Analyst: November video game sales to surpass $1.5B
As the biggest shopping day of the year wrapped up in the US last month, according to analysts initial estimates put software sales at $1.5 billion for November. Some describe Black Friday as mass psychology at work, hindering a person’s ability to think rationally as the notion of scarcity is used to create artificial demand.
One thing is for sure, Black Friday in the US was mayhem as a crazy women pepper sprayed 20 people to get to an Xbox 360 Kinect bundle and another man was beaten to a bloody pulp for stealing a game. It was also Microsoft’s biggest sales day ever with 960k Xbox 360s and 750k Kinects sold in the US on Black Friday.
Ahead of official November NPD sales numbers, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities has put out his estimates for the sales of November and it’s a huge. He estimates that the Xbox 360 sold 1.4 million units, a five percent increase from last year. The Wii sold over 1 million units, a 17 percent increase, and the PS3 sold 750k unit or a whopping 41 percent increase from the year before.
EEDAR also put out their estimate, which shows Xbox 360 sales matching last years and PS3’s increasing by 31 percent. EEDAR on the other hand show the Wii at 29 percent higher than last year.
Pachter estimates that the top five game sales are expected to be: Modern Warfare 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Uncharted 3, Saints Row: The Third and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.
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26 Responses to “Analyst: November video game sales to surpass $1.5B”
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December 6th, 2011
Wow I guess all of those high quality Kinect games really paid off for the 360.
Ha! I can’t even say that with a straight face.
I know M$ is considering it as a “platform”, if that’s so it has to have the lowest metascore of any console in history. Kinect’s exclusive’s average metascore is 3.2.
December 7th, 2011
@bj,
I just look at Kinect and Move dedicated games with a metascore of 75 or above when weighing review performance in order to keep things simple.
Move:
Sports Champions (76)
Kinect:
Dance Central 2 (86)
Dance Central (82)
Sesame Street OUAM (79)
Kinectimals w/Bears(78)
Your Shape 2012 (77)
Gunstringer (76)
Disneyland Adventures (76)
I may try one or both next year. Maybe by then they will have two decent games apiece dedicated to the tech that interest me.
“mass psychology at work, hindering a person’s ability to think rationally as the notion of scarcity is used to create artificial demand.”
I’d say that’s consumerist culture in general.
Buy it, buy it, buy it… especially if it’s a brand name, you’ve seen it on a commercial, your friend(/s) have one, or it’s on sale.
Can’t just watch that show man, you’ve got to “own” it, even if you can watch it anytime you want for a fraction of the price. Some of these people don’t even know what the show is about or if they would like it but they will still buy several seasons of it in a box set because it’s on sale.
Americans have made shopping a profession, a religion, complete with days dedicated to it, while mutating traditional holidays into some ugly shadow of their former selves.
A whole bunch of people buying shit they don’t need on a whim. 90% of these people are complaining about the economy and blaming the government for being wasteful while being irresponsible themselves and buying more crap on credit or with money they can’t afford to spend because they are already in debt. I generally avoid these masses of people as much as possible.
Recently streamed a movie called, “They Live” (John Carpenter flick)… it’s old and the make up for the aliens is hilarious, but still interesting to see some of the parallels today. “Network” does a better job, but this one is still pretty decent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lwlx3GnLGs
December 7th, 2011
Just downloaded the new interface on 360. The voice control is fun!
Charlie, is They Live the one with Rowdy Roddy Piper in it?
December 7th, 2011
Yep, that’s the one, mullet and all!
How accurate/sensitive is the voice control?
Do you have to sound like a loud annoying robot or can you just speak naturally?
December 7th, 2011
Rant Points of the Week!
1) Console video game prices must come down if it ever wants to survive.
Not Angry Birds prices down but somewhere in the $20 brand new range down. I hope Android games smack the traditional games business down and usher in a new era of affordable gaming!
No need for console mods, hacks and piracy
No need for post launch DLCs to make more money
No need for online passes if games were affordable
No need for yearly sequels to cash in on the franchises
No need for legit gamers buying legitimate games get burned by high prices put on games to make up for piracy
None of these wallet hold ups in gaming
Point 2
Games need to have some valid & tangible and real life benefits like learning facts, how to be rich, how to be a better child, how to succeed in life, etc.
Wii Sports sold millions because they are marketed to soccer moms as games that promised to have tangible results to real life like loosing weight and fitness.
Even though these are just load crap gimmicks at least Nintendo tried.
Point 3
Help stop piracy here in the US and Canada
buy legit games I don’t care if its on the bargain bin. Buy legit!
Point 4
The next console better be highly secured and hard to crack! I favored the PS3 just for this feature!
December 7th, 2011
gunstar
The PS3 is hackable via a plug’n'play USB dongle.
The 360 requires opening and re-flashing of the DVD firmware unit once you have extracted a unique serial code from it, all requiring some pretty heavy PC software intervention.
360 was not easy to Hack, the Hackers went to extreme lengths to do it, and even now, it’s not for the faint hearted.
MS have even started making the slim with clued components and locked firmware, which has lead to a complex piece of hardware that intercepts code and emulates the DVD responses.
The problem is that the hackers are not stupid, these are cleaver guys with a lot of resources available to them, yes it took them longer to do the PS3, but now that it done, it’s been easy for them to make it a doddle for even your mum to crack the system now.
The online gaming codes are a direct result of piracy, and the second hand games market eating into profits. I don’t see them going away. .ever.
I could post links to both system hacks, and I can assure you the 360 involves far more intrusive actions than the PS3.
December 7th, 2011
PS
I completely agree that games should be cheaper. That alone would make piracy a less viable activity, and open up gaming to those that can’t afford to throw £40 at a game.
December 7th, 2011
I’ve never seen anyone defending Microsoft so blindly.
Piracy is one argument the 360 will NEVER win. 360 was hacked before it was even released. Every firmware has been hacked in a matter of hours. Game disc copy-protected scheme was cracked soon after the 360 launched. 360 slim got hacked in a matter of days.
This is just another argument where the 360 is clearly the loser but the Xbots will blindly defend it…just like all the other previous argument:
-360 massive failure rate
-DVD > Bluray
-Wifi is useless
-graphics
-exclusive
-3D
-value
December 7th, 2011
I got the new Xbox360 update yesterday…Wow..
December 7th, 2011
Roca
LMAO. you still can’t let go of the fail rate. .yes, it was a balls up, but it was resolved 4 years ago FFS. .move on.
DVD Vs Blu ray, For Gaming? Blu ray has not revolutionised gaming in any way.
WiFi. .are you kidding, My 360 wifi, pisses all over my PS3s, I had to move my PS3 back to the games room, because it had a shitty connection when in the main room (along side the 360slim). I though it was a documented fact that the 360 wifi, was superior to the PS3 anyway?
Graphics, Depends what you play, the PS3 has a handful of games that are better looking than anything on 360, but on the whole the 360 holds its own or betters the PS3 for the multiplats.
Exclusives, PS3 probably has the better selection over all, but the 360 has some great games not to be missed.
Remember most gamers only own around 9 games?. .most people are not the sad bunch of twats that we are with our 100+ collections.
3d. .LOL really, you really think that even comes into the equation. Roca, you really have to work for Sony
Value. depends what your going to do with it. For families on a budget 360 wins.. .LOL that you include this, as the PS3 has only just become properly competitive, and at times cost twice what you would pay for a 360.
December 7th, 2011
Twilight, I was online, and didn’t get it.
Is there any difference if you’re not using kinect?
December 7th, 2011
Roca
i was about to say the same shit about godless….damn, godless, youll defend MS at every chance you get….no one said the ps3 was unhackable, its the leastbhackable as the usb dopple doesnt work as easy as you think it does, while your making out hacking the 360 a lot harder than it really is:
Fact, the 360 was hacked less than 3 months out of the gate
Fact, it took hackers years to break the ps3 and even then, it took a group of elite dedicated hackers to do it…
A lot of my 360 owning friends who are FAR from tech junkies…hell my friend bicky doesnt even know how to switch out ram sticks, has her 360 hacked…
December 7th, 2011
Roca
a couple of things on the piracy issue
Firstly Sony PS2 and PSP and now PS3 are all much easier to run pirated software on than any xbox360. . THIS IS A FACT
the PS3 did not get targeted in the same way the xbox did this gen. As soon as Sony pissed off the hackers it took them no time to rip it to bits.
the 360 is much harder to mod for piracy than a PS3 which doesn’t even need to be hardware modded in any way, other than by plugging in the USB device.
So STFU on the “how easy it is to hack crap” cause your totally wrong .
December 7th, 2011
jojo
Sorry Dude, but there is no way in hell a non techie hacked their own xbox
If you want I can post a link as to how it’s done.
Most people send it to someone, who has the knowledge required to do it without bricking the system, new machines, need to be butchered and a device added between the DVD drive and the MOBO, this involves soldering and several wires added to the mother board to bypass the protection.
when hackers go to this lengths it is impossible to protect any system other than by sealing the whole dammed thing in epoxy resin, which might just happen next gen.
PS3, just plug in the dongle and your ready to go, if you want I can post a link to this as well.
Honestly dude, which system is making it difficult.
December 7th, 2011
wow, just went online to find the like to the sites site, and it would appear, you don’t even need the dongle to boot hack the PS3. If you have a smart phone you can boot the PS3 with that instead.
like I said, the Hackers are clever bastards, give them an inch, and they take a mile.
Google it, it will save me getting a ban for posting dodgy links.
December 7th, 2011
PS
Admittedly the phone hack is far more complex than pressing a button on a dongle, but the fact it can be done is impressive.
December 7th, 2011
Godless,
As far as I know, the only difference is that unless you have access to the Kinect you can’t use the Kinect voice commands/ navigation. Everything else is the same. You should be getting the update anytime now.
December 7th, 2011
The dongle is useless lmao – ask Ivan who has done that hack and Sony patched that up in a matter of day. The only way to still use the dongle is by not updating the PS3, which means you won’t be able to play online or access any PSN features.
And even if you don’t update the system, new games (such as MW3) require the latest FW or they won’t play.
The fact is that the 360 is the less secure console of this generation, constantly getting hacked, new security updates get cracked and hackers are still able to playing online on it…just ask Ivan.
It took a group elite hackers (all working together) almost 4 years to crack the PS3 and Sony patched that up really quick.
@jojo
LOL – Godless is still blindly defending MS. Poor Xbot.
December 7th, 2011
@Godless
“Value. depends what your going to do with it. For families on a budget 360 wins.. .LOL that you include this, as the PS3 has only just become properly competitive, and at times cost twice what you would pay for a 360.”
PS3 has always offered more for your bucks.
When the PS3 launched, it cost $600 while the 360 was going for $400..so lets do the math.
With the PS3 you get free online, wifi, free BD players ($1000 at the time), built-in battery, cheap upgrades options for your HDDs, HDMI port, optical, and reliability.
To get a similar experience on the $400 360 you needed a:
-BD players ($1000)
-wifi add-on(over $100 at the time)
-HD-DVD add-on (~$200)
-HDMI port required buy a new 360 model ($300)
-Over $100 for a 20GB/60GB HDD
-battry pack/rechargable battery ($20)
-$50/year for online gamine ($300 if you’ve been a XBLG member since day 1)
and lets not forget ‘reliability’ (priceless)
add all that and you end up as much as a high-end gaming rig.
~$1420 w/HD-DVD add-on
~$2220 w/Bluray player
in the long run you might also add 3D players ($200/$300) if you ever get into that, like CAD did.
While all the PS3 gets you all that for its inital $600 price tag (plus reliability, which is priceless)
keep making a fool of yourself Godless…Blindly defending Microsoft will not get you anywhere.
December 7th, 2011
To be fair roca add $50 to Sonys side for a headset… i know some of the 360 bundles came with snd ~40 for an hdmi chord
Yup ps3 comes out cheaper
December 7th, 2011
I still think I’d get more use out of a Colecovision, than a Kienct.
Plus you wouldn’t be supporting developers shovelware mentaility this gen.
Supporting Kinect basicaly tells developers, “go ahead and take a sloppy shit in a box. I’ll buy it!”.
December 7th, 2011
Carl,
Just Dance, and the sports games are multiplat.
You can add:
-Medieval
-The fight
-Ape Escape
-etc, etc
on to the Move list also. But then again, I haven’t bought a Move, so I’m not exactly defending it.
December 7th, 2011
jojo – ‘Yup ps3 comes out cheaper”
exactly…Value is another argument the 360 will NEVER will…yet Godless is blindly defending it.
December 7th, 2011
@ Charlie,
I haven’t seen that movie for years. The only thing I remember was that Piper and some other guy beat the crap out of each other in the middle of the movie for no particular reason. I saw this other Piper movie called ‘Hell Comes To Frogtown’, it was quality.
Re the new dashboard, I didn’t need to talk like a robot to it, just my normal voice. Microsoft delayed the voice control for Australia to ensure that Kinect can understand our accent and released it with the last update. It works really well. One thing I did notice is that if you play a DVD, you can start the DVD with the voice control, but can’t pause/stop it with your voice. However, I believe that all works when watching movies via the Zune movie thingy.
December 7th, 2011
@gl,
“I completely agree that games should be cheaper. That alone would make piracy a less viable activity, and open up gaming to those that can’t afford to throw £40 at a game.”
Rent if you think it’s too expensive. You can pay a flat fee of ~$10/mo and play as much as you want to, often going through more games than if you were buying.
@bj,
“Just Dance, and the sports games are multiplat.”
Yes, it and some sports games are multiplat, but I didn’t list them.
“You can add:
-Medieval
-The fight
-Ape Escape
-etc, etc”
I only added games rated 75 or up on Metacritic. Sports Champions is the sole Move-only game that made the cut.
Medieval (60)
The Fight (48)
Ape Escape (43)
“etc, etc.” (all<75)
@harry,
Can you use all the commands with Netflix just as well as you can with Zune?
December 7th, 2011
@ charlie,
No idea, we don’t have Netflix in Aus.