Bodhesatva said:
mrstickball said:
Most likely because the Wii doesn't release the same # of VC titles per month like they used to?
At any rate, PSN and XBLA titles are up versus the 1st half of last year...And thats the noteworthy thing...The frequency of titles released is higher in the 2nd half of the year.
So the only valid comparison is H1 2007 vs. H1 2008. |
No. Again, DLC has not proven to be seasonal thus far.
The 360 saw more releases in the second half of 06 than it did in the first; then that figure increased further in the first half of 07; then it increased again in the latter half of 07; then, it decreased in the first half of 08.
We saw 3 straight halves (1 1/2 years) of increasing totals on the 360. Why the drop now? Again, I think it's because the digidal distribution system can not sustain sales for enough games yet. As DD grows, so will the number of games released per week.
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DLC isn't seasonal because if follows a very specific trend:
Demo/Trailer/Ect saturation during H1 for upcoming H2 games (Fable 2, Halo, Gears, what have you)
H2 blitz and typical DLC for H2 games
H1 gets DLC for H2 games as add-on expansions (as most DLC launches 3-6 months after the games do that are relevant additions)
If you've paid attention to my XBLA charts, you'd know that just because there are about 15% less games on XBLA, that doesn't mean sales aren't up (infact, they're up quite a bit).
Digital Downloading for Consoles has already gone through the stages that typical consoles have gone through, or are going through the stages (and all systems have followed this trend):
- Inception and Initial Expansion (devs are curious about platform, launch testbed games)
- Flurry of poor quality games ala Atari Crash of 1983 (VC and XBLA have both been notorious about this)
- Stagnation of Sales, Consumer Backlash
- Reduction of # of titles, increase of quality titles
- Increase of Sales
The Digital Download system for all systems have already been through this. VC has crested about as much as it's going to (there are only so many VC games available, or developers are willing to utilize VC for). Expansion is in the establishment of new franchises, and conceptual ideas, and those don't always come at the drop of a hat, regardless if your WiiWare, PSN or XBLA. Games still cost money.
Hopefully that makes sense. The market is still growing, and at a breakneck pace. It's doing such thanks to quality games. Remember my stories about Rez HD, Ikaruga, Penny Arcade Adventures, and N+? We've already seen sales for those 4 games beat last year's top sellers in Castlevainia, TMNT, Worms HD, and the others (in terms of revenue for the same time period)....And I'd gladly be willing to bet that Lost Winds, FF:CC, PJM, and others are doing well for WiiWare, PSN, and their respective developers.
And again: there will be an ever-decreasing number of VC games launched. It's very simple...There's only a certain number of titles that can be backwards compatible for VC due to storage capacity, number of IPs, and the simple fact that very few IPs are owned by companies that are in a position of actually re-releasing the games as VC titles...Just because you have a ROM dump, and have a few developers doesn't mean you can put it on VC....Look at Goldeneye.
