The way I think of it is like this:

 

Consoles are like an extremely heavy weight. Games are like weight lifters. If a console's weight, which we'll say is determined by price, accessibility, marketability and weight has 1000 weak weight lifters (games) it can do well. Otherwise it needs 100 normal weight lifters, or 10 professional weight lifters. 'Big games' are more like professional athlete like weight lifters. Since they get so much more attention, the multitude of small games go to other platforms.

So if we say PS3 'weighs' 500LB then it needs 50 games that can lift 10lb to be lifted from the ground, or it needs five games that can lift 100 lbs. If we attribute games that lift 100 pounds to 5+ million sellers, PS3 is still 'too heavy' to get a big game boost from the addition of someone who can temporarily carry some of the bulk. PS3 has maybe three eventual five million sellers right now - Motorstorm/GTAIV/COD4. They carry like half the load...but the rest of the content isn't as 'strong' in lifting the weight of PS3. I think PS3 is about a price cut and two big games short yet of seeing a long lasting boost from a big exclusive simply because of how much content it shares and how difficult that makes it to 'lift' the platform weight.

Once a console has a small number of big games or a multitiude of small games working at once it is easier to get boosts, even if the price doesn't drop that fast.

In terms of weight, Wii is at like 250 LB, but has nine 5 million sellers (Wii Fit/Mario Kart/Brawl/Wii Sports/Wii Play/Galaxy/Zelda/Mario Party/Mario & Sonic) which is why its essentially been 'lifted' so high for so long.

 

 

bobobologna said: I don't think any game this generation has been a huge system mover (even a juggernaut like Halo 3). People were way too optimistic about the effect MGS4 would have on PS3 sales.

 

Uhm WiiSports? WiiFit?

 

The Source: Yeah you're probably right. The problem for Sony here is that the next 5+ million seller might come (but GTA isn't even there yet, so it will take a long time), but it won't get much of the smaller sellers which are pretty important too. If companies like Hudson stop developing for your console you essentially lose a part of your potential market. At the current pricepoint that not such a big deal, but at $100,- lower a broad library (including what the hardcore gamers call crap) is essential to push your console into the big sales numbers (like PS2 and Wii had loads of these "average" games, they sell).

i don't know, complicated story + complicated controls is not going to impress some of the average consumers that prefer simple shooters (unlike me ) . Regardless, it moved hardware from its usual weekly numbers beforehand. It's a flagship game, for fans and enthusiast. It's Metal Gear Solid, what do you expect, a Wii Sports like game that caters to a broader audience?

While you're trying to make it seem like Metal Gear Solid success was actually a failure, let me point out what Metal Gear Solid did, another game will move Hardware better.

Forget about Hardware, it sold 1.3 million World Wide in its first week, thats impressive.

ps3 fanboys just over hype it one game that sells 2 mill cant save the ps3

jenny said: Other than the first week in which the consales saw a small bump, (with the help of $100 gift certificates that effectually makes the game for free and reimbursing an extra $40) It didnt really do much. What happened? Isnt this a flagship game?

 

First of all it sold out of the 80 gb

Increased ps3 sales with almost 3 times in America And around 8 times in Japan.

That, is no small bump. The only reason it didn't sell more consoles was because the 80gb bundle sold out.

The only place that didn't have a huge bump was others where it sells very good at a regular rate. Also it's maintained around twice the sales in Japan it used to. Your argument fails. No offence.

 

BMaker11 said: Small bump? If I'm not mistaken, sales went up 180% AND put the PS3 past the Wii....far from a small bump

Well I wouldn't call it a small bump but it wasn't the saviour that Sony fans were hoping for. The weekly worldwide hardware sales for the PS3 the week before the release of MGS4 was around 150,000. Then it doubled to over 300,000 on the release week. Then the following weeks were about 170,000 and 160,000. So sales are almost back to normal for the PS3. And you do realize that any week the PS3 beats the Wii it is because of supply issues right?

I think that it did move consoles. It helped make the PS3 number one for a week. That's not a normal occurance is it? No single game is going to change overall console sales completely. It doesn't work that way. What MGS 4 did for the sales of the PS3 was tremendous as far as I see it. They got beaten by the Wii during GTA week but not here.

I'd say it did push some consoles, could have been more though, stupid Sony that doesn't release the 80GB bundle worldwide...

ho says its fail ??? its push the console sales well in the first and second week.

BengaBenga said: bobobologna said: I don't think any game this generation has been a huge system mover (even a juggernaut like Halo 3). People were way too optimistic about the effect MGS4 would have on PS3 sales.   Uhm WiiSports? WiiFit?   The Source: Yeah you're probably right. The problem for Sony here is that the next 5+ million seller might come (but GTA isn't even there yet, so it will take a long time), but it won't get much of the smaller sellers which are pretty important too. If companies like Hudson stop developing for your console you essentially lose a part of your potential market. At the current pricepoint that not such a big deal, but at $100,- lower a broad library (including what the hardcore gamers call crap) is essential to push your console into the big sales numbers (like PS2 and Wii had loads of these "average" games, they sell).

 

WiiSports is packaged in NA and Others.  And the Wii basically sells out every week, so sales aren't dependent so much on what game has been released, but on how much Nintendo can supply.  Saying that WiiFit gave the Wii a boost in console sales is like saying GTA4 gave the Wii a boost in sales (didn't sales of the Wii double that week?).