September NPD

[Sho Nuff]

That november lineup is fucking insane. Why do publishers do this. It NEVER ends well.

[cool breeze]

Sonic and Rayman are going to be fine.  Two E-rated titles aren't exactly competing with a bunch of M-rated shooters and adventure/action/rpgs.

There are so many games I want in November but I have to pass on most.  The worst is how it's mostly contained within the first half of the month.  After the 15th, it's only really Zelda for the big games.

[MCD]

I don't play Saints Row but hating it is impossible.

Too bad I don't care about sandbox games except for Assassin's Creed.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Saints Row is garbage and anyone who likes it is a xbot in denial because those games were always terrible and got by on shitty jokes that virgins would laugh at while any respestacble person would realize it's nothing but vanity fair.

[Eel O'Brian]

vanity fair up in the householmes

[MyNameIsMethodis]

there is alot of hodgepodge in this house

[pilonv1]

[MyNameIsMethodis]

if u cant keep the heat then what kind of islam are u

[Sho Nuff]

Saints Row is garbage and anyone who likes it is a xbot in denial because those games were always terrible and got by on shitty jokes that virgins would laugh at while any respestacble person would realize it's nothing but vanity fair.

Ok fuck this I don't want to be associated with Methodis's shitty act. I thought the first was average but I really liked the second, probably buying the third.

GOD WHY DID YOU QUOTE HIM

[Howard Alan Treesong]

make quoting methodis a bannable offense

[Himu]

Saints Row is garbage and anyone who likes it is a xbot in denial because those games were always terrible and got by on shitty jokes that virgins would laugh at while any respestacble person would realize it's nothing but vanity fair.

Ok fuck this I don't want to be associated with Methodis's shitty act. I thought the first was average but I really liked the second, probably buying the third.

[AdmiralViscen]

somehow i doubt ubi is comforted by giving prestige to kincest/move

just to narrow it in a bit, child of eden ps3 sold a lower number than the current year

[Trent Dole]

make being methodis a bannable offense

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

With Gears 3 flopping and the PS3 sure to overtake the 360 at any time now, I guess the Year of the PS3 wound up being triumphant after all.  I'm sure at Micro$haft, they are working round the clock to whip up a 360 successor to throw out in the market before the power of the PS3 crushes M$ for good.

X-Men Destiny, all home console SKUs combined, sold less than the number of deaths in the June 20th, 1990 earthquake in Western Iran.

I remember when Too Human was about to come out and people were claiming that it would do gangbusters and that SK was probably far into development of Too Human 2 and that Denis Dyack was just trolling for his own amusement.

[Damian79]

Why isnt there a thread on the psv launching today?

[Great Rumbler]

X-Men Destiny, all home console SKUs combined, sold less than the number of deaths in the June 20th, 1990 earthquake in Western Iran.

Ouch.

[chronovore]

Saints Row = crap

Saints Row 2 = average

Saints Row 3 =

Wrath2X =

Saints Row is garbage and anyone who likes it is a xbot in denial because those games were always terrible and got by on shitty jokes that virgins would laugh at while any respestacble person would realize it's nothing but vanity fair.

Ok fuck this I don't want to be associated with Methodis's shitty act. I thought the first was average but I really liked the second, probably buying the third.

:thumbsup.gif

Like Stoney, I have games which I don't like but the rest of the community seems on fire for. I can't stand either GOW, Gears nor God, they're both crap to me. I keep thinking I should re-try them, maybe I was "wrong," but probably it's down to taste.

[cool breeze]

wait, phantasy star 5?

[cool breeze]

you mean the ngp?

[Damian79]

Yeah, my bad.  They just have the pre orders for it today.

[maxy]

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6513/npd_behind_the_numbers_september_.php

Some new stuff

Just since July there have been some dramatic shifts in this picture. Consider the table below, which gives the average prices for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii in July 2011 and then again in September 2011.

Between these two months the PS3 received its $50 price drop and retailers began offering some versions of the Nintendo Wii for approximately $135. As a result each of those systems saw its average price drop, by about $40 in the former case and $8 in the latter. (Consumers are now spending more on Nintendo DSi and DSi XL systems, on average, than they are on Wii systems.)During the same period, the Xbox 360 saw its price increase by approximately $25. While the NPD Group won't speak to the specifics of a change like this, we suspect that part of the price increase may be related to the end of the Xbox 360 and Windows PC promotion that ran throughout the summer of this year.

Last month we hinted this role reversal could happen. At the time, we said “If consumers think that the Xbox 360 offers a better value, then the $50 PS3 price cut could bring the PS3's average price below that of the Xbox 360 without actually driving PS3 sales higher than Xbox 360 sales.”That's precisely what happened in September 2011. Compared to its closest competitor, Microsoft is selling 12,000 more systems per week and at a $35 higher price.From our experience, this is likely the first time that the Xbox 360 has exceeded the PS3 on average price. Going forward, the dynamic between the two consoles could change if price becomes a stronger determining factor in consumer choice.

In a communication to us about September sales, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter described Xbox 360 sales as “defying gravity”, a turn of phrase we feel captures precisely the dynamics of the current market. While everyone else is treading water or eking out modest gains on hard-fought price cuts, Microsoft's sales are strong and its system prices are going up.

By contrast seven of the top 10 titles on the all-formats chart for September were new releases, and Madden NFL 12 led at #1.

According to notes from analyst Doug Creutz of Cowen and Company, Madden's total across all platforms came in over 2.3 million units for the 33 days it was on sale during the NPD Group's reporting period.When asked for comment on Madden sales, analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities noted that purchases during the initial five weeks this year were “just under sales in the first eight weeks last year”. He elaborated that that means during Madden NFL 12's first eight weeks in 2011, EA will see “overall sales [...] up at least 5 - 10% for the comparable first eight weeks” of 2010.

In a nutshell, it appears that the late launch didn't affect sales of Madden NFL 12 and EA can expect another year of growth.

Previously we have been able to provide a platform breakdown of Madden NFL sale, but such information was regrettably unavailable this year. When asked to elaborate on the platform breakdown, Liam Callahan, an analyst for the NPD Group, pointed out that “unit sales of Madden NFL 11 were split fairly evenly across the 360 and PS3 in Aug 2010” and that “when adding the PS2 they favored the Sony consoles.” On the subject of this year's release, he explained that “with the launch of Madden NFL 12 in September 2011, unit sales leaned towards the 360.”

That is an interesting shift, and one that highlights just how consistently Microsoft has built its platform and consumer base to sell huge quantities software. Not only did Xbox 360 owners purchase nearly a million units of Madden NFL 12, but they also found the money to buy 2 million copies of Epic's Gears of War 3.

Put a bit more simply, one out of every five units of software sold during September 2011 were either a copy of Madden or a copy of Gears for the Xbox 360.

Now add the Xbox 360's share of Dead Island and FIFA 12 sales and it becomes clear just how well Microsoft has executed on its plan to make its platform the dominant platform for HD-class games. (According to Cowen and Company's Creutz, those titles moved nearly 1 million and over 400,000 units, respectively, across all platforms.)

tl;dr version

Madden...2.3 million
Dead Island...close to million
Fifa 12...over 400k

[Trent Dole]

Is that Fifa's sales or the number of accounts that have played it due to hax?

[pilonv1]

During the same period, the Xbox 360 saw its price increase by approximately $25. While the NPD Group won't speak to the specifics of a change like this, we suspect that part of the price increase may be related to the end of the Xbox 360 and Windows PC promotion that ran throughout the summer of this year.

How does a promotion INCREASE the price of a 360? The actual answer is really obvious.

[maxy]

http://games.ign.com/articles/120/1200238p1.html

While EA and Activision will benefit from these two huge titles, the game industry, as a whole, may suffer. John Taylor, videogame analyst at Arcadia Research, believes these two games will cannibalize sales of other game releases this Christmas.

"They will take all the air out of the room, except for Batman, Skyrim and maybe Assassin's Creed Revelations," said Taylore. "One retailer offered about 160 properties last year from October to December, but this year they are cutting that back to about 90. Retailers are showing real caution on all but the five 'sure bets'. Even Gears of War 3 sales disappointed at least one major retailer."