• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

NPD Sales Results for April 2009

Vinci said:
@ Deacon: Were you ever up on the lingo?

Well I was, but then they changed it forty odd years ago, and then the Thompson boy kept stealin' my paper so I couldn't read up on it in the society rag, which the called salt n' pepper back then...

Ah, Good times.
 

boiled goose

good with gravy
pretty terrible and depressing month all around.... :(

they only thing that is certain is that everyone is tightening the belt...
old games with big discounts are outselling new games at full price.

super low excitebots sales are scary...
shows that without hype and advertising not even nintendo can reach the wii audience...
both madworld and hotd overkill outsold excitebots in its first month. it is not about mature, casual, first party, core, etc the wii audience needs to be informed in some way about what games are coming.
 
speculawyer said:
Legs theory vindicated? Well, I guess we need an actual sales number to know.
I'd guess it's probably somewhere around 70-80k, and Rhythm Heaven is slightly higher.

amtentori said:
both madworld and hotd overkill outsold excitebots in its first month. it is not about mature, casual, first party, core, etc the wii audience needs to be informed in some way about what games are coming.
Punch-Out!! is getting a lot of advertising so hopefully it can hit it off. Maybe The Conduit can too. Those are the only two big sellers I can see in the near future. Well, Wii Sports Resort, but that's a given.

I have to wonder now what kind of marketing approach Nintendo will use with S&P2. It's not a stealth release like Excitebots (we've known about it seven months in advance and counting), but will it get any advertising?
 

Scrubking

Member
Aaron Strife said:
I have to wonder now what kind of marketing approach Nintendo will use with S&P2.

Because of Excitebots Reggie will not be releasing it in NA as well as a slew of other games.

You know it's true.
 
Karma said:
PS3 will be going up against it`s MGS4 numbers for June. 405,000 last year for the PS3.
Well at least they have an excuse lined up. :lol

Actually, they have another one too . . . PS3 price-drop leak stories are all over the place. Hardly anyone is going to buy a PS3 until E3 now. It doesn't matter if the stories are correct or not, people are going to wait to find out.
 
11. Guitar Hero: Metallica - Xbox 360
12. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games - DS
13. Rhytmn Heaven - DS
14. MLB 09: The Show - PS3
15. Professor Layton - DS
16. Resident Evil 5 - PS3
17. Call of Duty: World At War - Xbox 360
18. GTA: Chinatown Wars - DS
19. Guitar Hero Metallica - PS2
20. MLB 2K9 - Xbox 360


#13 - And people are acting like this game bombed or something?

#15 - Again this is in no doubt the reason why Nintendo is holding off Layton 2, it's coming guys but they wanted to expand the fanbase of the series first

#18 - :lol Patcher's wrong again! As I've said before Nintendo is now marketing at the adult male market very aggressively and I have no doubt that GTA:CTW was a project that was suppose to correlate with this. Or do you guys think it's just mere coincidence that the game was released nearly the exact same time Nintendo started to do the male market pull?

Vinci said:
If MH Tri fails to sell a million in NA, they're still barking mad. There's no excuse for a game with that sort of theme to fall on deaf ears in the land of we-like-to-kill-things-and-feel-like-gods.

Actually I would previously have said the game was unappealing to Western audiences, but since the WoW craze it seems that people definitely like hunting and killing things and performing quests to achieve tasks, higher stats, and leveling up.

I see Monster Hunter 3 much like Dragon Quest IX or X. If you market it in a very specific manner and truly push it the game will be a huge hit. If you so much as take a small side step or even trip trying to perform it or try something else the games will bomb and stay niche.

Hellsing321 said:
Capcom has failed to market every MH title it's brought to the NA and I doubt MH Tri will be any different. If there hasn't been a large fanbase for MH here in the past, Capcom is not going to spend a fortune marketing the next one.

Capcom has stated many times that they are going to try and push the series in North America.

Hellsing321 said:
Ok I see where your coming from now. I disagree that MH ever had a chance in NA though. It missed the lootwhore wagon and came well after the PSO bubble burst. Anyone who enjoys the type of game MH is is already addicted to WoW, Diablo 2, or twiddling their thumbs for Diablo 3.

That's a good point but all of those games are on PC. The console market for these types of games is very uninhabited. And as the market has shown countless times the PC and Console userbases are completely different breeds. Just look at the Shooter genre that was practically PC exclusive and had plenty of competition no more than a few years ago. However once many of the shooter developers moved to consoles and stopped thinking of using them as platforms to put in short string ports or spinoffs they discovered a very hungry market for the genre.

Coolio McAwesome said:
3) Even though the Wii numbers aren't as astonomical as they have been, it still outsold the 360 and PS3 combined. Furthermore, the Wii also did better than PS2 ever did in April. (The biggest number PS2 ever did in April was 330,000 back in 2005.) It's amazing that the Wii can have a YOY drop of 50% and still outperform the PS2 at its peak. All this "doom and gloom" surrounding the Wii is laughable.

The funniest thing is that the 360 and PS3 dropped just as much as the Wii did from last month. Not to mention the Wii had a little exclusive game called "Mario Kart Wii" which if I'm not mistaken was the 2nd or if not THE best selling game of last year.
 
speculawyer said:
Well at least they have an excuse lined up. :lol

Actually, they have another one too . . . PS3 price-drop leak stories are all over the place. Hardly anyone is going to buy a PS3 until E3 now. It doesn't matter if the stories are correct or not, people are going to wait to find out.

And what about the other 5 months of reduced YoY sales?
 

billy.sea

Banned
The #11-20 without a single Wii game shows that the Wii can only sell that same three games on the top of the chart and nothing else.

Glad Chinatown Wars is still up there though, it was such a great game (coming from a non-GTA fan)
 

Bizzyb

Banned
justchris said:
I think people are attributing the low sales of Excitebots to the wrong thing. You don't have to announce and hype a product for months to generate sales. It is entirely possible to announce and release something, blitz the public with marketing and sell millions on the first day. It happens with other products, and it can be done with games, too, if someone's actually willing to put the marketing muscle behind it.

It wasn't the short period between announcement and launch that hurt Excitebots, it was the extremely anemic marketing. A few screenshots and videos, cover of Nintendo Power, and that was pretty much it. No frontpage news on any gaming sites, no online ads, no tv ads, no radio ads, no retailer promos or deals, no sales circular announcements, nothing. Let's face it, Excitebots had shitty marketing. It could have been announced 2 years ago, and it still would have sold just as bad.

But here's the thing, if you're not going to go for the HUGE Marketing push, then you can at LEAST hope or try to get some word of mouth spreading by announcing it earlier, and then letting the press get some coverage over a year or so, so that gamers will KNOW, and maybe some casuals will see it in a magazine or hear it from a friend, or see it on Gametrailers, or SOMETHING. Less than 2 months is not enough time to build any kind of grassroots marketing. That's how most all publishers do it b/c quite frankly, if you aren't going to spend tons of $$$ on ads, etc then that's your best bet.
 

billy.sea

Banned
Hellsing321 said:
Capcom has failed to market every MH title it's brought to the NA and I doubt MH Tri will be any different. If there hasn't been a large fanbase for MH here in the past, Capcom is not going to spend a fortune marketing the next one.

I think Capcom have already decided to use Lost Planet to replace Monster Hunter in the West.
 
billy.sea said:
The #11-20 without a single Wii game shows that the Wii can only sell that same three games on the top of the chart and nothing else.

I'm really hoping this was a joke post, but just in case you were serious:

As of March, the Wii already had 54 games that have sold over a million copies. Wii sells significanlty more software than either the 360 or the PS3 do. The notion that "the Wii can only sell that same three games" is completely absurd.
 
Coolio McAwesome said:
I'm really hoping this was a joke post, but just in case you were serious:

As of March, the Wii already had 54 games that have sold over a million copies. Wii sells significanlty more software than either the 360 or the PS3 do. The notion that "the Wii can only sell that same three games" is completely absurd.


Logic and facts don't work against some one who only sees what they want to see.

Edit I just saw my user status, so which mod did I piss off enough to put that there?
 
Bizzyb said:
But here's the thing, if you're not going to go for the HUGE Marketing push, then you can at LEAST hope or try to get some word of mouth spreading by announcing it earlier, and then letting the press get some coverage over a year or so, so that gamers will KNOW, and maybe some casuals will see it in a magazine or hear it from a friend, or see it on Gametrailers, or SOMETHING. Less than 2 months is not enough time to build any kind of grassroots marketing. That's how most all publishers do it b/c quite frankly, if you aren't going to spend tons of $$$ on ads, etc then that's your best bet.


*Looks over at Battalion Wars*

I don't agree.
 

jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
Coolio McAwesome said:
I'm really hoping this was a joke post, but just in case you were serious:

As of March, the Wii already had 54 games that have sold over a million copies. Wii sells significanlty more software than either the 360 or the PS3 do. The notion that "the Wii can only sell that same three games" is completely absurd.

I'd love to see a breakdown on the 54 games (price point, sold thru vs sold in, metacritic, original brands vs established franchises, 1st vs 3rd party, etc).

Is there somewhere I can go for more information?
 
tino said:
I think PS2 still has a lot of live left if Sony repackage it with a new look and bundle it with a Wii controller.
That would really be Sony's best short-term maneuver. Launch a rebranded PS2 with a motion controller and balance board ripoff for $149. Granted, they wouldn't have the Nintendo IPs but for a $100 discount, some fresh marketing, a pure-profit-at-Day-1 guideline and the best back catalog in gaming, it couldn't hurt.
 

Mooreberg

Member
speculawyer said:
Well at least they have an excuse lined up. :lol

Actually, they have another one too . . . PS3 price-drop leak stories are all over the place. Hardly anyone is going to buy a PS3 until E3 now. It doesn't matter if the stories are correct or not, people are going to wait to find out.

And if it doesn't happen at E3, what do they do about people expecting it to happen in September and continuing to wait? They need to do something, because the logical conclusion for people who don't follow news on forums is that the thing should be $299.99 by now. Month after month of declines versus the previous year it a pretty good sign that they've already gotten most of the people who were ever going to pay $399.99 for it.

Also, have any specific numbers for Riddick or GTA China Town Wars been released?
 

Jammy

Banned
jetjevons said:
I'd love to see a breakdown on the 54 games (price point, sold thru vs sold in, metacritic, original brands vs established franchises, 1st vs 3rd party, etc).

Is there somewhere I can go for more information?

:lol :lol :lol

Where were you the past year where there were more titles for Wii in spots 1-20 than pretty much every system out there?

I can tell that you're new to these sales topics. Anybody that pays attention knows that this month and the last month in the UK especially have been the anomalys.
 
jetjevons said:
I'd love to see a breakdown on the 54 games (price point, sold thru vs sold in, metacritic, original brands vs established franchises, 1st vs 3rd party, etc).

Is there somewhere I can go for more information?
I don't know but it looks like you've got a pretty good set of goalposts already. I'm sure you can easily whittle those 54 games down to maybe 3 that count.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
BlackNMild2k1 said:
I just kinda skimmed through the thread, but does anybody have LTD #'s for Madworld?

66,000 month 1

plus whatever it did this month, which given that it did not appear in the leaked top 20 wii games would mean <15k.
 

jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
Jammy said:
:lol :lol :lol

Where were you the past year where there were more titles for Wii in spots 1-20 than pretty much every system out there?

I can tell that you're new to these sales topics. Anybody that pays attention knows that this month and the last month in the UK especially have been the anomalys.

I'm not new to these 'sales topics' at all. And I have no agenda. I'm just curious to to see a list of the 54 Wii million+ sellers, particularly for NA.
 

Zen

Banned
B-Rad Lascelle said:
That would really be Sony's best short-term maneuver. Launch a rebranded PS2 with a motion controller and balance board ripoff for $149. Granted, they wouldn't have the Nintendo IPs but for a $100 discount, some fresh marketing, a pure-profit-at-Day-1 guideline and the best back catalog in gaming, it couldn't hurt.

It would also mean insta ports for developers from their third party wii games. Sony should also be porting and promoting their third party PSP games after some point and make said waggle add on also for the PS3 and have it work with both platforms.
 

Jammy

Banned
jetjevons said:
I'm not new to these 'sales topics' at all. And I have no agenda. I'm just curious to to see a list of the 54 Wii million+ sellers, particularly for NA.

If you knew your shit you'd know most Wii games sell under the radar and that the Top 20s for the past year have traditionally heavily favored the system, no? :lol
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
jetjevons said:
I'm not new to these 'sales topics' at all. And I have no agenda. I'm just curious to to see a list of the 54 Wii million+ sellers, particularly for NA.

The 54 million sellers are worldwide (I have no idea why someone would include a worldwide number is a US-based discussion without marking it as such, but whatever).
 
Jammy said:
If you knew your shit you'd know most Wii games sell under the radar and that the Top 20s for the past year have traditionally heavily favored the system, no? :lol
This "under the radar" shit is getting old. Did someone really just suggest that Chinatown Wars staying listed and Halo Wars not mean the former was more of a success?
 

markatisu

Member
Son of Godzilla said:
This "under the radar" shit is getting old. Did someone really just suggest that Chinatown Wars staying listed and Halo Wars not mean the former was more of a success?

No but it gives more credibility to the theory that GTA CW will continue to sell and does not require it to bust its nut in one month as many HD games tend to do.

And the under the radar concept is proven on a constant basis when financial reports are released, not just in regards to Wii either
 

jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
Jammy said:
If you knew your shit you'd know most Wii games sell under the radar and that the Top 20s for the past year have traditionally heavily favored the system, no? :lol

I know the Wii is dominating but I also see a lot of the same games in the top 20 each month (Wii Fit, Wii Play, Mario Kart, Guitar Hero, etc). To learn there are 54 unique million plus sellers is a pleasant surprise. It suggests to me that there are a lof of games selling, as you say, 'under the radar'. I'm curious as to what they are.
 

markatisu

Member
jetjevons said:
I know the Wii is dominating but I also see a lot of the same games in the top 20 each month (Wii Fit, Wii Play, Mario Kart, Guitar Hero, etc). To learn there are 54 unique million plus sellers is a pleasant surprise. It suggests to me that there are a lof of games selling, as you say, 'under the radar'. I'm curious as to what they are.

A giant mix, worldwide it would be everything from party games (Game Party and Carnival Games) to lego games (Star Wars) to rhythm games (ghIII/WT and and rb1) to sports games (shaun white for example) as well as traditional games (Mario Galaxy, Zelda, RE4 Wii) and lightgun games (RE:UC)

And there are a bunch that we know are on the verge like CoD WaW (~800k), De Blob (~700k), Tiger Woods 09

I think we figured that there were 17 NA 1m selling Wii games (or something in the teens) back a few months ago
 
bmf said:
When someone comes around and shows them, they ignore all the things that make those shining examples good and special, and produce shovelware. They'll finally end up getting it 3 years later, and by then, the generation will be over.

The exception is Capcom. They get it, for the HD consoles at least. I don't think any 3rd party has really figured it out for the Wii, but at least Sega is trying.
I'd include EA there as well.

The combined release sched of EA Sports Active, the Wii MotionPlus-bundled Tiger Woods 10, the Wii MotionPlus-enabled Grand Slam Tennis and Boom Blox Bash Party arguably represents the most concerted single-month push by any third party to reach the Wii demographic base this gen.

I hope it pays off for them.
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Flying_Phoenix said:
11. Guitar Hero: Metallica - Xbox 360
12. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games - DS
13. Rhytmn Heaven - DS
14. MLB 09: The Show - PS3
15. Professor Layton - DS
16. Resident Evil 5 - PS3
17. Call of Duty: World At War - Xbox 360
18. GTA: Chinatown Wars - DS
19. Guitar Hero Metallica - PS2
20. MLB 2K9 - Xbox 360


#13 - And people are acting like this game bombed or something?

Kids these days, they just worry too much
(Don't you know that that is just so square?)
 
Stumpokapow said:
66,000 month 1

plus whatever it did this month, which given that it did not appear in the leaked top 20 wii games would mean <15k.
how the hell would not making the top 20 mean less than 15k sales? Yes its a possibility but i find that unlikely
 
Top Bottom