The (Hypocritical) Gaming Sales and Finance Thread

I thought that was good, I wasn't sure it was even going to make the Top 10 but interested if it has the staying power for march.

Here in the UK it's been doing rather well, which brings me to my point ages ago with AC:U review scores don't matter even though publishers seem to think they do.

masofdas wrote:

I thought that was good, I wasn't sure it was even going to make the Top 10 but interested if it has the staying power for march.

Here in the UK it's been doing rather well, which brings me to my point ages ago with AC:U review scores don't matter even though publishers seem to think they do.

The power of marketing and hype - a game that sells better than its quality should dictate it does. Happens all the time.

I know it does but then you see things like devs closer up or lose there jobs as there game doesn't get a 75 or above on meta. But as we have learned it's marketing that sales games.

By my comment Mas I don't mean to imply a game is bad (I know you didn't say that, I just felt it needed clarification) and still sells well, as many of these games we could lump into this group don't get horrendous scores. I know The Order: 1886 has a reasonably low score of 65,which isn't great, but I have seen people call games a failure because they got below 85. Destiny sits at 76 and is considered a poor game, Watch Dogs at 80 much the same.

I am quite irked by all of this, as 76 or 80 should be a pretty decent game and I have played games with scores below 65 that I have loved. The bottom line it seems is if it doesn't get universally praised, at 90 or above, it is a failure. Yet Dying Light has about a 76 score and sold really well,and the reason is likely that it was considered a major release and marketed well. It happens with movies all the time, average movies massively marketed making big box office and great films, with no marketing budget failing completely.

I feel that I am rambling here, but there seems to be a general equation that applies in most, not all, occasions, in that the bigger the marketing budget, the lower the quality of the product. People buy into that marketing, they feel they are missing out on something if they don't get into it.

Yeah totally agree, people do seem to focus do much on the actual score instead of watching / reading a review of the game. Like Pier Solar scores and not a great meta but after reading reviews that said it played like a old mega drive with old mega drive game ideas which was fine with me.

masofdas wrote:

I thought that was good, I wasn't sure it was even going to make the Top 10 but interested if it has the staying power for march.

I'd be very surprised. I reckon it'll be flooding the pre-owned shelf come this month.

I've seen plenty of used copys already but yet to drop out of top 5 in the UK but it is in a lot of bundles and here games sales bundles count towards the chart. Where in the states they don't, so could still it selling a lot there because of bundles but we will never know.

I must say it's brilliant to see MH4U still clinging onto a top ten spot whereas the past games have either not got anywhere near that or disappeared after the first week.

Did I mention that MH4U is perfect?

Don't think I've ever heard you mention it, Jas.

Nintendo's shares are up 20% and there highest for at least 12 months.

Stocks usually go up after a big announcement - WWE had the same thing occur with the announcement of their network. If it sustains, then good stuff for Ninty.

It's actually the highest since 2011 and keeps on climbing.

It's chart time with MASOFDAS

All-Format Top 10
1st BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE
2nd GRAND THEFT AUTO V
3rd BLOODBORNE
4th FIFA 15
5th FAR CRY 4
6th CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE
7th BORDERLANDS: THE HANDSOME COLLECTION
8th DARK SOULS II: SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN, The PS4 sold the best which I am a little surprised by due to Bloodborne
9th DYING LIGHT
10th DYING LIGHT

Individual Format Top 10
1st and Number 1 PS4 Game BLOODBORNE
2nd BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE PS4
3rd and Number 1 ONE Game BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE
4th GRAND THEFT AUTO V PS4
5th HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION ONE
6th GRAND THEFT AUTO V ONE
7th BORDERLANDS: THE HANDSOME COLLECTION PS4
8th FAR CRY 4 PS4
9th BORDERLANDS: THE HANDSOME COLLECTION ONE
10th and Number 1 360 Game MINECRAFT: XBOX EDITION 360

Highest placed PC is THE SIMS 4: GET TO WORK at 14

Highest placed DS is POKEMON WHITE VERSION 2 at 17, was someone selling this dirt cheap for it to chart so high

Highest placed Wii U is MARIO PARTY 10 at 20

Highest placed 3DS is XENOBLADE CHRONICLES at 27, which I don't think is to bad as install base for N3DS has to be small & some people would of played before. The highest placed that can be played on any of the 3DS family is THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA'S MASK 3D but deosn't make the Top 40

Highest placed PS3 is MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION EDITION at 29

Highest VITA is MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION EDITION, doesn't chart in Top 40

Highest PSP is PILOT ACADEMY, doesn't chart in Top 40

Highest Wii is JUST DANCE 2015, doesn't chart in Top 40

Out of the Top 40 only 9 7th gen games make it, ohh and The Order is still up there in the chart

This is sort of a piece on finances, so I'm putting it in here: Nintendo's DLC and microtransactions priorities are worrying. Yay or nay?

I'm definitely in the "yay" camp. For every MK8 or HW DLC bundle, we've got a free-to-play Pokémon game, designed in a way to lure people in and then hit them in their wallets (I haven't played Shuffle, but everyone except OS seems to agree on that one, although I can't find the discussion to confirm).

And then there's the nickel-and-diming going on with the Smash Bros. DLC - £3.59 for an old SSBM character, and the threat of Lucas (a pseudo-clone) having a similar price point, seems a bit much when the £50 main game comes with 40+. (The costume packs I can take or leave, to be frank - they don't add enough for me to break a sweat.)

Anyone agree? Anyone disagree? I've got a feeling that, like NL says, people are inclined to be kinder to Nintendo than to some others - so perhaps imagine EA releasing a Candy Crush clone, and how you'd feel about it, before disagreeing. And vice versa for agreeing, natch: what if From Software brought one out?

I've got no problem with what there doing as long as it's good DLC or in the case of F2P that it is F2P & not Pay to Win.

I thought the price of the SMASH characters for £3.59 isn't to bad at all for a extra character seeing there's 40+ already if there was about 20 & then the other 20 were DLC then that wouldn't be good.

It was always going to be a slippery slope and Nintendo have started sliding, in my opinion. I'm not saying that there should never be DLC, or even F2P - just that these things have to be managed correctly. At the moment it feels like too much, too soon.

Balladeer wrote:

I'm definitely in the "yay" camp.  For every MK8 or HW DLC bundle, we've got a free-to-play Pokémon game, designed in a way to lure people in and then hit them in their wallets (I haven't played Shuffle, but everyone except OS seems to agree on that one, although I can't find the discussion to confirm).  

I think Nintendo is out to make money with Shuffle, that in itself is self evident. What I disagree with is criticism of the game because you CAN CHOOSE to spend money on it. I have played a ridiculous amount of hours on it and never once had the urge to spend money and have captured every Main Pokemon there is and a handful of the Ex ones. I still stand by my position that it doesn't force you to spend anything, it doesn't shove ads down your throat and there is a lot of free hours of fun to be had. I see no problem with Shuffle at all.

On DLC in general, there has been and will always be good DLC and bad DLC. If you look at Disgaea, a game I bought for $20, there was over $90 worth of DLC to purchase, mostly clothes and characters. I find that ridiculous as they don't actually add anything to the game. Then there is Mario Kart 8 DLC, which is reasonably priced and adds greatly to extend the game, in a way that would not be reasonably available in the original package. As consumers, we have the right to decide for ourselves what is good and what is bad. If more of us go with bad, then it is a financial failure and they will stop it.

I think DLC can be brilliant. You have one game for an entire generation, maybe 5-6 years, and you refresh it regularly to make it worth coming back to. They can easily keep adding to MK8, rather than releasing MK9 two years after MK8 (I got GT5 but completely ignored GT6 - it all seemed pointless as there was little difference between them). I really want a Metroid and Star Fox expansion pack for MK8. With SSB they can do the same thing - new characters, new stages, new modes - keeping it fresh for years to come. It all comes down to how much you are willing to pay for it. Me personally, not a lot. There is very little DLC I have ever cared for and so far it has started and stopped with MK8.

TL/DR - I am not worried.

Might please OS about the PS4 is that it's getting Star Ocean 5, It's also coming to PS3 but if it's true we won't see it in the west on the PS3 just PS4 & gather it be the same for you down under but looks like the PS4 is now starting to pick up with more games from Japan.

masofdas wrote:

Might please OS about the PS4 is that it's getting Star Ocean 5, It's also coming to PS3 but if it's true we won't see it in the west on the PS3 just PS4 & gather it be the same for you down under but looks like the PS4 is now starting to pick up with more games from Japan.

That would please me greatly. It won't be the reason to get a PS4, but it will add to the non-existent games I want and know will eventually grace the PS4. Still looks like my forecast of 2016 as the year worth getting a PS4 is on track.

Yeah seems late 2015 and 2016 will have games for you but does seem this gen is taking a long time to get going in terms of games, I know you said you didn't a PS3 in till about 4 years in but that at the time even after a few years had quite a few good games and PS2 was dieing part from FIFA but on PS4 it is much slower and PS3 isn't dieing as fast as the PS2 either.

You want poor Wii U game sales course you don't but your getting them, in the good ole US of A from the day they launched

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker 326k
ZombiU 204k
Bayonetta 2 157k
Wonderful 101 104k

And in the month of March Code Name S.T.E.A.M. sold 31,000 units while Fossil Fighters Frontier sold 35,000 units. Code Name S.T.E.A.M. was on sale for 22 days during the counting period and Fossil Fighters was on sale for 15 days but both pretty much have flopped.

Are those Wii U sales figures acceptable, do you reckon? I'd have thought Bayonetta would have sold more than that.

No not really, there pretty bad seeing how many U's are in the states and how something Mario Party 10 has sold there.

Nintendo at the moment is worth $24 Billion dollars there clearly DOOMED.