Here you go... Actual Sales Numbers! Talk among yourselves. (1 Viewer)

[pitchman]

Here's the link. Looks like we may have a three-way horse race on our hands.
Gary

 

[Graeme Clark]

while Game Boy Color sales rose 331%

What the?? Don't these people know there's a bigger, better, backwards compatible system out there now?

Looks like it's pretty close though. I'd like to know what Halo's total numbers are.

 

[BrianB]

106,000 in its first week I believe, Graeme, don't know the second.

 

[Scott L]

I always thought the GC was gonna edge out the Xbox in sales, but not by this much. Looks like having a loyal fanbase really really does boost up your sales.

 

[Jeff Peake]

I always thought the GC was gonna edge out the Xbox in sales, but not by this much.

Huh???

Xbox in first 9 days: 556,000 units + 1.32 million games

GC in first 7 days : 469,000 units + 810,000 games

Looks like a dead heat to me. XBOX is selling quite a bit more games, as the library is bigger.

With both launches being deemed overwhelming successes, and the PS2 still chugging along, I would say console gaming is having quite a good year.

 

[Graeme Clark]

Yes, make sure you read it carefully.

469,000 is the number of GCs in the first week

810,000 is the number of software units in that week

556,000 is the number of Xboxen in the first 9 days.

186,000 is the number of Xboxen from the 18th - 24th

97,000 is the number of Halo units in the same time span.

1.32 million games have been sold for Xbox in the first 9 days.

 

[Joseph S]

469,000 is the number of GCs in the first week

810,000 is the number of software units in that week

556,000 is the number of Xboxen in the first 9 days.

186,000 is the number of Xboxen from the 18th - 24th

97,000 is the number of Halo units in the same time span.

1.32 million games have been sold for Xbox in the first 9 days.

There's clearly something missing from these numbers. Did MS sell any XBox to rental?? The Nintendo numbers last week stated something like 500K to retailers in US, 100K to Canada/Latin America, and 75,000 to rental stores.

If these numbers are correct, they're saying only 395K of the 500K GC at retail sold during the first week. That just doesn't equate to the total lack of both at retail these past two weeks.

 

[James D S]

Very impressive. Goes to show that the American consumer is more open to new things that most of the "old guard" anticipated. Vive le games!

 

[Michael St. Clair]

If these numbers are correct, they're saying only 395K of the 500K GC at retail sold during the first week. That just doesn't equate to the total lack of both at retail these past two weeks.

I still don't buy the whole 'total lack' thing. Places like Samsclub.com have been selling XBoxes regularly, which means at any given time they are sitting somewhere in the distribution pipeline (trucks, warehouses, distribution centers), and a friend of mine from Detroit says there are Gamecubes for sale in certain stores EVERY day in his area.

Plus they are just estimates.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Nonetheless, all is well in the world of games (keeping up with the french phrases, that would be "La terre des jeux-videos").

Anyhow, I think we should compare these numbers to other console launches.

 

[BrianB]

Nonetheless, all is well in the world of games

Ya think so? Developers are failing left, right & centre, and a lot are finding it hard to get new contracts. Publishers aren't making any money & finding it hard to appease their shareholders. Development costs are spiraling out of control.

 

[Max Leung]

Brian, are you talking about PC developers? I'm willing to bet that the majority of the game developer failures are PC game developers, not console developers.

PC games are still in a rut, I think. The quality of PC game releases are extremely poor...incomplete features, crashes, misleading advertising, etc. And you are buying the beta! (Just look at Max Payne, Tribes 2, Daggerfall aka Buggerfall, Anarchy Online, and other release disasters). A bug-free PC game upon release is an exception, not the rule (such as Baldur's Gate, any Blizzard release, Age of Empires, Dark Age of Camelot, Asheron's Call, MDK2, um...hmm, not too many).

 

[BrianB]

Brian, are you talking about PC developers? I'm willing to bet that the majority of the game developer failures are PC game developers, not console developers.

Nope. Game developers in general are getting squeezed.

 

[Carlo_M]

I'd believe it. Gone are the days when a game could be made in months. Now everything has production cycles of a year or more. And budgets for games routinely go into the millions.

That's the problem with the newer, higher powered consoles. More is expected, graphically. And games don't program themselves...so it's either going to take the same team of programmers longer to make a game, or you have to hire more programmers...and then more testers...etc. etc.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Ya think so? Developers are failing left, right & centre, and a lot are finding it hard to get new contracts. Publishers aren't making any money & finding it hard to appease their shareholders. Development costs are spiraling out of control.

Some of it reminds me of 1984 (the game crash, not the movie). Lots of games on the market, but 90% of them aren't worth a second look.

 

[Camp]

(the game crash, not the movie)

You know this is a home theater forum when the (bad) movie is mentioned before the classic book.

 

[BrianB]

I'd believe it. Gone are the days when a game could be made in months. Now everything has production cycles of a year or more. And budgets for games routinely go into the millions.

It definitely doesn't have to be that way for every game. Right now, there's a strong push for 'bigger, better' which driving profits out of studios. A lot of teams are attempting to make games on the Japanese scale without the infrastructure to support it.

It's not just about having huge teams of resources - that's relatively easy to get - it's the management & efficient use of them. Right now, generally we're not getting it right in the West. Neither's Japan generally either though (Hello, Mr SquareSoft!).

I'm no business expert, but I see the effects affecting my friends & co-workers. I expected at least one big well known publisher to fold this year. I know a couple of well established UK developers are flying close to the wire 'betting the farm' on their Christmas releases this year. I know a lot of firms have 'trimmed the fat' incredibly this year on perks, pay & staffing. I know a lot of good people in this industry who've laid off in the last few months.

Just last week Teque allegedly closed its doors after completing Popstar Maker on the PSX for Eidos, for instance. Konami's profits dropped 78% on a 20% /increase/ of sales.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

You know this is a home theater forum when the (bad) movie is mentioned before the classic book.

Damn, you busted me.
And no, I'm not an idiot, but I do tend to follow a 'movie' mindset around here.

 

[Camp]

Michael,

I didn't mean to suggest anything of the sort. I just thought it perfect for this forum that you mentioned the movie.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Hmmm...I seem to remember Rogue Leader being developed in less than 9 months. That might not be the 5 weeks it took to make ET (the old game), but its still pretty good compared to the mutli-year dev times for games on the N64 and PSX. Considering the games graphics, gameplay, replay value, and loads of little extras here and there, 9 months is pretty good.

I think now its more about the hardware quality than the software quality. The PS2 is well known for its difficulty in programming, so it takes longer to make games. Thats why we see Metal Gear Solid 2 and all the other big games out way after the launch. The X-Box and GameCube have impressive launch games (both in gameplay and graphics) because of the creativity and the ease of creation.

Anyway, now, all the good games are coming out, and as of right now, all is well in la terre des jeux-videos. Developers (PC and console) are dropping, but none of the big ones (Konami, Square, Capcom, Enix, etc.) are, and they always seem to do better in both the quantity and quality of games overall.