61 Frames Per Second : npd

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

Cole Stryker — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:00:00 GMT

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?

NPDeez Nuts: The Way Tomorrow Looks

John Constantine — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Way back in May, I thought that, like every other blog that regularly talks about the videogames, 61FPS should cover the NPD sales numbers every month. It seemed like a no brainer until I realized the truth: who gives a damn about sales? We are not gamblers here, throwing crumpled dollars in a circle, cursing each other out over how many copies of Wii Play might sell in a four week period! We are aesthetes, which is to say, we are pretentious as fuck. Waxing philosophical about emergent narrative is how we roll, and sales numbers should be beneath our concern! Harumph and such.

I’m kidding. Well, half-kidding. We’re not snooty berks. We just like videogames a lot, and we like thinking about them even more. Today’s an important day to mention the NPD numbers because they are, to turn a phrase, meaty food for thought. Sony sold just under four-hundred thousand Playstation 3s in November, and just over four-hundred thousand PSPs. Micrsoft sold eight-hundred thirty-thousand Xbox 360s. And Nintendo sold two-million, forty-thousand Wiis. Nintendo also sold one-million, five-hundred thousand DS Lites. Three and a half million people bought Nintendo consoles in the United States. In one month. That is a lot. A lot a lot.

It doesn’t mean Sony is doomed and that the Playstation 3 is going to disappear, Gizmondo-style, before 2009 is out. It doesn’t mean that Microsoft is going to announce an Xbox 360 follow-up in six months that introduces some novelty device and even more cutsey avatars for Xbox Live in a bid to get a piece of the new mainstream pie.

These gargantuan numbers mean that Tuesday’s announcement of Dragon Quest X for the Wii, like Monster Hunter 3’s transition to Wii last year, is the first of many such announcements. From here on out, it won’t be a smattering of hardcore games and an ocean of minigame-collection shovelware on the Wii. From here on out, the very best developers in the world are going to be put to work on Wii development kits by publishers. Because that’s what people own to play videogames. It also means that the extended console lifecycle for the current crop of consoles is all the more likely. HD games aren’t going anywhere, but the talent has to start making Wii games if they want some of that Nintendo money.

Two million Wiis. In a month. That is insane.

(Link: GameLife)

(Image: © Sebastião Salgado/ AMAZONAS Images: With the men away in the cities, the women carry their goods to the market of Chimbote. Region of Chimborazo, Ecuador, 1998. "Migrations: Humanity in Transition," Aperture, New York, 2000, p.276-277.)

Related links:

NPD Wrap: The Times Are a Changin’
If Sales Numbers Mattered, LittleBigPlanet's Commercial Would Be Appealing
Capcom to Date, By the Numbers
Nintendo's Paint Change

NPD Wrap: The Times Are a Changin’

John Constantine — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:00:00 GMT

April’s come to a close and now, under the cold, hard light of math, three things are becoming clear. First, people freaking love Nintendo games. Sure, we already knew that, but over a million people bought Mario Kart for Wii in less than a week. Second, people freaking love Grand Theft Auto. Nearly two million people bought that in even less time. Third, our access to new videogames is going to change dramatically in the very near future. While these numbers may just look like numbers to us, to the people who publish videogames, the people who control when we get to engage these creations, the math is saying that 2008 is different. Tradition dictates that high profile, big hype games are held in reserve for the holiday push from late September through December and the rest of the year is just a slow trickle of quality goods. The math of March and April 2008 says that people will buy many, many games throughout the year, not just around Christmas. What happens now? Going forward, we’re going to see more games, more often. At least, until digital distribution destroys physical media and the whole issue becomes moot.

While the gigantic March sales numbers didn’t keep their drive through April, even with five days of juggernaut sales from Grand Theft Auto 4, all the players put in impressive showings. Wii sales kept pace, down to just 714K units from 721K, but Nintendo DS sales saw a more precipitous decline, down to 414K units from a powerful 698K despite the healthy software debut for both Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon SKUs. GTA4 moved the huge numbers expected, selling 1.85 million units with only days left in the reporting period but it failed to make an impact on HD console sales. Microsoft and Sony saw sales of their home consoles drop below the 200K mark but both companies can expect bigger sales through May thanks to GTA4 momentum and anticipation of marquee June titles Metal Gear Solid 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2. Software sales were cool on the whole. GTA4 and Mario Kart Wii dominated, but no third party was able to replicate the success Ubisoft and EA had in March with the debuts of Rainbox Six Vegas 2 and Army of Two.

Hardware Sales

Wii - 714,200

Nintendo DS - 414,800

PSP - 192,000

Xbox 360 - 188,000

PlayStation 3 - 187,100

PlayStation 2 - 124,400

Software Sales

GTA IV (360) – 1,850,000

Mario Kart Wii -1,120,000

GTA IV (PS3) – 1,000,000

Wii Play – 360,000

Super Smash Bros. Brawl – 326,000

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue – 224,000

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness – 202,000

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time – 202,000

Guitar Hero III – 152,000

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) -141,000

Out thanks to both Next-Gen and Kotaku for their coverage.

Pre-NPD Tuesday: Michael Pachter Drops It Like It’s Hot

John Constantine — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:00:00 GMT

For the uninitiated, the National Purchase Diary Group is the market research firm that has turned tracking videogame sales into something of a cult spectator sport. For gaming aficionados and journalists from a number of disparate outlets, the NPD’s monthly sales data for the videogame industry is the true frontline of the “console wars”. If you think I’m exaggerating the interest in such things, just check out this thread over at the infamous gaming forum, NeoGAF. That’s a forty-three page discussion about sales data for a single month.

Truth be told? I’m totally addicted myself. I can’t wait for the middle of the month when the reporting period closes and those sweet, sweet numbers hit the public. I find it utterly engrossing to see just what people are playing the most and I love to speculate on where that money trail is going to lead game makers in the coming months.

You should also know about Michael Pachter. Mr. Pachter is an analyst for Wedbush Morgan and has become gaming’s Tony Kornheiser but without the awesome beard. His predictions on just what the NPD numbers will be are as scrutinized as the numbers themselves.

Now that you know the score, here’s a Pach-Attack leading up to this coming Thursday’s April NPD numbers. Pachter believes that Nintendo’s going to stay on top of the hardware front with some 600K Wii systems sold and 550K DS systems on top of that. Interestingly enough, he also expects the Playstation 3 to edge out the Xbox 360 290K to to 275K. Hit up Next-Gen for the rest of the hot speculation.

Can you smell that? It’s NPD time, baby!!!