The Numbers: March 2008
Posted by Gary Hodges at 1:09 AM Apr 18, 2008
Hi. My name is Gary, and I am an NPDaholic.
I can’t explain my fascination with the monthly NPDs. Who cares how well a game or console sold in a given month, right? Well… I do. And so do a lot of other gamers, so we’ll just make this a regular thing here at Joystick Division, “The Numbers”, posted the day the figures are released each month. So here we go!
We'll start with the March 2008 hardware sales figures:
Nintendo Wii - 721,000
Nintendo DS - 698,000
Sony PSP - 297,000
Microsoft Xbox 360 - 262,000
Sony PlayStation 3 - 257,000
Sony PlayStation 2 - 216,000
…and then software:
Platform - Title - Units
WII - SUPER SMASH BROS: BRAWL - 2,700,000
360 - TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS 2 - 752,300
360 - ARMY OF TWO - 606,100
WII - PLAY W/ REMOTE - 409,800
PSP - GOD OF WAR: CHAINS OF OLYMPUS - 340,500
PSP - CRISIS CORE: FINAL FANTASY VII - 301,600
WII - GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK - 264,100
360 - MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K8 - 237,100
360 - CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE - 237,000
PS3 - ARMY OF TWO - 224,900
Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter had predicted the PS3 would outsell the 360 for a third month straight, but it didn’t come to pass… personally, I’m not surprised. Pachter has always been too bullish on the PS3, mostly due to his notion that the hundred million PS2 owners who’ve yet to buy a next-gen console are all going to buy PS3s once some combination of conditions are met (the price drops to a certain point, GTA4 comes out, etc.).
Looking at history, though, that’s baloney. If gamers were loyal to a brand, the bestselling console right now would be an Atari 18200. But instead of replacing their Atari 2600 with another Atari, gamers bought Nintendos. Then all those Nintendo owners bought Segas. Then all those Sega owners bought Sonys… starting to see the pattern?
No console manufacturer has managed to stay on top for more than two hardware cycles; so much for brand loyalty with gamers. If the PS3 does end up outselling the 360 this hardware cycle, it’ll be because the “Red Ring of Death” fiasco irrevocably crippled the 360’s image – not because Sony fans finally scraped together enough cash for a PS3.
As for Nintendo’s numbers… good god.
Clearly, Nintendo is dominating in terms of sales. Even if you combine the two “real” next-gen systems’ sales, they still don’t touch the Wii’s numbers this month. Apparently, Wii Fever doesn’t go away with time, fluids and bedrest.
Wii Fever is a wasting disease.
Is it terminal? Is the Wii – as some crusty gamers in Internet chat rooms grumble to each other – killing “real” gaming? That might be going too far, but it’s not as ludicrous as the claim that the Wii is somehow expanding the audience for gaming, and thus making gaming more mainstream. That's the real horseshit.
Let me splash some cold water in your face: Wii isn’t making gaming mainstream, it’s making Wii mainstream. It doesn’t matter that your girlfriend or mom or gramma bowl in Wii Sports, they’re never going to make the leap to mainstream console gaming because they’re not even gaming now. Not one soccer mom is going to get so fond of Wii Bowling that they’re going to start fiddling with Twilight Princess. Not one. Because they’re not even the same thing: Twilight Princess is a video game; Wii Bowling is a carnival attraction on a TV. If you don’t see the difference… then you’re my dad, just checking in to see what his son is up to. Hi Dad!
Also crazy is the idea that the Wii’s popularity has somehow softened attitudes and perceptions about gamers and gaming. We’ll see. Grand Theft Auto 4 is going to be out in a couple weeks, and I suspect it – and by association, gamers – will get just as much flak as ever. I have $5 that says one or all of the would-be Presidents make some mention of the game before the end of May – any takers?
More cynically: how long it is before some media outlet notes the game is hitting about a year after the tragedy at Virginia Tech?
The Wii isn’t expanding the audience for gaming or making gaming more mainstream for the same reason Christian rock doesn’t expand the audience or acceptance of real rock n’ roll: because in both examples, the former was invented as a wholesome, non-threatening, non-alienating alternative to the latter. And just as Christian rock isn't entry-level rock, Wii Play isn't entry-level gaming.
So on that note and in conclusion: Since Pachter isn’t afraid to make bold predictions, I’m going to make one too.
When Nintendo’s rolls out a next-gen Wii – not just a HD-capable Wii or redesigned one, but a true Wii 2.0 – it won’t be nearly as successful as the original. Not even by half. Why? Because the first Wii already does everything non-gamers would possibly want it to do: bowling & tennis (Wii Sports), shooting galleries (Wii Play), and yoga (Wii Fit). You can’t go to that well twice. The dabblers will have dabbled, and they’ll be satisfied. And the fad…
…oh yes, the f-word…
…will have passed.
gwh
P.S.
Every gaming message board will be crazy tonight (and usually a few days following), with people - inexplicably - cheering the victories or lamenting the defeats of their preferred consumer electronics manufacturer as if they were their hometown sports teams or something.
As far as I can tell, it's unique to gaming culture. You don't see lunatic GE fans on a message board somewhere trumpeting the fact the latest GE toaster oven has now outsold its Black & Decker counterpart for three straight months. But if you did, it'd look like this:
Comments
Can't agree more. It's politically advantageous for the games industry to talk about how more soccer moms and 70-year-old right-wingers are playing video games, but when they're all playing Typer Shark, who really gives a fuck?
Also I'd totally join NeoToast. But only to post pics of my pimped-out Oster 6-Slice with blue cathodes and nitro-cooled toasting coils.
Posted 04/18/2008 at 03:13:13 AMPffft. These kids with their Guitar Hero toast. Why don't they just learn how to play guitar for real hold their bread over a fire?
Also, I'm pretty sure sales figures are the only real way to quantify which console is "best" in any sort of way: the Wii can't be feasibly compared to the other two consoles because of the radically different control scheme and the built-in fanservice-or-casual demographic with little in-between (I did not grow up Nintendo; I should like Smash Brothers... why?), while the differences between the PS3 (pricey but has Blu-Ray, free online and lots of fancy media center features, plus the few exclusives will be must-owns) and the 360 (RROD rep will not die, but it's less expensive, Live is a superior online interface and the library still has yet to be caught up to) give neither console any significant advantage. This is why I'm glad I am completely irresponsible enough to own all three.
Posted 04/18/2008 at 09:36:21 AM(That joke in the first paragraph of my comment would've come across a lot better if the strikethrough tags actually worked.)
Posted 04/18/2008 at 11:19:38 AMWhat do you mean that the Wii isn't getting people into gaming? Who says that girlfriends and parents should be playing Halo 3? I had a totally non-gaming girlfriend who got addicted to Animal Crossing on the GameCube. Maybe that's not exactly gaming, but she was definitely sitting there for with a controller in her hand dropping some hours in front of a tv. Looks like gaming, smells like gaming...
Anyway, I wouldn't expect her to get into "real games" any more than I would expect her to get into the retarded junior-high power fantasy quasi-gay mainstream superhero comics I read. But if she does pick up some Adrian Tomine shit, at least she's not going to get pissy about having to go to the comic book store. Likewise, if she's spending time with her non-games, at least it lightens up her attitude toward me spending time with the real thing.
Posted 04/18/2008 at 01:32:57 PMAlso, people in the 70's thought Pong was a fad, didn't they?
The Wii is moving shit in the right direction, aka toward immersive VR sex, like in Minority Report. Let's get behind this!
Posted 04/18/2008 at 01:43:54 PMAnimal Crossing is a real videogame, and it's the sort of game where there could be real crossover - i.e., someone who had never played games before might try Animal Crossing and want to play more, similarly-themed titles (graduating to Harvest Moon or whatever).
What I'm talking about titles like Wii Sports and Wii Play, which are more closely related to virtual driving ranges than typical videogames. Wii Tennis is totally different from a traditional game, be it Animal Crossing or Mario Kart or Halo 3. And playing Wii Tennis won't make any of those traditional games more accessible. Wii Tennis only creates an interest in more carnival game-type titles, like Wii Play or Wii Fit - thus, doesn't "broaden the market" or make gaming (as most gamers think of it) more mainstream.
Though I am unequivocally for your call for VR sex.
Posted 04/18/2008 at 01:47:22 PM