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US NPD May 2022 - Lowest Month since Feb 2020

I predicted this multiple times and got laughed at. When people start running low on money, subs will be more attractive.

Don't you see how that's a problem in the long-term though? It means subscription services aren't able to grow in a healthy market or economy off the strength of their content alone when the playing field is even; they need some massive screw-ups to happen that basically force people down an option they wouldn't take if things were actually better. Last time it was lockdowns from COVID, now it's a (likely) impending recession.

What's next? WWIII? These type of factors being the main drivers for subscription services, are unsustainable. Which means that a lot of different subscription services, are likely unsustainable themselves.

Also I can't believe people are actually celebrating something selling not off the strength of its gaming offerings (I mean specifically the games, not services) and content, but simply due to being the cheapest option.

I get it a sale's a sale and that's a good thing but I don't like that it's mainly deteriorating economic factors contributing to that.
 
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Don't you see how that's a problem in the long-term though? It means subscription services aren't able to grow in a healthy market or economy off the strength of their content alone when the playing field is even; they need some massive screw-ups to happen that basically force people down an option they wouldn't take if things were actually better. Last time it was lockdowns from COVID, now it's a (likely) impending recession.

What's next? WWIII? These type of factors being the main drivers for subscription services, are unsustainable. Which means that a lot of different subscription services, are likely unsustainable themselves.
uh huh lol. This is a rational post. I've never seen you go full retard like this.

All I literally said is that its a cheaper way to game, and people will look more towards value. However, after they've tried it for a while do you honestly think they wont be interested in continuing to game that way? You really think that you need WWIII for people to sub to GP and PS+? I swear, some of the conversations on here lol ...
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
When gas is $7 a gallon a $299 barrier of entry for next gen turned out to be a brilliant move coupled with Game Pass.

I didn't think the Series S would have legs tbh, but you're absolutely right, once the next gen only games start hitting the shelves and become the majority it could pay dividends, but the question is how long will it take for that to happen?

The way things are going, the PS5 will get a price cut before that happens!
 
Don't you see how that's a problem in the long-term though? It means subscription services aren't able to grow in a healthy market or economy off the strength of their content alone when the playing field is even; they need some massive screw-ups to happen that basically force people down an option they wouldn't take if things were actually better. Last time it was lockdowns from COVID, now it's a (likely) impending recession.

What's next? WWIII? These type of factors being the main drivers for subscription services, are unsustainable. Which means that a lot of different subscription services, are likely unsustainable themselves.
Jonah Hill GIF
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
with this news I hereby declare the pandemic OVER
This is the take I agree with.

VG sales have been crazy for the past couple of years, because nobody could go anywhere, but I'm not sure there's much to read into falling sales numbers, other than people being able to do more things with their leisure time.
 
uh huh lol. This is a rational post. I've never seen you go full retard like this.

All I literally said is that its a cheaper way to game, and people will look more towards value. However, after they've tried it for a while do you honestly think they wont be interested in continuing to game that way? You really think that you need WWIII for people to sub to GP and PS+? I swear, some of the conversations on here lol ...

There has always been value though, so how is that now a major factor when it wasn't before? If you wanted a new game but couldn't buy Day 1, you waited until it went on sale, or rented it from GameFly or something like that. But at least the people who took those options did so in a market that was healthier, in an economy that wasn't getting screwed over by hyperinflation or pandemic lockdowns (things that are not normal, particularly at the frequency they've been happening the past few years).

I'm just saying, look at the bigger picture here. It's good for everyone getting the sales they're getting but it's not hard to look at a correlation. A lot of these subscription services saw their biggest growth during COVID lockdowns, then when lockdowns eased they saw noticeable drops. Now they're probably going to see big growth again due to a recession. What do you think will happen when the recession subsides? Exactly.

All I'm saying is, if subscription services (for gaming specifically) really were the future, we'd be able to see these huge growths for them when not just the gaming market but economy was relatively stable and not suffering from disaster events. But that hasn't been the case, so if the playing field were even and markets & economies were healthy, subscription services would be the least popular option for gaming for the vast majority. That's just a fact.
 

Stuart360

Member
Don't you see how that's a problem in the long-term though? It means subscription services aren't able to grow in a healthy market or economy off the strength of their content alone when the playing field is even; they need some massive screw-ups to happen that basically force people down an option they wouldn't take if things were actually better. Last time it was lockdowns from COVID, now it's a (likely) impending recession.

What's next? WWIII? These type of factors being the main drivers for subscription services, are unsustainable. Which means that a lot of different subscription services, are likely unsustainable themselves.

Also I can't believe people are actually celebrating something selling not off the strength of its gaming offerings (I mean specifically the games, not services) and content, but simply due to being the cheapest option.

I get it a sale's a sale and that's a good thing but I don't like that it's mainly deteriorating economic factors contributing to that.
This is a weird post, unl;ess i'm misdsunderstanding. Are you trying to say the only reason why Gamepass, or any sub service, is or will do well is becaue of the economy, or money being tight for a lot of people?.

Pretty sure most sub services will doing well long before the current economic climate.

I myself first joind PC Gampass in May 2020, when i was still working and had a considerable amount of disposable income.

Of course when money is tight for people, joining a sub service (especially a gaming sub service) is obviosuly going to be disirable and beneficial to many people, but its not the only time it is.
 
There has always been value though, so how is that now a major factor when it wasn't before? If you wanted a new game but couldn't buy Day 1, you waited until it went on sale, or rented it from GameFly or something like that. But at least the people who took those options did so in a market that was healthier, in an economy that wasn't getting screwed over by hyperinflation or pandemic lockdowns (things that are not normal, particularly at the frequency they've been happening the past few years).

I'm just saying, look at the bigger picture here. It's good for everyone getting the sales they're getting but it's not hard to look at a correlation. A lot of these subscription services saw their biggest growth during COVID lockdowns, then when lockdowns eased they saw noticeable drops. Now they're probably going to see big growth again due to a recession. What do you think will happen when the recession subsides? Exactly.

All I'm saying is, if subscription services (for gaming specifically) really were the future, we'd be able to see these huge growths for them when not just the gaming market but economy was relatively stable and not suffering from disaster events. But that hasn't been the case, so if the playing field were even and markets & economies were healthy, subscription services would be the least popular option for gaming for the vast majority. That's just a fact.
I don't see a ton of evidence that the sub growth we're both predicting in the near future will subside when the recession subsides. More likely it is just going to be a more rapid acceleration of a trend of slow sub growth that isn't reversing. We're not seeing the pandemic restrictions lift and people transition back to buying CDs and Blu-Rays. What you're seeing when the pandemic restrictions lifted is people lessening the time they spent on entertainment at home and diversifying with other activities. But when you look at the people who spend for entertainment at home, most of them in movies and music are still turning to subs for a lot of it.

Gaming subs could be following a somewhat similar trend, but it's still too early to know. There's more diversity in games in terms of price point, and size. I think people will always have a mix of digital, physical and sub purchases. But that sub number will slowly creep upwards. It's not that long ago that we all thought digital game purchases would never be a majority, and now look at things.

Subs are growing. All this will do is speed up something that was already happening slowly.
 
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This is a weird post, unl;ess i'm misdsunderstanding. Are you trying to say the only reason why Gamepass, or any sub service, is or will do well is becaue of the economy, or money being tight for a lot of people?.

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm saying. Okay, not the "only" reason, but a big one. I mean look at GamePass's sub growth in 2020 which was lockdown year. It was massive compared to their growth in previous years. I'm focusing on gaming subscription services tho because they're a bit different from movie/tv ones or music sub services, those are two mediums where the majority have been conditioned to consume via subscription vs. buying (let alone physically). Gaming isn't really like that.

Pretty sure most sub services will doing well long before the current economic climate.

Yeah, specifically movie/tv and music ones. Those like GP and PS Now were doing "decent" by comparison. Well, GP was; PS Now was pretty much dead but Sony wasn't really trying anymore there, either.

I myself first joind PC Gampass in May 2020, when i was still working and had a considerable amount of disposable income.

Of course when money is tight for people, joining a sub service (especially a gaming sub service) is obviosuly going to be disirable and beneficial to many people, but its not the only time it is.

Yeah I'm not saying people like yourself are subbing only because it's cheap or when the economy's bad, but there are a lot of other people who are and that's the point. And some will stay afterwards like Punished Miku Punished Miku was saying but a lot of others won't.

But maybe I'm just a bit cranky; I just would hope sales could be celebrated due to the offering of the gaming content but IMO there are games that should be performing better which aren't, and companies that should be doing better with software output but aren't doing so, and seem to be coasting along or taking wrong approaches. I kind of hate that the main reason some things seem to be doing well are due to their pricing in a broken economy, or that there's a correlation between subscription growth with said broken economies. I don't want that for the leading edge of the industry, I don't want service games being the main focus either because there's just certain ways of designing a game creatively that live-service will not allow.

But anyway, I've got an Extended Showcase to watch 😛
 
I don't see a ton of evidence that the sub growth we're both predicting in the near future will subside when the recession subsides. More likely it is just going to be a more rapid acceleration of a trend of slow sub growth that isn't reversing. We're not seeing the pandemic restrictions lift and people transition back to buying CDs and Blu-Rays. What you're seeing when the pandemic restrictions lifted is people lessening the time they spent on entertainment at home and diversifying with other activities. But when you look at the people who spend for entertainment at home, most of them in movies and music are still turning to subs for a lot of it.

Gaming subs could be following a somewhat similar trend, but it's still too early to know. There's more diversity in games in terms of price point, and size. I think people will always have a mix of digital, physical and sub purchases. But that sub number will slowly creep upwards. It's not that long ago that we all thought digital game purchases would never be a majority, and now look at things.

Subs are growing. All this will do is speed up something that was already happening slowly.

Disagreed with some of this because we already have data that shows what percentage subscription services account for in total gaming revenue and it isn't a lot. That's including stuff like PS+ and XBL Gold, let alone GamePass. 20+ years and only 4% of total market spending on subscription services doesn't signal sudden rapid growth will be coming in the near future even when the recession subsides.

But if that's a bad outlook, then it's a bad outlook. I guess we'll see what happens in a few years. BTW I want to again just say my statements are mainly on gaming subscription services; we've known for a while majority of movie/tv watchers and music heads have transitioned to sub services but those are VERY different mediums than gaming and the trends aren't going to line up. Even with those we know an upper limit to the total number of people who will subscribe to them. I really think more people should listen to guys like the Take Two CEO on this topic because even if you excuse the fact GTA is its own beast of an example, a lot of what he says is applicable to the majority of AAA games and probably a growing number of AA games as well.

So how are those models going to survive if game subscriptions take over the industry? Or do those models need to die? Or, do they have options to adapt but not in a way where game subscription services are the driving factor? I guess we'll see some day.
 

Woopah

Member
Man, I wonder if Sony has been sending most stock to the Europe. Ps5 been selling gangbester there.

Regardless, congrats to MS and Xbox this month.
Xbox Series was selling better than PS5 for Europe, so I don't think its a case of Sony allocating more stock to that region.
Nintendo's followed their usual handheld software strategy on Switch - basically once the platform gets momentum, they back off of a lot of first party games and let the third parties take over. (I think the 3DS was the only time they did not do this)
That's not really true. There was a lack of Nintendo releases in 2020 but they published lots of games in 2021 and 2022.
 

Kabelly

Member
literally dont need to buy anotehr game right now with Elden Ring taking up all my time. It just doesn't stop lol. I want to keep going though. Then Splatoon 3 will take the rest of my time.
 

Woopah

Member
It's crazy how dominant Sony and Nintendo are in terms of software. They take up more than half of the spots in the charts from almost every country.
 

Lognor

Banned
Xbox has a ton of momentum. I expect sales to go up even further after their excellent show on Sunday. And it doesn't help that Microsoft has been able to ramp up production of Series X.

When should we start seeing increased PS5 numbers? Sony keeps saying production will go up, but when? Haven't seen it yet, at least not in the US.
 

Jaybe

Member
cYyPTQ8.jpg


I usually find this comparison of what sells between the platforms interesting. The differences in rank and what is on each. Either Xbox is such a COD platform or overall sales for third-party games are low that non-game pass ones like COD even BLOP3 still register. Probably both factors contributing.
 
That’s why I will never understand why game companies love to cram all their releases together at the same time. A few major releases could of came out a little before Summer and during Summer to spread release dates out as well.
 
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cYyPTQ8.jpg


I usually find this comparison of what sells between the platforms interesting. The differences in rank and what is on each. Either Xbox is such a COD platform or overall sales for third-party games are low that non-game pass ones like COD even BLOP3 still register. Probably both factors contributing.
Without unit sales numbers how do you know what sells low or not? Games like MLB The Show rank higher on PlayStation because there is only one way to get the game on that platform. How do titles like Elden Ring and Lego Star Wars support your theory? They sold better than COD.
 

ACESHIGH

Banned
And folks still cant believe Sony's approach to PC gaming. The legs of Skyrim on Steam... insane. Picture that for most of Sony big profile games, specially once modding kicks in.
 

Jaybe

Member
Without unit sales numbers how do you know what sells low or not? Games like MLB The Show rank higher on PlayStation because there is only one way to get the game on that platform. How do titles like Elden Ring and Lego Star Wars support your theory? They sold better than COD.
It’s hard to say. Back in the day we used to get these breakouts. But with what we have you You try to make connections and assumptions from install bases and general title splits. In theory Elden ring, Lego, Cod Vanguard, and FIFA 22 should have a close to similar ratio between PS and Xbox. Take the show out of consideration if we want as it’s digital isn’t counted on Xbox. What’s left. GT7 & HFW doing well, and presumably a sales dropoff after or including FIFA 22 on Xbox since FIFA22 didn’t make PS’s top 10. Without units we don’t get the magnitudes though, just only the ability to infer. And on the COD’s, this is at least the 2nd month in a row with four on Xbox top 10.
 
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Jaybe

Member
And folks still cant believe Sony's approach to PC gaming. The legs of Skyrim on Steam... insane. Picture that for most of Sony big profile games, specially once modding kicks in.
Yep. Mods, sequels, mid-priced sales and then deeper discounts. They will have a long tail.
 

CatLady

Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
Sony in 3rd for units and revenue again? Apparently, they did great and had big shipments last month in Europe but not in the US? Weird.
 

freefornow

Member
I have noticed in these threads there are always a few people who go on abouut XSS being discounted everywhere, to explain the success of Xbox this gen.
And i just wanted to ask the Americans on here, how many of you have seen a discounted XSS, and daiscounted by how much?.
Havent seen a response to this and I too would appreciate evidence to support these discounts in the US.

Series S is ridiculously priced in Aus ($499 dollarydoo's) and you ocassionaly see a AU$50 discount, but the discount is a one day thing. Not that i have followed it closely, I can recall this happening on 2 occasions since launch.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
I realize this all comes down to shortages, but how embarrassing is it that the Switch is still the console sales leader this far into next gen?

Yikes.
 

sachos

Member
For people worried about physical games dying, Nintendo physical games alone sell more than a bunch of other really famouse games. Its crazy really.
 
It's a great thing for the industry that MS has bounced back this generation.
It makes Sony a better more competitive company, gives gamers more choice, and everyone's a winner.

An interesting point is just how much money and effort it took to turn around the disaster that was Xbox One.
MS went from being a super success with the 360, and all they had to do to keep that position was release another 360. Powerful, cheap and full of games. That one fuck up destroyed 7 years of good work, and cost tens of billions to recover.
 

Gamer79

Predicts the worst decade for Sony starting 2022
Agreed about recession but the other side is just a lack of games. I have been playing my older library because there just isn't anything to be excited about right now. If God of War Ragnarok delays out of this year this could wind up being one of the worst years for software in a long time.
 
Hasn't been much released worth picking up. Other than GoW and maybe CoD if I'm bored out of my mind, I don't even see much of anything until 23
 
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