Gaming Demand: Halo 3 snipes GTA4 - Wii still dominating the console war
Written by Max Freiert (contact - e-mail) -- April 18th, 2008 | Recommend ThisIn less than two weeks, crime will run rampant in the streets. Crime bosses will come to power, assaults will be made with deadly weapons, and thousands of autos will undoubtedly be stolen. Luckily the only thing harmed will be pixels. On April 29th, Rockstar’s newest episode in the Grand Theft Auto series hits shelves. The hype around Grand Theft Auto 4 has been immense, but the real question is: does hype translate into sales?
One indicator of future sales is pre-launch demand – not people watching trailers or investigating rumors about the game, but those actually exhibiting shopping activity. Despite being available on both the PS3 and Xbox 360, demand is nowhere near that of 2007’s most anticipated game, Halo 3.
The chart above compares pre-launch demand of these two blockbuster games for the 15 weeks leading up to each game’s respective launch:
- During this crucial demand-building period, Halo 3 attracted an average of 4x the shoppers of Grand Theft Auto 4.
- As each game’s launch grew closer, demand for both game ramped up. In fact, in the last two weeks, GTA 4 has closed the demand gap…but not fully. Halo 3’s launch demand, in the same week was only 140% higher.
Has the Wii felt the burn by not offering the Grand Theft Auto Title?
Hardly. Sales for the Wii console have been reported on at length, and demand tells a similar story. The chart below shows Compete’s estimate of monthly in-market video console demand based on the number of U.S. consumers observed shopping online for each console* to console sales as reported by NDP group.
But there’s an interesting relationship between sales and online shopping activity: sales are capped at the total number of available units. Especially during this holiday season, a lot of demand for the Wii went unfulfilled.
- Demand for the Wii spiked to nearly 3.5 million shoppers in December of 2007, a growth of 62% year over year.
- Despite just barely edging Xbox 360 out in terms of December sales, the Wii crushed it rival in terms of demand. During both November and December Nintendo’s console attracted 2x more shoppers than the 360 (or the PS3).
- As the holiday season ended, the large gap between Wii demand and sales as shopping activity subsides, and more consoles become available for purchase.
It’s significant that the Wii is experiencing substantially higher demand than it did during it’s launch period, typically the case and indicative of a more significant trend. The escalating number of shoppers implies that many people are still “discovering” the Wii, and the massive volumes of traffic seem to reach beyond the “gamer” demographic. As gaming is clearly going mainstream, the intuitive design and social elements of the platform have consumers turning to the Wii in droves.
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April 18th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I love it when my geeky interests pop up on my blogs I read at work.
The lack of exclusivity could be one of the big things hurting the GTA4 buzz ironically. With Halo, it basically acted as a rallying cry for Xbox owners/fanboys. It also had the benefit of having a longer lead-in period after the holiday season. Plus the GTA series has lost a good chunk of its original cachet. Most major games feature immersive, detailed environments now, so what once made the GTA franchise unique is now fairly commonplace. I’ll still play the games (although I honestly never finished San Andreas) but I personally thought the franchise peaked with Vice City.
For the Wii, it’s all about the benjamins still - even though the lower PS3 and Xbox prices have made that less of an issue. At least the Wii has finally gotten some semi-decent games in the last 6-7 months. I rarely used mine for the longest time.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:49 am
What a wonderful and detailed info.) I always prefer ps for playing on console but wii is really upgraded himself.
April 21st, 2008 at 1:03 am
uhh …what is your source???
April 21st, 2008 at 9:24 am
Interesting to see the data… we seemingly saw more advertisements for Halo 3 before it came out and not so much for this other one. Interesting to see Wii is leading.
April 21st, 2008 at 9:28 am
oh
April 24th, 2008 at 4:12 am
Wii is the most widely adopted next gen console platform, no doubt about it.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:09 am
I understand that these stats are for the 15 weeks before launch, but I I know that many people puchased GTA IV last summer/fall (me) when the anticipated release was supposed to be September 2007. I feel that this comparison only shows half of the battle. Just a thought.
April 30th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
I’m writing this from the perspective of someone who has already seen the launch date, and I know that (at least in New York) the number of people buying GTA far surpassed those of Halo 3.
May 1st, 2008 at 8:40 am
Clearly, once again people who make these “cross-genre-cross-platform” sales war graphs are forgetting there are so many factors that can affect the sales of a game, in this case you have a 15 rated game (halo3) against an 18 rated game, wich one do u think “mummy” is going to buy billy for his birthday? are you forgetting Halo was bundled with the 360 from the very begginning of its lifespan?
also back to my point about cross-genre, ones a fp shooter , ones an “rpg/driving/shooter” genre. Yes, gta may have to sell a hellova lot to surpass Halo… and why the hell are you people STILL comparing the Wii against a “nextgen” console… its like comparing a sports hatchback against a sports car, completely different fields, please leave them to fight their own corner and stop thinking the Wii is “leading” its got nothing to be in front of.
/rant
May 4th, 2008 at 4:11 am
The Nintendo Wii is retarted. it is a piece of junk. i would be looked at like im a moron if i got one of those. i played on one the first time it came out at an expo (which was also launching the PS3!! and had shitloads of mean 360s around!!) and it was total crap! i played a tennis game thats physics were way out (i didnt need to actualy swing the controler in the right direction, cause the player automaticaly plays its shot, even if i just wobbled my hand?? WTF!??) and to be honest if you want to play a game that uses peripherals, get bloody Guitar Hero, its a bloody cool game!! Long story Short the Wii has appeal to non gamers while the PS3 and 360 will be for the real gamers. like PCs are for the serious computer users while Apple Macs are for the not so smart untechno savvy older generation. Big Shiny Buttons. At least they look good.
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May 7th, 2008 at 8:40 am
wii has some of the best games and some of the best makers