Q4 sales report

[OB1]

From Nintendojo:

The Magic Box is reporting that both 4th Quarter TRSTS North American hardware sales and November software sales are out. While the GameCube came within striking distance of the PS2 on the quarter, it still has the smallest installed base of the current generation of systems.

Console Q4 Sales Install Base
Game Boy Advance (and SP) 1,724,000 17,633,000
Playstation 2 1,149,000 20,288,000
GameCube 1,008,000 5,702,000
Xbox 667,000 6,669,000


The top 25 software sales for November showed just how much that install base matters, as while Nintendo grabbed the top spot (with Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, which was only out for two weeks of the month), the only other GCN title to make the list was Mario Party 5 at 13.


Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Nintendo, GC)
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun (EA, PS2)
Final Fantasy X-2 (Square Enix, PS2)
Grand Theft Auto Double Pack (Take Two, XB)
SOCOM II: US Navy Seals (Sony, PS2)
Need for Speed: Underground (EA, PS2)
Tony Hawk Underground (Activision, PS2)
True Crime: Streets of L.A. (Activision, PS2)
Super Mario Advance 4 (Nintendo, GBA)
Madden NFL 2004 (EA, PS2)
WWE: Here comes Pain (THQ, PS2)
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (EA, PS2)
Mario Party 5 (Nintendo, GC)
True Crime: Streets of L.A. (Activision, XB)
Yu-Gi-Oh! Sacred Card (Konami, GBA)
Namco Museum (Namco, GBA)
NBA Live 2004 (EA, PS2)
Frogger's Adventure: Temple of the Frog (Konami, GBA)
Halo (Microsoft, XB)
Jak II (Sony, PS2)
Pac-Man Collection (Namco, GBA)
EyeToy: Play (Sony, PS2)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 (Ubi Soft, XB)
Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga (Nintendo, GBA)
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (Sony, PS2)
(js)

Source: NPD Funworld / The Magic Box

Very impressive q4 sales for Nintendo, but they're still waaay behind Sony and still a million units behind Microsoft. If they can keep this up then they'll be able to catch up with MS in no time, but I don't know if they will since there are only a handful of big GC games coming out in the first half of next year, as per usual with Nintendo. *sigh*

[A Black Falcon]

Uh, OB1, NO ONE puts out lots of stuff in the first half of the year, so Nintendo is hardly some strange and unusual company in not doing that... far from it...

And this is good news. GC sales way up? Getting rid of a quarter of the X-Boxes lead? Great news. :)

[OB1]

Is that so? Huh, well let's look at what MS and Sony have planned for the first half of 2004:

X-Box exclusives:

Jan- DOA Online, Sega GT Online, Unreal II

Feb- Sudeki, Ninja Gaiden

March- Rallisport 2, Steel Batallion Online, Thief III

April- Halo 2 (their biggest game of the year)

May- Doom 3

June- Fable

Spring '04- Galleon, Full Spectrum Warrior


PS2

Jan- Maximo 2,

Feb- Star Ocean 3, Rise to Honor, Headhunter 2

March- FF XI, King of Fighters 3D, Onimusha Blade Warriors, RE Outbreak,

April- Gran Turismo 4 (their biggest game of '04), Metal Slug 3, Syphon Filter 4

Spring '04- Altered Beast




And that's not even counting all of the PS2 and X-Box-only third-party games that are coming out in the first half of 2004.

Now let's compare this to Nintendo's first half release list:

GC:

Jan- nothing exclusive

Feb- Final Fantasy CC, Zelda Four Swords, PSO III

March- MGS Twin Snakes, Pokemon Colosseum,
April- nothing exclusive
May/June- Pikmin 2, Star Fox 2 (yeah right)

[A Black Falcon]

Mario Tennis too. :)

Yes, you're right -- they have much more extensive lineups. But those are most all third-party exclusives... Nintendo has more first/second-party titles than either of them in that half of the year, going by those lists, but they just don't have the third party support...

So don't blame Nintendo's developers.

Oh yeah, and I bet plenty of those games will be delayed... given that the main reason games come out in January is because they were delayed out of December...

Oh yeah, sales specifics for the month of November.

All

http://www.n-philes.com/php/epzeyeefupkyvukvauf.php

First of all, the total estimated hardware sales for all consoles are as follows:

1. Game Boy Advance - 1,323,000
2. PlayStation 2 - 849,000
3. GameCube - 754,000
4. Xbox - 491,000

Top 10 software sales rankings:

1. GCN - Mario Kart: DoubleDash!! - 527,742
2. PS2 - Medal of Honor: Rising Sun - 420,313
3. PS2 - Final Fantasy X-2 - 402,973
4. XBX - Grand Theft Auto Double Pack - 391,315
5. PS2 - SOCOM 2: U.S. Navy Seals - 380,182
6. PS2 - Need For Speed: Underground - 370,450
7. PS2 - Tony Hawk Underground - 359,924
8. PS2 - True Crime: Streets of LA - 354,448
9. GBA - Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 - 327,217
10. PS2 - Madden NFL 2004 - 257,007

Nintendo

http://www.n-philes.com/php/epzeyekvfkvvlfzuaku.php

Here are the total GameCube software sales for November:

1. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! - 527,742
2. Mario Party 5 - 213,495
3. Yu-Gi-Oh! Falsebound Kingdom - 95,891
4. Super Smash Brothers: Melée - 83,056
5. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - 76,841
6. Kirby Air Ride - 69,311
7. Tony Hawk Underground 69,290
8. Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike - 59,851
9. True Crime: Streets of LA - 50,435
10. Medal of Honor: Rising Sun - 44,859

Here are the total Game Boy Advance software sales for November:

1. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 - 327,217
2. Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Sacred Cards - 191,011
3. Namco Museum - 190,266
4. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - 135,675
5. Pokémin: Ruby Version - 92,784
6. Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - 96,070
7. Finding Nemo - 88,386
8. Pokémon: Sapphire Version - 80,179
9. Fire Emblem - 75,748
10. Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire - 61,809

[OB1]

Third-party exclusive are still exclusives, ABF. Just because they're not first-party games doesn't mean that they're of lesser quality. Just look at Ubi Soft's recent track record. And most of those big Sony and MS games won't be delayed. Some of Nintendo's? I'm sure of it. But Halo 2, Ninja Gaiden, and GT4 have solid dates.

9. Fire Emblem - 75,748

Not too shabby. It probably would have done better if it didn't have to go up against such big names as Mario & Luigi and Final Fantasy, but hopefully this will be enough to convince Nintendo that FE can sell in the U.S.

[A Black Falcon]

Sure, third party exclusives are still exclusives. But they're a slightly different category from first/second party exclusives... all that shows is that Nintendo's problems in attracting third parties continue and that they are still sadly lacking in that category. But of course most Nintendo fans buy far more first party games than third, so it's not that surprising...

[OB1]

MS and Sony thrive on third-party exclusives.

[A Black Falcon]

Exactly. But for Nintendo it isn't.

Now, Nintendo has emphasized first/second over third for so long that even though they've been trying to change they can only do so much... what would you have them do? I'd say that they've been making legitimate attempts to increase third party support...

[OB1]

They have, especially with those big parterships with Konami and Capcom. But right now they're still playing catch-up.

[The Former DMiller]

How come you didn't mention Super Monkey Ball 3 or Harvest Moon? Harvest Moon is a niche title so I can see that, but SMB is the best-selling third-party game on GameCube.

[A Black Falcon]

He didn't think of them, I guess? So is Nintendo's list longer?

[OB1]

Oh yeah, I forgot about those two. Although even with them added Nintendo's list is still the smallest.

[The Former DMiller]

Originally posted by A Black Falcon
He didn't think of them, I guess? So is Nintendo's list longer?

There might be more that he's missing, but not many. I should be studying for my final right now, though, so I'm not going to check it at the moment.

[OB1]

I left out a bunch of PS2 and X-Box games that won't be coming to the 'cube, so there's no way the GC has a more impressive q1&2 lineup than Sony and MS.

[A Black Falcon]

Q4, though, is by far the most important one...

[OB1]

That doesn't mean that Nintendo should lump all of their games in q3&4.

[A Black Falcon]

No, but as we saw this year it sure makes some business sense...

[OB1]

They did well because of the sales drop, ABF.

[A Black Falcon]

You mean price drop. :)

Okay, so sure, Nintendo doesn't have as many games coming out as the others. But still, some of those are very big names... FF:CC, MGS:TT, Pokemon, PSO, Zelda, Pikmin (I agree Star Fox is quite unlikely)...

[OB1]

Haha, yes I meant price drop.

Yeah most of those are big titles, but will all of them make it?

[A Black Falcon]

Maybe they won't all make it, but I think most of them will... and so it's a shorter list. So? It's still a great lineup of games, and that's plenty good enough for me.

[OB1]

Right, and how many of those will you actually buy? MGS, Zelda, and Pikmin 2, right? Just three GC games in six months.

[A Black Falcon]

Hmm, which of those will I buy... good question. I only buy so many games, and lots of them are older or cheaper ones...

Uh, FF: CC is likely, and Zelda... probably MGS, but probably not at $50; I'll get it cheaper later. Oh, and Star Fox 2, but I agree, that won't come out in the first half of the year.

[OB1]

You're going to get CC even though you don't have any friends who would want to play with you?

[A Black Falcon]

It is in a genre I love... and it's not an exact comparison, but I thought Gauntlet (n64/gc) was pretty good in single player...

[OB1]

I've heard that CC's single-player isn't all that great.

[Weltall]

MGS is the only game I want.

[A Black Falcon]

Sure, I've heard CC's single play isn't that good either. I don't care, though... everyone says that Gauntlet is boring in single player too, and Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance...

[OB1]

And they're right. :p

[Great Rumbler]

I'm actually more interested in the GC's lineup than the other two, but that doesn't speak for the mainstream who'll more than likely skip over most of the GC games.

[A Black Falcon]

Oh, sure, they're right that those games are more fun in multiplayer than single player, but not that they are no fun at all in single player mode. :)

[big guy]

oh, and fable is never coming out

[OB1]

It's actually almost done, but they have around 3-6 months of testing and stuff to do.

[Great Rumbler]

They'll probably delay Fable again...because they love us so much.

[A Black Falcon]

Duke Nukem Forever: not expected in fiscal year '04. Tentative release date: very late '04 or early '05.

Duke 3D came out in January 1996. The expansion was out that fall. Also late in '96, I think, Duke Forever was announced... it was either late '96 or early '97 anyway.

It's seven years now, and it still won't be out for at least another year. Talk about long development cycles... eight, nine years...

Compared to anything other than Battlecruiser, fans waiting for other games look kind of silly... oh, sure, delays are bad... but it just shows that it could be worse.

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, I heard that about Duke Forever. That's pretty pathetic.

[OB1]

The devs are saying that Fable will be out before June 31st, 2004. They've never given a date before.

[A Black Falcon]

Duke Nukem Forever will be out in late 1998. So said the preview from Nov. 1997. The one from the first announcement (you know, when it used the Quake engine... that '97 one announced the switch to Unreal, I think...) said it'd be sooner than that... so it's been delayed for six years, plus. And has been in development for seven to seven and a half. Insane.

[OB1]

I was talking about Fable, not those crazy 3D Realms guys.

[Great Rumbler]

Press release from the future:

2189 - Development of Fable has by temporarily halted due to the recent robot uprising. Development should begin sometime within the next few years. We can confirm at this time that Fable will connect with the Mind-Web for online gaming and will make use of the latest VR technology. It's expected that Fable will be released exclusively on the Xbox90, but it could also be released simultaneously on the Atari15. Thank you for being patient with us for all these years.

[OB1]

You're gonna jinx it!

[Great Rumbler]

Oh no!

[OB1]

Blast, it's been delayed!

[Great Rumbler]

...My waffles!!

[OB1]

Pooh waffles!