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[CosmicQueso]

All this FUD about EA Access makes me want to take a look at platform splits on EA games and see if there's been any change to purchase behavior because of it.

And nothing significant... not a surprise given the tiny sample size.

 

[Welfare]

That would be cool.

 

[Rymuth]

All this FUD about EA Access makes me want to take a look at platform splits on EA games and see if there's been any change to purchase behavior because of it.

What have I missed? Is this a few pages back?

 

[ZhugeEX]

All this FUD about EA Access makes me want to take a look at platform splits on EA games and see if there's been any change to purchase behavior because of it.

From what I can tell there hasn't. But then I only have limited data to look at so don't trust me on that haha. So I'd be keen to hear your thoughts.

Certainly from a global perspective we see EA Sports games sell much more on PlayStation 4 compared to other platforms.

Which is why I'm tad confused and surprised why-
1. EA Sports and Microsoft partnership continued this year (Multi year?)
2. Why EA Access hasn't come to PlayStation
3. Why EA Sports features are exclusive to Microsoft (e.g Fifa which doesn't sell anything on Xbox)

 

[Nirolak]

From what I can tell there hasn't. But then I only have limited data to look at so don't trust me on that haha. So I'd be keen to hear your thoughts.

Certainly from a global perspective we see EA Sports games sell much more on PlayStation 4 compared to other platforms.

Which is why I'm tad confused and surprised why-
1. EA Sports and Microsoft partnership continued this year (Multi year?)
2. Why EA Access hasn't come to PlayStation
3. Why EA Sports features are exclusive to Microsoft (e.g Fifa which doesn't sell anything on Xbox)

I don't think these are very confusing honestly.

1/3.) Microsoft feels they have good appeal for sports gamers, and would like more sales in Europe, so exclusive features for Madden fits their domestic target audience while FIFA is an appeal to Europe where they're weak. EA knows that their audience will buy their sports game regardless, they're usually the only (relevant) game in town, so they'll take a deal with whoever offers the most money.

2.) Sony has explicitly and publicly stated they won't allow EA Access since they don't want it competing with their own PlayStation Plus business. It's not so much just an issue of EA having a service, but that if all the publishers do, there's less content to sign up for PS+.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I'm really happy to see ESO did so well. I'm having a blast with it so far.

 

[CosmicQueso]

What have I missed? Is this a few pages back?

There's another thread about Battlefront the EA Access trial period thing.

2.) Sony has explicitly and publicly stated they won't allow EA Access... It's not so much just an issue of EA having a service, but that if all the publishers do, there's less content to sign up for PS+.

And they have to start recouping those Gaikai costs via PSNow... and if a sub service like EA Access takes off, allowing people to just have the games instead of streaming them, the PSNow subscription pricing structure starts looking less competitive.

 

[JaggedSac]

Will be interesting to see if EA adds backwards compatible games to EA Access as well. Which, given how BC is implemented, would mean EA Access would head to the 360.

 

[ZhugeEX]

I don't think these are very confusing honestly.

1/3.) Microsoft feels they have good appeal for sports gamers, and would like more sales in Europe, so exclusive features for Madden fits their domestic target audience while FIFA is an appeal to Europe where they're weak. EA knows that their audience will buy their sports game regardless, they're usually the only (relevant) game in town, so they'll take a deal with whoever offers the most money.

2.) Sony has explicitly and publicly stated they won't allow EA Access since they don't want it competing with their own PlayStation Plus business. It's not so much just an issue of EA having a service, but that if all the publishers do, there's less content to sign up for PS+.

Ah yes. I forgot about 2.

I guess 1 and 3 just comes down to money really. Which is sad all things considering as the larger user bases misses out on content. It just reminds me of the Tomb Raider deal. That franchise was born on PlayStation and has the most fans on PlayStation yet clearly MS paid some money to have it exclusive to them. In the end it just hurts the majority.

 

[EGM1966]

Ah yes. I forgot about 2.

I guess 1 and 3 just comes down to money really. Which is sad all things considering as the larger user bases misses out on content. It just reminds me of the Tomb Raider deal. That franchise was born on PlayStation and has the most fans on PlayStation yet clearly MS paid some money to have it exclusive to them. In the end it just hurts the majority.

The EA deal might well be linked to EA Access - i.e. EA preferring to have a single, solid deal with MS as they are willing to allow EA Access on their platform.

Since Sony have made it clear the themselves are blocking EA putting it on PS4 this could easily contribute to EA holding deals back from Sony and hoping Sony will cave on Access eventually.

TBH though on current trends I see the current status quo continuing. EA see strong sales on PS4 regardless so they clearly aren't seeing many downsides of being close to MS. They presumably get a big marketing deal from MS and they get their Access program onto a console platform to boot. Sony presumably don't feel the need to cave in on Access as there's little sign it hurts sales on their platform of EA games and they'd rather not have it so they're probably fine to remain as is too.

TBH the party not seeing much real benefit is MS unless it can be shown US sales (or global) have been helped by having the service. Otherwise rather like their co-marketing deals it seems they're getting little return for their investment.

Tomb Raider I think is a different kettle of fish and a potentially poor move from SE. I wouldn't be surprised to see the franchise suffer due to this deal in sales vs the reboot and PS4 sales to suffer if it comes too close to U4. On the other hand that deal might actually help MS a bit where others haven't.

 

[KillerMan91]

That is generally what causes misses versus a forecast.

Last time Sony missed their hw forecast that badly was the first Vita forecast. Otherwise they have been pretty spot on and I don't see why that would change suddenly. We are not talking about Nintendo here lol.

 

[Square2015]

Very good. Do this top 10 every month if you can.

Thank you, if the mods are okay I can make it a top 20 (I also have NES sales charts/not NPD data)

NBA Jam on Genesis destroyed SNES version. Genesis was ahead on install base at that point?

Here's what we know:
LTD end of '92:
5.6m SNES (10% ahead of GEN, NPD #, from that new book Console Wars)
5.1m GEN

1993 NPD (data from a report by a professor with data back to 93):
~3.6m SNES
~4m GEN

So up to June 94:
10.0m SNES LTD
10.3m GEN LTD

...tied!

 

[Obliterator]

Tomb Raider I think is a different kettle of fish and a potentially poor move from SE. I wouldn't be surprised to see the franchise suffer due to this deal in sales vs the reboot and PS4 sales to suffer if it comes too close to U4. On the other hand that deal might actually help MS a bit where others haven't.

Unless the check from MS was absolutely gargantuan for TR, I don't see how that deal is anything less than a catastrophic decision by SE. May sound a tad extreme but I dont see it performing well on just the Bone (because 360 version will sell nothing) next to giants like FO4, Black Ops 3, Halo 5, Battlefront, etc. They needed this thing current gen only and day 1 on Bone, PS4, and PC.

I don't see how this games launch will be looked at as a success unless it explodes in reviews / word of mouth

Edit: though I suppose there's a strong chance TR will be their Holiday pack in title ala Unity last year. SE can use the bundle numbers to pad the games sell through and probably get a big chunk of cash for being packed in from MS. That may save the game

 

[freefornow]

Unless the check from MS was absolutely gargantuan for TR, I don't see how that deal is anything less than a catastrophic decision by SE. May sound a tad extreme but I dont see it performing well on just the Bone (because 360 version will sell nothing) next to giants like FO4, Black Ops 3, Halo 5, Battlefront, etc. They needed this thing current gen only and day 1 on Bone, PS4, and PC.

I don't see how this games launch will be looked at as a success unless it explodes in reviews / word of mouth

Edit: though I suppose there's a strong chance TR will be their Holiday pack in title ala Unity last year. SE can use the bundle numbers to pad the games sell through and probably get a big chunk of cash for being packed in from MS. That may save the game

Curious why you think TR wont sell on 360. Games on 360 still perform strong. Look at Lego JP in this NPD data. 360 has a healthy install base.

 

[Massa]

Curious why you think TR wont sell on 360. Games on 360 still perform strong. Look at Lego JP in this NPD data. 360 has a healthy install base.

Kids games are pretty much the only thing still doing well on the 360.

 

[Obliterator]

Curious why you think TR wont sell on 360. Games on 360 still perform strong. Look at Lego JP in this NPD data. 360 has a healthy install base.

Lego games selling decent on last gen hardware makes sense. Minecraft also still sells best on the 360 despite One and PS4 dominating software. Its because the very young demo is still on those consoles. Parents aren't rushing out to buy their 7 - 12 year olds $400 consoles.

TR is a AAA M rated core title launching on last gen hardware when current gen hardware is going to do unbelievable numbers this holiday.

TR on the 360 will be nothing less than an utter flop

 

[TomShoe]

Unless the check from MS was absolutely gargantuan for TR, I don't see how that deal is anything less than a catastrophic decision by SE. May sound a tad extreme but I dont see it performing well on just the Bone (because 360 version will sell nothing) next to giants like FO4, Black Ops 3, Halo 5, Battlefront, etc. They needed this thing current gen only and day 1 on Bone, PS4, and PC.

I don't see how this games launch will be looked at as a success unless it explodes in reviews / word of mouth

Edit: though I suppose there's a strong chance TR will be their Holiday pack in title ala Unity last year. SE can use the bundle numbers to pad the games sell through and probably get a big chunk of cash for being packed in from MS. That may save the game

I'd be shocked if Tomb Raider wasn't the big holiday pack-in this year. Given the attributes of previous bundled games, it's far and away the strongest candidate. Looking at previous notable bundles, they tend to be games that stand to benefit the most from being bundled, by which I mean games released during the holiday that aren't guaranteed to perform to expectations if released standalone. Looking at the bundled games last year, Sunset Overdrive was a relatively niche game in the market (~300K standalone first month), and there was no chance AC: Unity was going to meet the sales of Black Flag, given its current-gen only status, and the dark 'parity' cloud surrounding it leading up to launch.

Bundling games like Fallout and Halo would do well from a marketing standpoint, but those games are going to sell regardless of whether they're bundled. Microsoft would do well to take advantage of TR's exclusivity period, and move as many units out as possible.

A Tomb Raider bundle including a 500 GB XBO and digital codes for ROTTR and TRE for $349 sounds very plausible this coming holiday.

Curious why you think TR wont sell on 360. Games on 360 still perform strong. Look at Lego JP in this NPD data. 360 has a healthy install base.

Why does the 360 version even exist? FPS, Sports, and Kid-friendly titles are the only genres still selling well on last-gen.

 

[Majestad]

Splatoon and Witcher 3 sales make me happy.

 

[ZhugeEX]

Anyone think Wii U sell in has reached 10 million in Q1?

I'm interested to see if it has.

 

[Sangetsu-II]

Anyone think Wii U sell in has reached 10 million in Q1?

I'm interested to see if it has.

Sell in?, yeah definitely.

 

[Welfare]

Anyone think Wii U sell in has reached 10 million in Q1?

I'm interested to see if it has.

9.98M is my guess.

 

[ZhugeEX]

Sell in?, yeah definitely.

sell in = Shipped.

Reason I ask is because Nintendo financial results are due out soon.

 

[Lord Malachite]

I'd be shocked if Tomb Raider wasn't the big holiday pack-in this year. Given the attributes of previous bundled games, it's far and away the strongest candidate. Looking at previous notable bundles, they tend to be games that stand to benefit the most from being bundled, by which I mean games released during the holiday that aren't guaranteed to perform to expectations if released standalone. Looking at the bundled games last year, Sunset Overdrive was a relatively niche game in the market (~300K standalone first month), and there was no chance AC: Unity was going to meet the sales of Black Flag, given its current-gen only status, and the dark 'parity' cloud surrounding it leading up to launch.

Bundling games like Fallout and Halo would do well from a marketing standpoint, but those games are going to sell regardless of whether they're bundled. Microsoft would do well to take advantage of TR's exclusivity period, and move as many units out as possible.

A Tomb Raider bundle including a 500 GB XBO and digital codes for ROTTR and TRE for $349 sounds very plausible this coming holiday.

But will a bundle save RotTR from tanking in the holiday NPDs? Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the situation in the past been that games physically/digitally bundled into the console don't count as a sale, whereas if MS does a free game promo with the retailer and a customer chooses that game, it then counts because it's rung as a separate item even though MS is ultimately buying the game rather than the end user?

If this is the case, even if the theoretical TR bundle flies off the shelves, it could hurt the sales perception of the title even more as the game wouldn't be getting credit as being sold. And with no PC and PS4 SKUs for the holiday season to make up for it, the game might be perceived as a complete flop even if it moves Xbox units and S-E got its money upfront from MS for the exclusivity. Honestly I can't see that scenario painting a bright future for the TR franchise.

 

[allan-bh]

If this is the case, even if the theoretical TR bundle flies off the shelves, it could hurt the sales perception of the title even more as the game wouldn't be getting credit as being sold. And with no PC and PS4 SKUs for the holiday season to make up for it, the game might be perceived as a complete flop even if it moves Xbox units and S-E got its money upfront from MS for the exclusivity. Honestly I can't see that scenario painting a bright future for the TR franchise.

Why misguided sales perception from some people has any relevance for the future of Tomb Raider franchise?

 

[StrongBlackVine]

But will a bundle save RotTR from tanking in the holiday NPDs? Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the situation in the past been that games physically/digitally bundled into the console don't count as a sale, whereas if MS does a free game promo with the retailer and a customer chooses that game, it then counts because it's rung as a separate item even though MS is ultimately buying the game rather than the end user?

If this is the case, even if the theoretical TR bundle flies off the shelves, it could hurt the sales perception of the title even more as the game wouldn't be getting credit as being sold. And with no PC and PS4 SKUs for the holiday season to make up for it, the game might be perceived as a complete flop even if it moves Xbox units and S-E got its money upfront from MS for the exclusivity. Honestly I can't see that scenario painting a bright future for the TR franchise.

Yeah official bundles don't count as sales of a game for NPD.

 

[Jigorath]

If this is the case, even if the theoretical TR bundle flies off the shelves, it could hurt the sales perception of the title even more as the game wouldn't be getting credit as being sold. And with no PC and PS4 SKUs for the holiday season to make up for it, the game might be perceived as a complete flop even if it moves Xbox units and S-E got its money upfront from MS for the exclusivity. Honestly I can't see that scenario painting a bright future for the TR franchise.

Umm... what?

 

[SwiftDeath]

But will a bundle save RotTR from tanking in the holiday NPDs? Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the situation in the past been that games physically/digitally bundled into the console don't count as a sale, whereas if MS does a free game promo with the retailer and a customer chooses that game, it then counts because it's rung as a separate item even though MS is ultimately buying the game rather than the end user?

If this is the case, even if the theoretical TR bundle flies off the shelves, it could hurt the sales perception of the title even more as the game wouldn't be getting credit as being sold. And with no PC and PS4 SKUs for the holiday season to make up for it, the game might be perceived as a complete flop even if it moves Xbox units and S-E got its money upfront from MS for the exclusivity. Honestly I can't see that scenario painting a bright future for the TR franchise.

NPD tracks Hardware bundles, they simply decided that the Top 10 list that is announced publicly won't have bundled sales data in it.

Square Enix will have a very accurate look at exactly how many sales of Tomb Raider occur this holiday season so no, a strong bundling effect won't make the publisher think the game is under-performing as they will see the total sales including bundles

Besides MS will pay a 3rd party publisher for each copy of the game bundled in so Square Enix will see the number of bundled copies even before they're produced

 

[Lord Malachite]

NPD tracks Hardware bundles, they simply decided that the Top 10 list that is announced publicly won't have bundled sales data in it.

Square Enix will have a very accurate look at exactly how many sales of Tomb Raider occur this holiday season so no, a strong bundling effect won't make the publisher think the game is under-performing as they will see the total sales including bundles

Besides MS will pay a 3rd party publisher for each copy of the game bundled in so Square Enix will see the number of bundled copies even before they're produced

Totally understandable that an entity like S-E will get real numbers on both the bundles and the stand-alone units sold. What I'm talking about is a public perception. Let's just assume that due to the MS exclusivity payoff, RotTR makes at the very least enough money to justify its existence. S-E is not in the habit of making exclusivity deals that hurt them financially.

That's all well and good for S-E internally, but it sure doesn't seem like a good idea to paint a public perception that a game didn't sell well. The stand-alone SKU is likely to perform poorly due to it being only on the weaker selling Xbox platform. While Xbox hardware will undoubtedly sell well this holiday, so will PS4 hardware. Many consumers may purchase a theoretical TR bundle--but that does not necessarily indicate consumers are purchasing it for TR. If the Xbox One is an all around good deal, the games offered with it are just a delightful bonus, in no way proving success of the TR brand and again likely causing RotTR to chart poorly in the NPD.

 

[CosmicQueso]

Totally understandable that an entity like S-E will get real numbers on both the bundles and the stand-alone units sold. What I'm talking about is a public perception. Let's just assume that due to the MS exclusivity payoff, RotTR makes at the very least enough money to justify its existence. S-E is not in the habit of making exclusivity deals that hurt them financially.

That's all well and good for S-E internally, but it sure doesn't seem like a good idea to paint a public perception that a game didn't sell well. The stand-alone SKU is likely to perform poorly due to it being only on the weaker selling Xbox platform. While Xbox hardware will undoubtedly sell well this holiday, so will PS4 hardware. Many consumers may purchase a theoretical TR bundle--but that does not necessarily indicate consumers are purchasing it for TR. If the Xbox One is an all around good deal, the games offered with it are just a delightful bonus, in no way proving success of the TR brand and again likely causing RotTR to chart poorly in the NPD.

Holy crap I've read this like 3 times and all it seems to do is circle round and round.

 

[ZhugeEX]

Tomb Raider was doomed the moment they thought making an exclusivity deal with Microsoft was a good idea.

It's like bringing the next Mass Effect game exclusively to PS4. (If the PS4 sold like shit)

 

[allan-bh]

Totally understandable that an entity like S-E will get real numbers on both the bundles and the stand-alone units sold. What I'm talking about is a public perception. Let's just assume that due to the MS exclusivity payoff, RotTR makes at the very least enough money to justify its existence. S-E is not in the habit of making exclusivity deals that hurt them financially.

That's all well and good for S-E internally, but it sure doesn't seem like a good idea to paint a public perception that a game didn't sell well. The stand-alone SKU is likely to perform poorly due to it being only on the weaker selling Xbox platform. While Xbox hardware will undoubtedly sell well this holiday, so will PS4 hardware. Many consumers may purchase a theoretical TR bundle--but that does not necessarily indicate consumers are purchasing it for TR. If the Xbox One is an all around good deal, the games offered with it are just a delightful bonus, in no way proving success of the TR brand and again likely causing RotTR to chart poorly in the NPD.

You are giving to much importance for NPD public top 10 ranking.

 

[Sangetsu-II]

Just noticed PS4 is winning July with only one sku, while Xbox One has 8 sku's (2 deals) and only MCC is in the top 50 of the hourly charts.

Monthly charts says PS4 is number 6 while MCC 1TB is 23 & MCC 500GB is 26.

Wtf is happening here?

 

[Kill3r7]

Thank you, if the mods are okay I can make it a top 20 (I also have NES sales charts/not NPD data)


Here's what we know:
LTD end of '92:
5.6m SNES (10% ahead of GEN, NPD #, from that new book Console Wars)
5.1m GEN

1993 NPD (data from a report by a professor with data back to 93):
~3.6m SNES
~4m GEN

So up to June 94:
10.0m SNES LTD
10.3m GEN LTD

...tied!

Fantastic post. Really neat to see some of this old data.

 

[Elandyll]

Just noticed PS4 is winning July with only one sku, while Xbox One has 8 sku's (2 deals) and only MCC is in the top 50 of the hourly charts.

Monthly charts says PS4 is number 6 while MCC 1TB is 23 & MCC 500GB is 26.

Wtf is happening here?

I've seen this happening for most of July, and can't quite figure out what happened.
I guess AK is a good incentive as pack in for the PS4 (although did not expect it to remain constantly top10), but I didn't expect the XB1 to fall that much after the ACU bundle was gone.

 

[OccamsLightsaber]

Just noticed PS4 is winning July with only one sku, while Xbox One has 8 sku's (2 deals) and only MCC is in the top 50 of the hourly charts.

Monthly charts says PS4 is number 6 while MCC 1TB is 23 & MCC 500GB is 26.

Wtf is happening here?

Hail mary attempt

 

[ZhugeEX]

I've seen this happening for most of July, and can't quite figure out what happened.

Sony fund Amazon.

Work it out guys! Y2K is REAL!

Proof-

Spoiler

No.... I'm not drunk....

 

[Lemondish]

Unless the check from MS was absolutely gargantuan for TR, I don't see how that deal is anything less than a catastrophic decision by SE. May sound a tad extreme but I dont see it performing well on just the Bone (because 360 version will sell nothing) next to giants like FO4, Black Ops 3, Halo 5, Battlefront, etc. They needed this thing current gen only and day 1 on Bone, PS4, and PC.

I don't see how this games launch will be looked at as a success unless it explodes in reviews / word of mouth

Edit: though I suppose there's a strong chance TR will be their Holiday pack in title ala Unity last year. SE can use the bundle numbers to pad the games sell through and probably get a big chunk of cash for being packed in from MS. That may save the game

Would they have really spent all that money for exclusivity just to hand the game away for free anyway?

 

[Lord Malachite]

Holy crap I've read this like 3 times and all it seems to do is circle round and round.

If you need it more succintly, then how about the age-old axiom of sacrificing long-term viability for short-term gain?

 

[Lemondish]

If you need it more succintly, then how about the age-old axiom of sacrificing long-term viability for short-term gain?

Exactly what that deal was. They seem to be hoping now that they'll grow more fans on Xbox than they've lost by burning the bridge to their PlayStation fans. Must not be going as intended - they already got the buckets of water out to douse those flames by announcing a release window.

 

[Elandyll]

Sony fund Amazon.

Work it out guys! Y2K is REAL!

Proof-

Spoiler

No.... I'm not drunk....

Drugs maybe ?

 

[jayu26]

Just noticed PS4 is winning July with only one sku, while Xbox One has 8 sku's (2 deals) and only MCC is in the top 50 of the hourly charts.

Monthly charts says PS4 is number 6 while MCC 1TB is 23 & MCC 500GB is 26.

Wtf is happening here?

I've seen this happening for most of July, and can't quite figure out what happened.
I guess AK is a good incentive as pack in for the PS4 (although did not expect it to remain constantly top10), but I didn't expect the XB1 to fall that much after the ACU bundle was gone.

Constant state of ridiculous sales and offers are devaluing Xbone?

In any case, I would continue to not try and infer actual number of units sold from Amazon chart position.

 

[ZhugeEX]

In any case, I would continue to not try and infer actual number of units sold from Amazon chart position.

I like you!

 

[Boke1879]

Tomb Raider was doomed the moment they thought making an exclusivity deal with Microsoft was a good idea.

It's like bringing the next Mass Effect game exclusively to PS4. (If the PS4 sold like shit)

Not to mention it releases the same fucking day as Fallout 4

 

[Sangetsu-II]

I like you!

If only he was a junior then I would've been truly impressed.

 

[Lord Malachite]

Exactly what that deal was. They seem to be hoping now that they'll grow more fans on Xbox than they've lost by burning the bridge to their PlayStation fans. Must not be going as intended - they already got the buckets of water out to douse those flames by announcing a release window.

Certainly the idea of growing your fanbase by curtailing the options to consume your product is a fallacy. Especially considering the Xbox One platform is lagging behind in all markets. It's still a contender in the USA, but I can't imagine the game is going to sell well in Europe at all based on this platform decision.

 

[ZhugeEX]

Not to mention it releases the same fucking day as Fallout 4

What;s that? Some indie game?

Certainly the idea of growing your fanbase by curtailing the options to consume your product is a fallacy. Especially considering the Xbox One platform is lagging behind in all markets. It's still a contender in the USA, but I can't imagine the game is going to sell well in Europe at all based on this platform decision.

Especially when you consider Europe is a big part of Tomb Raider sales.

 

[Mpl90]

sell in = Shipped.

Reason I ask is because Nintendo financial results are due out soon.

Oh God, I just remember: the first financial results in the post-Iwata era

 

[jayu26]

I like you!

I like you too...quick, do something manly...

If only he was a junior then I would've been truly impressed.

I was junior once.

 

[ZhugeEX]

I like you too...quick, do something manly...
.

 

[Boke1879]

I've seen this happening for most of July, and can't quite figure out what happened.
I guess AK is a good incentive as pack in for the PS4 (although did not expect it to remain constantly top10), but I didn't expect the XB1 to fall that much after the ACU bundle was gone.

We can't really determine sales based on this but I always kinda figured The AK bundle would have some bleed over effect into July.

I'm definitely interested to see how much the PS4 sold this month. I expect a significant dropoff is August for both consoles though.