Amazon.com's sales ranks, the NPD data, and the Nintendo Channel data

Over the last few weeks, I've been tracking the hours played for EA Sports Active, Punch-Out!!, The Conduit, and Wii Sports Resort.  If you missed the posts regarding the hours played, you can find them at the following links:
Data for Week Starting August 30.
Data for Week Starting September 6.
Data for Week Starting September 13.

On Friday, September 18, it was reported on GoNintendo.com, "...readers from Europe and North America are reporting issues with the Nintendo Wifi Connection.  It appears that something is being updated, or something's gone really wrong.  The 20100 error code is popping up all over the place...".  Even a GoNintendo reader, Totodile, from New Zealand confirmed he received an error message trying to connect to play Mario Kart DS that day.
So, I take it that something went "really wrong", because for some odd reason, the play time hours on the Nintendo Channel weren't updated this week.

All of the games I normally track, The Conduit, Punch-Out!!, EA Sports Active, and Wii Sports Resort are showing the exact same number of hours reported played this week, as they were last week.

Instead of putting up the same exact post and hours from last week, I'm taking a look at how The Conduit, Punch-Out!!, EA Sports Active, and Wii Sports Resort are currently ranked on Amazon.com's video game sales chart.  I'll be including Amazon.com's sales ranks for any game I cover off the Nintendo Channel in future posts from now on.

Take a look(click the image for a larger viewable size):

The Conduit was 656th on Amazon.com's sales rank in video games, placing it in last place, but out of the four games and from the previous data captured off the Nintendo Channel, it ranks 2nd in most hours played, out of the four games.

EA Sports Active was ranked 22nd overall in sales on Amazon.com's rank for video games, placing it second out of the four games in overall sales rank. As in previous posts, EA Sports Active has the fewest number of hours reported playing, out of The Conduit, Punch-Out!!, and Wii Sports Resort.

Punch-Out!! was ranked 230th on Amazon.com's sales rank at the time this was captured, placing it third in sales for these four games on Amazon.com.  From the NPD data that we know, Punch-Out!! is behind EA Sports Active and Wii Sports Resort in overall sales.  Punch-Out!! also sits in third place for number of hours reported playing ahead of EA Sports Active, but behind The Conduit and Wii Sports Resort.

Last, but definitely not least, Wii Sports Resort was ranked 5th in overall video game sales on Amazon.com.  Wii Sports Resort is first in sales rank on Amazon.com out of these games, and is also first in number of hours reported played on the Nintendo Channel.

I find it interesting Amazon.com's ranking provides some sales data that reflects placement ranked, if not exact numbers, for how the games are doing compared to each other.

The Conduit's 13 weeks.

The Conduit was released on June 23, 2009.  For 13 straight weeks, The Conduit was ranked ahead of Call of Duty: World at War on Amazon.com's "Shooter" sales rank list for the Wii.

After checking the ranking tonight, The Conduit is ranked below Call of Duty: World at War(as well as Resident Evil 4 and NERF-N-Strike Bundle).  I consider Call of Duty: World at War to be a FPS more closely along with same lines as The Conduit, than I do Resident Evil 4 or NERF-N-Strike Bundle.

If you haven't picked up The Conduit, or even Call of Duty: World at War for the Wii, do you plan on buying either game at this point?  If you're a Wii only owner, are you now maybe waiting for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [REFLEX] this November, instead of purchasing either The Conduit or Call of Duty: World at War?

The Conduit's versus Call of Duty: World at War: Nintendo WiFi online connection speed test

A battle of connection speed and time: Call of Duty: World at War versus The Conduit.

Call of Duty: World at War was released on November 11, 2008.

Call of Duty: World at War features up to eight (8) players in online matches.

The Conduit was released on June 23, 2009.
The Conduit features up to twelve (12) players in online matches and was also the first FPS and is only the second Wii game to use Wii Speak.

I own both Call of Duty: World at War and The Conduit.  Call of Duty: World at War's online multi-player kept me entertained for most of my gaming hours for nearly six months, until The Conduit was released in June.  I really enjoyed Call of Duty: World at War's online.  I was hoping that The Conduit's online multi-player experience would be equal to(if not better than) Call of Duty: World at War's online experience.

I've enjoyed FPS games since Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo 64.  Being a new parent, sometimes finding time to play games and trying to get a game of multi-player in, may be while the little one is taking an hour nap on the weekend.
Minutes add up to hours, and getting in an online match quickly and smoothly is important, especially with a baby in the house that may start crying any minute with a dirty diaper(can any parent relate to this?).

The Conduit was released on June 23, 2009, a full seven (7) months after Call of Duty: World at War, but which game has the faster connection when going from the Wii main menu, to actually getting into an online multi-player match?




 If you're wondering, I did try logging in for different match types and Call of Duty: World at War beat The Conduit every single time.

If you're a parent like myself, that extra minute may add up for you over the period of several months.  If you haven't purchased either game, would this factor alone make you lean more towards purchasing Call of Duty: World at War?

Nintendo's profit on the Wii at a $199.99 MSRP.

How much will Nintendo make off the Wii at a 
$199.99 MSRP?

Updated from previous article: Friday, September 18, 2009

If the reports and sale ads for the stores*, that are appearing on the internet now, are correct, the Wii will get a price drop to $199.99 on September 27.

If $199.99 is the new MSRP for the Wii, and if it is costing Nintendo $107.79 to manufacture everything included with the console, Nintendo will still be making roughly $80-90 per Wii unit sold at the new $199.99 MSRP.

How much does it cost Nintendo to manufacture the Wii in 2009?

From the original Wii manufacturing cost of $195.99*, to the new estimate in manufacturing costs reduction being 45%*, I would say Nintendo can manufacture and distribute the Wii in 2009, for less than $120. If correct, this would mean a Wii retailing at a MSRP of $149.99 or even $129.99 is possible, but not probable, in the very near future.

$107.79 may seem like a low cost to manufacture the Wii with everything in the box, but we must remember, the Wii is simply two GameCubes duct taped together*…

Do you think Nintendo is dropping the price of the Wii enough at the $199.99 MSRP?  Do you think when looking at numbers like these, that an analyst like Michael Pachter may be right in assuming that Nintendo will announce a Wii Plus HD next year and sell it alongside the current Wii?

If you don't own a Wii, does the new rumored MSRP of $199.99 make it more likely you'll buy one now?

Sources for rumored price drop:

*http://www.nintendojo.com/infocus/view_item.php?1253311668

*http://kotaku.com/5362694/this-is-getting-wii+diculous

*http://kotaku.com/5361772/target-circular-adds-fuel-to-the-wii-price-drop-fire

*http://kotaku.com/5359038/toys-r-us-ad-points-to-199-wii-price-drop-this-month

Sources for manufacturing costs:

*http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/15/wii-manufacturing-costs-ring-up-to-just-158/

*http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/07/analyst-suspects-wii-manufacturing-costs-are-down-45/


Source for duct taped comment:
http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=14251

The Conduit beats Metroid Prime Trilogy: Nintendo Channel Data

Metroid Prime Trilogy debuted for the first time this week with data on the Nintendo Channel.

I consider Metroid Prime Trilogy a game(or games) that would appeal to 'core' gamers, take a look at the numbers:

Metroid Prime Trilogy has 63,930 total play times hours reported by approximately 5,416 gamers.

Now time for a comparison. FLASHBACK to The Conduit's debut on the Nintendo Channel:

We can see The Conduit debuted with 10,592 more hours than Metroid Prime Trilogy did it's first week, and The Conduit also had 1,547 more gamers reporting play time data the first week it debuted, for a total of 6,963 gamers reporting data on The Conduit.

From the numbers showing, I would assume that The Conduit sold more copies in it's first week, and/or had more players playing the game and using the Nintendo Channel.

If you own The Conduit, and also bought Metroid Prime Trilogy, I would like to know how the controls compare in both games...are The Conduit's controls better than Metroid Prime Trilogy's?




(All numbers rounded to the nearest whole number where applicable.)

Wii Casual vs. Core vs. CasualCore: Nintendo Channel Data for Week Beginning Sept. 13

Another week has passed and this week Wii Sports Resort has crossed one million total hours reported playing since it's July 26th release!
I'm keeping the data reported more simple and streamlined this week.

Wii Sports Resort increased by 14%, or 153,928 hours, in total play time hours.
The Conduit increased by 5%, or 31,252 hours, in total play time hours.
EA Sports Active increased 5%, or 10,102 hours, in total play time hours.
Punch-Out!! increased the least percentage in play time hours, increasing only 4%, or 19,652 hours, in total play time hours.
(All percentages rounded to the nearest whole number.)

Are you playing Wii Sports Resort still or have you moved onto other games?

Wii Casual vs. Core vs. CasualCore: Nintendo Channel Data for Week Beginning Sept. 6

Wii Sports Resort Approaching One Million!

Another week has passed, and more hours have been logged into games by the casual and core gaming crowd.

Last week we looked at EA Sports Active, Punch-Out!!, The Conduit, and Wii Sports Resort, and we will continue this week with the same games.

EA Sports Active remains the lowest of the games in total play times reported, while Wii Sports Resort continues it's climb up with total play time approaching one million hours!

Punch-Out!! and The Conduit are still in the middle.

Here are the numbers and the data breakdown.

I'll start with the game that has the most "Total:" hours reported playing, it was last week and again this week, Wii Sports Resort.

Wii Sports Resort: 

973,588 TOTAL HOURS reported playing. 

439,794 total play time sessions recorded.  

Wii Sports Resort saw the number of people game play data was received from increase from 54,942 last week, to 67,453 this week.  A difference of 12,511, nearly a 23% increase from last weeks number of users data was received from.

The Conduit:  

556,338 TOTAL HOURS play time.  

255,199 play time sessions recorded.

The Conduit saw the number of people game play data was received increase from 26,693 last week, to 28,546 this week.  A difference of 1,853, an increase of just over 6% in users game play data received.

Punch-Out!!: 

460,894 TOTAL HOURS play time.

289,334 play time sessions recorded.

Punch-Out!! saw the number of people game play data was received increase from 46,134 last week, to 48,792 this week.  A difference of 2,658, an increase of just over 5% of users data received.

Last but not least(definitely not least in sales),

EA Sports Active: 

206,148 TOTAL HOURS play time.

210,124 play time sessions recorded.

EA Sports Active saw the number of people game play data was received increase from 29,015 last week, to 30,855 this week.  From the numbers, 1,840 more users submitted data this week, an increase of almost 6% of users submitting data for EA Sports Active.

EA Sports Active, Punch-Out!!, and The Conduit all saw total play time increase, between 5-7.5%.

Wii Sports Resort saw total play time increase 202,759 hours, nearly a 21% increase in total play time!

What do Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick and Nintendo have in common?

Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick has been under a lot of scrutiny ever since he made a comment about wanting to raise the price of games, on Activision Blizzard's Q2 2009 Earnings Call.  It was then announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will sell for £54.99(Pounds), an increase of £5($8.16) more than the first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was brand new.  Some gamers have been outraged over it, promising to boycott and not buy Activision Blizzard products and asking other gamers to do the same.

Outrage and disgust against Activision Blizzard really started showing after Mr. Kotick's statement, "And Tony, you know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further."  Many people think it's Mr. Kotick being greedy and trying to take advantage that the game is going to presumably sell millions of copies.

While that may be true, now, the question I'm thinking is, "Where is the outrage, disgust, and videos calling for the boycotting of Nintendo and their products?"

Nintendo is now just as guilty, as Activision Blizzard is, for raising prices.

Rewind a little bit and think about it.  Before the Nintendo Wii, which Nintendo console sold for $250 when it was released?  I believe the Wii was the first Nintendo console to retail new for $250, $50 more than their previous consoles.  I don't remember a lot of people being outraged and calling for boycotts on the Nintendo Wii because Nintendo raised the MSRP by $50 on the Wii from their previous consoles in the past.

Some may say, "The Wii is a console, it's different from games."  Okay, that is true, but Nintendo just recently announced that Wii Fit Plus, the sequel to Wii Fit, will retail bundled with the Wii Balance Board for $99.99.  A price increase of $10 more than the original, and $1.84 more than Activision Blizzard is raising the price of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 overseas.

Nintendo is also going to be selling Wii Fit Plus as a stand-alone retail game for $19.99.  Please explain for me, how the new Wii Fit Plus bundle with the Balance Board is retailing for $99.99, only $10 more than the original, but Nintendo is going to charge $20 for the game by itself...shouldn't the stand-alone Wii Fit Plus be retailing only for $10 based on the price difference in bundles?  I know Nintendo of America's, Denise Kaigler, already came out in defense of the price increase and gave her reasons for it, but it's still a price increase on a sequel to a game, just like Activision Blizzard's on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

If you're a Nintendo fan like myself, you may not care a lot that Wii Fit Plus is increasing by $10 for the bundle, and that's fine.  If you're a Nintendo fan that's angry about Bobby Kotick's comment and the price increase of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, I think you should be just as angry at Nintendo...

So, what do Activision Blizzard's CEO Mr. Kotick and Nintendo have in common?  Price increases!


Do you think the price increases on games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Wii Fit Plus are justified?

Nintendo's Endless Ocean has Ended!

Nintendo of America is going to be releasing Endless Ocean 2 sometime in the first quarter of 2010.

There may be many of you, like myself, that never played the original Endless Ocean.

I started looking in May of this year for the original game at my local Target, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy stores only to not find it on the shelves.

I searched on Amazon.com, Wal-Mart.com, BestBuy.com, etc., all with the same results...the game wasn't listed on their sites or was "out of stock" as a new game.

Being that Endless Ocean was developed by a 2nd Party, Arika, and it was only $30 brand new, I wanted to buy it NEW and not used, to help support the 2nd Party efforts of Arika. I'm not a huge fan of buying my games "used", as I would prefer to get them new and support the companies that developed the games.

I finally contacted Nintendo this week, and asked them about the situation and here's my original email and their reply:

"I've been trying to locate Endless Ocean since at least May of this year, but I can't find it new at any store or even online.

Amazon, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Best Buy, etc., don't have the game in stores and have actually removed the game from their websites in most cases.

Has Endless Ocean stopped being produced? If so, am I supposed to buy it used?

Sincerely,
Scott"

Nintendo's reply:

"Hello Scott,

I was sorry to hear that you haven't been able to locate a copy of Endless Ocean.  Unfortunately, that game is no longer being published by Nintendo.  As such, you might consider checking the secondhand video game market to see if you can locate a copy.  This includes retail stores that deal in used games, pawn shops, garage sales, and auction websites.

For assistance with finding stores that carry used or secondhand video game products, head to the "Where to Buy" section of our website(www.nintendo.com) and click on the "Older Systems, Games, and Accessories" link.  Below I've included a direct address to this page on our site: 

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/retail/index.jsp#oldproduct

I wish you the best of luck in your search.

Sincerely,

Nintendo of America Representative"

Their answer was fair enough and they even supplied a link on their very own site to help me in my search for a used copy of the game.  I was just a little surprised the game isn't being published now, AND they even encouraged me to find the game used, instead of sending me a link or even attempting to promote Endless Ocean 2.

With all the arguments for and against buying used games, this is an instance where I think it's 100% okay to buy it used, because it's the only way to now buy Endless Ocean.

So, if you are looking to buy the original Endless Ocean before Endless Ocean 2 comes out next year, you can start by using a link on Nintendo's very own site, http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/retail/retail_used.jsp.

Wii Casual vs. Core vs. CasualCore: Nintendo Channel Data for Week Beginning Aug. 30

SUGGESTION: Drinking a cup of coffee before, during, and after reading this article may help with understanding it...maybe not.

Over the last several weeks, I've been collecting the play time data on certain games off of the Nintendo Channel.

I've been following games I consider to be targeted toward the 'casual' and 'core' gaming audiences.

On the picture, EA Sports Active is the first one shown, which I place in the 'casual' category as I think the game is geared toward the new casual gamers. While looking at the data, remember that Electronic Art's has reported that EA Sports Active has sold more 1.8 million copies.

The next two games I've collected data on, are Punch-Out!!, developed by Next Level Games and published by Nintendo, and The Conduit, developed by High Voltage Software and published by Sega. I consider both of these games to be more 'core' oriented and focused, especially The Conduit being that it is a FPS.

I was having a bit of trouble finding the Punch-Out!! sales number, if anybody can provide a link, that would be greatly appreciated.

As of now, I'll assume that VGChartz.com is close to the right numbers for Punch-Out!!'s sales. Punch-Out!! is listed as selling 420,000 units in North America.

The Conduit is reported to have sold/shipped around 150,000 units since it's release.

Another game I've been collecting data on is Wii Sports Resort. I consider Wii Sports Resort a 'casual/core' game, that can appeal to the casual Wii owners, as well as the core Wii owners. Wii Sports Resort has been out for only a short time in North America, but has already sold more than one million units.

Now for the play time data:

Based on the numbers shown and units reported sold, EA Sporst Active has the least amount of play time, which I would suspect from a casual title, but it also currently has the most in sales out of the four games.

I find really it interesting how The Conduit has the least amount of sales, but it has the second highest amount of play time.

Wii Sports Resort has only been out only since July 26th and it currently ranks second in sales reported of these games, but it currently has the most play time out of these games.

If you're wondering how these numbers are collected by Nintendo, I did contact Nintendo and asked them that question myself.

The response I received was, "The data for the Nintendo Channel is collected from players in North, Central, and South America. Basically, if you look at the list of countries in the Country settings in the Wii Menu, those countries are the ones who would be participating. The totals from each player are reported when they access the Nintendo Channel if they've opted in to sharing their information). Note that if a player doesn't connect online or never opens the Nintendo Channel, their playing stats are never uploaded to us. - Nintendo customer service rep"

Based on the response and some quick math, we can see approximately how many users of these games have reported the data, and the approximate percentage reporting from the overall sales:

EA Sports Active 195,271 ÷ 6.73 = 29,015*

29,015 is the number of people that have bought EA Sports Active and actually signed into the Nintendo Channel and allowed Nintendo to collect their play time data from games.

Assuming the 1.8 million units sold is correct, less than 2% of owners of EA Sports Active are reporting their play time data.

Punch-Out!! 272,649 ÷ 5.91 = 46,134*

Based on the VGChartz.com's sales numbers, Punch-Out!! has sold approximately 420,000 units in North America. Based on that, it seems that between 10-11% of Punch-Out!! owners are signed up and are having their play time data collected.

The Conduit 234,100 ÷ 8.77 = 26,693*

Based on VGChartz.com's sales number for The Conduit in North America being at 170,000 units sold, between 15-16% of The Conduit owners are having their play time data collected.

Wii Sports Resort 340,088 ÷ 6.19 = 54,942*

Based on Nintendo's PR email about the sales of Wii Sports Resort, I'm assuming the game has sold close to 1,075,000 units in North America, so between 5-6% of Wii Sports Resort owners have their play time data collected.

Based off these numbers, it would seem that certain games like EA Sports Active are bought by the now famous 'casual' gamers of this generation, while games like a first-person shooter, The Conduit, are still being bought by 'core' gamers.

Nintendo of Japan has announced a new program they will be starting in October to encourage more Wii owners to get online. I'm glad to see Nintendo of Japan taking some steps to encourage Wii owners to use their systems for online purposes.

*rounded to the nearest whole number