OP
OP
Are we counting only consoles? 3DS had super aggressive pricing too, and that ended up going reasonably well for them.
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NPD July 2018: Octopath Traveler #1, Switch Best Selling Console
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If we had universal digital coverage, this would be an issue.
However, in the monthly release we report only on digital full game sales from a publisher set that includes most of the major publishers outside of Bethesda, but few of the smaller pubs and very little indie coverage outside of Psyonix. So, no DLC/MTX is reported, and only a subset of digital full game sales are reported. In our total market projections that we present in other products such as the Games Market Dynamics report we know the actual digital market value size significantly exceeds what we report on a monthly basis. So yes, an individual purchase may be potentially counted twice, however given the scale of the digital marketplace we are extremely confident that we're not overestimating the market size.
To make this more digestable, twenty years ago the average game buyer was the parent, today it's an adult.
Big budget 2D games have a far less stigma
Why are newer consoles performing worse than previous ones?
now then they did ten and twenty years ago
I wouldn't call an emergency price drop to bring sales to decent levels "reasonably well".
Led to Nintendo's rare unprofitable years.
Switch is not struggling like 3ds.
OP
OP
I meant even afterwards, it got aggressive price drops and did reasonably well.
So I'll answer the question you're not asking, heh. The demographics for Switch are very different than they were for Wii/Wii U/3DS. Switch has a much older demographic, and a much more core gamer focused one. Cross-ownership with PS4/Xone is also very high. So, at the moment at least, Switch has an audience that makes comparing the trends between it and historic Nintendo platforms difficult and perhaps not reasonable?
The data suggests, to me at least, that Switch is going to have a unique sales curve, and, well, basically a unique everything else as well.
I think you can see that in the wide disparity of estimates coming from everywhere about how Switch is going to do longer term. You have very conservative estimates out there, and extremely aggressive ones. This is because the data is inconclusive at the moment, and there is an absolutely massive range of forecast error driven by the uncertainty and lack of benchmark data.
So expectations for Switch HW and SW is the real catch. There's little/no consistency here. A new PS or Xbox releases, everyone kinda knows what to expect and forecasts are in a relatively narrow range. Switch has been an entirely different animal. While this does make it interesting and fun, it leads to wildly different levels of expectations depending on who you talk to.
Have you noticed how Fifa, Madden, Fortnite & PubG all have mobile versions?
People used to buy Consoles solely to play Popular Culture games, now they don't have to.
Couldn't you just ask one of your southern neighbors to just toss you one over the border?
Would you please share the average age of a Switch, Wii, DS, and 3DS owner? Sounds interesting.
I was under the impression that the PS4 was one of the best and fastest selling consoles of all-time.
a) During PS2 gen you had one dominant console with huge marketshare and three that didn't do that well. Now all MS, Sony and Nintendo are doing well so sales are more split between them. For example launch aligned PS4/XBO together are ahead of PS2/Xbox.
b) Huge decline in handheld sector because of mobile (well now with Switch being hybrid handheld sector is practically dead)
c) Holiday season is bigger part of yearly sales than in the past.
d) Wii and DS just simply sold insanely well as they managed to appeal to people that normally didn't play games. Wii had rather early death but DS sold insanely well for years.
Here's a somewhat related question that you may not be able to answer-
Is there any indication that Switch owners that also own a PS4 or XB1 are choosing to purchase core oriented multiplats (few as there are on the Switch) on the Switch rather than another platform? Is there any indication that some of these people do indeed favor portability over visuals/trophies/friend interaction?
After NSMB2 and NSMBU, yeah they have no idea what they're doing.
One was a vehicle for a design that made the game basically a shore and DLC experiment while the other is barely an update design wise compared to its predecessor.
They're extremely safe sequels.
I mean compare the creativity of 2D Mario lately and pretty much everything else they do and you'll see that they're playing it extremely safe, heck Super Mario Run's disappointing performance shows that they don't really know what makes the game tick.
And I dread what form Mario Maker is going to take on Switch, hopefully it pulls a Splatoon 2.
Speculating on the performance of a hypothetical Mario Maker 2 when they haven't shown any inkling of wanting to pursue the concept seems premature.
they barely updated the game for 3DS as is, and if we're talking about recouping losses it seems like the 3DS release was just that.
If the game was popular it would have pushed WiiU's momentum for months instead of the dismal early 2013 it got.
We know that with NSMBW's performance.
Compare say february 2010 with february 2013.
NSMBU didn't fail because of WiiU, WiiU failed because of NSMBU (among other factors).
Whether or not it's a mechanically better game is beside the point, if Sonic 06 was selling like hot cakes for years Sega would have ported the bad boy everywhere regardless of the state it's in.
My point with DKCTF on WiiU is that it was Retro's least popular game they released, of course I expect this to change with the Switch release.
The incentive for Nintendo to release DKCTF on Switch is similar to the narrative they presented for Wind Waker HD : the game didn't find an audience before, let's give it another chance here.
There's no real incentive for NSMBU, the game may had a disappointing performance it certainly proved massively profitable.
Also there's no hole to fill in 2018 on their release schedule anymore anyway.
Maybe in Europe or other growing markets that's the case, but It's probably not headed to 50M/60M+ units in US/NA like the big hitters.
Why do you think 1st parties sell games exactly?
The whole point of 1st party software is to entice people to buy the hardware.
MK8 actually manage to spur adoption of the WiiU while NSMBU didn't.
Also note that my argument is NOT that NSMBU is a bad game, it's not.
It wasn't a good product to release in 2012 however.
The whole point of 1st party software is to entice people to buy the hardware.
MK8 actually manage to spur adoption of the WiiU while NSMBU didn't.
Also note that my argument is NOT that NSMBU is a bad game, it's not.
It wasn't a good product to release in 2012 however.
You are both righ, I mean just look at the PS4's launch, the hardware sold the console not Knack.
Which shows how bad WiiU launch window offer was.
Ps4 profitted massively from the competition's missteps.
Where else were you going to buy new games anyway?
WiiU where they didn't even get released or Xbox where MSFT made it look like you wouldn't even own the game you buy?
At this point Sony barely had anything to do to walk with a success.
but you said NSMBU didn't spur Wii U adoption and yet it was the best selling launch game by a wide margin and one of the best selling titles for the platform LTD. it has something like a 45% adoption rate.
your argument doesn't make any sense
it will make even less sense if and when the NSMBU port for Switch outsells the Wii U version and let's be real it could outsell the Wii U's hardware sales which would prove it was the Wii U that was the hard cap
edit: to add another layer to this the only two games that sold better than NSMBU on Wii U weren't announced when it was released so it's not like people were buying the console for future games and then just happened to buy NSMBU while they waited
MatPiscatella Benji can you give us any insight on how Mania Plus performed, and/or compare it to how past Sonic games did in their debut month?
I really don't know what Sega was expecting bringing the Resonance remaster outside Japan. Hardy anyone in the West has liked the post-Camelot Shining games for years, to the point that they gave up translating them. To say nothing about Resonance being squarely mediocre to begin with and the Refrain re-release not doing much to change that.
I really don't know what Sega was expecting bringing the Resonance remaster outside Japan. Hardy anyone in the West has liked the post-Camelot Shining games for years, to the point that they gave up translating them. To say nothing about Resonance being squarely mediocre to begin with and the Refrain re-release not doing much to change that.
Switch continues to surprise me. Take a game like Mario Kart 8, released on Wii U for four and a half years ago and still selling like hot cakes. Apart from GTA V and Minecraft, very few games have the kind of legs that Nintendo's have. I don't quite understand the attraction but I'm impressed.
I had suspected so but this release had me curious given how the original had a December launch month.
Thank you for giving a heads up Benji!
Happy that JRPGs are thriving but is it really surprising it debuted at #1? Was there a single major release this month other than Octopafh?
And it disappeared from charts by february.
NSMBU didn't spur adoption of WiiU and despite it's final performance it cannot be said to have made any wave in 2013 either.
the game sold more than any other on WiiU bar Mk8 and SM3DW but that doesn't mean its performance was according to expectation either.
We can say it didn't spur adoption of WiiU because WiiU sold badly.
We'll get there when we get there.
If NSMBU doesn't cause an hardware spike on Switch when released, it means that it only sold to existing customers which is not the job it was meant to do on WiiU.
the crazy part is that if it releases on Switch, I can guarantee that it will be visible for far longer on charts than it ever was on WiiU.
Edit: My assumptions were super off-base from misinformation, ignore this ramble.
I mean, I'd also say Nintendo is MUCH better at advertising Square Enix's turn-based RPGs than Square is. With Nintendo publishing Bravely Default, you literally had Nintendo make SEVERAL live-action TV commercials that showed off the BRAVE/DEFAULT concept and mechanic, and many other trailers that went in-depth on all the other mechanics. Nintendo for Octopath Traveler, and it gets shown off in conjunction with the Switch, constantly in Directs and E3, and most Switch commercials feature a shot of Octopath being played near the end. I think these games are just better off being advertised by Nintendo, because they treat it with the same respect as a first-party Nintendo title.
I mean, I'd also say Nintendo is MUCH better at advertising Square Enix's turn-based RPGs than Square is. With Nintendo publishing Bravely Default, you literally had Nintendo make SEVERAL live-action TV commercials that showed off the BRAVE/DEFAULT concept and mechanic, and many other trailers that went in-depth on all the other mechanics. Nintendo for Octopath Traveler, and it gets shown off in conjunction with the Switch, constantly in Directs and E3, and most Switch commercials feature a shot of Octopath being played near the end. I think these games are just better off being advertised by Nintendo, because they treat it with the same respect as a first-party Nintendo title.
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I would just like to take a moment to point out what an epically bad take this is. I congratulate you on this, it's really difficult to come up with a take that is bad at this scale.
I just saw something (sorry if somebody has already said that).
June 2018
The best-selling games over the last 12 months
The best-selling games over the last 12 months
Can you see the difference ? Assassin's Creed: Origins is higher in July. But GTA V is the second best-selling game of July 2018 (it was the third one in July 2017) and Assassin's Creed: Origins is not even in the top 20 ! It's not even in the top 10 of the PlayStation 4 or of the Xbox One !
So sales of Assassin's Creed: Origins in July 2018 (not in the top 20 or in the top 10 of PlayStation 4/Xbox One) > The difference between sales of GTA V in July 2018 (second best-selling game) and in July 2017 (third best-selling game).
June 2018
The best-selling games over the last 12 months
- Call of Duty: WWII
- NBA 2K18
- Destiny 2**
- Madden NFL 18
- Super Mario Odyssey*
- Far Cry 5
- Star Wars: Battlefront II 2017**
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Assassin's Creed: Origins
- God of War 2018
The best-selling games over the last 12 months
- Call of Duty: WWII
- NBA 2K18
- Destiny 2**
- Madden NFL 18
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Far Cry 5
- Star Wars: Battlefront II**
- Assassin's Creed: Origins
- Grand Theft Auto V
- God of War 2018
Can you see the difference ? Assassin's Creed: Origins is higher in July. But GTA V is the second best-selling game of July 2018 (it was the third one in July 2017) and Assassin's Creed: Origins is not even in the top 20 ! It's not even in the top 10 of the PlayStation 4 or of the Xbox One !
So sales of Assassin's Creed: Origins in July 2018 (not in the top 20 or in the top 10 of PlayStation 4/Xbox One) > The difference between sales of GTA V in July 2018 (second best-selling game) and in July 2017 (third best-selling game).
I think itsi possible the Switch sees the sales curve of a resegmented market, rather than an existing market (ps4) or new market (wii).
Right now it's taking away from existing base as well as serving some users not currently adequately served by existing solutions. With resegmented markets it's hard to predict how large the market will be, as it's so determined by value proposition.
Nintendo published Bravely Second in the west, much like the first
The problem here is that people weren't buying WiiU at all.
Let's not act like WiiU was anything but a massive disaster for Nintendo, I mean it's why we got Switch last year.
How do you explain NSMB series performance differential between 2009 and 2012, then?
The best software WILL manage to make the worst hardware sell, that's how pokemon skyrocketed gameboy so late in the cycle.
that clearly wasn't the case for NSMBU, what other reasons did Nintendo had in making that game if it was not to make WiiU sell?
NPD threads always have the best takes. It's a place where history itself is rewritten.
If you think NSMBU is even in the top 10 reasons for why the WiiU was a bomb, you are delusional
This is also the first time I read something like this. I mean, I can think of dozens of reasons why the Wii U failed, there is no way a single game (that was quite good, and that did sell well too) did it. Wii U failing, in retrospective, isn't something unexplainable
Bombed overall, no.
Early 2013 performance? Absolutely.
After double-checking my facts, I stand corrected. Ignore me! (And can someone fix Wikipedia?)
While I agree NSMBU was symptomatic of a creative rut at Nintendo that started during the second half of the Wii's life cycle and continued to wiiu launch...
The wiiu was doomed to fail from concept to execution. Games helped sell the system in spite of the horrible hardware.
Let's say a better launch lineup would have doubled lifetime sales. That's still a huge failure. The wiiu is one the biggest all time disasters in gaming. From 100 million to 13 million. No even Sega managed this.
The reason the Wii U failed is why the Switch succeeded, big ambitious exclusives like Mario Odyssey and Zelda BOTW that drive many different gamer types onto the platform. Wii U had exactly 0 of that.
NSMBU sold more than Smash on WiiU, 5.77m, how could it be a bomba? A Switch port is gonna sell at least 10 millions LTD.
In 2018 Nintendo's best selling title is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a port of a WiiU game.
In 2018 Nintendo's best selling title is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a port of a WiiU game.
this is the point I was making
the Wii U was a massive disaster
attributing that NSMBU is dumb
but I'm going through numbers right now to prove some of your other points wrong as well like:
neat
it also sold about 2 million units by the end of December 2012 and yet it ended with over 5 million sold
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2013/130131e.pdf
(page 6)
by the end of the next fiscal year it doubled its sales to 4 million
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2014/140508e.pdf
(page 4)
literally nothing you're saying has made any sense except that the Wii U was a massive disaster and people weren't buying it
also the fact that you said this:
proves my point even further
that's all the time I have to dig today but it should suffice
the Game Boy was an actual successful piece of hardware! the Wii U was anything but
what are you talking about? lol
Well there was a lot of mistakes made on WiiU.
I still think they should have been able to manage a better performance with a better release schedule, then again they relied so much on 3rd parties for marketing that it really was doomed to fail.
I am not selling the game sold poorly on its own or that it's even bad.
It's still unbelievable to me that Nintendo launched their brand new, generational leap in power system with a Name that did not distinguish it as a new system, hardware that looked exactly the same as the predecessor, and a launch title that beyond higher resolution looked exactly like a game possible on earlier hardware.
It's not like they were super productive during the end of the wii era.
It's simply unbelievable.
Skyward Sword should have been delayed and completely redone as an HD wiiu exclusive. Or something...