Slashdot Mirror
NPDs Look Back on December, 2007
Joystiq has the NPD numbers for the entire year of 2007 and (of course) December. Last year was a banner year for games, with the industry as a whole coming close to cracking $18 billion in sales. The big winner was the Wii, of course, with some 6 million units sold over the course of the year. The 360 sold about four and a half million, and the PS3 sold about two and a half. The big software seller was (un-shockingly) Halo 3, at 4.82 million sold, with Wii Play close behind at 4.12m. Here are the software numbers for December: "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) -- 1.47m, Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) -- 1.40m, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) -- 1.25m, Wii Play w/ Remote (Wii) -- 1.08m, Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360) -- 894K, Halo 3 (Xbox 360) -- 743K, Brain Age 2 (DS) -- 660K, Madden NFL 08 (PS2) -- 655K, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360) -- 625K, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) -- 613K"
I personally have always preferred PC Gaming and Xbox gaming over Playstation gaming (primarily because of the controller...I truly despise all iterations of the Playstation controller) but the PS3 is one hell of a system. If I remember correctly, the first couple of years with the PS2 was a bit stangnant in comparison to it's 3-and-up years. Once developers get the hang of the hardware, they are going to producce some amazing stuff.
Saying that a PS3 is a version 1.5 of a PS2 is just plain immature and uninformed...almost as bad as calling a 360 an Xbox 1.5...they are far more powerful, have COMPLETELY different ways of processing information, and are far more functional in terms of their abilities other than playing games out of the box.
I am a loyal Sony fanboy...just like I am a loyal Nintendo fanboy, Sega fanboy, Microsoft fanboy...I am a gaming fanboy. If you can afford it, play as many different games on as many different systems as possible.
Living With a Nerd
It's not silly that it bugs you. You're seeing through a cheese-ball marketing tactic for what it is, and that shows you are intelligent and not really a sucker.
These results include all games, including those that are sold in cheese-ball bundle fashion or low-cost, because the true intended audience for these -- market researchers for game companies -- need to see raw data without applying any rules to them. If Wii Play is selling well because it bundles a Wiimote, then that's a hint to these people that if they can bundle a desirable and hard-to-find accessory with a cheaply-made game, then they can potentially sell a lot more of both than if they don't. I think you'll find in the future 3rd-party controllers shipping with cheap games in order to try and draw more sales as a result of this, sort of in the same way "Deer Hunter" sales at Wal-Mart created a ton of imitators.
Look at this from NPD's perspective -- why they compile this information. If your rule here were applied to all products: Should we not consider Rock Band because it comes with controllers? Should we not consider Forza sales since it was bundled with some 360's? Should we not consider the first-year PS2/PS3 game console sales because many people purchased them at the time as DVD/Blu-Ray players? Should we not consider Peggle because it is inexpensive? This kind of arbitrary distinction here as to what is a "proper" game or a "proper" way to sell it is very difficult for NPD to make; it works against the value that their figures are meant to provide.
While NPD is responsible for providing accurate information to their customers, they are not responsible for the decisions made by their customers. If I'm a market researcher for a game company, how I interpret Wii Play's sales is putting my job on the line and my company's future on the line. It is up to me to use my own brain to figure out what you have.
But I must know what the real data is, which is why NPD includes Wii Play as a top seller.