Lonely_Dolphin said:
Nope, New Leaf was a reason I bought my 3DS, gg no re! Hence the problem with your definition of killer app, we can't know exactly what each individual customer bought their system for. Just looking at short term hardware sales after a release is ignoring the scenarios where people buy systems in anticipation of games (like I did for New Leaf) or well after it's already released because any number of reasons. To say Wii Sports/BotW sold systems completely on their own is a massive stretch. Well, to say a game that sold over 10 million and is in the top 10 best selling games on the system isn't a significant contributor to hardware sales is already a crazy stretch, but I digress. There are plenty of other games around Wii Sports/BotW and the hardware n advertising were also on point. Without those I highly doubt the Wii and Switch would have sold the same on a single game. This also goes for the 3DS baseline, I'd say it's not selling that much in spite of New Leaf, it's selling that much because of it. The baseline would surely be lower without it. Using your logic with attach rates (which applies to most systems), I guess 3DS has no system sellers then? I don't think you're willing to go that far, so then what do you think are the 3DS' system sellers? Just Pokemon? Despite each game also having a huge sales difference compared to hardware numbers, unless you believe each version sold to completely different people, that there's no overlap whatsoever, but that would be silly! Once Zelda's attach rate falls to 15-20%, will you also say it's not a system seller anymore? lol no, the only conclusion is that there are multiple system sellers that do not have much overlap. Imo the only real killer app is no one thing on it's own but a combination of everything: great games on a consistent schedule, great hardware and great marketing. |
1. You don't know what a killer app is. It's not a piece of software that sells high over a long period of time on a user base, it's not a combination of software, nor is it the piece of software you personally bought the console for. A Killer app is a piece of software that millions of people find indispensable and drives massive demand for hardware. This results in huge sales spikes - such as that seen with the PSX at the release of Final Fantasy 7, Wii sports which reversed a long-term period of decline for Nintendo home consoles to record-breaking highs, to a lesser extent Breath of the Wild which drove massive sales of the Switch coming off of another longterm period of decline and a failed home console. Another example is the release of Pokemon Blue and Red which caused gameboy sales to hit annual record-breaking sales over a decade after launch. Animal Crossing New Leaf sold a lot, but there weren't millions of people flocking to purchase 3DSs as a result needing to play this game. The data shows that vast majority of 3DS purchasers at the time were clearly not buying it for New Leaf. The game sold moderately well over a long period of time. It is not what you call a killer app, but an evergreen title.
2. I never argued that there weren't any factors that drove 3DS sales, I argued that Animal Crossing New Leaf was not a killer app - big difference. Stop making strawman arguments.
3. If you think that it's a massive stretch to say that Wii Sports and Breath of the Wild were driving hardware sales, then you clearly haven't been paying attention to the market. I really don't have much more to say to you. You're just being contrary for the purpose of being contrary.
Here's a test:
If you remove Breath of the Wild from the Switch launch, and Wii Sports from the Wii launch, and replace both with Animal Crossing New Leaf, how successful do you think each would be? Do you honestly believe that they would have enjoyed the same level of success, or anywhere near it?
Last edited by Jumpin - on 03 January 2018I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.