Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild rises to #1 selling game this year

[VideoGameAccountant]

TheBlackNaruto said:

 

VideoGameAccountant said:
I see a lot of mention of install bases but one thing I see people forgetting is that first party software's goal is to drive the install base. Zelda is definitely doing that.

Horizon doesn't seem to be doing that. The install base matter as that means there are 60 mil + PS4 owners who could buy the game, but at the same time, customers aren't rushing out to get a PS4 to have this game like they are Zelda. I think that is the major difference between these two games.

Wait so HZD comes out....alon g with other 1st party Sony exclusives and they actually have thier best start of any year the PS4 has came out and you come to the conclusion that customers aren't rushing out to get the PS4? I mean HZD and BoTW both came out around the end of Feb and sales have been up YOY for PS4 so something is driving sales.....

I mean I know yous aid HZD in particular but we can't say for sure if it is or isn't driving sales. Being at over 3.4mil at the end of April according to reports is great. Maybe not as great as BoTW but still amazing for a new IP. So combine the sales witht he YOY growth and that can definitely be seen as driving install base. So we can't say for sure that your last line is true.....

Let's look at NPD sales for that period 

Feb: Hardware: $204 million (down 30 percent from $292.2 million in February 2016)

March: Hardware: $485 million (up 91 percent from $235 million in March 2017)

Now, the Switch launched in March. According to Nintendo, the system sold 1.2 million in the month of March. If you take that and multiple it by $300, then you have profits of $360 million. Subtract that from the original amount, and you have spending of $125 million. The actual number may be a bit high as some stores may not have been tracked, or 3DS and Wii U sales fell off enough to make a difference. Similar to February before it, hardware sales are not increasing, and PS4 is likely declining in America. 

So back to what we said about Horizon. At least in America, the game wasn't moving systems. It didn't chart in February and it was below Zelda in March. Since March, the game has fallen out of the top 10 for the most part (was 10 in June). So did HZD push systems. Not really. Now, compare this to June. Crash was 4th in the charts (and likely the best selling single SKU for the month). PS4 sales saw a significant increase for that month. So third party games can sell Playstations but Sony can't.

And again, consider the sales of HZD to Zelda. Zelda remains in the top 10 every month and has outsold HZD since its been out in the US. In Japan, it is consistently in the top 20 (if not top 10). Zelda is pushing Switches. HZD, despite being able to sell to 60 million customers, cant move near as many units and it isn't increasing sales of the PS4. Maybe it's different in some European countries, but its not the norm globally.  And this is Sony's biggest weaknesses. They rely on third parties to push their system. Every game they make, outside of cinamatic walking games, is a weaker version of another game. Horizon is a good game I'm sure, but so is the Witcher, Zelda, Fallout and Skyrim. You have a lot of options here and Sony games are bad at establishing their own unique identity. 

Links:https://venturebeat.com/2017/03/16/february-2017-npd-for-honor-and-resident-evil-7-top-another-month-of-lower-revenues/

https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/20/march-2017-npd-zelda-and-tom-clancy-have-a-big-month/

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2017/170427e.pdf