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Holiday Game Sales Semi-Merry After All?
Thanks to CNN for its report discussing specific sales numbers for November's top videogames. The report, shortly following previous analyst worries, mentions that "game software sales climbed 7 percent, as compared to November 2002", fairly reasonable, but still short of (possibly excessive?) analyst estimates. GameSpot has further commentary, mentioning the big winners ("Strong sales of True Crime: The Streets of L.A. (630,000 copies) and Tony Hawk's Underground (554,000) let Activision skate its way to a 46 increase in sales over November 2002"), and the not so fortunate ("November's big loser was Take Two Interactive, whose sales plummeted 47 percent. Hopes that Manhunt would help fill in for the absence of a [new] Grand Theft Auto game proved woefully unfounded, as the controversial game only shipped 75,000 units, a fraction of the 502,000 GTA Double Packs sold.")
I don't think that Rockstar has necessarily build up enough brand recognition for it to sell every game it makes. If they did, it was all but spent on the horribly medicore State of Emergency. As much as I'm sure they'd like to disagree, since they plaster their logo nearly everywhere, I think people are far more attached to the Grand Theft Auto tagline than they are necessarily Rockstar. Really, few game companies have outside of the niche hardcore gamer. The only brand that really brings in sales on a wide mainstream basis (sales near the level of GTA) based merely on brand is EA Sports. People buy Tony Hawk Whatever because it's Tony Hawk, not necessarily because it's Activision. While you or I might pick up something because Ion Storm or Irrational or Rockstar crafted it, I don't think Christmas shopping parents look for game studios when they're picking stuff up.
Maybe if they'd called it Grand Theft Auto Manhunt it would've sold better.
According to IGN, Mario Kart: Double Dash sold 528,000 copies so far.
The mainstream media really has something against Nintendo this round. They'll gladly complain that their sales are down over past years, but they'll also ignore the fact that sales below Nintendo norms are still really damn high compared to almost everybody else.
Besides, a company that can do a re-release of two games that have been out for "ages" (gaming ages being pretty short) and sell another HALF MILLION copies doesn't have to worry much if a title or two have trouble finding an audience.
What's funniest about the tizzy over Manhunt is that this kind of game (gory, ultra-violent) is NOT the norm. Even the supposed "hardcore" lament the direction gaming is going while ignoring the fact that the bulk of titles released are rated E and T.
Hell, even the people who generate that top ten worst (in terms of being "unsafe" for children) games list had to include DOA: Xtreme Beach Volleyball (a game that gets an M based on cute animated girls in bikinis) and Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne (rated T for Heaven's sake, not to mention being pure fantasy). In other words, there were so few putrid M-rated games on the market that relatively innocuous titles get lumped in with the likes of Manhunt.
In short (if that's possible now), I could make a lot of money selling "chill pills" if all the people who were in need decided to take one.