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[PS3Scene]

LittleBigPlanet, Valkyria Chronicles Sales Disappoint Posted by XanTium | 16-12-2008 0:34 EST

From kotaku.com: Let's start with LittleBigPlanet, then. Media Molecule's quirky, original platformer was always going to be a struggle to sell to the holiday masses, what with it being an original IP that involved neither rock music nor guns. But even Sony's most pessimistic sales teams wouldn't have been prepared for this. The game sold an OK-ish 205,000 units in October, but wasn't out for that long. It'd do a lot better in November, when it was on sale for all four weeks, right? No. It sold a disappointing 141,000 units for the month, which saw it slip out of NPD top 20 charts altogether. The second game we're looking at today is an even sadder tale. Valkyria Chronciles is one of the best-looking games of this hardware generation, and although tactical RPGs of the Japanese variety aren't big sellers, it still would have been nice to see it move more than 33,000 copies in North America for the month of November. Full Story: kotaku.com

[Elemino]

Anyone still in denial? What am I saying, I'm sure there are plenty.

[ekruob]

Since the sub-prime credit crunch (which began in 2005/2006), the writing has been on the wall for a depression (not just recession)... and the worst-placed console in that scenario has always been the expensive PS3.

This post has been edited by ekruob: Dec 16 2008, 03:24 PM

[bucko]

QUOTE(ekruob @ Dec 16 2008, 02:20 PM)

Since the sub-prime credit crunch (which began in 2005/2006), the writing has been on the wall for a depression (not just recession)... and the worst-placed console in that scenario has always been the expensive PS3.

Why do people think that because the PS3 is expensive it's going to be worst of? It was out a year later than the 360, it's going to take time for Sony to decrease manufacturing costs, just like it did with the 360. Also you Get Blu-Ray another reason why it's more expensive. Personnly I think you can get more bang for buck with the PS3. I mean can you upgrade the HDD cheaply on the 360? No, can you run Linux on the 360? No (not easily anyway) and Home is miles better than NXE. The reason people arn't buying PS3's is because of this credit crunch a lot of people have no money because they where stupid enough to buy stuff on credit cards in the good times. I've even seen it in these forums people going out and buying a 360 on credit, whats the point. You can still buy a PS3 if you can buy a 360, you just have to save a few months wage's and youl be fine.

[MrQRamos]

It's sad to see something like LittleBigPlanet sell so little while something like Madden continues to sell like clockwork.  Madden, while undeniably a great game, does very little to differentiate itself from last year's version (or arguably any version in the past 5 years), while LittleBigPlanet attempts to do something new, innovative and fresh and (in least in my eyes) succeeds overwhemlingly.  I think the game is one of the best, if not the best, for the system and the game that finally got me using my PS3 for something other than playing Blu-Rays.  I only hope that these numbers don't scare off future small independent development teams from taking the risk of doing something new.

[spinr34]

and the bad press (that i referened in another post) starts to roll in. are we going to see a repeat of fall 2006/spring 2007?

--edit below--

just wanted to point out that they aren't smearing the ps3 and just stating facts. but, the fact that a site as large as kotaku is magnifying the poor sales of one of the ps3's biggest games is what i'm talking about as bad press.

This post has been edited by spinr34: Dec 17 2008, 12:43 AM

[Elemino]

People aren't necessarily looking for the most bang for the buck... they're looking more for how much bang for your buck you can get. The 360 and wii are both in prime positions for that. Also, they stated on the news yesterday NPD's numbers show the Gaming industry seems somewhat recession proof because it is doing so well... so Sony honestly can't even use that as an excuse for why they haven't performed better. LBP barely saw any advertising where I am, and the other I've never even heard of. The combination of high price and bad marketing are throwing a 1, 2 punch that is really hurting Sony this go around.

QUOTE(MrQRamos @ Dec 16 2008, 04:43 PM)

Madden, while undeniably a great game, does very little to differentiate itself from last year's version (or arguably any version in the past 5 years),

I have to disagree with you there. 08 and 09 are MILES beyond what the older games were. Madden got so bad I completely stopped buying it. I went to 2K5, which IMO still holds the title for best presentation and highlights of any football game ever, and at $20 it spelled out redruM all across the field on Madden. Saddly, it kicked EA's ass so much, they signed this BS deal we're still under with the NFL and no one else can sell a pro football game except them... I was really pissed, but in mid 07 they released 08... By far the best Madden ever, and 09 was a slight improvement upon it. Now if only they can find a REAL network to create the graphics for them as well as do halftime and end of game highlights and stats.

[Zod5000]

I bought myself a ps3 last year as a bluray player.  I don't really use it for gaming much, allthough I have, but the majority of my gaming gets done on my 360.

With bluray players alot cheaper than ps3's this year, I don't think I would of purchased a ps3.  I do think the ps3 is a better piece of hardware.  But there's alot more games on the 360 I like to play.  That extra year really helped in terms of developing a catalog.

It makes me wonder how many ps3 sales before standalones were slashed, were just for playing bluray movies.   Now that standalones are alot cheaper, it could (and might already be) hurting ps3 sales.

So even with the userbase you have, how many were only purchased as bluray players.  That drastrically reduces how many might be used for gaming.  Meanwhile the 360 is primarily used for gaming.

I don't see how the ps3 can compete.  Its really expensive, the blu-ray drive may have price it out of the market.  After all its suppose to be a game console first, and its always been price way to high for a game console.

[twistedsymphony]

Madden 09 is the LAST Madden game that will be made..

John Madden is retiring his endorsement of the franchise (he hasn't even done the virtual announcing for it for years at this point now).

EA will likely keep making football games... no idea what they'll be called though.

[grim_d]

QUOTE(twistedsymphony @ Dec 18 2008, 09:36 PM)

EA will likely keep making football games... no idea what they'll be called though.

the most common football games are called fifa and pro evo