Morrowind got bumped out of the top 10 pretty quickly I must say. For a game that took 4+ years to complete, Bethesda Softworks has to be very very disapointed about the sales of this game. I bet the game cost them a ton of money to produce.
Is the Xbox version selling well? Anyone know?
And…
I have a feeling that Neverwinter Nights will also have a brief stay in the top 10. It’s allready down to number 4 and it will probably continue to slide down further in the coming weeks. And this game took 4+ years to complete also. I’m sure it wasn’t cheap.
By the way…
Medal of Honor and GTA 3 are kicking some major ass. And when the hell are the Sims going to die? God… Someone end this damn game.
It’s allways interseting to see how well the PC games are doing…
Wow!!! The new Backyard Baseball 2003 is out. How did that one get past all of our radars?
AIM: The Sims will never die. I am afraid they are the Aerosmith of PC Games. No matter how miserable the material gets, the core fans will buy whatever they put out and there is a lot of each: fans and miserable material.
When I feel like giving up on gaming entirely, I like to look at Japanese console game sales charts. Nothing will make you want to hang up your controllers in shame faster.
It’s made for little kids. Are you a little kid? Then I’m not surprised it “got past your radar”. I’m glad little kids are playing it though.[/quote]
I know what it is. All of the Backyard series seems to sell like hotcakes. As soon as my daughter is a little older I plan on picking up the B’ball version.
Just trying to make a little joke.
Thanks for policing these posts, though, so those of us living in ignorance can be sufficiently chastised and brought up to speed.
Hey, some people have a problem with people dissing gaming in general (see other thread), I have a problem with people dissing children’s gaming selling well. And I inferred the dis from your joke. No offense intended, just being a smartass.
Your daughter will probably love the Backyard series (I’ve only played the earlier versions). But they’re simple, feature real-world players in cute and short “paid less and therefore less whiney” form, and offer the best that sports gaming offers. The opportunity to play a season and accumulate stats at the end and the opportunity for her to beat her daddy at something.
Well, given that I played for three weeks or so and haven’t touched it since, I’m not surprised. It looked great but the gameplay isn’t even as good as Daggerfall – not enough real dungeons, not enough suspense. And the game gets easy too quickly.
It’s not a bad game, but it’s not a great game, either. So I think it’s probably getting the sales it deserves.
I completely understand your point of view. I wish it had been a Barbie game. Would you have been cool with that? :)
What I do find amusing is that many of us continuously and seriously debate the merits and shortcomings of these games and what developers need to do to make them better and thereby sell more. Then you look at the numbers and kids games, the Sims, and, until recently, Roller Coaster Tycoon dominate the charts. We have these lofty ideas (ideals?) for games and are just a tiny, tiny portion of the purchasing public. :wink:
Heh, I’m resigned to the whole inevitability of the Barbie game thing. I guess I really don’t mind, so long as it’s good. I have a daughter too. Now, Sid Meier’s Barbie! that would be something!
I think what you’re noticing could also be said of movies, music, books, even food. Only the connoiseurs really enjoy the good stuff and a lot of great games are an acquired taste.
People really anticipated these games a lot, so I’m not surprised that their sales shot up and then dropped off quickly.
As for Xbox Morrowind, most websites stopped taking pre-orders well before it went gold. So, yeah it’s probably doing pretty well. Shoot, they may be looking at their 4th million-seller. Now is a great time to be publishing a good Xbox game. There’s all this installed base with nothing to do. HALO gets old after a while.
Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if game companies use their own list to determine what they rank by filtering out games that have superhuman methods of staying on the charts:
filter out all Blizzard games
filter out all Maxis games
filter out any game with the words “extreme hunting” in it
filter out any Myst derivatives
Then determine where your game stands relatively from there.
Daggerfall never even made the monthly top 10 list for PC (it made a couple of weeks), but it had incredibly long legs – it sold steadily, at full retail price, for a couple of years. I think Morrowind will enjoy decent longevity for the same reason – if you’re going to recommend an RPG beyond the action/RPG hybrids, there’s still a short list (NWN, BG2 (although intimidating for newbies), Fallout and planescape games (getting long in the tooth), maybe Wizardry 8 or MM7/8 if you think they’re patient enough).
It’s hard to judge Morrowind’s sales right now because RPG sales are being cannibalized*. Dungeon Siege, Neverwinter Nights, Warcraft III, Freedom Force, all on some level (like the box) claim to be role-playing games. All are competing for the RPG market. Especially DS, NWN and Morrowind. Plus, Icewind Dale 2 is due in a little over a month. I think Desslock is right to think Morrowind might follow in Daggerfall’s footsteps. Bethesda just has to keep it front and center until the word of mouth carries - and despite detractors here Morrowind is enjoying excellent word of mouth.
Also, aren’t these sales charts driven by Wal-Mart sales? I’d be surprised if Morrowind was selling well at Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, or Target.
*except on the Xbox, where it has no RPG competition
I had to make a choice between investing time in NWN or Morrowind. There was a pretty long thread (Morrowind v. Neverwinter) on the CGO forums and maybe here also. I chose Neverwinter and plan on picking up Morrowind if and when I get through. I wonder how many folks are doing the same.
I wish she was a little older and I could justify to my wife a GBA (see Tom Chick’s thread for why I do not have one. I did buy a Mary Kate and Ashley game for my niece. I made sure I told the clerk that, as well).
I am glad we staightened things out, Mr. Bub. I was about to go back to your 20th anniversary Hubbub article and find something in it to make fun of you about. Even though I liked it initially. :lol:
The monthly NPD lists include Best Buy, EB, Gamestop, etc…and so they are more accurate representation.
The weekly lists only include the Costco’s and other non-hardcore gaming markets. That’s why you see Starcraft Battlechest on there all the time and titles like The Sims.
I’m not sure where Wal Mart falls. I actually think I read they aren’t reporting to NPD at all, but may be wrong.
In any case, its the monthly lists that should carry more weight.
I’ve heard that Morrowind’s PC sales have slowed, but their Xbox sales are still strong. I’d imagine all those other PC game titles are diluting the PC dollars. Also, Bethesda distributes their own product so it may be their distribution muscle isn’t on par with EA and Vivendi.
>I’m not sure where Wal Mart falls. I actually think I read they aren’t reporting to NPD at all, but may be wrong.
Wallmart reports to NPD, and has a huge impact on its results. The only significant U.S. retailer that’s not included in NPD’s results is Frys, which I guess is a decent-sized chain on the west coast.
Maybe the world can get chemo or something before the cancer spreads any more. I like reading their ads, but their prices are unremarkable for anything that is not an advertised special.
