Analyst Predicts Doom & Gloom for Holiday Retail Sales
- Thread starter Fanghawk
- Start date
I would like to put forward a request for a new meme:
"Michael Pachter a man you shouldn't trust to tell you there is a zombie invasion even if one is eating your face."
OT: the funny thing is that everybody keeps saying digital distribution is "on the rise," and at "all time highs" the thing is we don't actually know how well gameX does through digital distribution because Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Apple and even Steam wont tell us how many copies it has sold, and all we have to go on in profit numbers, and then presume that it is only because of digital distribution. I would like to see some level of transparency in the digital distribution field. I mean these companies that host digital distribution sales don't even tell the game developers how many of what tittle sold (unless you notch), and all they can do is get rough estimates of their sales by calculating the money they got from 70-80% Net30-60 which gives you a ball park that could still be foul.
"Michael Pachter a man you shouldn't trust to tell you there is a zombie invasion even if one is eating your face."
OT: the funny thing is that everybody keeps saying digital distribution is "on the rise," and at "all time highs" the thing is we don't actually know how well gameX does through digital distribution because Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Apple and even Steam wont tell us how many copies it has sold, and all we have to go on in profit numbers, and then presume that it is only because of digital distribution. I would like to see some level of transparency in the digital distribution field. I mean these companies that host digital distribution sales don't even tell the game developers how many of what tittle sold (unless you notch), and all they can do is get rough estimates of their sales by calculating the money they got from 70-80% Net30-60 which gives you a ball park that could still be foul.
I mean, Black Friday will move units. But pretty much everyone this console generation has gotten savvy with their game shopping. We all know new titles around this time will be on sale Black Friday. Hell, even after Christmas sales help gamers pinch pennies. Just smarter shoppers combined with hard times.
But then how will you know what will happen?Kmadden2004 said:
/sarcasm
I suspect he is right about lower sales during this Christmas period, but not for the reasons he's saying.
Besides Creed 3, Blops 2 and Halo 4, there aren't any real zingers coming up. Lots of sequels, re-releases, and whatnot. Besides Dishonored, which comes out...well today technically (2:30 am EST) the only game coming out that I've seen not part of an established franchise is the Sony Super Smash Bros, and that's just combining lots of franchises together...the new IP is a dying breed, and eventually I'm sure all we'll get is crummy sequel after crummy sequel. I love some of them, even have guilty pleasures like Cod and Madden, but this getting just fucking ridiculous. Maybe a slow year will have a lot of new franchises showing up on the big stage rather than next years giving us Halo 5, Creed:Rooftop jumper, Battlefield 4, and Duke Nukem: For the Longest time, with Street Fighter v. Soul Caliber also the big names...though I'll be a hypocrite and say a new Metroid 1st person game would be quite nice, even if it's on the Wii U and not made for GC like the best one was (Prime 1)
Yeah, this basically sums up my thoughts on this article. I've read enough of the steaming turds this guy has churned out to know not to put too much stock into anything he says.Kmadden2004 said:
I always hate it when analysts like this talk about drops in sales, but never discuss the proportion or how much it makes a difference. If a company makes $10 million in profit one year and $9 million the next, then yes, they made 10% less, but they still made $9 million in profit, so it's hardly something to get worked up about.
Is actual store retail still a thing? I haven't seen a gaming store in AGES. And I live in Munich, which is not a small city, but, well, European. Maybe that's the difference.
Most of the things I buy are either digital downloads or from Amazon.
Most of the things I buy are either digital downloads or from Amazon.
I can leave a gamestop, cross the street, enter the mall, and go into another gamestop.Monsterfurby said:
Or I can leave that gamestop, cross the parking lot behind it, and go into Toys-R-Us.
Or I can leave that first gamestop, cross a different street and go into target to get the same game. It's kind of weird.
Maybe the long console generation has been like this on purpose so used game retailers go out of business.
I think he meant Cod/MW clones and probably missed a word. Otherwise what he's saying makes no sense especially in the context of the rest of the post and what I said.Kopikatsu said:
Admittedly, I can't stand CoD, what its success has done to gaming, and would gladly play Painkiller or HL2 again than the newest CoD, but I know those brands sell. Meanwhile, the shitty half-baked cash-ins coming out of smaller studios.. and sadly Japan.. just bomb and there's certainly a lot of them.
"We expect the publishers to address the "problem" of free online multiplayer with evolving business models, adding increased opportunities to purchase virtual items, creating subscription-only serialized content, and adding premium subscription layers to the free offerings currently provided."
or
"We expect publishers to invent ways to wring more money out of gamers, free content is just an inconven- err i mean problem"
or
"We expect publishers to invent ways to wring more money out of gamers, free content is just an inconven- err i mean problem"
I know why games don't sell so well recently - it's because most of them are crap and people wont spend that much money any more on crappy games.....well except for the usual crap (CoD, GoW, BF, FIFA and all those other well known shitty gaming franchises)....
But seriously Let's talk about all the games that have been released in 2012. Can anyone name even one game he or she is going to remember for a long time in a positive way? I can't name one. 2012 has been the year of major and I mean MAJOR disappointments (Mass Effect 3 anyone?).
So far from what I can see the big names are more concerned with investing huge amounts of money into marketing instead of actual development and as long as they won't realize that they need fresh and interesting ideas in games instead of advertising and hype game sales will keep going down....
But seriously Let's talk about all the games that have been released in 2012. Can anyone name even one game he or she is going to remember for a long time in a positive way? I can't name one. 2012 has been the year of major and I mean MAJOR disappointments (Mass Effect 3 anyone?).
So far from what I can see the big names are more concerned with investing huge amounts of money into marketing instead of actual development and as long as they won't realize that they need fresh and interesting ideas in games instead of advertising and hype game sales will keep going down....
