The Numbers: June 2008 (and Comic-Con 2K8!)

Posted by Gary Hodges at 4:08 PM Jul 20, 2008

You know the drill.

Hardware (Last Month):

Nintendo DS 783,000 (452,600)
Nintendo Wii 666,700 (675,100)
Sony PlayStation 3 405,500 (208,700)
Sony PSP 337,400 (182,300)
Microsoft Xbox 360 219,800 (186,600)
Sony Playstation 2 188,800 (132,700)

And the software:

Platform - Title - Units
PS3 - Metal Gear Solid 4 - 774,600
DS - Guitar Hero On Tour - 422,300
360 - Ninja Gaiden II - 372,700
WII - Wii Fit - 372,700
WII - Wii Play - 359,100
360 - Battlefield: Bad Company - 346,800
WII - Mario Kart - 322,400
WII - Lego Indiana Jones - 294,500
DS - Lego Indiana Jones - 267,800
PS2 - Lego Indiana Jones - 260,300

Right off the bat: this is going to be a bit of a short one, for two reasons. First, I have a ton of shit going on early this week, namely a 3-hour polygraph examination on Tuesday (part of a draconian job application process)… the anticipation of which having pretty much made me catatonic with anxiety.

But then I have a ton of (more enjoyable) shit going on later in the week: a little thing called Comic-Con 2008! More on that after the numbers talk.

Click on through!

Well obviously the big success this month is Metal Gear Solid 4, which did really, really damn well. Note that the 775k figure does not include any copies sold in the PS3 hardware bundle, so the total number of MGS4s out there could conceivably be approaching a million. And the PS3’s hardware figures got a major bump as well: almost twice what they were last month, meaning apparently MGS sells hardware better than even GTA did.

That’s astonishing to me, not to mention proof positive that history is often a shitty guide: historically, MGS games have sold less and less each outing and have had no discernable impact on hardware sales, while GTA games outsell them easily and drive hardware. Things change, eh?

I’m not sure how to feel about MGS4’s success. On one hand, I see the appeal: it looks great, and it’s a powerfully unique and exclusive title on a console that’s in dire need of both.

On the other hand, the press demonstrated its vulnerability to hype and inappropriate influence in their MGS4 reviews more blatantly than any other title in recent memory. To me, it’s really appalling that someone can write a review of the game with throwaway lines like “the cutscenes can go a bit long” (the understatement of the decade, as many easily top an hour)... then slap a perfect score on the game. Ah well, I’m not going to rehash my complaints about MGS4, you can seek out my review or the “Player vs. Player” I did with Nate Patrin if you want to get into that.

Instead, let’s get back to GTA4: it’s gone, dropped off the charts entirely. Yet Wii Play holds strong, after what – a year and a half in the top ten? Probably booted off the chart by hordes of Lego Indiana Jones discs. God help us all.

As I predicted last month, the gap between the PS3 and the 360 would be the widest yet – and it is – and Microsoft would announce a price drop for the 360 at E3 to try and slow that trend – which it did. I expected more of one, though: MS went with a mere $50 off each SKU, hardly enough to make a big difference. I have no doubt the numbers will be closer next month, but not because of the price drop – it’ll more likely be because MGS4mania will have run its course.

I was way wrong, though, about Wii Fit and Mario Kart dropping off “significantly”. They dropped a bunch, about half of what they were doing last month, but I expected them to almost vanish off the charts. So I’ve given up predicting Nintendo’s futur, beyond the following: "absurd, inexplicable success."

I can’t see anything that happened in July that will make much of a difference in the numbers, but I do think the MGS4 thing will drop off in a way comparable to how Nintendo’s first party stuff does. And despite the 360’s price drop, I think its hardware numbers will be about the same or maybe even down, since it won’t have a game like Ninja Gaiden II to prop it up.

And now… COMIC-CON.

We didn’t do much about E3 this year. I can’t speak for the others, but I can tell you why I didn’t:

1) E3 is dead. I attended the last “real” E3 in 2005, everything since is just a sham.

2) E3 is evil.

Comic-Con, though, is all goodness and light, and though many don’t realize it, games are represented there in a big way.

I’m driving out to San Diego Wednesday morning, with more than a few appointments to interview different developers, play different unreleased games, and preach the gospel of Joystick Division, with daily updates from the show. Hopefully there will be some neat info to share… and if not, well, I’ll at least try to get you guys some pics of hot-ass chicks dressed as Wonder Woman or something.

If there’s a particular game or company that’s going to be at the show you want me to hunt down, let me know!

Tah tah,

gwh