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Video game sales thread February: It's over. Go away. /slappy

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Posts

  • slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Couscous wrote: »
    they count The Zapper + Link's CBT as a "peripheral,"
    It has occasionally shown up in the NPD charts.

    Are you sure? I'm like 99% it's treated/classified as a peripheral. Maybe the NPD periph charts?

    slash000 on
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Here's hoping we see a New Super Mario Bros. 2, or hell, even a Mario Kart DS 2 too.

    Those would be some hugely big Christmas titles right there.

    maximumzero on
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  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    slash000 wrote: »
    Couscous wrote: »
    they count The Zapper + Link's CBT as a "peripheral,"
    It has occasionally shown up in the NPD charts.

    Are you sure? I'm like 99% it's treated/classified as a peripheral. Maybe the NPD periph charts?

    http://www.gamegrep.com/industry_news/18191-january_2009_npd_top_20_software_rankings_top_ten_software_rankings_by_platform/
    Top 20 Games of December 2008:
    01. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 777k
    02. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo) - 415k
    03. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) - 292k
    04. [360] Left 4 Dead (Electronic Arts) - 243k
    05. [360] Call of Duty: World at War* (Activision Blizzard) - 235k
    06. [360] Skate 2 (Electronic Arts) - 199k
    07. [WII] Guitar Hero World Tour* (Activision Blizzard) - 155k
    08. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo) - 135k
    09. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo) - 132k
    10. [360] The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (Electronic Arts) - 113k
    11. [PS3] Call of Duty: World at War (Activision Blizzard) - 108k
    12. [360] Gears of War 2 (Microsoft)
    13. [360] Fallout 3* (Bethesda Softworks)
    14. [WII] Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 (Majesco)
    15. [WII] Link's Crossbow Training (Nintendo)
    16. [WII] My Fitness Coach (Ubisoft)
    17. [360] Rock Band 2* (MTV Games/Electronic Arts)
    18. [360] Guitar Hero World Tour* (Activision Blizzard)
    19. [WII] Call of Duty: World at War (Activision Blizzard)
    20. [WII] LEGO Star Wars: Complete Saga (LucasArts)

    Couscous on
  • lowlylowlycooklowlylowlycook Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Here's another thought, for typical 360 and PS3 brand is probably the most important determining factor.

    For the typical Wii game word of mouth probably is. Or at least it's equally important to the brand.

    The difference being how front loaded the games are on the PS360. Of course CoD4 would ran the other way.

    One question is why is their such a difference. I'm sure a lot of it is just that more casual gamers don't think like "I can't wait for game X to come out." but more like "Hmmm, I need a new DS game, I wonder what would be fun."



    And for the love of god let the Sonic fans have the Olympics game. Do you want them to go to sleep crying because you called it a Mario game and they have nothing now?

    (last bit may not be serious)

    lowlylowlycook on
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  • lowlylowlycooklowlylowlycook Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Some data about PC sales from PCGA. Still taking a look, personally.

    [edit] Forgot to mention that this is via gaf.

    lowlylowlycook on
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  • slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Couscous wrote: »
    slash000 wrote: »
    Couscous wrote: »
    they count The Zapper + Link's CBT as a "peripheral,"
    It has occasionally shown up in the NPD charts.

    Are you sure? I'm like 99% it's treated/classified as a peripheral. Maybe the NPD periph charts?

    http://www.gamegrep.com/industry_news/18191-january_2009_npd_top_20_software_rankings_top_ten_software_rankings_by_platform/
    Top 20 Games of December 2008:
    01. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 777k
    02. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo) - 415k
    03. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) - 292k
    04. [360] Left 4 Dead (Electronic Arts) - 243k
    05. [360] Call of Duty: World at War* (Activision Blizzard) - 235k
    06. [360] Skate 2 (Electronic Arts) - 199k
    07. [WII] Guitar Hero World Tour* (Activision Blizzard) - 155k
    08. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo) - 135k
    09. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo) - 132k
    10. [360] The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (Electronic Arts) - 113k
    11. [PS3] Call of Duty: World at War (Activision Blizzard) - 108k
    12. [360] Gears of War 2 (Microsoft)
    13. [360] Fallout 3* (Bethesda Softworks)
    14. [WII] Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 (Majesco)
    15. [WII] Link's Crossbow Training (Nintendo)
    16. [WII] My Fitness Coach (Ubisoft)
    17. [360] Rock Band 2* (MTV Games/Electronic Arts)
    18. [360] Guitar Hero World Tour* (Activision Blizzard)
    19. [WII] Call of Duty: World at War (Activision Blizzard)
    20. [WII] LEGO Star Wars: Complete Saga (LucasArts)


    Well I'll be. Guess I dreamed it up or something.

    slash000 on
  • RehabRehab Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Devil May Cry Shipped 10 Million
    Posted on Wednesday, March 18 @ 08:07:00 Eastern

    Devil May Cry Shipped 10 Million

    Having launched two of its major titles Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter 4, Capcom is siting back and waiting for eager gamers to start spending some cash. Although both of the aforementioned franchises are doing extremely well, the company revealed that its Devil May Cry license shipped 10 million copies worldwide, which is less than initially expected.

    Devil May Cry made its debut on the PlayStation 2 back in 2001 and has seen a number of sequels since then. Naturally, sales improved when the series had gone multiplatform. The last installment in the series, Devil May Cry 4 hit the market in Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and (later on PC) variants. DMC 4 became the best-selling title of the series to date.

    For the record, as of May 2008, the Resident Evil license sold 34.5 million copies worldwide, while Mega Man and Street Fighter reached 28 million and 25 million.

    Hmm, kind of surprised that the franchise has sold less than expected at 10 million copies. That seems to be a pretty decent number for a series that has to compete with the likes of Ninja Gaiden and God of War. Their most recent game being the most successful probably means we'll see a DMC 5 sometime in the next few years here on the 360 and PS3 I would bet.

    Nice numbers on the other licenses too, although I would not have guessed that Mega Man is actually trailing the Resident Evil games by that much. I mean, all of the Mega Man and Street Fighter games combined has to exceed at least 30 games pretty easily I would imagine.

    Rehab on
    NNID: Rehab0
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    http://www.mcvuk.com/news/33678/Industrys-fourth-console-announced
    GDC 09: Qualcomm-made Zeebo targeting emerging markets with digital distribution hardware

    Thought the market was packed enough with three viable home consoles and three popular handheld games devices?

    Well, things are getting a bit busier - today at GDC mobile giant Qualcomm has announced its own console, the Zeebo.

    But this device, which is totally supported with digital distribution, is only for emerging markets like Brazil, Mexico and India.

    Physically, Zeebo is about the size of a Wii, "built from the ground up to be cool looking but meet the requirements of the emerging market". It features a Qualcomm chipset, with a 1GB of Flash memory, and includes a 3G data modem for over the air updates and downloads via its in-built UI. Titles are embedded in the system as well as downloaded, and all the content is distributed 'digitally, wirelessly and securely'.
    Why the hell wouldn't the emerging market not favor cheapish PCs or last gen consoles like the Genesis or Playstation?

    http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/pc-platform-revenue-hit-USD11-billion-in-2008
    A new report from the PC Gaming Alliance into the state of the platform in 2008 has revealed that the "largest single platform for games" took around USD 11 billion over the course of the 12 months.

    It also noted the growth of digital distribution on the platform, driven by the continuing success of services such as Steam, the growth of free-to-play titles utilising micro-transactions, and the sale of game cards at retail chains.

    MMOs were cited as one of the major sources of income for the PC games industry, noting World of Warcraft's USD 1 billion-plus contribution as well as several Asian MMOs taking USD 100 million apiece.

    "The biggest story in PC games is the expansion beyond retail," said Randy Stude, president of PCGA. "PC games have successfully pioneered online subscription and distribution models that have resulted in a global boom that shows no signs of slowing. Despite the advances of the likes of Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, the online platform that remains the most accessible and robust worldwide is the PC."

    The report, which was commissioned by the PCGA and written by DFC Intelligence, is available on request.
    DAMN

    Couscous on
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    So World of Warcraft is itself nearly 10 percent of the PC market.

    Great googly moogly.

    I'd be curious to see what the revenue number would be like without MMO monthly fees, but I doubt we'll get it.

    cloudeagle on
    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
  • JCRooksJCRooks Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Here's another thought, for typical 360 and PS3 brand is probably the most important determining factor.

    For the typical Wii game word of mouth probably is. Or at least it's equally important to the brand.

    The difference being how front loaded the games are on the PS360. Of course CoD4 would ran the other way.

    One question is why is their such a difference. I'm sure a lot of it is just that more casual gamers don't think like "I can't wait for game X to come out." but more like "Hmmm, I need a new DS game, I wonder what would be fun."

    Yup, I agree on your last point entirely. That's why we really don't see those huge "day/week one sales" that spike on the 360/PS3 but not on the Wii, despite it's vastly larger install base. It's going to be a much slower burn, especially for games like Boom Blox. I don't think there's anything wrong about that either, but it does mean that you can't simply rate success based off software charts alone. (Conversely, that also implies that if a Wii game needs a huge sales spike in the beginning, it probably shouldn't count on it)

    Also, non-gaming related, but thought you might be interested. I made some baby back ribs using the recipe from your namespace. Results were delicious. :)

    JCRooks on
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    - Don't add me, I'm at/near the friend limit :)

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  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    Lawndart wrote: »
    FyreWulff wrote: »
    Yeah, most people don't even care about if it's first party or third. Notice how Nintendo doesn't even bother with a "ONLY ON" marker on their games anymore?

    The console hardware market leader never bothers.

    Sony didn't generally put "Only on the Playstation 2" on any of their 1st party games last generation (I only say "generally" since to be honest I can't recall any at all, but there may have been a handful at launch that did).

    Now that they're dead last in hardware sales, every single Sony 1st party game is emblazoned with "Only on Playstation" on the front.

    I'd also say that the distinction between 1st and 3rd parties becomes more distinct on consoles that aren't dominating the market, since there are far fewer 3rd party exclusives to be had. The PS3 is once again a prime example, since if you're not looking to use it as a Blu-Ray player the only game-related reasons for a 360 owner to pick up a PS3 are the 1st party exclusives.

    Well, and Valkyria Chronicles, but that's unfortunately not much of a system seller.

    Or I think Nintendo realized that 'only on' stickers are meaningless since the game will be only on your system whether that logo is on it or not.

    FyreWulff on
  • LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    FyreWulff wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    FyreWulff wrote: »
    Yeah, most people don't even care about if it's first party or third. Notice how Nintendo doesn't even bother with a "ONLY ON" marker on their games anymore?

    The console hardware market leader never bothers.

    Sony didn't generally put "Only on the Playstation 2" on any of their 1st party games last generation (I only say "generally" since to be honest I can't recall any at all, but there may have been a handful at launch that did).

    Now that they're dead last in hardware sales, every single Sony 1st party game is emblazoned with "Only on Playstation" on the front.

    I'd also say that the distinction between 1st and 3rd parties becomes more distinct on consoles that aren't dominating the market, since there are far fewer 3rd party exclusives to be had. The PS3 is once again a prime example, since if you're not looking to use it as a Blu-Ray player the only game-related reasons for a 360 owner to pick up a PS3 are the 1st party exclusives.

    Well, and Valkyria Chronicles, but that's unfortunately not much of a system seller.

    Or I think Nintendo realized that 'only on' stickers are meaningless since the game will be only on your system whether that logo is on it or not.

    Good thing it only took them two whole console generations to figure that out, exactly when they became the console hardware sales leader. :P

    Lawndart on
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    Well, they said themselves that they took a long and hard look at the PS2, and realized it won even though it didn't have the most powerful graphics.

    I imagine noticing that the PS2 didn't bother with only for logos was part of that. DS doesn't have them either.

    Speaking of which, you can barely see the Xbox 360 ones. GJ putting light yellow on white.

    FyreWulff on
  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Are you a little bit colour blind? Because that 'Only on 360' logo shows up pretty clear for me.

    Santa Claustrophobia on
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    not under store lighting.

    Shows up better under normal light bulbs though.

    FyreWulff on
  • UltimanecatUltimanecat Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    FyreWulff wrote: »
    Or I think Nintendo realized that 'only on' stickers are meaningless since the game will be only on your system whether that logo is on it or not.

    Or, even better, the "Only on" logo/sticker becomes meaningless once a third party creatively gets around it or just outright ignores it once they decide they need more sales.

    The business world is a funny one...but I guess taking some of this stuff personally is one reason why Nintendo was in the shitter for so long anyway.

    Ultimanecat on
    SteamID : same as my PA forum name
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    That too.

    It was pretty worthless during the Xbox/GCN years.

    Oh hay guys look at this game OH SHIT PORT

    FyreWulff on
  • TethTeth __BANNED USERS regular
    edited March 2009
    Damn, it's official (in my small world) the Wii is the new NES: everyone I know owns one. That's all five families of my...uh, family. All 10-ish coworkers in my office space. All 10-ish of my friends that I still keep a line of dialog open with. My three ex-bosses that I still talk to at least once a quarter. The motherfucker that came and fixed my cable today. My fiance's sister's boyfriend and his friend that drinks too much. I saw one in the background of a porno I was watching earlier. Insane, I never thought I would see Nintendo doing so well again.

    Teth on
    #1
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    Well that's what happens when you take a gigantic risk and it pays off. The Wii was their "well, we might as well do this because otherwise we're gone in the home console market" initiative.

    Rather than playing it safe.

    FyreWulff on
  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Teth wrote: »
    Damn, it's official (in my small world) the Wii is the new NES: everyone I know owns one. That's all five families of my...uh, family. All 10-ish coworkers in my office space. All 10-ish of my friends that I still keep a line of dialog open with. My three ex-bosses that I still talk to at least once a quarter. The motherfucker that came and fixed my cable today. My fiance's sister's boyfriend and his friend that drinks too much. I saw one in the background of a porno I was watching earlier. Insane, I never thought I would see Nintendo doing so well again.

    I know you're specifically talking about consoles but it still sounds silly to me. The GBA and DS still have Nintendo logos on them and they were (and are) pretty damn successful systems. Nintendo have always been doing pretty well, just not in the console market.

    Edit: Speaking of the 'Only on...' stickers brought up earlier, wasn't there a notorious case of Nintendo putting one of them on a multiplatform game? Not for a timed exclusive either (like Enchanted Arms, Ninja Gaiden 2 or Bioshock).

    Unco-ordinated on
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  • UltimanecatUltimanecat Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I saw it mentioned in the RE5 thread. They put the little thing on RE2 for the N64, even though there wasn't any substantive difference beyond some minor gameplay options and the addition of EX files to help explain the story so far to people without the benefit of a PSX.

    Still doesn't make up for the sacrilege that was RE4 ending up on the PS2 :P

    Ultimanecat on
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  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Edit: Speaking of the 'Only on...' stickers brought up earlier, wasn't there a notorious case of Nintendo putting one of them on a multiplatform game? Not for a timed exclusive either (like Enchanted Arms, Ninja Gaiden 2 or Bioshock).

    Clearly you could only get the cartridge version of RE2 to work on the N64.

    UncleSporky on
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  • lowlylowlycooklowlylowlycook Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Some graphs from the guy that runs the gaf prediction contests. I won among the few that tried here but was like in 50th place over there last month :(

    yoy_PS3-11.png

    yoy_360-11.png

    yoy_WII-11.png

    link

    It seems until recently you couldn't have gone far wrong guessing the 360 would sell 50k units/week outside of Halo/price cuts/holidays. It will be interesting to see of the $200 price point will have changed that permanently.

    The weekly sales on the PS3 jumped from the line of 2007 to the one from 2008 in the first 2 months of this year. Sony better hope that they can track the latter and not fall down to the terrible sales of 2007.

    The Wii graph is just a historical relic since it does nothing but record Nintendo's shipments until the 2009 line. Seems predicting Wii sales will still be the toughest with not true "last year" comparisons.

    If it does settle in at 20k/week then the Wii will be selling faster than the PS3 in December and about at the rate of the 360 in November week in and week out.

    lowlylowlycook on
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  • RainbowDespairRainbowDespair Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    RE5 was the 4th most played game over LIVE last week, beating out everything except Halo 3 & the CoDs. Needless to say, its sales are going to be huge.

    RainbowDespair on
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    http://www.edge-online.com/news/sony-slashes-cost-ps3-development

    In a bid to stimulate software production, Sony has released a new PS3 development kit that is markedly less expensive than previous models.

    The newly-released DECR-1400A debugging Reference Tool today costs $2,000 in North America and just over £1,500 for European studios. Previous development kits were priced at over $10,000. Japan will be getting a new model too, the DECR-1400J, which will set developers back some ¥200,000.

    “Having the same form factor as the commercially available PS3, the new Reference Tool models allow advanced game programming and more efficient computer graphics rendering,” said Sony, adding that the new model will help to provide a “more streamlined game development environment.”

    As well as this, Sony is also promising a new range software tools (aided with “enhanced” technical support), as well as an optimised PS3 compiler, and additional documentation for Sony’s PhyreEngine graphics-rendering engine.

    The announcement appears to be a declaration of commitment from Sony towards its thirdparty partners. SCE itself will have its internal studios support the PS3 for ten years, as the company famously stated, yet a large number of thirdparty titles are being released for the Xbox 360 first, while Microsoft’s machine is also often the lead platform in multiplatform development.

    “SCE will deploy various measures to further reinforce game development for PS3,” the company said, “and will continue to expand the platform to offer attractive interactive entertainment experiences only available on PS3.”
    Didn't they cut the price once a while back?

    Couscous on
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    No Sony! It's meant to be harder to work with to encourage developers to work harder and take longer to unlock its full potential and feel more satisfied when they finally get something to work I've forgotten where I was going with this.

    darleysam on
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  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Couscous wrote: »
    http://www.edge-online.com/news/sony-slashes-cost-ps3-development

    In a bid to stimulate software production, Sony has released a new PS3 development kit that is markedly less expensive than previous models.

    The newly-released DECR-1400A debugging Reference Tool today costs $2,000 in North America and just over £1,500 for European studios. Previous development kits were priced at over $10,000. Japan will be getting a new model too, the DECR-1400J, which will set developers back some ¥200,000.

    “Having the same form factor as the commercially available PS3, the new Reference Tool models allow advanced game programming and more efficient computer graphics rendering,” said Sony, adding that the new model will help to provide a “more streamlined game development environment.”

    As well as this, Sony is also promising a new range software tools (aided with “enhanced” technical support), as well as an optimised PS3 compiler, and additional documentation for Sony’s PhyreEngine graphics-rendering engine.

    The announcement appears to be a declaration of commitment from Sony towards its thirdparty partners. SCE itself will have its internal studios support the PS3 for ten years, as the company famously stated, yet a large number of thirdparty titles are being released for the Xbox 360 first, while Microsoft’s machine is also often the lead platform in multiplatform development.

    “SCE will deploy various measures to further reinforce game development for PS3,” the company said, “and will continue to expand the platform to offer attractive interactive entertainment experiences only available on PS3.”
    Didn't they cut the price once a while back?

    Are there pictures of one of the first models around? It was like three feet by three feet and it weighed about 100 pounds.

    Santa Claustrophobia on
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    That'll help developers for PSN stuff, mainly. Pretty much anyone who can afford to develop a disk-based game can afford $10,000 for a dev kit. Still, this helps.

    Then again, it helps maybe a tiny fraction of the amount a price drop on the actual goddamn PS3 would.

    cloudeagle on
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  • lowlylowlycooklowlylowlycook Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    How many dev kits do PS3 devs buy if they do dev PS3 games?

    Uh, I think I'll kill myself now.

    But seriously do devs need 1 per coder or just a few for testing or what?

    lowlylowlycook on
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  • elkataselkatas Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    How many dev kits do PS3 devs buy if they do dev PS3 games?

    Let's just say that number is high enough that you can generate quite tidy profit based on them.

    elkatas on
    Hypnotically inclined.
  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    elkatas wrote: »
    How many dev kits do PS3 devs buy if they do dev PS3 games?

    Let's just say that number is high enough that you can generate quite tidy profit based on them.

    I wonder if the cost of the dev kits were ever factored internally against sales of the PS3.

    Santa Claustrophobia on
  • slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    From what I recall, the number of devkits a PS3 (or any console developer) needs depends on the number of people working on the project. So if you have, say, a PS3 project with a team of 80 working on actual development (like coding), you might need 80 devkits. Maybe a tad fewer, maybe a tad extra, but it depends on the number of people actually doing the dev work. You might not need a devkit for, say, guys working with third party or inhouse 3D modelling or 2D art software, or for people rendering cutscenes, and so forth, but for people actually pulling all the pieces together (coders for example) they indeed each need their own devkit.

    $2k isn't much for a single kit, but it adds up when you have a huge project.

    slash000 on
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    http://www.edge-online.com/news/world-warcraft-dominates-mmo-market
    World of Warcraft claims a 58 percent share of the subscription-MMO market in the West, according to a new report published by analyst group Screen Digest.

    The seminal title has, since its launch in 2005, provided publisher Activision-Blizzard with $2.2 billion in subscriber fees.

    Employing a wide outlook on the MMO games market, Screen Digest's report reveals that subscription-based MMO titles had enjoyed 22 percent growth in 2008, with the market now valued at $1.4 billion in Europe and North America alone.

    The “subscription market” will continue to grow, the report states, due to a number of factors such as the industry’s increasing success from premium subscription service models.

    Much like microtransactions, premium subscriptions – which typically offer more features and a better service in free-to-play titles – become increasingly tempting to those who frequently play restricted free-to-play titles.

    An example of this would be RuneScape; still today the most popular free MMORPG. Players can join for free, yet by subscribing they can experience a more thorough, feature-laden service without any advertising.

    In fact, the report identifies RuneScape as one of 2008’s biggest subscription titles, despite having a huge free-playing userbase.

    “Industry commentators have for some time been using the example of the Asian online games market to proclaim the death of subscription business models in the West,” says Piers Harding-Rolls, Senior Games Analyst at Screen Digest and author of the report.

    Harding-Rolls believes that subscriptions remain an “important and lucrative” way of monetising MMOGs in the West, and adds that the growth of the market in 2008 supports this view.

    “As a share of the total ex-WoW 2008 market, consumer spending on premium subscriptions grew by 11% year-on-year, from 35% to 46%. This swing towards premium subscriptions has helped reinvigorate a diverse market that was threatening to be overwhelmed by the dominant success of World of Warcraft,” he adds.

    With Activision-Blizzard’s benchmark title taken out of the equation, subscription titles saw average growth of 27 percent in 2008. Last year, the same growth rate was at 12 percent.

    Couscous on
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I've asked this before, but the awesome MMO survey site is no more, right?

    cloudeagle on
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  • mattclemmattclem Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    FyreWulff wrote: »
    Well that's what happens when you take a gigantic risk and it pays off. The Wii was their "well, we might as well do this because otherwise we're gone in the home console market" initiative.

    Rather than playing it safe.

    Final Fantawii?

    mattclem on
  • Brainiac 8Brainiac 8 Don't call me Shirley... Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8984319&publicUserId=4561231
    1up wrote:
    In terms of highlights coming out of this show, I’d say Nintendo’s Iwata keynote is the one that you’ll really want to watch (Jeremy will be live blogging it tomorrow morning). I thought he was just going to be talking about Motion Plus and DSi, but it turns out he’s going to be announcing quite a few new games — for Wii, Wiiware, and Virtual Console (and this won’t just be Nintendo titles, but also third party stuff). I’ve already heard about a few of them (including one that makes me all giddy…I can’t wait for tomorrow now).


    It's from 1up, but I got it from GoNintendo. Appearantly it's going around that Nintendo's keynote is the one to watch for.

    I didn't want to be hyped for this conference, after last years E3 fiasco...but maybe Iwata has actually learned from it, and realized that even if they want to show the casual side of things, they still need to show what they have coming up for the rest of the gamers out there.

    I'm officially hopeful.

    Brainiac 8 on
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  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I think everyone is still trying to figure out E3. In the couple years since it downsized, game companies have been gradually adjusting their PR to appeal more to the masses and not announce games eons in advance anymore... Nintendo just went the furthest of everyone. And yeah, officials have said over and over their last E3 was a disappointment (which may be reinforced further by the fact that Wii Music, their Holy Grail for that year, did well but wasn't OMG HUEG), so the enthusiasts might get some more meat this time around.

    cloudeagle on
    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
  • Brainiac 8Brainiac 8 Don't call me Shirley... Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    cloudeagle wrote: »
    I think everyone is still trying to figure out E3. In the couple years since it downsized, game companies have been gradually adjusting their PR to appeal more to the masses and not announce games eons in advance anymore... Nintendo just went the furthest of everyone. And yeah, officials have said over and over their last E3 was a disappointment (which may be reinforced further by the fact that Wii Music, their Holy Grail for that year, did well but wasn't OMG HUEG), so the enthusiasts might get some more meat this time around.


    I know there are a bunch who never played it, but Nintendo made huge points in my book by getting Treasure on board to do another Sin & Punishment....that made me forgive their E3 all by itself...not including a new Punch Out, a series in which I personally love.

    But you are correct, I think they realized they went too far last time.

    Oh and Cloudeagle...every time you post, I start to wonder what new world domination scheme you have planned for us all. :(

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  • RehabRehab Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Completely forgot that it was about time for GDC. Sounds interesting.

    My guess is that they unveil the next Zelda and maybe announce another Wii Series game. If nothing else they will probably pin down the release for Wii Sports Resort and Wii MotionPlus. Maybe start announcing new colors?

    Rehab on
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  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Brainiac 8 wrote: »
    Oh and Cloudeagle...every time you post, I start to wonder what new world domination scheme you have planned for us all. :(

    Off topic, but did you see Craig McCracken's final episode of the Powerpuff Girls a couple months ago? Made five years after the actual series ended? Search for "The Powerpuff Girls Rule." It's on the PPG complete series DVD set, and is fantastic and screamingly funny. A must-watch. It inspired me to make that evil monkey my avatar, especially after he gloriously butchered one of my childhood memories from the 80s.

    Edit: Oh hey, it's on YouTube. WATCH IT.

    cloudeagle on
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