii because you were going to anyway because you love Nintendos first party titles, or you were suckered in by the motion control fad. There's no fad this time.

cooljammer00

Allforce wrote: »

Lost Planet only had 4 days as well. Still a bomb when Capcom estimated 1.2 MILLION in sales for that title.

Other numbers more fleshed out from GAF

-WiiU was around 32K
-Vita almost beat WiiU
-The Pikmin total of 115k given by Nintendo includes digital, but over 100k went at retail.
-Disney Infinity sold only about 16% of its 275k total on WiiU. Wii 25%. 360 was top platform
-Tales of Xilia > 100K
-Angry Birds WiiU sold less than 1500 copies
-Killer is Dead sold less than 15k
-Splinter Cell sold 300k, 70% on 360, 1.6% on WiiU.
-Ouya sold 4K, Shield < 2k

Well then, maybe Capcom should have promoted Lost Planet more/at all.

Also, would have thought the Splinter Cell split would have been better on the consoles instead of seemingly ALL 360. No PS3? No PC?

urahonky

I'm actually surprised by the low sales of the Angry Birds game on the WiiU. It seems like the tablet would be the best way to play the game... Although I guess at that point many people have the game on various tablets already... And it's less than $60.

Allforce

Viskod wrote: »

Wait Allforce, am I reading that right? That Disney Infinity sold more copies on the Wii than the Wii U?

Yeah, about 68K for Wii vs 43K for WiiU.

cooljammer00

Allforce wrote: »

Viskod wrote: »

Wait Allforce, am I reading that right? That Disney Infinity sold more copies on the Wii than the Wii U?

Yeah, about 68K for Wii vs 43K for WiiU.

Not too crazy. If anything, it should be more, considering the demographics and install base of the Wii v. the Wii U.

urahonky

Is that really all that surprising? People bought the game for the console they own. They don't care about graphics or anything like that.