This month, we had a total of 853 points, down from 978 in April's results. This was due to a general lack of voter participation and the elongated voting period for the April election.
Every platform lost votes except for the Wii U, DS, and 3DS. Of course, these increases were likely due to the loss of Xenoblade Chronicles. In fact, Xenoblade, with its 61 points last month, would have more than made up for the Wii's loss were it still on the charts. Because of the loss of Xenoblade, the publisher that suffered the second most month over month was Nintendo, which is down 28 points.
Surprisingly, the biggest loser this month was not Nintendo. It was Sony, with a 32 point loss. This loss can be attributed to the general lack of voting and the loss of interest in the Vita, which lost a third of its respective share of the voting pie. Other notable losers include Microsoft, Square Enix, Namco Bandai, Warner Bros, Valve, and XSeed.
Despite all this bad news, there were some bright points. All of Nintendo's platforms other than the Wii saw point increases. This can be attributed to people switching away from Xenoblade, new Pokemon games on the DS, continued interest in established Nintendo franchises on the 3DS, and people looking forward to upcoming Wii U titles. In fact, the Wii U had a 62% rise in points, led by a 3rd party game, Darksiders 2.
Meanwhile, a few publishers did pretty well this month. Most notable is Disney, which went from a nonentity to a 20+ point power seemingly overnight, thanks to the unveiling of two games in the "Epic Mickey" franchise. Epic Mickey 2 in particular is the second most wanted game on the Wii. Another winner was Atlus, whose Persona 4 and Etrian Odyssey games were a big deal in the world of handheld RPGs. Meanwhile, THQ's Darksiders 2 gave them a nice boost, especially on the Wii U, while Ubisoft also benefitted from increased interest in Assassain's Creed 3.
