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The Power of Gaming


Dilli Gee

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Microsoft today announced that the Xbox 360 exclusive game “Halo 3” has officially become the biggest entertainment launch in history, garnering an estimated $170 million in sales in the United States alone in the first 24 hours.

 

The Xbox 360 title beat previous records set by blockbuster theatrical releases like “Spider-man 3” and novels such as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

This is purely the USA alone. Once sales in Europe, Asia, Down Under, Africa and the rest of North America are factored in, we're talking very, very big numbers ($300M+).

 

Considering the Wii outsells the Xbox 360, could we see the same success with a Wii title in the future?

 

And just an observation: $170M would mean they sold around 3.9 million copies. In the US. In one day. Fuck me.

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New Super Mario Bros isn't on Wii? And the DS has sold nearly 50 million. 10.5 isn't particularly amazing when you consider that (where as 2/5 of all 360 owners have GoW, and I guess now over half of every 360 owner has Halo 3).

 

Wii's biggest selling game - non-budget/free - is Zelda TP (3.61M). Then it drops considerably to WarioWare with 1.82M.

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I don't get where they got the figure $170 million from, I mean, official it sold 1.2 million on day one, nowhere near that figure.

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting some genius way they make money from it, but it doesn't add up for me yet. Still very successful, just sounds like a horrid exhaggeration.

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he Xbox 360 title beat previous records set by blockbuster theatrical releases like “Spider-man 3” and novels such as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

 

Look...they're comparing Halo 3 to a crap book and an even worse film.

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MS has confirmed there were over 1,8 million preorders in the US, so I guess it already has sold 2-3 million in US alone. Probably around 4 million worldwide.

 

I think that's pushing it a bit.

 

Edit: after searching a bit, that could very well be the case. It sold about 2.45 million first day. http://news.filefront.com/current-halo-3-sales-figures/

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Probably not. A big majority of the 360 owners is Halo fan, and this is a logical consequence. I really don't think any Wii game is capable of doing this.

 

Maybe, if we wait two years and the Wii has sold around 50 million units, then a Mario game or cel-shaded Zelda could pull it off.

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I don't think we need that... Nintendo is already strong enough when it comes to first party support and sales, a game selling like that would only hamper the third party opinions about the platform.

 

Microsoft is not that strong though; Halo is the only really important asset they have, Forza this year has come and gone, Blue Dragon has gone unnoticed... It's kinda like GT for Sony, really.

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Project Gotham Racing 4, Mass Effect, Fable 2. All pretty big titles.

 

No where near the same sort of scale sales wise as Mario, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Wii Fit (potentially) and Mario / Sonic Olympics (again potentially).

 

Microsoft have played their biggest trump card, and it’s going to be very difficult for them to exceed Halo 3 ever. It’s been a huge success thus far and will probably sell a lot of 360’s, but from here on in I don’t think the 360 has anything the same size as the Wii games-wise (exclusively, that is).

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Project Gotham Racing 4, Mass Effect, Fable 2. All pretty big titles.
PGR sells to X360's userbase but it's not that big (and Microsoft doesn't own PGR, they just published it, inclusively... Bizarre productions, the developer was bought this week, by Activision), Mass Effect... not first party, it's coming from Bioware (only published by Microsoft) who developed KOTOR and Jade Empire who although great... Aren't anywhere close to the mass appeal we're talking about in here.

 

And Fable 2... well, Fable 1 was not that great when it came to sales (or even reviews), so it's really vapourware.

 

Halo 3 is really the standalone, defining Microsoft game like no other; and one of the only who actually is first party.

 

Not to say Microsoft won't have titles, and although Halo triology is over they're gonna make spinoff's and stuff... But Nintendo has the franchises with broader appeal in the industry, even Halo, as much as it breaks barriers of overhyping in US... it's not even buzz worthy in Japan, Nintendo doesn't have that weakness.

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New Super Mario Bros isn't on Wii? And the DS has sold nearly 50 million. 10.5 isn't particularly amazing when you consider that (where as 2/5 of all 360 owners have GoW, and I guess now over half of every 360 owner has Halo 3).

 

That's a very wrong way to see things, both DS and Wii have a very wide consumer base with very different tastes, while almost all 360 owners want all the epic games with bald space marines.

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