General Gaming Sales/Charts Discussion

[Happenstance]

1 minute ago, Dcubed said:

That's if we ever see a new console cycle at all...

 

I think generations are done for good now.  There's no incentive for anyone to hit the reset button again.  We live in an age where iOS and Android are the norm and software platforms are expected to live beyond the hardware.  Funnily enough, despite being in the weaker position, MS seem to understand this better than Sony and have really taken big strides towards making backwards and forwards compatibility a key defining feature of their platforms and ecosystem.  I reckon that this is something that is really gonna give them a leg up over Sony as time goes on and could well help them gain ground in the long-term.

 

But of course MS' situation with exclusive software is rather dire at this point...

Oh yeah I know what you mean but a lot of the talk about all this seems to think we'll maybe get one last generation change before it all switches over to a system like that.

EDIT: I think Microsoft and Sony have just taken different approaches to it. MS with their backwards compatibility and Sony's streaming services. I think MS understands it better for the current climate but you have to wonder if Sony are playing the long game with their streaming. PS Now could be amazing once Internet speeds worldwide catch up.

Edited December 12, 2017 by Happenstance

[Sheikah]

That's if we ever see a new console cycle at all...   I think generations are done for good now.  There's no incentive for anyone to hit the reset button again.  We live in an age where iOS and Android are the norm and software platforms are expected to live beyond the hardware.  Funnily enough, despite being in the weaker position, MS seem to understand this better than Sony and have really taken big strides towards making backwards and forwards compatibility a key defining feature of their platforms and ecosystem.  I reckon that this is something that is really gonna give them a leg up over Sony as time goes on and could well help them gain ground in the long-term.

 

But of course MS' situation with exclusive software is rather dire at this point; and that's gonna really bite them in the long-term...

 

 

I don't think backwards compatibility in this instance is doing much at all for Microsoft - as I've said before, it's something people go on about wanting but it actually impacts very little at the end of the day. Most people don't buy new consoles with a strong desire to play their old games on it (especially when they still own the old console). PS4 was less backwards compatible than X1 and Wii U but that didn't hurt it a bit. 

Where it could be important is if BC is in place at the start of the next refresh, meaning that there could be more of a "Pro" upgrade each time (as in, only the console 2 refreshes ago loses support running the latest games).

 

 

 

 

 

[Dcubed]

8 hours ago, Sheikah said:

Where it could be important is if BC is in place at the start of the next refresh, meaning that there could be more of a "Pro" upgrade each time (as in, only the console 2 refreshes ago loses support running the latest games).

That's exactly what I'm expecting; and you're right, that's where it's gonna really count.  MS are set up for it much better than Sony are at this point, which may well help tip the balance in their favour somewhat (and at this point in this console cycle, I'd feel much more confident buying on Xbox than PS when it comes to being able to keep my purchases going forward).

 

But of course, they need to offer something new that's compelling to begin with; which they aren't well set up for right now...

Edited December 13, 2017 by Dcubed

[Kav]

I can see Nintendo releasing a “Pro/X” version of the Switch.

In doing so I see them also selling the console part of it separately from the JoyCon & Dock so those who already own a Switch can just upgrade to it and use their existing JoyCon/Dock that they already have.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

This week's Japanese sales for hardware:

1. Switch – 164,908 (124,770)
2. PlayStation 4 Pro – 45,163 (8,244)
3. PlayStation 4 – 40,524 (25,163)
4. New 2DS LL – 27,074 (20,712)
5. New 3DS LL – 15,059 (12,431)
6. PlayStation Vita – 8,483 (6,127)
7. 2DS – 3,192 (2,747)
8. Xbox One – 406 (295)
9. New 3DS – 248 (348)
10. Xbox One X – 75 (213)
11. Wii U – 70 (45)
12. PlayStation 3 – 48 (48)

While might not seem that special, the PS4 Pro saw the release of a Monster Hunter World Edition, although the game has obviously not been released yet.

So, troubling for Capcom sales wise? You'd think it would sell more...but then there is a month until the actual game is released!

[Hero-of-Time]

Hard to say. It will be far more telling once its released and we sales for the actual game.

Im not expecting it to do well in Japan. They turned the series into a handheld franchise and seeing as this isn't on a handheld, I wouldn't be surprised if the Japanese audience doesn't take to it.

To hell with them. They've had it on underpowered hardware for long enough. It's time the series returned home on a dedicated home console.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

I agree, probably too early and, if I remember correctly, selling the Wii U with 3U did little business for them at all back in 2012.

It'd be a shame for them to be unable to have both markets to count on, especially as it sells so well in Japan usually; saying that if 70 million PS4's sold and only 5.5 of those in Japan, they are probably going for the right market share

[Happenstance]

I still think it’ll do well enough in Japan. They may prefer it on a handheld but I don’t think they’ll skip such a big progression just for that reason.

[Hero-of-Time]

Quote

2017 was an incredible year for the PlayStation 4 in the UK, with Sony's console accounting for one out of every two games sold at retail.

Data provided to GamesIndustry.biz by UKIE and GfK Chart-Track shows that PS4 represented 50.2% of all physical software sales over the course of the year. The nearest competitor was Xbox One, which accounted for 31.6% of all games sold.

The full rankings of consoles by share of software sales will be revealed in our 2017 Year In Numbers infographic later this week.

UKIE notes that 2017 is the first year on record when a single platform has accounted for more than half of the total games market in terms of units. The previous best was the original PlayStation, which accounted for 47.9% of all boxed game sales in 1998.

Also notable is that Sony formats will have the most exclusive titles at No.1 in the UK charts this year. The most obvious is Activision's PS4-exclusive Crash Bandicoot: N Sane Trilogy, which racked up seven weeks in the top spot over the summer. This was not seven weeks consecutively: Crash was dethroned for one week by Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, another PS4 exclusive.

Sony's other 2017 chart-toppers include Horizon Zero Dawn, which managed two weeks (although not consecutively), as well as Persona 5 (exclusive to PS4/PS3), WipeOut: Omega Collection, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Gran Turismo: Sport (all of which spent one week at No.1).

That's 15 weeks with a PlayStation title at No.1 in the UK - a feat not seen since 2009 when Nintendo racked up 16 weeks at the top of the charts, mostly with the original Wii Fit.

Insane. What's even crazier is that there's no signs of it slowing down. Sony have shown they can drop the price if need be ( as seen during Black Friday ) and the lineup of games next year is just as strong, if not stronger, than this years.

Ni No Kuni 2, Yakuza 6, God of War, Spider-Man, Detroit, Dragonball FighterZ, Monster Hunter World, Days Gone, Kingdom Hearts 3....I haven't even caught up with this years games yet!

[Dcubed]

Absolutely crazy, well done to Sony!

 

Goes to show the sheer power of competitive pricing and value ladled bundles in the UK.

[Nicktendo]

Sony seems to be king in the UK. I don't know anyone personally who has owned a Nintendo console since the GC era. That's not counting my mum's dusty Wii and the DS she used to exclusively play sudoku 

Edited December 19, 2017 by Nicktendo

[drahkon]

So, with Sony owning everything this generation we can fully expect them to fuck things up with their next console?

[Hero-of-Time]

8 minutes ago, drahkon said:

So, with Sony owning everything this generation we can fully expect them to fuck things up with their next console?

Probably. Every console maker gets full of themselves when they have a successful generation.

[drahkon]

Just now, Hero-of-Time said:

Probably. Every console maker gets full of themselves when they have a successful generation.

Urgh, so we're in for trouble with Sony and Nintendo going full retard next time

[Happenstance]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Probably. Every console maker gets full of themselves when they have a successful generation.

Maybe NES to SNES and PS1 to PS2 are the only eras that didn't? And saying that I remember reading once that the SNES era was when Nintendo's relationships with third parties started to struggle so that could still be thought of like that I guess.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

Japanese weekly sales figures: 

1. Switch – 221,210 (164,908)
2. PlayStation 4 – 45,161 (40,524)
3. New 2DS LL – 31,653 (27,074)
4. New 3DS LL – 19,115 (15,059)
5. PlayStation 4 Pro – 17,804 (45,163)
6. PlayStation Vita – 9,049 (8,483)
7. 2DS – 4,324 (3,192)
8. Xbox One – 2,175 (406)
9. New 3DS – 421 (248)
10. Xbox One X – 132 (75)
11. Wii U – 75 (70)
12. PlayStation 3 – 44 (48)

Absolutely insane number of Switch's to sell in a week!

[Hero-of-Time]

With Japan loving their handhelds, and dismissing consoles, Switch was always going to dominate over there. Nothing else is going to touch it.

I do hope it ends up outselling the Wii U in the space of a year.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Hero-of-Time

[Dcubed]

I'm a touch disappointed that they could only ship 221k Switches for Xmas... A far cry from the 3DS' insane first Xmas.

Doesn't bode well for future supply going forward if that's the best they can muster for Xmas...

 

At least it should outsell Wii U's LTD by the end of the year!

Edited December 20, 2017 by Dcubed

[Fierce_LiNk]

Sad to see the decline of home consoles in Japan. I just wonder how the landscape of gaming is going to look within 10 years globally, but particularly with Japan. 

[Hero-of-Time]

4 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Sad to see the decline of home consoles in Japan. I just wonder how the landscape of gaming is going to look within 10 years globally, but particularly with Japan. 

Sadly it's been on the decline for a while now. The stupidly busy lifestyle of the country means people simply don't have time to sit at home and relax anymore.

Ive read a few articles over the past year stating that both men and women are so exhausted from work/life that once they get home they just crash. A lot of them don't even have time to date or spend time with friends. What little leisure time they have is usually on the train to and from work or during their lunch break. It's why mobile gaming is so big over there and why handheld gaming has taken over the console space. 

[Fierce_LiNk]

1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Sadly it's been on the decline for a while now. The stupidly busy lifestyle of the country means people simply don't have time to sit at home and relax anymore.

Ive read a few articles over the past year stating that both men and women are so exhausted from work/life that once they get home they just crash. A lot of them don't even have time to date or spend time with friends. What little leisure time they have is usually on the train to and from work or during their lunch break. It's why mobile gaming is so big over there and why handheld gaming has taken over the console space. 

Yeah, I've read about the busy lifestyle/work culture that exists there and it does fascinate me. Not sure how that sort of lifestyle can be sustainable for the long term and the country must be rife with mental health issues. 

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

I'm a touch disappointed that they could only ship 221k Switches for Xmas... A far cry from the 3DS' insane first Xmas.

Doesn't bode well for future supply going forward if that's the best they can muster for Xmas...

 

At least it should outsell Wii U's LTD by the end of the year!

A quarter of a million in one week in Japan? Is that really a disappointing number?

Insane the 3DS/2DS is still selling, seven years later.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just now, Fierce_LiNk said:

Yeah, I've read about the busy lifestyle/work culture that exists there and it does fascinate me. Not sure how that sort of lifestyle can be sustainable for the long term and the country must be rife with mental health issues. 

Yeah, it's a crazy way to live and I certainly wouldn't put up with it.

For me, money comes and goes and I value my free time over anything else. Once im done playing with X-rays for the day, I leave work and then my time is my own. Hell, I flat out refuse to even check my work emails once I leave. I find it important to have that separation between work and home life.

Its sad to see this kind of culture slowly making its way to the West. A lot of the big western gaming publishers seem to run their operations like this. Crazy hours, with very little time for anything else. The company has to be everything to you.

A couple of people I used to work with worked in the industry ( one worked for Ubisoft ) and they said the employers know that most of their workers have a passion for the industry and they then exploit that passion. 

[Fierce_LiNk]

Just now, Hero-of-Time said:

Yeah, it's a crazy way to live and I certainly wouldn't put up with it.

For me, money comes and goes and I value my free time over anything else. Once im done playing with X-rays for the day, I leave work and then my time is my own. Hell, I flat out refuse to even check my work emails once I leave. I find it important to have that separation between work and home life.

Its sad to see this kind of culture slowly making its way to the West. A lot of the big western gaming publishers seem to run their operations like this. Crazy hours, with very little time for anything else. The company has to be everything to you.

A couple of people I used to work with worked in the industry ( one worked for Ubisoft ) and they said the employers know that most of their workers have a passion for the industry and they then exploit that passion. 

I can't be too critical myself about the Japanese lifestyle because, due to my job, my hours are quite demanding and I often have to go home and carry on working, and on weekends, too. So, I can "get it" because I can see how easily work and home life can crossover easily and how it can be thoroughly draining. I can only imagine that this is amplified when it's applied to many more people or entire industries, let alone the country in general, where it's expected that you have to work long and demanding hours.

It's a subject that I find interesting. We often have children that come to our school from China and Japan and their work ethic is just unreal. The expectations that the people put themselves under (or are forced to by their families) is just insane, really. 

I wonder if it's too ingrained in their culture for there to be a change, especially as we are living in a world where you have to be competitive to get ahead. As with that, there will continue to be a ripple effect and I guess one of those ripples is the decline of console sales due to the lack of free time. It's something I never thought I'd see when I was younger.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

Japanese sales figures again leading up to Xmas: 

1. Switch – 269,684 (221,210)
2. PlayStation 4 – 50,662 (45,161)
3. New 2DS LL – 45,387 (31,653)
4. New 3DS LL – 27,947 (19,115)
5. PlayStation 4 Pro – 16,595 (17,804)
6. PlayStation Vita – 14,041 (9,049)
7. 2DS – 6,992 (4,324)
8. Xbox One – 687 (2,175)
9. New 3DS – 311 (421)
10. Wii U – 98 (75)
11. PlayStation 3 – 40 (44)
12. Xbox One X – 32 (132)

Absolute insanity! 

Also Okami HD got lost in the Switch hubbub, on the one hand you can't blame alot of companies after the Wii U, on the other it was clear fairly quickly the Switch was taking off so they should have reacted sooner.