May 2012 NPD: Video Game Retail Still Experiencing Excruciating Payne Edition

[CorruptedDragon]

I'm surprised by Sniper elite. I liked the demo, but it seemed like I was the only person who even tried it. I figured it'd fly under the radar. I still won't be buying it until I can get it for about 20 bucks though. It's seemed fun, but not 50 dollar fun.

I disagree about new consoles being needed. I don't think they would have changed anything. I don't think a new console is going to cause a repeat of the high-points that we got with this gen. In fact, it may be another few more generations until we get that again. The next console isn't going to be a radical departure or upgrade like we saw with these. As such, I dont think the buy in will be all that great.

Also, lol at starhawk being 'boring'. Its always amusing to see console fanboys throw a game under the bus with a slight that is about as factually incorrect as could be. Starhawk may have plenty of issues, but 'boring' isn't one of them.

I agree, I think calling Starhawk boring is just plain wrong. Cure for insomnia would have been more accurate.

[TheAnalogKid]

Impressive! You janitors throwing out words with more than 2 syllables these days. Next thing you know, you'll be all wanting to vote and sit at the front of the bus

[hdinred]

To be fair to MLB 12, it's in its 3rd month of release. Might be having good legs? *Shrugs*

Next year when it's the only baseball game on the market....mwhahaha. I love the Show.

It’s certainly the best 3D baseball game ever made.. I still think some 8-bit and 16-bit baseball games are more fun to play.

I wouldn’t be surprised if 2K13 made its way to 360 through another publisher.

[rm082e]

I disagree about new consoles being needed. I don't think they would have changed anything. I don't think a new console is going to cause a repeat of the high-points that we got with this gen. In fact, it may be another few more generations until we get that again. The next console isn't going to be a radical departure or upgrade like we saw with these. As such, I dont think the buy in will be all that great.

Don't get this at all. Scuttlebutt around E3 is that the new hardware is another significant jump in tech. That creates excitement which drives sales. People are clearly tired of the current tech and they aren't jumping out there to spend money on it. New hardware would give the core audience something to get excited about, which would in turn get the secondary and casual markets to wake up a bit.

When you said it's not going to be a radical departure, do you mean pure horsepower, or systems/experience wise? I see what you mean if you meant systems/experience.

[michealo]

ME3 not on list

[hdinred]

strong results huh...they weren't even in the top 10!

Sony was using the “Vita is doing just fine” relatively scale.. 50k per month is a hit.. or in Starhawk’s case… a “sleeper hit”…

[TheAnalogKid]

Don't get this at all. Scuttlebutt around E3 is that the new hardware is another significant jump in tech. That creates excitement which drives sales. People are clearly tired of the current tech and they aren't jumping out there to spend money on it. New hardware would give the core audience something to get excited about, which would in turn get the secondary and casual markets to wake up a bit.

When you said it's not going to be a radical departure, do you mean pure horsepower, or systems/experience wise? I see what you mean if you meant systems/experience.

Systems/experience wise. I'm more of a gamer than the average joe, and I'm telling you that these next consoles really need to be offering me something I cant get with the current ones before I jump in. Someone who games even less than me isn't going to be ponying up another 400 bucks for another netflix box that can play games...just like the one they already have. The reason I got back into gaming after stopping around the mid-way point of the ps2 is because these new consoles offered me a shit load of options I never had before. A new generation just won't have anything like that up its sleeve.

[rm082e]

Systems/experience wise. I'm more of a gamer than the average joe, and I'm telling you that these next consoles really need to be offering me something I cant get with the current ones before I jump in. Someone who games even less than me isn't going to be ponying up another 400 bucks for another netflix box that can play games...just like the one they already have. The reason I got back into gaming after stopping around the mid-way point of the ps2 is because these new consoles offered me a shit load of options I never had before. A new generation just won't have anything like that up its sleeve.

Okay, I don't see it that way at all, but I understand where you are coming from.

I use the current gen consoles the same way I've always used consoles: for playing single player games. I dabbled in some co-op stuff on the Xbox back before I had kids, but now I'm back to solo play since I have no time. I'm happy to have new hardware that does the same shit, but it just 4 times faster and more pretty. I'll still wait for 2015 because it's going to take a couple of years to get a decent stream of solid releases (and I have a horrible backlog), but I have no desire to change the way I play games.

[Onslaught X]

It’s certainly the best 3D baseball game ever made.. I still think some 8-bit and 16-bit baseball games are more fun to play.

I wouldn’t be surprised if 2K13 made its way to 360 through another publisher.

I don't think 2013 is gonna happen, but obviously somebody will make their own MLB game for 2014 (EA?)

[Indy_aka_Rex]

It’s certainly the best 3D baseball game ever made.. I still think some 8-bit and 16-bit baseball games are more fun to play.

I wouldn’t be surprised if 2K13 made its way to 360 through another publisher.

It'd be kind of difficult for 2k13 to make it through another publisher considering 2K Sports is owned by "2K Games" (hence why it's called... 2K games...). Also, they wouldn't have the rights to the MLB license either.

[hdinred]

It'd be kind of difficult for 2k13 to make it through another publisher considering 2K Sports is owned by "2K Games" (hence why it's called... 2K games...). Also, they wouldn't have the rights to the MLB license either.

2K will no longer have exclusive rights to MLB, so that shouldn't be a problem. 2K was once a Sega brand and it got sold off, it wouldn't be a big deal is another publisher negotiated the rights to the name & engine. It's happened before.

[Badger3920]

Im embarrassed. It's been so long that I had to google starhawk because I couldnt remember what it was, and I was pretty flabbergasted to see that sony just sorta pooped out Warhawk's sequel completely under the radar. Wow.

Anyway, given Vita's performance - what's the honest thoughts on that thing? Might we actually see the thing die? Sure there's the whole "well 3DS also had a rough time until a price cut and software, so give Vita the same time" sorta argument. The flipside is, if someone like Activision decides to can the COD or Ass Creed type stuff - or releases one and sells almost none because no one owns a vita - wouldn't that start a domino effect effectively signalling the end of whatever 3rd party support Vita receives?

In my opinion (as I said a year+ ago) it really seems like Sony should have abandoned the handheld space; it's dying anyway and has the most crossover with phone/tablet type games.

[Onslaught X]

Gotta give it at least a holiday season to let things play out. Assassin's Creed and COD will have some effect, combined with bundles and a price cut (August IMO if it were to happen), it could carve out some good numbers for itself. What's making the sales numbers even worse right now is just how terrible the video game industry is doing in general. If ACIII Liberation and COD bomb though, it's unlikely to get out of its rut.

I do not see relief in Japan yet though but that's what Tokyo Game Show is for in September to see where its fate lies.

[TheAnalogKid]

Gotta give it at least a holiday season to let things play out. Assassin's Creed and COD will have some effect, combined with bundles and a price cut (August IMO if it were to happen), it could carve out some good numbers for itself. What's making the sales numbers even worse right now is just how terrible the video game industry is doing in general. If ACIII Liberation and COD bomb though, it's unlikely to get out of its rut.

I do not see relief in Japan yet though but that's what Tokyo Game Show is for in September to see where its fate lies.

Well, I don't see anything that will re-invigorate the market any time soon. I think we just went through a perfect storm of game development and console functionality that had never really been seen before. I don't think it can be recreated with another batch of a new consoles that offer nothing but shiner graphics. I think the whole model is going to have to change before we see some of these peaks that we saw with sales this generation. Whether that means the disappearance of consoles altogether, or games going mostly free to play, but something drastic will have to be done to get people into buying games and hardware in droves again. Things aren't exactly lookin on the up and up economically speaking any time soon, either. That won't help.

[Badger3920]

Gotta give it at least a holiday season to let things play out. Assassin's Creed and COD will have some effect, combined with bundles and a price cut (August IMO if it were to happen), it could carve out some good numbers for itself. What's making the sales numbers even worse right now is just how terrible the video game industry is doing in general. If ACIII Liberation and COD bomb though, it's unlikely to get out of its rut.

I do not see relief in Japan yet though but that's what Tokyo Game Show is for in September to see where its fate lies.

Over under on this thing being basically dead by next E3 so we no longer have to suffer through a 'portables' segment in Sony's presentation?