Video game industry thread: we're done here, move on to the next one

cloudeagle · September 2010

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.

Here's a summary of what you missed since last time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMSHvgaUWc8

And now, August's info.

Data care of NPD Group

Xbox 360 -- 356,700
Nintendo DS -- 342,700
Wii -- 244,300
PlayStation 3 -- 226,000
PSP -- 79,400

1) Madden NFL 11 (360) -- 920,800
2) Madden NFL 11 (PS3) -- 893,600
3) Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) - 124,600
4) Mafia 2 (360) -- 121,600
5) New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo DS) -- 110,400
6) New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
7) Mafia 2 (PS3)
8) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360) -- 101,000
9) NCAA Football 11 (360) -- 87,000
10) Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
11) Just Dance (Wii)
12) Red Dead Redemption (360) -- 75,000
13) Pokemon SoulSilver (Nintendo DS)
14) Madden NFL 11 (PS2)
15) NCAA Football 11 (PS3)
16) Wipeout: The Game (Wii)
17) Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
18) Dragon Quest IX (Nintendo DS)
19) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
20) Mario Kart DS (Nintendo DS)

RainbowDespair · September 2010

I don't know how representative of the overall game retail industry Amazon is, but I noticed that Metroid: Other M is pretty far down the best-seller list for Wii games (around #10-#11). Combined with a poor showing in Japan, this does not bode well for lasting or overall sales.

Hedgethorn · September 2010

In August, four of the top ten console games were on Xbox 360, including Madden NFL 11 moving 921K units, Mafia II with 122K units, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 moving 101K, and NCAA Football 11 with 87K units sold.

Microsoft also noted that Red Dead Redemption moved 75K copies for the month.

Cloud, You should add those three August sales figures to the OP, for posterity's sake.

Pureauthor · September 2010

I wonder what Sony will do with that PSP2.

Brainiac 8 · September 2010

They will hire Marcus2 to promote it. Fo Rizzle.

Couscous · September 2010

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30480/TGS_Microsofts_Tsunoda__Kinect_Sales_Will_Blow_Away_iPad.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Kinect spokesman Kudo Tsunoda tells Gamasutra that the device is on track to sell millions this holiday thanks to its abilty to enable deep gameplay and attract a wide audience, in a new interview from the Tokyo Game Show floor.

"The preorders have been really strong. As far as what we're looking at for Holiday, this is going to be stuff that'll blow away any of the sales you've seen with iPad," says Tsunoda, when asked what he though about the device's chances of success.

"The Xbox 360 is already selling better than the Wii and Sony right now. Kinect's really just going to boost that to a whole new level."

Apple's device sold 1 million units in its first 28 days on sale and went on to sell 3 million in three months.

That is like saying that the sales of spinners blow away ultralight sales.

I think that analogy is insane enough.

Beltaine · September 2010

Now that Move is shipping, it'll be interesting to see how sales go, and what MS does in rebuttal.

Also related. I found out, after the fact, that Microsoft was having public demos of Kinect at the state fair last week, so I didn't get a chance to try it out.

Capt Howdy · September 2010

Any hints at how large the import section is going to be?

Henroid · September 2010

Quoting over from the previous iteration of the thread;

Couscous wrote: »

Epic potentially interested in making a bad business decision and wasting money.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/35884/Report-puts-Epic-in-frame-for-APB-buy

BBC claim says that Unreal firm could buy the game RTW built using its engine

The slow, sorry saga of Realtime Worlds' collapse has found another twist.

Despite a failed attempt to sell off the sunken studio and its games assets, a BBC report has named Epic Games as one of the parties interested in buying the rights to APB.

All Points Bulletin was the online game that led to RTW's downfall - built from $100m investment, it failed to find an audience quickly after its release in July. Although the game had potential, it seemingly failed too fast, and took the Dundee studio with it.

The game was built using Epic Games' Unreal Engine, the hugely popular technology powering a large number of major releases.

Which means that if Epic was interested in the game assets, it would know, at least, the technology it is built on.

But Epic has been tight-lipped as to the accuracy of the claim.

The BBC quotes Epic Games spokesperson Dana Cowley as saying: "Mark [Rein, Epic Games VP] absolutely loves APB, and everyone here loved what they saw.

"We've got our hands full of Gears of War 3, Bullet Storm and the recently announced Project Sword. If any talks like that are going on, then they would be confidential."

So uh, what exactly could Epic do to actually turn the game around if this happens?

Peewi · September 2010

I guess they could put the character creator in a better game.

Couscous · September 2010

"What game? We have always been at war with Eastasia."

Unco-ordinated · September 2010

Gad-damnit, didn't see the new thread, so repost:

Henroid wrote: »

3 million Kinects sold world-wide this holiday season? That's a generous estimate. Was that made before or after the stuff coming out of TGS?

Before. Now that they've made their TGS announcements they've changed their estimates to 3 million and 8 copies worldwide. Cause, you know, Suda 51 and Steel Batallion.

Poor fragglefart

Warlock82 wrote: »

Couscous wrote: »

He is right. Nobody in the USA plays linear games like COD, GOW, Halo, Forza, Uncharted, Killzone 2, Resistance, etc.

You're reading it wrong. The point is that the US will play pretty much anything. The article even mentions that Japanese games do well in the US. But the Japanese in general won't play non-linear games (this is regardless of where they are developed).

Honestly, you can see this in their development styles - most Japanese developers make fairly linear games. Those that break away from that mold don't see a lot of success in Japan. Look at how terrible the Metroid series does over there for example.

It's some weird cultural thing, like the hatred of foreigners. I find it interesting though that Japanese developers are trying to drill that thinking out of them though.

What a load of crap. Non-linear is an entirely subjective thing because underneath everything, nearly every game is still pretty linear. People like to call games like GTA sandbox or non-linear but they're not. You still have to finish specific missions (which are scripted to a point of frustration) to unlock new shit (islands, weapons, etc) and progress. How's that any different from a game like FFVII, where you can run around the overworld but still eventually have to go to some place and continue the game?

The least linear game I've ever played was Way of the Samurai. Far less linear than any western game I've ever played, apart from the ones with no actual goals (like The Sims).

But since the Japanese hate foreigners so much, please explain why the Naughty Dog Crash Bandicoot games sold so incredibly well there. Please.

UncleSporky wrote: »

EDIT: Didn't notice about Europe, I suppose that would count if they're actually ahead in actual consoles sold, but still. And all he says at the end about Europe is that they're "outselling" the competition, not that they're actually ahead.

Yeah I'm not sure about it. They specifically mention that it's according to their internal tracking, so I have to wonder if they're not just ignoring numbers that don't benefit them. I mean really, beating the PS3 is a possibility but the Wii as well? No. The 360 has never done THAT well in mainland Europe, which is why the PS3 passed them a while back despite MS still holding a pretty significant lead in the UK.

Couscous · September 2010

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/40937/APB-in-retail-refund-row

Administrator says that those looking for a refund should contact those from whom they bought the game

Anyone seeking a refund on the now-defunct PC MMO title APB should speak to the retailer from whom they purchased the game, the administrator handling the closure of developer Realtime Worlds has stated.

The Dundee-based studio went into administration in August following the critical and commercial failure of the game, which according to some reports cost as much as $50m to develop.

“Customers should revert to the entity from which they bought the game in respect of their entitlement to any refund,” RTW administrator Begbies Traynor told MCV’s sister site Develop.

The servers hosting APB were switched off last night, meaning those who purchased the £34.99 title were left unable to play the product.

In addition, those who had paid additional fees to access the title beyond the 50 hours gametime included in the box are now out of pocket.

20 hours of additional time was available for £5.59. A one-month subscription cost £7.99 with discounts available for 90 and 180-day subscriptions. Another optional digital purchase was RTW Points, which could be redeemed against gametime or marketplace items.

RTW points were obtained directly through the game or via Realtime Worlds’ website, meaning anyone wanting a refund on those purchases will need to speak to the administrators.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/40921/THQ-defends-anti-pre-owned-tactics

Players who purchased UFC 2010 second-hand would have to pay an additional fee if they wanted to play online. And the exec says the money generated from this activity proves how popular used games are.

“What we saw when we did the online charge for the second purchaser of UFC, we found a pretty good attach rate – it confirmed out suspicion that there are a lot of people participating in used games,” he said.

“We would like to find a way to reward gamers for purchasing first. We need to think of our customers and not be punitive to people who buy second-hand.”

Am I the only person who thinks what he said was a mixture of no shit sherlock and what?

Henroid · September 2010

I see what you did there, Unco (in response to me). :^:

Do we have details about how Steel Battalion will play now, though?

Henroid · September 2010

Couscous wrote: »

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/40921/THQ-defends-anti-pre-owned-tactics

Players who purchased UFC 2010 second-hand would have to pay an additional fee if they wanted to play online. And the exec says the money generated from this activity proves how popular used games are.

“What we saw when we did the online charge for the second purchaser of UFC, we found a pretty good attach rate – it confirmed out suspicion that there are a lot of people participating in used games,” he said.

“We would like to find a way to reward gamers for purchasing first. We need to think of our customers and not be punitive to people who buy second-hand.”

Am I the only person who thinks what he said was a mixture of no shit sherlock and what?

THIS JUST IN: PEOPLE BUY USED GAMES, OH SHIIIIIII

... But yeah, what you said, only less capital letters. The second quote is really weird, especially with the word "punitive." Like they're claiming to not want to punish people who buy used games, but they fucking did this anyway? And made money off it? Does not compute. Now, the first part of that second quote is at least interesting; how can you reward people for purchasing new?

The answer is swag.

lowlylowlycook · September 2010

RainbowDespair wrote: »

I don't know how representative of the overall game retail industry Amazon is, but I noticed that Metroid: Other M is pretty far down the best-seller list for Wii games (around #10-#11). Combined with a poor showing in Japan, this does not bode well for lasting or overall sales.

Well I don't think anyone has found Amazon rankings correspond to, say, NPD sales.

Brainiac 8 · September 2010

lowlylowlycook wrote: »

RainbowDespair wrote: »

I don't know how representative of the overall game retail industry Amazon is, but I noticed that Metroid: Other M is pretty far down the best-seller list for Wii games (around #10-#11). Combined with a poor showing in Japan, this does not bode well for lasting or overall sales.

Well I don't think anyone has found Amazon rankings correspond to, say, NPD sales.

If it did, The Conduit would have sold much more, as it was pretty high on their top sellers list for quite a bit.

Rakai · September 2010

lowlylowlycook wrote: »

RainbowDespair wrote: »

I don't know how representative of the overall game retail industry Amazon is, but I noticed that Metroid: Other M is pretty far down the best-seller list for Wii games (around #10-#11). Combined with a poor showing in Japan, this does not bode well for lasting or overall sales.

Well I don't think anyone has found Amazon rankings correspond to, say, NPD sales.

There's also the fact that thanks to giftcards, the price is now much higher than what it use to be. Basically anyone who wanted it at $30+ would have purchased it. (Which is why is was #2 below Halo for a while).

cloudeagle · September 2010

Hedgethorn wrote: »

In August, four of the top ten console games were on Xbox 360, including Madden NFL 11 moving 921K units, Mafia II with 122K units, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 moving 101K, and NCAA Football 11 with 87K units sold.

Microsoft also noted that Red Dead Redemption moved 75K copies for the month.

Cloud, You should add those three August sales figures to the OP, for posterity's sake.

Danke.

AZChristopher · September 2010

So THQ found that charging a fee didn't stop people from buying used. So now they want to encourage instead of trying to discourage.

I assume that they have never heard the expression about bees, honey, and vinegar.

Sheep · September 2010

From GAF

Kinect core games at TGS 2010:

- Project Draco, a spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon, by the core creative team that created the original series.

- Child of Eden, a spiritual successor to Rez, by the developers of the original.

- House of the Dead: Rise of Nightmares, a brand new House of the Dead game.

- Codename D, a brand new game from Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture.

- Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, a new entry in the mech simulation series, developed by From Software and Capcom.

- Haunt, a brand new game from Masaya Matsuura, the creator of Paparapa, Umjammy, and Vib Ribbon.

The staff are pretty significant.

Director: Yukio Futatsugi
Concept Artist: Manabu Kusunoki
Lead Designer: Tomohiro Kondo

Those are the 3 main creators of Panzer Dragoon right there. It's not just Futatsugi, but he has somehow managed to reunite the core creative staff to make a new.... Kinect game.

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/31432

I can't not buy it now.

Warlock82 · September 2010

Reposted from the other thread as I didn't see the new one:

Unco-ordinated wrote: »

Warlock82 wrote: »

Couscous wrote: »

He is right. Nobody in the USA plays linear games like COD, GOW, Halo, Forza, Uncharted, Killzone 2, Resistance, etc.

You're reading it wrong. The point is that the US will play pretty much anything. The article even mentions that Japanese games do well in the US. But the Japanese in general won't play non-linear games (this is regardless of where they are developed).

Honestly, you can see this in their development styles - most Japanese developers make fairly linear games. Those that break away from that mold don't see a lot of success in Japan. Look at how terrible the Metroid series does over there for example.

It's some weird cultural thing, like the hatred of foreigners. I find it interesting though that Japanese developers are trying to drill that thinking out of them though.

What a load of crap. Non-linear is an entirely subjective thing because underneath everything, nearly every game is still pretty linear. People like to call games like GTA sandbox or non-linear but they're not. You still have to finish specific missions (which are scripted to a point of frustration) to unlock new shit (islands, weapons, etc) and progress. How's that any different from a game like FFVII, where you can run around the overworld but still eventually have to go to some place and continue the game?

Quite frankly, the least linear game I've ever played was Way of the Samurai. Far less linear than any western game I've ever played, apart from the ones with no actual goals (like The Sims).

But since the Japanese hate foreigners so much, please explain why the Naughty Dog Crash Bandicoot games sold so incredibly well there. Please.

Are you seriously going to argue semantics on this? "I define non-linear this way so clearly you are wrong!" Riiiight.... Funny how you knew to jump right to GTA as an example of a game thought of as non-linear though!

Cameron_Talley · September 2010

I still don't understand how Steel battalion will work.

mxmarks · September 2010

In todays "What the fuck, Sega!"

You know what would make the new Phantasy Star Portable game better?

IN GAME ADS!

But how? How could we advertise in Phantasy Star?

Oh I know!

COLNEL SANDERS AS A PARTNER CHARACTER

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/17/colonel-sanders-in-phantasy-star-portable-2-infinity/

cloudeagle · September 2010

Cameron_Talley wrote: »

I still don't understand how Steel battalion will work.

Probably nothing like the original Steel Battalion, which is why I'm baffled they gave it the name.

Speaking of Kinect, Molyneux continues to waffle.

Will Fable III support Kinect? Will it be patched in at a later date? The news has been a bit back and forth lately, which is why I asked Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux to clarify the situation at the Tokyo Game Show. His response? Well, it appears Kinect will come to Fable eventually, but don't hold your breath.

"So there's definitely no announcement about Kinect support in Fable [III], said Molyneux as he looked at the PR person in attendance for approval. "But I think Kinect is a fantastic device. I think Fable is a fantastic world. I think it would be lovely to put the two things together. To do a good job of it – to do a great job of it – rather than a trivial job is going to take some time. That's going as far as I've gone on that."

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/112/1121224p1.html

Warlock82 · September 2010

mxmarks wrote: »

In todays "What the fuck, Sega!"

You know what would make the new Phantasy Star Portable game better?

IN GAME ADS!

But how? How could we advertise in Phantasy Star?

Oh I know!

COLNEL SANDERS AS A PARTNER CHARACTER

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/17/colonel-sanders-in-phantasy-star-portable-2-infinity/

That's awesome. In fact, they need to go bigger. I want to see Ronald McDonald and the Burger King in there too! Or better yet - the Hamburgler!

SyphonBlue · September 2010

Henroid wrote: »

I see what you did there, Unco (in response to me). :^:

Do we have details about how Steel Battalion will play now, though?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4h2sbhJM5s

Brainiac 8 · September 2010

A game by the original Panzer team....I may almost be convinced if the controls work well.

AZChristopher · September 2010

People get so defensive about any perceived negativity towards Japanese gamers.

Can we just agree that in the current market Most HD games sale worse in Japan than elsewhere and that western developers concentrate their developement on HD games?

Also, speaking of Japan it is unrealistic to expect Sony to lower the price of the PSP in the US when the yen continues to kick the crap out of the dollar. Same thing with Nintendo right now. Japanese exporters are having issues thanks to yen getting stronger on other currencies.

AZChristopher · September 2010

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

A game by the original Panzer team....I may almost be convinced if the controls work well.

That is how I feel with Kinect in general. If these games are actually more intuitive and fun because of Kinect, I might end up purchasing Kinect. If nothing else they sound better than the Wii ripoffs.

Sheep · September 2010

I've been reading that Steel Battalion will use both the regular controller and Kinect.

cloudeagle · September 2010

AZChristopher wrote: »

People get so defensive about any perceived negativity towards Japanese gamers.

Can we just agree that in the current market Most HD games sale worse in Japan than elsewhere and that western developers concentrate their developement on HD games?

Also, speaking of Japan it is unrealistic to expect Sony to lower the price of the PSP in the US when the yen continues to kick the crap out of the dollar. Same thing with Nintendo right now. Japanese exporters are having issues thanks to yen getting stronger on other currencies.

Nintendo somehow managed to lower the price of the DS and DSi here a couple weeks ago.

And it's been, what, three years since Sony lowered the price of the PSP?

They've run out of any excuse beyond greed.

cj iwakura · September 2010

Imports on PSN opens the window for so much awesome.

Shin Megami Tensei, the original.

slash000 · September 2010

SyphonBlue wrote: »

Henroid wrote: »

I see what you did there, Unco (in response to me). :^:

Do we have details about how Steel Battalion will play now, though?

[ ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4h2sbhJM5s[/url]

OK now I have to post this in case anyone missed it.

Of course it's mostly funny if you're a Street Fighter fan...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU1k8DCxN8g

RidleySaria · September 2010

God, I can't wait to see the videos Kinect spawns once it goes on sale. Someone falling into their television, I will accept no less.

UncleSporky · September 2010

Warlock82 wrote: »

mxmarks wrote: »

In todays "What the fuck, Sega!"

You know what would make the new Phantasy Star Portable game better?

IN GAME ADS!

But how? How could we advertise in Phantasy Star?

Oh I know!

COLNEL SANDERS AS A PARTNER CHARACTER
[I MG]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2010/09/psp2i917.jpg[/IMG]

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/17/colonel-sanders-in-phantasy-star-portable-2-infinity/

That's awesome. In fact, they need to go bigger. I want to see Ronald McDonald and the Burger King in there too! Or better yet - the Hamburgler!

Colonel Sanders is actually super popular in Japan. Somehow the stars aligned for KFC, because their restaurant's offerings is considered the traditional Japanese Christmas Eve dinner.

Lunker · September 2010

Warlock82 wrote: »

mxmarks wrote: »

In todays "What the fuck, Sega!"

You know what would make the new Phantasy Star Portable game better?

IN GAME ADS!

But how? How could we advertise in Phantasy Star?

Oh I know!

COLNEL SANDERS AS A PARTNER CHARACTER

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/17/colonel-sanders-in-phantasy-star-portable-2-infinity/

That's awesome. In fact, they need to go bigger. I want to see Ronald McDonald and the Burger King in there too! Or better yet - the Hamburgler!

Colonel Sanders as a lancer in VC3. You heard it here first.

Couscous · September 2010

He even has his own baseball curse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Colonel
To be fair. That is a really creepy statue.

Cameron_Talley · September 2010

UncleSporky wrote: »

Warlock82 wrote: »

mxmarks wrote: »

In todays "What the fuck, Sega!"

You know what would make the new Phantasy Star Portable game better?

IN GAME ADS!

But how? How could we advertise in Phantasy Star?

Oh I know!

COLNEL SANDERS AS A PARTNER CHARACTER
[I MG]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2010/09/psp2i917.jpg[/IMG]

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/17/colonel-sanders-in-phantasy-star-portable-2-infinity/

That's awesome. In fact, they need to go bigger. I want to see Ronald McDonald and the Burger King in there too! Or better yet - the Hamburgler!

Colonel Sanders is actually super popular in Japan. Somehow the stars aligned for KFC, because their restaurant's offerings is considered the traditional Japanese Christmas Eve dinner.

Seriously? Weird. Man, Japan, you always deliver.

Couscous · September 2010

Didn't DQIX also have some weird in-game McDonald's advertising?

Rex Dart · September 2010

mxmarks wrote: »

In todays "What the fuck, Sega!"

You know what would make the new Phantasy Star Portable game better?

IN GAME ADS!

But how? How could we advertise in Phantasy Star?

Oh I know!

COLNEL SANDERS AS A PARTNER CHARACTER
-snip-

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/17/colonel-sanders-in-phantasy-star-portable-2-infinity/

That's nothing new for Japanese MMOs. The routinely feature in-game promotions of a similar nature.

The original Phantasy Star Portable game had an awesome Pizza Hut tie-in, with an in-game Pizza Hut shield. It looked sweet. (And even going as far back as PSOv2 on the Dreamcast, I think there was an in-game Famitsu magazine you could win from a quest.)

Too bad they never include this stuff in the US versions.

Penny Arcade

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