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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Man, Halo 3 preorders are off the hook...

thetonestarr said:
kn said:
thetonestarr said:
kn said:

I think that record stands at about $150 million for Spiderman 3 in the U.S.


Let's just hope that it doesn't follow the "delivery" of Spideman 3, too.

As in, turn out to be a total letdown for the majority of viewers/players.

 

Also: Before anybody says, "OMG HALO3 PWNS SO BAD THESE PREORDER NUMBERS PROVE IT", I doubt Halo 3 will have legs for very long at all. I expect that it has such high preorder numbers because most, if not all, of the people who WILL want the game - ever - already know that they will. As a result, they're all buying it right away.

It's the same concept as the fact that anybody who wants Halo 3 probably already has a 360, so Halo 3 won't move many consoles.


Uh... wishful fanboy thinking in all respects. Halo 3 will move consoles. Bank on it. The "everyone who will buy it has a 360 already" is bogus and you know it. As far as legs are concerned it will certainly drop off quickly because it can't maintain the kind of sales that it will have the first week. Just not possible regardless of how great the game is. If you think, however, that it won't continue to sell a respectable volume for a fairly long period, think again... There are so many great games coming out through the first of the year there will be a lot of folks who put it off for a bit. Holiday 360 hardware sales will push a lot of copies out the door as well.

So, is that why I plan on buying a 360, and maybe Halo 3 someday? Get off yourself and don't make assumptions.

 

I never said that last sentence was a concept I supported or believed, first. I simply said that the two concepts have a lot in common. I DO believe, though, that most Halo 3 players DO already have 360s, especially since they got a chance to play the demo a few months ago.

Halo 3 is a game where most people who are going to want it will already have a 360. In the six years since H:CE's release, most gamers have already decided whether they have any desire to play Halo or not. As a result, Halo 3 doesn't have that much further to go. It's not doing that much new, so it won't be like, "OMG HALO 2 WAS LAME BUT HALO 3 IS AWZUM NOW I WANNA PLAY."

It certainly will sell to some previous non-players, and it certainly will move some consoles. I never said it wouldn't. What I said is that it won't move many, or have long legs. Let me expand on that.

A very, very large portion of the game's total sales will be from the release period. Because, as I said, most gamers have made up their minds by now. They either love Halo, or they don't, pretty much. All the people who "love" Halo are going to be wanting Halo 3 right from the start. The people who don't, well, they'll be spending their money on something else.

There ARE a fair number of exceptions, yes, but these people won't count for much. They're mostly people who don't have the money for a 360, are waiting it out for M$ to fix their hardware issues, or people who just recently got into the gaming scene and aren't exactly sure what they want yet (however, most of those will likely decide on a Wii).

I happen to fall into the first two categories. My wife and I can't exactly afford to throw down $350 for the system I prefer (However, if I get the job I just interviewed for (which pays substantially better than my current job), I'll be getting a second part-time at either Gamestop or Best Buy and buying an Elite instead, since I'll get a discount). Additionally, even if I had the money, I'm not sure I'd buy one yet anyhow. I'd rather wait until they have a much lower hardware fail rate. I'd hate to end up being the guy that goes through 12 systems. Too much a bother. My PC's just as capible of most of the gaming I'd do on a 360, so I'm happy here for now.

Either way, I doubt the people who fall into those categories will count for many. I expect that Holiday '07 will be the end of significant Halo 3 sales, and its life will mostly blubber on after that. It'll sell, but nothing significant or respectable (per week) after that.

I DO think it'll probably continue selling (feebly) for a long time after that though (the whole mess of non-owners finally getting money or making that decision), so it MAY still end up totaling to a respectable TOTAL after this holiday season.


 Ok, I guess I owe you an apology?  Apparently I didn't understand your post though after re-re-re-reading I'm at a loss to interpret otherwise.  I disagree that it won't have some legs, though along with that it won't move a decent number of consoles.  I think people will be surpised at many consoles it DOES move over the last quarter of this year though the direct measure of it will be difficult.  As always, time will separate fact from opinion, but, as I said before, I think you are both underestimating the number of boxes that go out the door and the legs Halo3 will have.  Look at Gears... It's STILL selling...



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I guess we will need to remember alot of debating in this thread for the "Eat Crow" thread.

IMHO I think it will explode out the door and have some pretty long legs as well.



PS360 ftw!

Currently playing..........

Gears of War 2, GTA IV Lost and Damned, Little Big Planet (Yes I said I had no interest but my girl wanted to try it and we did and now Im hooked )

 

 

I think how we define legs is entirely suspect on the game.

If Halo3 does move around 3 million copies the first week, how can it have long legs? I'm definately not in the camp of "everyone that wants Halo3 will buy it first week, and/or have a X360 already", but here are the facts:

Selling 3m units first week is beyond insane. If it sold 3m copies f/w, that'd be the #2 game of the year in 1 week. So 3m copies for ANY game within a 1 week timespan is ungodly.

Halo3 will not have a good multiplier due to this. At 3m units in a week, it's near impossible for ANY game to have a great multiplier.

However, having said this, what I'm thinking is this:

Halo3 will sell around 2,500,000-3,000,000 units in 7 days or less.

The week afterwards, sales will drop to around 450,000-500,000 units. This is an insane drop (around 80%), then start slowing it's decent down. Is this bad? Yes, if your talking a typical game. But Halo isn't a typical game. Selling 500,000 units during a non-holiday second week would be ungodly (at 500k, right now, H3s second week would be bigger than almost every games first week this year).

After this, it should see sales in the 100k to 500k range the rest of the year (think Gears in December numbers), then trail off slowly. Is this bad? Heck no. But we must really define what are good legs: Is it just a good multiplier (ala Wii Play), or strong sales regardless of a multiplier. IMO, I consider a game like Halo2 to keep selling 6k units a week, 143 weeks after the game has been out (and system discontinued) of far greater importance than the fact it has a 3x multiplier. Games like that show that they are true blockbusters.

Gears of War is proof at great great sales and multipliers: 9 months after release, and gangbuster sales during Christmas (1m sales in Dec in 5 weeks), that it's still doing insanely well: It's sales have gone up, not down, week over week since the price drop and such.

Put me in the "Halo3 will sell 7m+ copies in the US/NA" club. If not more. I think Halo3 might contend with every title this generation (next to SMG) for top-selling exclusive game for a console in the US.



Back from the dead, I'm afraid.

friedtofu said:

I guess we will need to remember alot of debating in this thread for the "Eat Crow" thread.

IMHO I think it will explode out the door and have some pretty long legs as well.


Oh yes we will. I'll bring the seasoning!



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I wonder how high sales this Holiday season will be? Obviously more then 2 Million right off the bat, but how high can it go? I'd imagine easily 3 Million by Holidays, but at some point the lower installed base of NA (compared to halo 2) is going to slow it down.

Still it could hit 5 Million this Holiday Season in NA.



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I remember i was at the midnight release of halo 2 at my mall. I was standing out in it till about 2 o' clock. I know halo 3 is going to have an insane number of folks waiting for its release



"Everyone else see's the Joker laugh; only Harley has ever seen him cry."- Arleen Sorkin

 

In an hour of Darkness a blind man is
the best guide. In an age of Insanity
look to the madman to show the way.
- - Warhammer 40,000 rule book

Just FYI,

The largest single day record for entertainment dollars is actually...

Wait for it...

Halo 2.

Current box office record holder is Spiderman 3 at $59 million.

Halo 2 brought it $125 million on day one.

Halo Source: http://news.com.com/Halo+2+clears+record+125+million+in+first+day/2100-1043_3-5447379.html

Movie source:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/days/?page=open&p=.htm



*BUMP*

Amazon sales have been tracking Halo 3 in the top 3 hourly just about nonstop last few days, definitely a big jump. Even beating out the Wii most of the time.



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Just remember, there should be no more Halo 3 preorders than the maximum number of Xbox 360's sold. Even half, or one-third, is unlikely, so chances are, it will never outsell games like Donkey Kong Country, or Super Mario World. Outselling Halo 2 should be likely.



Well Gears of War has a penetration rate of about 1/2, right? I'm sure Halo 3 can beat that.



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