Analysis: Killzone 3's February 2011 Sales Ranks with Chart

Coffee Beans:
     Killzone 3 was released on February 22, 2011 in North America on the PS3.  The game released with a "Standard" edition with a MSRP of $59.99, as well as a "Collector's" edition with a MSRP of $129.99.
     Killzone 3 was developed by Guerrilla Games, and published by Sony.  The ESRB gave Killzone 3 a "M for Mature" rating, with "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language" listed as content for buyers to be aware of.

     Killzone 3 was Sony's biggest PS3 release in February, but how did that translate into online sales ranks?  Let's take a look!

Click chart to enlarge

Chart Information:
     The chart above shows the sales ranks for Killzone 3's Standard edition on the PS3, with ranks recorded from February 1 through February 28, 2011.  The sales ranks are reflective of pre-order sales ranks and release/post-release sales ranks for February.  All times shown on the chart were recorded as Pacific Standard Times.
     I recorded the date/time and sale rank of Killzone 3, as well as the price Amazon.com had listed, but the prices aren't listed in the chart, though I will make a few notes regarding sales ranks and prices below.
     The chart above is not designed to replace the NPD sales numbers for February, but is designed to be a supplement for the NPD February 2011 numbers, and perhaps give us an idea of what affected sales for Killzone 3 during the month, such as reviews and prices.

Highs & Lows:
     The highest recorded sale rank for Killzone 3 was #1, on February 19, February 20, February 21, and February 22; around 4:30PM, 8:10PM, 9:30PM, 7:35PM and 10:50PM respectively.  Killzone 3 was selling for $59.99 with a $20 Amazon.com Credit and Pre-Order Bonus(image below) on February 19, February 20, and February 21.  On February 22 it was selling for $59.49 with the $20 Amazon.com Credit, both times I recorded the sale rank that day.

$20 Credit and Exclusive Killzone 3 Pre-Order Bonus as recorded on 2-19-11

     The lowest recorded sale rank for Killzone 3 was #18, on February 1 around 10:50PM, and it was selling for $57.99 when the sale rank was recorded.

Monthly Averages:
     Pre-Order Average - Killzone 3's average sale rank before it released was #8, from February 1 through February 21.
     Release/Post-Release Average - Killzone 3's average Amazon.com sale rank after it released was #4, from February 22 through February 28.
     Overall Monthly Average - Killzone 3 had an overall monthly sale rank of #7, when I averaged all the Amazon.com sales ranks from February 1 through February 28.


Critical Reception:
     Killzone 3's first "professional" review scores started being published on the internet on February 3.  GameRankings.com had 13 reviews posted for Killzone 3 on February 3, and the average review score for just the internet reviews posted on February 3 for Killzone 3 was 87.91%.

     Killzone 3's current "professional" review score average is 86.94%, based on 49 reviews on GameRankings.com.
     Killzone 3's current customer review score average is 87.88%, based on 109 customer reviews on Amazon.com.
     (Current review scores recorded around 3:00PM on 3-10-11)

Agree, or disagree?

Filtered Thoughts:
     Killzone 3 saw the biggest jump in sale rank from February 2 to February 3, moving up eight spots and into Amazon.com's "Top 10" in video games.  On February 2, Killzone 3's sale rank was #14 around 9:10PM; on February 3 around 8:25PM, Killzone 3 had a sale rank of #6.
     The first reviews for Killzone 3 started being published on the internet in the 23 hours between sale rank recordings on February 2 and February 3.  I think it's pretty evident that the reviews are what caused the increase in sale rank, because the listed price for Killzone 3 was $57.99 on both February 2 and February 3; so a change in price wouldn't have been a contributing factor for either day.

     I didn't record Killzone 3 at the #1 sale rank in February, until February 19, which was also the first day I recorded Amazon.com offering the $20 Credit and Pre-Order Bonus with the game.
     February 22 was the last day I recorded Amazon.com offering the $20 Credit with Killzone 3, and February 22 was also the last day in February that I recorded Killzone 3 with the #1 Amazon Bestsellers Rank in video games.
      I find it interesting that it seems like a $20 Credit is what it took to get Killzone 3 to the #1 spot on Amazon.com in February, and as soon as the $20 Credit was removed from the orders, the game's sale rank decreased, and never reached the #1 spot again in February.
     Perhaps Killzone 3 commercials airing for the game also helped, though I don't know how many commercials Sony had, or when they started airing them.  I know THIS commercial was uploaded February 18 to Kevin Butler's YouTube account, so if it was airing on February 19, it probably helped the sale rank as well.

     While I haven't purchased Killzone 3 myself, I know a few readers here have played the game, either through the Open Multi-Player Beta a few weeks back(like myself) or the retail version they purchased.  If you missed my FPS Friday post in February on Killzone 3, here's the video I included with the post showing an online multi-player match:


Questions:
     Do you think the Amazon.com sales ranks for Killzone 3 will be reflective of the February NPD data, with Killzone 3 being in the "Top 10" of the NPD software sold, but perhaps not in the "Top 5" for the month?
     Also, if you purchased Killzone 3, how did you purchase it: online, or in a retail store?


If anybody is interested in Killzone 3, you can see prices for both the Standard and Collector's versions on Amazon.com linked below: