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Facts and Figures: Why Do Gamers Care So Much about Sales Charts?

Posted by Cole Stryker

I got to thinking today about why gamers keep such a close eye on sales figures. In a completely unscientific experiment, I determined that Kotaku dedicated just under 200 posts last month to sales figures. Comments for these posts generally range from 50-100, so obviously some people care about sales figures enough to argue about them in an online forum.

We at 61FPS haven't made much of an effort to keep our readers updated on sales figures, as there are plenty of other places that do. We are men and women of overwhelming spiritual integrity. As John argued in December, there is a time to talk about sales, when astronomical numbers threaten to bring about tectonic shifts in the industry. But for the most part, why are people so hung up on sales figures?

I think part of it is laziness. On a slow news day, NPD numbers allow bloggers to phone in a quick and easy post that requires almost no creative input and is guaranteed to piss a few people off. A quick copy and paste job does the trick. I think this is especially true when bloggers resort to regional sales figures. Why do most readers care about how Gears of War 2 is doing in England? If I were English I don't think this would particularly interest me anyway.

But I think it's also related to something we touched on in one of our Roundtables, wherein I discussed how gamers rally around preferred consoles and games, developing a "personal brand" around their consumer behavior. It seems as though fanboys think that if their favorite game succeeds, they succeed.

Lastly, I'll offer a reason that seems to be the most legitimate. People like to see good developers rewarded with high sales and poor developers punished with low. I loved hearing that De Blob sold well enough to warrant a sequel. It doesn't make me like the game more or less, but high sales for games I like means the potential for sequels. This is probably the only reason I'll ever care about sales figures, barring the occasional paradigm shift described above.

How 'bout yall?

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Posted Feb 05 2009, 11:00 PM

Filed under: kotaku, npd, cole stryker, de blob, sales, gears of war 2, roundtable discussion, fanboys

Comments

Lynx said:

For me, it's pretty much that last reason you gave. Also, when it comes to Japanese sales figures, I like to think that a game doing good in Japan has a better chance of coming to the West...maybe.

February 5, 2009 11:37 PM

Roto13 said:

Some people follow sales figures because it gives them another weapon in their console wars, like when they brag that AAA game for console X has a Metacritic score exactly one tenth of a point higher than AAA game for console Y. If console X is selling more than console Y, hooray, you picked the winning team.

The most legitimate reason to follow sales figures is because successful things tend to turn into franchises and trends. I want Mirror's Edge to sell a ton of copies, not because I want DICE to make a zillion dollars, but because I want there to be a Mirror's Edge 2 because Mirror's Edge 2 would likely be awesome and that's a lot more likely to happen if Mirror's Edge 1 is successful. I own a PS3 and I want more people to buy PS3s because if more people own PS3s, developers are more likely to stick their exclusives on it which means I get to play more exclusive games.

Sales figures are an incredibly strong factor in determining what we'll be playing next and how. Next generation, everyone is going to try to be the next Wii and I know this because the Wii is crazy successful.

February 6, 2009 12:26 AM

LBD "Nytetrayn" said:

I hate covering sales, particularly hardware. Every month, it's the same story.

Software is a little more interesting, at least.

February 6, 2009 2:36 AM

brownkidd said:

I could honestly care less about sales numbers. If a game I like sells well enough to warrant a sequel, awesome. If not, who cares. Looking at a chart won't change anything. There's cooler stuff on the internet than charts and graphs, but that's just my two cents.

February 6, 2009 8:57 AM

Johnny_Utah909 said:

If I own, say, a PS3 but not a 360, I do want to see PS3s and its games sell well, if not more than the competition, because it enhances the possibility that developers and publishers will continue to support my PS3 in the future. When I own a PS3 and see dire reports every time I go online, I fear for my investment.

Which is no excuse, of course, for the fools who will bash an entire system's library. Especially galling is the 1-console-owner who, instead of at least honestly spouting his biased stupidity ("360 droolz!"), will couch his bias in language like, "I just don't like the 360 game library." Duh. Is there really a discernible difference?

February 6, 2009 10:00 AM

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

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