I like numbers. If I can combine them with gaming that even better. Whether it be hardware or software sales, I cannot resist a group of nice figures.  It is a shame that without any UK or European figures being made available on a regular basis that we have to rely on Enterbrain and Media Create in Japan and NPD in the US for information.
It was a set of numbers from NPD that caught my eye in a Gamasutra article that I thought I would share. The article takes a critical look at whether Sony were right to focus largely on new IP at the PS3’s launch with titles like Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm instead of feeding us a series of sequels to well known PlayStation titles.
The NPD numbers are for US retail sales up until the end of April and exclude copies of the games sold in bundles which likely hits the totals for R:FoM, Motorstorm and Uncharted pretty hard. For example, SCEA’s Jack Tretton has said previously that Uncharted has sold 2.6 million copies worldwide.
Over 1 million units: Resistance: Fall of Man (1.1 million)
750K – 1m: LittleBigPlanet
500k – 750K: Resistance 2, Killzone 2, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
250K-500K: Motorstorm, Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, Heavenly Sword
< 250K: Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds
For me the surprise in those figures is Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. Six months of sale at retail in the US and it sold less than 250,000 copies. That’s selling into an installed base of 6 million PS3’s in the US at the time of Motorstorm:PR’s launch at the end of October 2008.
I think it reasonable to assume that the PS3 sold at least another million in the US in the six months from then until the end of April. Which means that only around one in every twenty eight US PS3 owners bought a copy of the game at retail. If it has been selling that poorly in general that would go some way towards explaining the disappointing turn out for today’s TSA Motorstorm:PR competition.
I really enjoy Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, though admittedly it did take a little while to grow on me. Do you think it is right that MS:PR has seen such poor sales? Any other surprises in those figures for you?