Galaxy Sale Fail

[Foxy]

if you have been on planet Earth at any point in the last 20 years, you will know all about Mario. Ever since Nintendo created that first Mario title every game with his name sells like hotcakes. Even the Mario games that some people find quite disappointing like Super Mario Sunshine. Well Mario's latest outing is Super Mario Galaxy, which is truly an amazing experience. So amazing that it's one of the highest rated games of all time!

In the first month of Super Mario Galaxy's release in the U.S, the game sold around 1.12 million copies. Which was a really good start but expected of such a highly anticipated game. In the month of December the game went on to sell 1.4 million copies, another great month for Galaxy. Now here comes the bad part, in the month of January sales started to slip. The Game only sold 172,000 copies. This resulted in Galaxy dropping from its excellent position at second place, all the way to sixth place for January.

So why the sudden drop in sales? Is it simply because it's no longer the holiday season? Well this is where analysts come in useful, or not so useful in this case. Jesse Divnich from the simExchange thinks that the lack of units being sold is down to the Low sales of Wii hardware. Because of short supply of the Wii people haven’t been buying them, this is resulting in people not buying Galaxy either. It seems odd to me but granted, the game has sold well over 2 million copies so sales would have to start going down eventually.

It's a shocker I must say.

 

[Bliss]

I dont see that as "failing". They sold over 2 million copies in the first 2 months. Thats great! And like the article said holiday season is over and plus our U.S economy is in a real rut right now. The stock market has just been horrible. I think they will still sell a good number of copies but i doubt they will hit a million a month again. But i dont see this as a "failure".

 

[gidget]

the author is lame... analysts should solve problems before they happen... this is hind sight and can be determined by a 6th grader

no doubt nintendo's forecast saw this coming... perhaps lack of Wiis for galaxy is a drop in the bucket.

nintendo may release a bazillion Wiis for SSBB! :yesnod:

 

[wezeles]

Its American sales numbers, Halo 3 did the exact same thing. Its just how American gamers shop

We buy things up like crazy for christmas, even if we can't afford it. Then tighten our belts for the next few months to catch up. Thats the trend of US video game sales for the last I don't know 30 years. The biggest sales numbers always come in the middle and end of the year in America. It's not a shocker its common sense now. probably also why they keep pushing off some of the bigger titles, they know they can sell more out of the gate the longer they wait.

 

[Foxy]

Right, holiday season however more goes into it.

Dropping nearly 2 million sales for the second greatest game of all time.

 

[Skippy]

This is not a shocker. ALL game and ALL hardware sales were way down in January. And as they point out, it's still nearly impossible to find a Wii, so if you can't buy the hardware you're not going to buy the game.

 

[PacMan200]

I'm sure that Galaxy will continue to sell steadily as this amount. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less but steady I believe.

 

[Skorp]

What I don't understand is granted the wii is the best selling, the others aren't far behind in sales. So why don't we hear about shortages of PS3s or 360s? Are the sales on those all from back supply and new ones aren't shipping in the quantities of wiis? I don't see why nintendo is struggling when they KNOW they need to be pumping them out in greater quantities. The only explanation I can see is they are purposefully holding back stock to make wii's appear hard to find.

 

[wezeles]

are you kidding me?

In 15 months they have sold about 21 million wii's average of 1,400,00 a month
In 15 months time they sold about 10 million ps3's average of 660,000 a month
In 27 months time they sold about 17 million 360's average of 630,000 a month

No one is close to the wii's prodcution numbers they are double or higher anyone else based on time and sold units. It's honestly amazing they are keeping up this well! The Wii is the fastest selling video game console in history. This kinda numbers has never happened before, they couldn't have ever expected that kinda production.

They should catch up in the next 6-12 months. Still that depends on demand, if people keep buying up as many wii's as they make this might be a problem for a while.

 

[Foxy]

When I say shocker I mean well, the fastest selling video game console of all time has the second highest rated game ever yet it does well for two months then dies.

Think, around 4 Million games sold but like 20 million consoles. The lack of consoles isn't an excuse since there is 16 million who didn't buy the game.

Roughly.

 

[CantGetAWii]

This is not a shocker. ALL game and ALL hardware sales were way down in January. And as they point out, it's still nearly impossible to find a Wii, so if you can't buy the hardware you're not going to buy the game.

Agreed.
It is disappointing though, Galaxy really deserved to sell well.

I remember a bunch of people waiting till Christmas to buy the game, I guess that came true. If only Wii production was better, the sales would be as well.

 

[Foxy]

This truly optimise's the low attach rate for wii.

We get the second highest rated game ever, people rejoiced yet didn't buy.

 

[wezeles]

Still this is going on American sales alone, and with the holiday season and the economy whats to be expected?

It still has sold 5.75 million worldwide in roughly 3-4 months on the market with its very spread out release dates, figure an average of 1.43-1.91 million a month, thats incredibal!

Compared to another huge game this year, Halo 3 selling 7.25 million in roughly 5 months average of 1.45 million, and that is arguably the "Fastest Selling Video Game Ever"

So its still selling faster than any other game on the market right now. Its just Americans arn't currently buying any games this time of year. Except maybe me, I blew some of my tax refund on alot of games.. ha ha

Wii still has a decent attachment rate at about 5 games per console now which isnt bad being out 15 months thats not to shabby, and its bound to pick up.

 

[T3kNi9e]

Actually Halo 3 sold 8.1 million worldwide as of January 3rd. But seeing as its Halo, most all of those were American sales alone.

 

[wezeles]

Really you believe the Microsoft quoted numbers now? lol
Even the NPD didn't report close to that kinda sales. Microsoft constantly list what left the factory and not what acctually sold. Only way for them to stay ontop I guess, if they plan to stick it in a box they plan on selling it so why not count it as sold, there numbers never match everyone elses..lol

NPD
September: 3,300,000
October: 433,800
November:387,000
December: 742,700
January: 127,000

As you can see it deflated just as quick if not faster than SMG, and I higly doubt they sold 3.3 million outside the states by the beginning of January. Microsoft claims 8.1 on the 3rd of January what a joke.

It was however a smart move to put it out that far before the holidays, they knew they would get the big intial sales, and they got a nice boost for christmas. Still never broke a million in the states except for the launch month.