True, but look what happened to almighty Unreal. Of course that game got no publicity whatsoever. But that's no excuse! I weep for poor unreal. I used to be a fan, until I got generally burned out on FPSs. Also I'm a greedy bastard and I prefer to play every-man-for-himself action deathmatch games, and unreal seemed to be turning towards the team-based stuff with 2k4.
anyway, yeah, I have hopes for COD4 on PC, since it's an Inf.Ward game and the other CODs, iirc, have done very well on the PC.
So there's hope.
But I'll be impressed if it hits a million on PC. But not tooooo surprised.
I think BF2 ruined things for me when it comes to impulse buying on the PC for "good" FPS games. I saw BF2, and thought: "Hey this can't be too bad." A day later I was in the fetal position crying. I just... Couldn't stand the game for some reason.
Id be shocked if it didnt already hit a million on the PC. Unreal suffered from poor marketing (which sucks beacause I have it and its outfuckingstanding) And Crysis is a new IP which was notorious for its high demand of system resources before it even released... I havent bought Crysis for that reason.
MistaCreepy on
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Id be shocked if it didnt already hit a million on the PC. Unreal suffered from poor marketing (which sucks beacause I have it and its outfuckingstanding) And Crysis is a new IP which was notorious for its high demand of system resources before it even released... I havent bought Crysis for that reason.
I don't own the game yet, but I finally secured myself an 8800GT graphics card yesterday and tried the demo... It's fun as hell. Obviously the graphics are amazing, but I was having fun shooting a few Koreans, and then going stealth... To melee them when they got closer to me.
I wonder if the Crysis sales numbers are due to that notoriety for high system demand? My $800 PC from early 2007 can play the demo acceptably on medium settings, so maybe a lot of the console kids are intrigued but staying away due to all the OMGing online about it.
I wonder if the Crysis sales numbers are due to that notoriety for high system demand? My $800 PC from early 2007 can play the demo acceptably on medium settings, so maybe a lot of the console kids are intrigued but staying away due to all the OMGing online about it.
Oh it definitely has to be intimidation. However, I feel the game will probably sell well over the course of time. When good cards get cheaper, and when people start upgrading their system, I think that people will use the game as a benchmark on how good their computer runs future games.
If CoD4 sold a million on the PC, wouldn't that be enough for it to be on the chart if it was tracked? With PS3 sales being less than half a mil, and the fact that a lot of PCFPS people have since migrated to the 360, I doubt that it broke a million.
If CoD4 sold a million on the PC, wouldn't that be enough for it to be on the chart if it was tracked? With PS3 sales being less than half a mil, and the fact that a lot of PCFPS people have since migrated to the 360, I doubt that it broke a million.
Surely.
World of Warcraft has appeared on that chart before, right?
I think that right there is why Wii isn't getting the third party support Nintendo would like.
Wait wait wait..
Let me get this straight...
The Wii, which costs far less to develop and publish for, has almost an equal number of installed base as the PS3 and 360 combined, which cost far more to develop and publish for, especially since it at least requires porting and publishing another format..
So...
What you're saying is that it's smart to spend $10M making a 360 game, a 'few' extra bucks on top of that to port to the PS3, and sell it to 20M people... as opposed to making a game for $5M for the Wii, and selling it to 15M people.
Makes perfect sense.
Then outsource a shitty Wii port to sell it to 30M people (total).
So the November numbers are in, and honestly they’re rather unexciting. I was hoping for more surprises, but oh well, there’s always December. NPD’s November is a four week retail month covering the time period from Sunday, November 4th through Saturday, December 1st. That makes the numbers directly comparable to October’s, although given that December is a five week month I still prefer working with weekly averages. As a reminder, here are October’s numbers, with the weekly averages in parentheses.
So that’s the warm-up. Now let’s move onto the new material.
First, I wanted to make a quite note about November. Historically, November has shown an increase of roughly 2.5-3.5 over the previous month’s numbers as purchases ramp up for the holiday shopping season. So keep that in mind as we look at these numbers and their seemingly huge jump over October.
DS: 1,530,000 (382,500) I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure this represents the biggest November in history. Simply phenomenal. Although the DS didn’t chart any software in the top 10, this is unsurprising given that it didn’t have any big releases and the top 10 is mostly filled with new software (the immovable Wii Play being the sole exception). I suspect that if you could peak deeper into the software charts you’d see them packed with DS titles.
Wii: 981,000 (245,250) Frankly, I’m rather underwhelmed. After the announcement that they sold 650,000 Wiis in the two weeks surrounding Black Friday I was expecting them to break a million easily. Instead they sold well over 2/3 of their monthly sales in just two weeks. Don’t get me wrong, these are still some excellent numbers, and the continued legs on Guitar Hero 3 shows that it wasn’t just a flash in the pan, but I expected more. Otherwise, it’s business as usual. The smaller-than-expected boost from November sales come, as usual from the fact that the system is still supply-constrained. Demand is there, but the systems aren’t. And, to the best of my knowledge, even the PS2 only had one November where it broke a million, so maybe I’m asking too much. Maybe I’m quibbling over 19,000 units, and these are great numbers, but despite all of that I can’t help feeling like they should have been higher.
360: 770,000 (192,500) Again I’m rather underwhelmed. Admittedly the tail end of Halo 3’s launch boosted the 360 above what it otherwise would have been in October, but what we’re seeing here is definitely on the low side of the typical November sales boost. These aren’t bad numbers at all, and software is obviously still selling ridiculously well, but I find it somewhat concerning that the 360 couldn’t beat the supply-constrained Wii in the second biggest month of the year. If MS wants to keep that gap from its inevitable closing as long as possible, this ain’t the way to do it.
PSP: 567,000 (141,650) If I found the 360’s hardware sales mediocre, that goes double for the PSP. Well not quite double, since the PSP didn’t even double its sales month-to-month. And as usual software is nowhere to be found. My suspicion remains that when this handheld generation plays out, the PSP will find itself relegated to the dustbin of history; a platform whose decent hardware sales can’t hide the fact that software is a black hole.
PS2: 496,000 (124,000) Under half a million in November. Despite the strong sales of GH 3 showing that the PS2’s installed base can still move software in huge numbers when motivated to do so, the system is definitely on its way out. It’s lasted far longer than anybody could have expected, but at this point in the US the 360 and Wii have clearly taken the torch while the PS2 continues its slow fade into legend.
PS3: 466,000 (116,500) Under most circumstances, I’d be astonished by these numbers. In a November when most systems landed well under the lost end of the 2.5-3.5 multiplier usually seen, the PS3 managed to nearly quadruple its sales. So why are these numbers still extremely disappointing? Because they’re being influenced by November AND an additional price cut. This isn’t November in a vacuum. There were external influences that helped move those hardware sales higher still, and the combined impact was impressive only when compared to the absolute disaster that previous sales had been. In the larger market it was still the worst-selling system last month, it still can’t beat the system it ostensibly replaced, and it’s didn’t even sell 60% as much as the 360 (much less the Wii). Oh, and its only two software titles to that the top 10 were multiplatform games that sold 3 times as many on the 360. The big 1st party exclusive? Crash and burn. There’s not a lot to like here. The PS3 at best was treading water this month.
Finally a few other notes on software. What happened to the 360 version of GH 3? After GH 2 on the 360 showed very impressive legs, GH 3 seems to have followed the more common 360 pattern of a huge first month followed by plummeting sales thereafter (also seen with Madden 08 where the 360 version sold best in August but got trounced by the PS2 on September). The Wii version actually INCREASED its sales from last month (although it also had four weeks to sell instead of just a few days) and the PS2’s sales rose astronomically. The PS2 is not the dominant console by any stretch, but it’s still very relevant. Mario Galaxy did very well, charting at number 2, and if New Super Mario Bros. on the DS was any indication, this game will have legs that go into the next time zone. COD4 may well not even chart in December, but I suspect that Galaxy will barely drop off at all. I truly wouldn’t be surprised if it actually sold more in December than November. Mass Effect on the 360 had a nice debut, particularly for a fairly niche title without a huge franchise backing it up. Bioware is definitely big enough to launch a game all on their own. Pity EA had to buy them up. That’s truly a loss for the gaming industry at large.
Facts, writeups, opinions, and overall just awesome presentation of things.
Good stuff, man.
I'm also mildly dissapointed with Wii only reaching 980k, although luckily DS broke my expectation with ease.
I'm surprised with the dissapointment people have with 360 hardware numbers - is this not good for the 360? They've been keeping pace for the last few months, right?
No comment on PS3 numbers yet - can someone tell me if they're doing in line with gamecube at the same time frame or better?
At first glance, I thought they were good, but after hearing many facts and opinions expressed in both PA and Neogaf, I'm starting to get confused at what the expectations are of PS3 numbers at this point.
The note at the bottom of that neat page implies that data from back in Saturn's day is not available for America, so you are kind of comparing Saturn in Europe/Japan to PS3 in America, I think.
Worldwide, however, it's ahead of the 'cube, and pretty much 1:1 for where the 360 was at that period after launch.
Ugh, I guess it is bad then if it cannot even surpass cube in NA.
On the positive news, 360 is trending better than cube and xbox in NA at the same time.
It's very obvious 360 has the 2nd most hardware in NA by this point and will continue to do so for the rest of this gen.
Is EU still an open battle for 360 and PS3 though?
Where the fuck are Melee, Metroid Prime, and Rogue leader? Because I'll fucking buy the damn thing even if the only way I'll be able to afford it is to not eat for a few months if they get some of the quality that the cube got.
Where the fuck are Melee, Metroid Prime, and Rogue leader? Because I'll fucking buy the damn thing even if the only way I'll be able to afford it is to not eat for a few months if they get some of the quality that the cube got.
Can we get over the NO GAEMZ thing already? The PS3 actually pulled off a nice year of software at the end here. I dont care how much they sold, theyre still fine games.
MistaCreepy on
PS3: MistaCreepy::Steam: MistaCreepy::360: Dead and I don't feel like paying to fix it.
Where the fuck are Melee, Metroid Prime, and Rogue leader? Because I'll fucking buy the damn thing even if the only way I'll be able to afford it is to not eat for a few months if they get some of the quality that the cube got.
If you're looking for Melee and Metroid Prime type games - you're looking in the wrong console, bub.
Uncharted and Rachet n Clank are very solid titles - Uncharted definitely needs to be in the list of PS3 games to buy for this year.
also be aware NPD doesnt do download/online purchases. So anyone who bought COD through steam doesnt get counted
It's sad that even when you're watchdogging "new media" like games, the analysts can't ramp up quickly to new distribution formats.
I expect this out of Nielsen in regards to ratings on time-shifted television, but get with the program, people!
I think the problem is that either Valve shares the info with NPD or they don't. I mean what could NPD do?
Ya, for things that are making the PC game business (or starting to) like Steam and WoW subscriptiosns, the rating companies dont have any agreements in place with Valve or Blizzard to get this kind of info. Most dev/publishers treat this as confidential info.
So aside from any press releases that the companies make (which they can spin any direction they want) there is no data to get. Especially raw data.
so while the PC industry is stagnant and doom/gloom all over the place.. there is an iceberg there no one really can measure. I would really be interested in what the PC game industry is making if you throw in Steam/MMO subscription/Causal (popcap) and other download incomes.
I'm not doing a listwar thing here, you guys know what the good games for the PS3 are. And Arde is right, if you want Melee and Metroid you're going to be dissapointed if you stare at the PS3 and wait for them to show up.
And you know alot of people who played a Mario and Metroid game?! Me too! We should buy matching rings or something.
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A game like that, all of the R&D and dev costs.... just.. bad.
All the way from page 4, I am somewhat surprised Crysis is selling so badly as well. Could be a good lot of pc gamers are shying away from it because it will utterly melt their systems, thats why I haven't bought it. As for it not recouping its production costs, keep in mind Crytek plans on liscencing out the engine, a competitor for UE3 (does the Crysis engine have a console version?) would be good for the devs if you ask me.
Crysis is the very definition of future proofed though.
Despite the fact that no game announced for 2008 even comes close (dont argue, its a fact) in pure technicals the engine itself has a shit load of in built features which actually improve things depending on the hardware, which is why you get such a disparity from low end rigs to high end.
If ever a game was gonna have legs, its Crysis. Every brand new gaming PC rig built in the next 36 months will pick up a copy of Crysis to benchmark that shit.
I'm saying comparing it to the cube is a little off. The Cube didn't sell poorly because it was overpriced and didn't have heavy-hitting, exclusive games with the staying power and excellence that the cube did. It sold poorly for an entirely different reason, so even though in numbers they're comparable, in the underlying reasons behind the numbers they're not.
If Sony dropped the PS3 to $100 and released incredible, must-play games on the system, they would be selling like crazy. That didn't save the cube. So they might be selling close to each other, but other than saying "Hey look at that" the comparison is useless.
But I didnt think the cube had that many "incredible must play games". Thats where we will differ. RE4 was the only potential system seller for me and it ported nicely to the PS2 a year later. There were others that were like "Damn thats cool." but never enough to make me whip my already empty wallet out.
MistaCreepy on
PS3: MistaCreepy::Steam: MistaCreepy::360: Dead and I don't feel like paying to fix it.
Facts, writeups, opinions, and overall just awesome presentation of things.
Good stuff, man.
I'm also mildly dissapointed with Wii only reaching 980k, although luckily DS broke my expectation with ease.
I'm surprised with the dissapointment people have with 360 hardware numbers - is this not good for the 360? They've been keeping pace for the last few months, right?
No comment on PS3 numbers yet - can someone tell me if they're doing in line with gamecube at the same time frame or better?
At first glance, I thought they were good, but after hearing many facts and opinions expressed in both PA and Neogaf, I'm starting to get confused at what the expectations are of PS3 numbers at this point.
The 360's numbers are good when compared to what we've seen for the Xbox/Xbox 360, but they're still rather disappointing in the grand scheme of things. This should have been the 360's shining hour. Holiday 2007, a (too small but still present), and the launch of Halo 3 should have combined to create a truly vast number of systems sold, but instead we've gotten solid, but unspectacular results. They're not bad, not by any stretch, but <800,000 units in your third holiday with the biggest game the system will ever see is definitely below what I would have expected. At this point the 360 has carved itself out a hugely successful niche as a hardcore system, with a tie ratio to kill for and software sales that continue to astound, month after month (particularly given the installed base), but I don't think we're ever going to see the system break out into the larger market in general.
As for the PS3, it's overall running even with or slightly ahead of the GameCube (behind in NA and Japan, but Europe might be enough to make up the difference worldwide), but that's nothing to be proud of. The expectations are that it will continue to underperform, but the disappointment is when those expectations are fulfilled. <500,000 in November with a price cut is pretty lousy, and there have been no signs that the PS3 has managed to truly break out of its current funk and see sustainable growth in sales. With each passing month it becomes less and less likely that the PS3 will ever manage to be anything that remotely resembles a success. At this point it will be hard pressed not to go down as a dismal failure.
The PS3 numbers are dissapointing compared to expactations and look worse due to the smashing success of the Wii. Its trending higher than any system that has been historically called a failure and trending right on track with the 360. I'm baffled at the doom and gloom here. Sony wont win the generation but will definately turn a profit in the end and will have a successful platform.
MistaCreepy on
PS3: MistaCreepy::Steam: MistaCreepy::360: Dead and I don't feel like paying to fix it.
Crysis is the very definition of future proofed though.
Despite the fact that no game announced for 2008 even comes close (dont argue, its a fact) in pure technicals the engine itself has a shit load of in built features which actually improve things depending on the hardware, which is why you get such a disparity from low end rigs to high end.
If ever a game was gonna have legs, its Crysis. Every brand new gaming PC rig built in the next 36 months will pick up a copy of Crysis to benchmark that shit.
The PS3 numbers are dissapointing compared to expactations and look worse due to the smashing success of the Wii. Its trending higher than any system that has been historically called a failure and trending right on track with the 360. I'm baffled at the doom and gloom here. Sony wont win the generation but will definately turn a profit in the end and will have a successful platform.
How? It would have to become a big success in order to make enough profit to make up for all of the money lost from the first year or two.
At least in the USA, the PS3 is doing about as badly as the GC.
I've gotta admit, I'm a bit baffled by PS3 owners buying habits. Why are they avoiding Sony first party titles and yet buying decent amounts of third party games?
The PS3 numbers are dissapointing compared to expactations and look worse due to the smashing success of the Wii. Its trending higher than any system that has been historically called a failure and trending right on track with the 360. I'm baffled at the doom and gloom here. Sony wont win the generation but will definately turn a profit in the end and will have a successful platform.
How? It would have to become a big success in order to make enough profit to make up for all of the money lost from the first year or two.
At least in the USA, the PS3 is doing about as badly as the GC.
At least in the USA but the PS3 is blowing it away in Europe which is emerging as a very big market for console games as of recent.
Posts
I don't get it.
We have COD4 360 and PS3 numbers.... but no PC numbers..
And it's not like it isn't being tracked; because we do have Crysis numbers (which bombed).
So I d'no. A million? Hm. With every other non-WOW PC game bombing, that's hard to imagine. But encouraging if true.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Dude... its Call of Duty. Don't forget where this game came from. It was selling millions before Infinity Ward knew what a console was.
anyway, yeah, I have hopes for COD4 on PC, since it's an Inf.Ward game and the other CODs, iirc, have done very well on the PC.
So there's hope.
But I'll be impressed if it hits a million on PC. But not tooooo surprised.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I don't own the game yet, but I finally secured myself an 8800GT graphics card yesterday and tried the demo... It's fun as hell. Obviously the graphics are amazing, but I was having fun shooting a few Koreans, and then going stealth... To melee them when they got closer to me.
Oh it definitely has to be intimidation. However, I feel the game will probably sell well over the course of time. When good cards get cheaper, and when people start upgrading their system, I think that people will use the game as a benchmark on how good their computer runs future games.
Surely.
World of Warcraft has appeared on that chart before, right?
Then outsource a shitty Wii port to sell it to 30M people (total).
Wii: 519,000 (129,750)
DS: 458,000 (114,500)
360: 366,000 (91,500)
PSP: 286,000 (71,500)
PS2: 184,000 (46,000)
PS3: 121,000 (30,250)
So that’s the warm-up. Now let’s move onto the new material.
First, I wanted to make a quite note about November. Historically, November has shown an increase of roughly 2.5-3.5 over the previous month’s numbers as purchases ramp up for the holiday shopping season. So keep that in mind as we look at these numbers and their seemingly huge jump over October.
DS: 1,530,000 (382,500) I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure this represents the biggest November in history. Simply phenomenal. Although the DS didn’t chart any software in the top 10, this is unsurprising given that it didn’t have any big releases and the top 10 is mostly filled with new software (the immovable Wii Play being the sole exception). I suspect that if you could peak deeper into the software charts you’d see them packed with DS titles.
Wii: 981,000 (245,250) Frankly, I’m rather underwhelmed. After the announcement that they sold 650,000 Wiis in the two weeks surrounding Black Friday I was expecting them to break a million easily. Instead they sold well over 2/3 of their monthly sales in just two weeks. Don’t get me wrong, these are still some excellent numbers, and the continued legs on Guitar Hero 3 shows that it wasn’t just a flash in the pan, but I expected more. Otherwise, it’s business as usual. The smaller-than-expected boost from November sales come, as usual from the fact that the system is still supply-constrained. Demand is there, but the systems aren’t. And, to the best of my knowledge, even the PS2 only had one November where it broke a million, so maybe I’m asking too much. Maybe I’m quibbling over 19,000 units, and these are great numbers, but despite all of that I can’t help feeling like they should have been higher.
360: 770,000 (192,500) Again I’m rather underwhelmed. Admittedly the tail end of Halo 3’s launch boosted the 360 above what it otherwise would have been in October, but what we’re seeing here is definitely on the low side of the typical November sales boost. These aren’t bad numbers at all, and software is obviously still selling ridiculously well, but I find it somewhat concerning that the 360 couldn’t beat the supply-constrained Wii in the second biggest month of the year. If MS wants to keep that gap from its inevitable closing as long as possible, this ain’t the way to do it.
PSP: 567,000 (141,650) If I found the 360’s hardware sales mediocre, that goes double for the PSP. Well not quite double, since the PSP didn’t even double its sales month-to-month. And as usual software is nowhere to be found. My suspicion remains that when this handheld generation plays out, the PSP will find itself relegated to the dustbin of history; a platform whose decent hardware sales can’t hide the fact that software is a black hole.
PS2: 496,000 (124,000) Under half a million in November. Despite the strong sales of GH 3 showing that the PS2’s installed base can still move software in huge numbers when motivated to do so, the system is definitely on its way out. It’s lasted far longer than anybody could have expected, but at this point in the US the 360 and Wii have clearly taken the torch while the PS2 continues its slow fade into legend.
PS3: 466,000 (116,500) Under most circumstances, I’d be astonished by these numbers. In a November when most systems landed well under the lost end of the 2.5-3.5 multiplier usually seen, the PS3 managed to nearly quadruple its sales. So why are these numbers still extremely disappointing? Because they’re being influenced by November AND an additional price cut. This isn’t November in a vacuum. There were external influences that helped move those hardware sales higher still, and the combined impact was impressive only when compared to the absolute disaster that previous sales had been. In the larger market it was still the worst-selling system last month, it still can’t beat the system it ostensibly replaced, and it’s didn’t even sell 60% as much as the 360 (much less the Wii). Oh, and its only two software titles to that the top 10 were multiplatform games that sold 3 times as many on the 360. The big 1st party exclusive? Crash and burn. There’s not a lot to like here. The PS3 at best was treading water this month.
Finally a few other notes on software. What happened to the 360 version of GH 3? After GH 2 on the 360 showed very impressive legs, GH 3 seems to have followed the more common 360 pattern of a huge first month followed by plummeting sales thereafter (also seen with Madden 08 where the 360 version sold best in August but got trounced by the PS2 on September). The Wii version actually INCREASED its sales from last month (although it also had four weeks to sell instead of just a few days) and the PS2’s sales rose astronomically. The PS2 is not the dominant console by any stretch, but it’s still very relevant. Mario Galaxy did very well, charting at number 2, and if New Super Mario Bros. on the DS was any indication, this game will have legs that go into the next time zone. COD4 may well not even chart in December, but I suspect that Galaxy will barely drop off at all. I truly wouldn’t be surprised if it actually sold more in December than November. Mass Effect on the 360 had a nice debut, particularly for a fairly niche title without a huge franchise backing it up. Bioware is definitely big enough to launch a game all on their own. Pity EA had to buy them up. That’s truly a loss for the gaming industry at large.
Good stuff, man.
I'm also mildly dissapointed with Wii only reaching 980k, although luckily DS broke my expectation with ease.
I'm surprised with the dissapointment people have with 360 hardware numbers - is this not good for the 360? They've been keeping pace for the last few months, right?
No comment on PS3 numbers yet - can someone tell me if they're doing in line with gamecube at the same time frame or better?
At first glance, I thought they were good, but after hearing many facts and opinions expressed in both PA and Neogaf, I'm starting to get confused at what the expectations are of PS3 numbers at this point.
XBL Gametag: mailarde
Screen Digest LOL3RZZ
Worldwide, however, it's ahead of the 'cube, and pretty much 1:1 for where the 360 was at that period after launch.
I expect this out of Nielsen in regards to ratings on time-shifted television, but get with the program, people!
360 vs. PS3 American sales
The blue line is the Saturns total sales trend.... threw that in there becuase of the PS3/Saturn comparison earlier in this thread.
http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=SAT®1=All&cons2=PS3®2=America&cons3=X360®3=America&weeks=156
I think the problem is that either Valve shares the info with NPD or they don't. I mean what could NPD do?
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Ugh, I guess it is bad then if it cannot even surpass cube in NA.
On the positive news, 360 is trending better than cube and xbox in NA at the same time.
It's very obvious 360 has the 2nd most hardware in NA by this point and will continue to do so for the rest of this gen.
Is EU still an open battle for 360 and PS3 though?
XBL Gametag: mailarde
Screen Digest LOL3RZZ
Where the fuck are Melee, Metroid Prime, and Rogue leader? Because I'll fucking buy the damn thing even if the only way I'll be able to afford it is to not eat for a few months if they get some of the quality that the cube got.
Can we get over the NO GAEMZ thing already? The PS3 actually pulled off a nice year of software at the end here. I dont care how much they sold, theyre still fine games.
Uncharted and Rachet n Clank are very solid titles - Uncharted definitely needs to be in the list of PS3 games to buy for this year.
XBL Gametag: mailarde
Screen Digest LOL3RZZ
Ya, for things that are making the PC game business (or starting to) like Steam and WoW subscriptiosns, the rating companies dont have any agreements in place with Valve or Blizzard to get this kind of info. Most dev/publishers treat this as confidential info.
So aside from any press releases that the companies make (which they can spin any direction they want) there is no data to get. Especially raw data.
so while the PC industry is stagnant and doom/gloom all over the place.. there is an iceberg there no one really can measure. I would really be interested in what the PC game industry is making if you throw in Steam/MMO subscription/Causal (popcap) and other download incomes.
But it doesn't have SSBM, MP, or RL.
Everyone, and I mean everyone I knew either had a cube or had a friend who had a cube which they played those games on.
I still play them every once in a while, and they're still awesome.
I know a lot of people who have not played R+C or Uncharted or Lair, or HS.
And you know alot of people who played a Mario and Metroid game?! Me too! We should buy matching rings or something.
All the way from page 4, I am somewhat surprised Crysis is selling so badly as well. Could be a good lot of pc gamers are shying away from it because it will utterly melt their systems, thats why I haven't bought it. As for it not recouping its production costs, keep in mind Crytek plans on liscencing out the engine, a competitor for UE3 (does the Crysis engine have a console version?) would be good for the devs if you ask me.
Despite the fact that no game announced for 2008 even comes close (dont argue, its a fact) in pure technicals the engine itself has a shit load of in built features which actually improve things depending on the hardware, which is why you get such a disparity from low end rigs to high end.
If ever a game was gonna have legs, its Crysis. Every brand new gaming PC rig built in the next 36 months will pick up a copy of Crysis to benchmark that shit.
I'm saying comparing it to the cube is a little off. The Cube didn't sell poorly because it was overpriced and didn't have heavy-hitting, exclusive games with the staying power and excellence that the cube did. It sold poorly for an entirely different reason, so even though in numbers they're comparable, in the underlying reasons behind the numbers they're not.
If Sony dropped the PS3 to $100 and released incredible, must-play games on the system, they would be selling like crazy. That didn't save the cube. So they might be selling close to each other, but other than saying "Hey look at that" the comparison is useless.
The 360's numbers are good when compared to what we've seen for the Xbox/Xbox 360, but they're still rather disappointing in the grand scheme of things. This should have been the 360's shining hour. Holiday 2007, a (too small but still present), and the launch of Halo 3 should have combined to create a truly vast number of systems sold, but instead we've gotten solid, but unspectacular results. They're not bad, not by any stretch, but <800,000 units in your third holiday with the biggest game the system will ever see is definitely below what I would have expected. At this point the 360 has carved itself out a hugely successful niche as a hardcore system, with a tie ratio to kill for and software sales that continue to astound, month after month (particularly given the installed base), but I don't think we're ever going to see the system break out into the larger market in general.
As for the PS3, it's overall running even with or slightly ahead of the GameCube (behind in NA and Japan, but Europe might be enough to make up the difference worldwide), but that's nothing to be proud of. The expectations are that it will continue to underperform, but the disappointment is when those expectations are fulfilled. <500,000 in November with a price cut is pretty lousy, and there have been no signs that the PS3 has managed to truly break out of its current funk and see sustainable growth in sales. With each passing month it becomes less and less likely that the PS3 will ever manage to be anything that remotely resembles a success. At this point it will be hard pressed not to go down as a dismal failure.
Exactly my thoughts.
How? It would have to become a big success in order to make enough profit to make up for all of the money lost from the first year or two.
At least in the USA, the PS3 is doing about as badly as the GC.
PSN = Wicker86 ________ Gamertag = Wicker86
At least in the USA but the PS3 is blowing it away in Europe which is emerging as a very big market for console games as of recent.
http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=GC®1=Europe&cons2=PS3®2=Europe&cons3=X360®3=Europe&weeks=156
And in Japan the GC had a slight edge but not by much:
http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=GC®1=Japan&cons2=PS3®2=Japan&cons3=X360®3=Japan&weeks=156
I personally think the PS3 will pick up steam in the US next year, maintain its rate in Europe and gain a little in Japan.
Seriously, I know. I live here.
PSN = Wicker86 ________ Gamertag = Wicker86