I was originally going to make a bigger argument here, but discussion started already, so no point going back and changing it now. So instead, here is mostly raw data with a few points of my own, and the rest will be down in the discussion below. I admit there are a couple small leaps to get this data, such as using an April '09 attach ratio with current sales numbers, but for the most part it is based off of what seems to me to be fairly accurate data, and should work for a general estimation.
To clarify though, this was not meant to be a discussion on "core" gaming only, but was in respect to comments certain 3rd parties have made recently which makes it sound like they do not see much of
any real 3rd party sales potential on the Wii, core or not.
So by my estimation, the total amount of 3rd party game sales for each console in the NA region is...
*hold your breath*
Xbox 360- 149.11M
Wii- 111.24M
PS3- 67.66M
Not quite the dire situation some 3rd parties would have us believe, is it? And keep in mind a few points...
A. The Xbox 360 was released a year before the other two consoles. Do the numbers by the year and the Xbox 360 / Wii are neck and neck.
B. These are only NA numbers, the Wii sells a lot more games (relative to the other consoles) in Japan, and the Xbox 360 sells a lot less games outside of NA.
Some points on the other side of things...
A. No information on
which 3rd party games are selling, could be all casual games. But the fact is, they're still selling.
B. No information on how many 3rd party games are released per platform. I vaguely recall hearing the Wii actually has the most 3rd party game releases, so those sales may be dispersed between more games.
C. Generally publishers look at the PS3 and Xbox 360 as the same market, since they mostly do multiconsole games between those two. And even PC at times. So the Wii has to do more than just match one or the other, it is really up against both or all three, in some ways.
Here is how I got to those numbers. Feel free to double check my math and tell me if I missed something. I also limited my 1st party numbers to games at 500k sales or above, I figured at that point there were only so many games below and they wouldn't add up to anything significant for an estimate. I also tried not to select games that were 1st party published but did not seem to have exclusive rights to that console (Ninja Gaiden II on Xbox 360, for instance).
Xbox 360
NA attach rate- 8.3 games per console
NA total console sales- 21.50M
NA total game sales- 178.45M
NA 1st party game sales- 29.34M
NA 3rd party game sales- 149.11M
NA 1st party game sales by game
Halo 3 7.75M
Gears of War 3.80M
Gears of War 2 3.54M
Halo 3: ODST 3.23M
Forza Motorsport 2.49M
Fable II 2.13M
Mass Effect 1.45M
Halo Wars 1.08M
Crackdown 1.05M
Forza Motorsport 3 0.99M
Perfect Dark Zero 0.74M
Project Gotham Racing 3 0.58M
Project Gotham Racing 4 0.52M
Wii
NA attach rate- 6.2 games per console (Wii Sports not included)
NA total console sales- 30.56M
NA total game sales- 189.47M
NA 1st party game sales- 78.23M
NA 3rd party game sales- 111.24M
NA 1st party game sales by game
Wii Play 13.9M
Wii Fit 9.54M
Mario Kart Wii 8.89M
Wii Sports Resort 5.09M
New Super Mario Bros. Wii 4.52M
Super Smash Brothers Brawl 5.07M
Super Mario Galaxy 4.42M
Wii Fit Plus 3.34M
Mario Party 8 3.46M
The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 2.95M
Link's Crossbow Training 2.83M
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 2.69M
Animal Crossing City Folk 1.49M
Super Paper Mario 1.44M
Wii Music 1.32M
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 1.24M
Mario Super Sluggers 0.96M
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree 0.91M
Wario Ware Smooth Moves 0.89M
Metroid Prime 3 Corruption 0.88M
Mario Strikers Charged 0.86M
Pokemon Battle Revolution 0.78M
Punch-Out!! 0.76M
PS3
NA attach rate- 6.5 games per console
NA total console sales- 12.35M
NA total game sales- 80.28M
NA 1st party game sales- 12.62M
NA 3rd party game sales- 67.66M
NA 1st party game sales by game
Resistance: Fall of Man 1.44M
MotorStorm 1.53M
LittleBigPlanet 1.40M
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune 1.31M
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 1.30M
Killzone 2 1.01M
Resistance 2 0.89M
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue 0.88M
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation 0.81M
inFamous 0.75M
MLB '08 The Show 0.64M
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction 0.66M
NA console games and 1st party game sales taken from VGchartz (lol)April 22, 2009 attach ratio taken from KotakuSo my question again is... where are these 111.24M NA 3rd party game sales coming from if it is so difficult for 3rd parties to sell games on the Wii?
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