It is way to early to say how much PS3 will sell this gen... It is selling better and better that is for sure..

Not long ago we had threads over here of people who said PS3 is selling like the gamecube...

That is not true anymore....GC sold 9.3 million after two years:


The PS3 is not yet 2 years on the market and it looks to sell almost the double of HW as GC did in his first 2 years.

@mrstickball

yes you are probably the only one

 If we take out NA's sales since GT4P was never released there GT5P has only sold about 300k more than GT4P

1.3 GT4P and 1.6 GT5P

GT4 sold 10+mil

"Niche" has nothing to do with attach rate. If you're viewed as a "hardcore" console bought by "hardcore" gamers, the attach rate of a game could be 80% and the game still might be niche.

Besides, I said MGS4 is "somewhat niche". There are casual gamers who buy it but it's not in the same league as GT5.

I think MGS4 and FF can, more or less. A lot of it is dependant on how "hardcore" the userbase is. Mario Sunshine and Mario Kart: DD and SSBM all sold very well on the Gamecube, despite a much smaller userbase than either than N64 or the Wii. This is because these are very traditional franchises with a very loyal following.

I think the same will apply to FF and seems to be applying to MGS4: the fans of these franchises will follow them anywhere, no matter what the install base, no matter what the cost. They are very, very loyal. Gran Turismo I personally believe is still hardcore, but a bit more casual than the other two -- therefore I believe it will see a noticable but not terrible drop off, something in the 25% range.

Other similar franchises: Smash Bros, Halo.

They can, and most of them probably will.

@Rocketpig

you can' call a franchise that sells over 3 million Niche....hell not even over 1 million

A "Niche" franchise is something like Disgaiea, SHin Megami Tensei n so on

Fair enough. Let me rephrase it "caters to a largely hardcore crowd, just like any online shooter not named Halo." 

People calling MGS niche series, what about Gears of War? It recently shipped 4.7 million and i don't see anybody calling him niche title.

Darth -

I think his argument is that some franchises sell to a specific group of people. The average video gamer won't buy a Final Fantasy "just because" like they will other games...Which is why he said "niche"

Some franchise games have very specific userbases that they cater to, even if the content isn't designed for a specific group.

Halo is a very good example..Huge player base, great selling, but it's still focused on the hardcore FPS market, therefore could be considered "niche" because it's not focused to Suzie-goes-plays-Tetris.