OLED Switch - Closing poll, thank you for participating - Christmas week (Week 12 was 1.083M)

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Shadow1980 said:

SKMBlake said:

I know, but I am still amazed by how he have access to the same data but somehow reads it completeky differently

So I see you don't actually want to address my arguments. That's fine. I'll consider that a forfeit.

The_Liquid_Laser said:

Don't mind Shadow1980.  He doesn't think any game sells hardware, including Animal Crossing.

Don't misrepresent me like that. Animal Crossing was a system-seller. There was an obvious spike when it was released. Lots of other games were system-sellers. My beef is with people claiming:

A) That AC was continuing to push massive amounts of surplus hardware months after it was released when literally no other game ever did anything like that, and that certain other external factors were somehow non-factors. But we're not going to get into that subject again.

B) A popular game is necessarily a system-seller, when there are numerous counter-examples. With hardly any exceptions, every game that's associated with growth in hardware sales is a game with a strong launch, and even then there are exceptions. Games with relatively weak launches but good lifetime sales don't cause any obvious increases in hardware. Even a handful of games with good launches have had very low system-selling power. I provided examples, and I can provide more.

Well, if you want to get into it, here is my big problem whenever you talk about the relationship between hardware and software sales.  As far as I can tell, you seem to believe in "magic".  I know you don't use the word "magic", but whenever you describe how sales work, it sounds a whole lot like magic to me.  This is because what you mostly do is describe what doesn't cause sales.  You don't give an alternative explanation of what really does cause sales.  

Most of us assume that software sells hardware.  So when you come along and say that even the best game, like Animal Crossing, won't increase monthly sales for more than a month or two, then you need an alternative explanation, and it needs to be a good one.

For example, why do some systems peak in the first year and others in the fourth year?  Many of us would assume the console peaking in the fourth year had a better supply of good software, but you insist that software does not sell hardware other than maybe for a month or two.  Why do we sometimes see YoY increases in hardware sales when there is no major title that month?  In fact the Switch was up YoY for most/all of 2019, and it didn't have major software releases until around the second half of the year.  How can you explain that if it isn't software?   In general, where do baseline sales come from, when there is an absence of a big title that just released?  Most of us assume that a system with a lot of popular software would have higher baseline sales.

As far as I can tell, you don't have answers to questions like these where most of us assume that it is the software selling the hardware.  So, I just assume you believe in magic.  All of these sales are happening by magic.  I know you believe that a big software title causes a spike that lasts a month or two, and I know you believe that a new hardware model can increase sales for a while.  Other than that, it appears that you believe in magic.  Because you do a whole lot of denying that software is selling hardware, but you usually don't provide a compelling alternative reason.