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Forums - Sales Discussion - April 2012 NPD 360 HW 236k, PS3 175k, Wii 91k

VGKing on 11 May 2012
MANUELF said:
New info from GAF:

"Kid is the best sold handheld game this month, and better than Vita HW.
 The new 3DS horror game < 6.5k."

Those are awful numbers for the vita and the fatal frame game, did Vita sell less than 100k in April?


A video game sold more than a console? SHOCK!

People are really just looking at every way to put down the Vita.



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VGKing on 11 May 2012
MANUELF said:
The market is collapsing fast here


No, it's not.

We got 6-7 year old consoles on the market. We also have Sony and Nintendo launching new dedicated handhelds which are getting bashed by the media as inferior to the almighty iPhone.

Once we get all next-gen consoles on the market and sales are this low(Ps4, 720, Wii U, 3DS, Vita) then you can say the market is collapsing.



VGKing on 11 May 2012
shanbcn said:
Neogaf:

America April 2012: $630.4 million
Japan April 2012: $412.9 million

Software only is even closer:

US: $292.1 million
Japan: $266.2 million

Japan is that biggest market out there for video games besides North America.

Is this comparison suppossed to maked American numbers look bad? Implying that America is barely ahead of Japan?



VGKing on 11 May 2012
kowenicki said:
360 relatively good (market share), but in absolute terms not very good.

PS3 and Wii poor.

All overtracked, PS3 and especially Wii quite heavily in % terms.

Adjustments will be incoming for PS3 and possibly Wii too following this and the Sony shipment numbers.

Next gen required...


PS3 poor?
For the 3rd place console, I'd say sales are amazing and strong competition to the 360.

For the 1st place console, yes Wii sales are extremely poor. Don't blame it on the Wii U announcement. PS2 proved that a last-gen console can continue to sell extremely well coming into a new generation.



VGKing on 11 May 2012
Soundwave said:

It looks like we're seeing almost a full-on collapse of the traditional US handheld gaming market.

Nintendo had a monstrous holiday season, but that's sorta like a person making a fortune on green t-shirts on St. Patrick's Day ... what about the rest of the year?

I'm beginning to think a 3DS revision may have to be much bolder, perhaps even almost like a platform re-launch with much more emphasis on digital downloads.

Vita already at sub-100k in just its second month on market is a disaster bordering on Dreamcast levels.

Both Nintendo and Sony may also have to accept the cold ... hard ... truth ... that a handheld gaming platform as is is going to have a hard time surviving admist year iPad/iPhone/Android upgrades, but may be facing an impossible task when the pricing structure remains $39.99 a pop for new games. Even $29.99 might be pushing it.

Most people have a dusty back catalog of several PS3/360/Wii games sitting at home that they haven't even played enough of yet, not very many people need to be playing 1-2+ hours on the go as well. That's where $1-$5 iPhone/iPad games are making a killing ... yes there's no d-pad or buttons... but who cares. It serves it's purpose, just like no one complains about a hamburger joint not having steak + salad + wine on the menu. 

I'd compare it more to the 3DS pre-price cut.

Worst care scenario with 3DS and Vita, we'll have Sony and Nintendo doing yearly system updates like Lite, XL, Slim...etc....just to stay competitive with Apple products out there. I wouldn't mind as long as the changes are purely cosmetic.



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VGKing on 11 May 2012
RolStoppable said:
kowenicki said:
I'm trying to think of new ways to keep saying handheld gaming is screwed in the west due to phone and tablets without getting slaughtered and told I'm wrong... but there aren't any ways of saying it other than just saying it... so I will keep on saying it.

Dedicated handhelds are screwed in the west.

There, I said it and have been saying it for ages... any of the doubters starting to believe me yet?

If people aren't able to spot trends going on around them then its very odd.

Why should I believe you when two companies are struggling because of strategies that would have also led to failure before the rise of smartphones?

Five years ago the PSP sank into oblivion and it wasn't because of smartphones. The PSP failed because it didn't do the job that consumers expected it to do. It's adapt or die. Sony chose to not adapt, so the PSP never made a comeback in the West. But at least it was good for homebrew applications and emulators, so the hardware kept selling.

Likewise, this generation Nintendo and Sony have to make a choice. Will they insist on following the PSP strategy or will they change their ways?

So what did you want Sony to do? Kill off the PSP as soon as the iPhone/iPod went mainstream? Launch the Vita 3 years ago at $599 with 1 hour battery life?



VGKing on 11 May 2012
bertlsenix said:
Turkish said:
NiKKoM said:

from neogaf:

Overall industry down 32%. Software sales at retail are down 42%.

Originally Posted by Eruogamer:
"Last April, the top seven titles outsold the top-selling title this year, and, simply stated, there were notably fewer new market introductions," said Frazier.

Software:

1.) Prototype 2 (360, PS3) Activision Blizzard - Less than 236K, perhaps significantly.
2.) Kinect Star Wars (360) Lucasarts
3.) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC) Activision Blizzard
4.) Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 (360, PS3) Electronic Arts
5.) NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PC, PS2) Take-Two Interactive
6.) The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings (360, PC) Warner Bros. Interactive
7.) Mario Party 9 (Wii) Nintendo
8.) Mass Effect 3 (360, PS3, PC) Electronic Arts
9.) Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360, PS3) Ubisoft
10.) MLB 12: The show (PS3, PSV) Sony

eeeuww...


No BF3? BF3 is always outselling MW3 in the UK



Thats the problem with the USA and why you shouldn't take those numbers seriously.
In Europe Fifa and Battlefield are destroying Call of Duty...And even CoD is selling better on the PS3 in Europe.
Its just insane how much the USA is pushing the 360,Call of Duty and Halo....and Kinect.
Its hardcore how much they dont care for quality and rather play the stuff that is cool at school.


So popular games = garbage?

Great logic.

Fun Fact: Games like Call of Duty(and yes even Battlefield) become popular first with guys in their 20s and then they spread in popularity to a younger audience from there.

Fun Fact #2: Stuff like Xbox 360, Halo, COD and Kinect are popular in the US because they have great marketing that appeals to a wide range of Americans. The same happens for games like FIFA in EU markets. Marketing is everything. Why do you think Apple products are so successful? 



MANUELF on 12 May 2012
VGKing said:
MANUELF said:
The market is collapsing fast here


No, it's not.

We got 6-7 year old consoles on the market. We also have Sony and Nintendo launching new dedicated handhelds which are getting bashed by the media as inferior to the almighty iPhone.

Once we get all next-gen consoles on the market and sales are this low(Ps4, 720, Wii U, 3DS, Vita) then you can say the market is collapsing.

So according to you we need new consoles and Apple is damaging the market?



outlawauron on 12 May 2012
VGKing said:
shanbcn said:
Neogaf:

America April 2012: $630.4 million
Japan April 2012: $412.9 million

Software only is even closer:

US: $292.1 million
Japan: $266.2 million

Japan is that biggest market out there for video games besides North America.

Is this comparison suppossed to maked American numbers look bad? Implying that America is barely ahead of Japan?

It does show the US market is doing awful. It normally doubles the Japanese market, and for a portion last year, the UK was pushing Japan for 2nd market. Since then, the Japanese market has recovered a bit and the American market has fallen badly.



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sperrico87 on 12 May 2012

The only thing that would even remotely resemble a fair comparison would be NPD April results for 2005 or 2006, right before this current generation launched. If this is a cyclical business, and everyone agrees it is...then comparing it to previous years in the current cycle is totally irrelevant.

Platforms sell best in their second and third years, and then they start to decline...so four, five or six years in, it's all about discount bundles being picked up by late adopters.