Mortal Kombat was released on April 19, 2011 for both the PS3 and Xbox 360. The game released with a "Standard" edition for $59.99, a "Collector's Edition" for $99.99, and a "Tournament Edition" for $149.99.
Mortal Kombat was developed by NetherRealm Studios, and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game received a "Mature" rating from the ESRB, with "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language" listed as content for parents to be aware of.
Did more PS3 owners or more Xbox 360 owners apparently purchase Mortal Kombat during its 11 days on the market in April? Did the PlayStation Network crash/downtime affect Mortal Kombat's sales ranks on the PS3 compared to the Xbox 360 version, and was this apparent? Let's take a look!
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| Click chart to view full size. |
The chart above shows the sales ranks for Mortal Kombat's "Standard" edition on the PS3 and Xbox 360, with sales ranks recorded from April 19 through April 30, 2011. The sales ranks were recorded from the overall "Video Game" sales ranks each time. All times recorded/shown as Eastern Standard Times.
Not only did I record the date/time, but I also recorded the sale price of each version as Amazon.com had it listed at the time I was recording the sales ranks. The sale price is listed on each date on the chart.
The chart above is not supposed to be a replacement of NPD sales numbers, but is designed to be a supplement with the NPD numbers and perhaps give us an idea of what the sales for each console version of Mortal Kombat were during April.
Highs & Lows:
The highest recorded sale rank for Mortal Kombat on the PS3 was #1, on April 27 around 9:20PM, and on April 29 around 11:10PM. The game was selling for $49.99 on both days.
The lowest recorded sale rank for Mortal Kombat on the PS3 was #5, on April 28 around 11:00PM, and as the chart shows it was selling for $49.99.
The highest recorded sale rank for Mortal Kombat on the Xbox 360 was #5 on April 25 around 11:00PM. The game was selling for $49.99 at the time.
The lowest recorded sale rank for Mortal Kombat on the Xbox 360 was #9 on April 26, April 29, and April 30. The game was selling for $49.99 each day it was recorded at that sales rank.
Overall Sales Rank Average:
Mortal Kombat on the PS3 had an overall sale rank average of #3 for the 11 days it was available in April.
Mortal Kombat on the Xbox 360 had an overall sales rank average of #7 for the 11 days it was available.
Critical Reception:
The game's "professional" review scores started being published on the internet on April 19, the day the game released.
Mortal Kombat's current review score average on the PS3 is 88.32%, based on 28 reviews on GameRankings.com.
Mortal Kombat's current review score average on the Xbox 360 is 88.18%, based on 39 reviews on GameRankings.com.
The game has a 4.5 out of 5 Stars rating on Amazon.com on the PS3, based on 92 customer reviews.
Mortal Kombat on the PS3 has a customer review score average of 91.30%, when the reviews are converted to a 100% review scale.
The game also has a 4.5 out of 5 Stars rating on Amazon.com on the Xbox 360, but based on 63 customer reviews.
Mortal Kombat on the Xbox 360 has a customer review score average of 87.61%, when the reviews are converted to a 100% review scale.
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| Click to view breakdown of ratings. |
Filtered Thoughts:
I was really, really, really surprised to see the PS3 version of Mortal Kombat consistently outrank the Xbox 360 version in April, mainly because I thought word-of-mouth spreading about the PlayStation Network being down would hurt the PS3's version; but I think the data shows my thought was incorrect!
I also found it surprising that the PS3 version's lowest sales rank, was the Xbox 360's highest sales rank during the 11 days it was available in April. After the first week of the PSN outage and the price drop to $49.99, I thought the Xbox 360's version would see a significant increase in ranks, and perhaps pass the PS3's version; but that did not happen in April.
The PS3 version included Kratos as a playable character, and perhaps that helped keep it ahead; but this data along with the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 data from back in March, I think shows that PS3 fans really enjoy their fighting games. Based off the data, I think it's pretty clear that fighting games are more popular on the PS3, than they are on the Xbox 360.
I have not played the new Mortal Kombat, and it has been years since I have played the series. It seems from a lot of fan impressions and reviews though, that this Mortal Kombat is a great new game for the series. You can read the impressions of one fellow blogger/reader HERE, and impressions of another fellow blogger/reader who used to work on the development of Mortal Kombat games at Midway, HERE.
Surprisingly, Amazon.com currently has heavily discounted both console versions of the game, and you can purchase the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Mortal Kombat for just $39.99.
Questions:
If you purchased Mortal Kombat, and you own both a PS3 and Xbox 360, was the PSN going down(and still being down) a factor in you deciding which version to purchase, if you didn't pick it up day one?
If you own Mortal Kombat on the Xbox 360 and have been playing it online, how do you think the online runs for the game? Also, are any of you surprised the PS3 version consistently outranked the Xbox 360 version, considering the downtime of the PSN?
If you are interested in Mortal Kombat, you can see prices for both versions on Amazon.com linked below:
That Kratos freebie really affected sales, huh? Goes to show that having exclusive characters is going to be a big deal for multiple-format fighting game releases in the future.
ReplyDeleteThose are some interesting results - and thanks for the link to my review! :)
ReplyDeleteI had the game on pre-order, and didn't know the PSN was down until like 2 days after I had picked Mortal Kombat up. Not sure if that would have changed the version I picked up or not. It would have been nice to get the online play in, but there were a lot of offline modes, and I think that helped (between the story, the ladder single and tag team modes, the challenge tower and the krypt).
I will admit, I probably would have been more annoyed had this happened to MvC3 (which I also picked up on the PS3) - because I ran through the single player modes a lot faster on that game.
For me, I got the games on PS3 mostly so my son could play online too (he doesn't have a 360 gold account like I do). Now, this worked for MvC3 - obviously we haven't been able to test the PS3 version. One thing I'm waiting to see is if he can play online. The game shipped with an online access code - and I haven't seen yet if this means only my account has online access or if our PS3 has access.
I've already commented about how I hate this particular process, but I will be a bit more annoyed if this means only my account can play online. I've already heard rumblings that more PS3 games (like the White Knight Chronicles sequel) will be unlocking only 1 account for online play. I understand (if dislike) the idea that the Devs want to protect their profits by making sure people buy new and not used - but in households with multiple gamers? This trend could get annoying. Sorry, I veered off of topic a bit (a ton) - but due to the PSN outage, I haven't been able to test this yet.
I am a bit surprised that the PS3 results were so much better. I have 2 other friends who bought this game, and they got it for 360.
Actually i bought it for ps3 after a week into the psn downtime. its still really fun, online is only a part of it. The story is fun, the ladder mode is great and there are over 300 challenges in the challenge tower, more than enough to occupy my time.
ReplyDeleteps3 is the choice for fighters.
ReplyDeleteis this for real and accurate?
ReplyDeletebecause its crazy man!
even with PSN down it outsold Xbox 360!
the game is amazing regardless of whatever platform you get it on. I'm not bothered about Kratos, every character are great
Interesting chart. According to gamestop sales data the Xbox 360 version is outselling the ps3 version by a decent margin. Guess we need to wait for actual total sales before we start writing articles.
ReplyDeleteMy reason for the PS3 version is because of the D-Pad. It feels much more comfortable to play fighting games with the Dualshock 3 Especially Mortal Kombat since you have to be precise with your button inputs.
ReplyDelete@GamesAndBiz:
ReplyDeleteWell, it could have been a determining factor, but it seems like the PS3's D-Pad was the biggest deciding factor I've read so far.
@Chalgyr:
"I am a bit surprised that the PS3 results were so much better. I have 2 other friends who bought this game, and they got it for 360."
Yea, these were the ranks on Amazon.com, so I think it'll be interesting to see if the NPD data actually provides any sort of breakdown for each console version.
@Anonymous from May 8, 2010 @ 12:11AM:
Do you own a Xbox 360 as well, or just a PS3?
@Anonymous from May 8, 2011 @ 1:15AM:
I have heard it, and I own a PS3 myself, as I said in the article though, I really thought the PSN issue would affect the PS3's version more than what was shown...which isn't really much of anything in the chart.
@xino:
Yea, I take screenshots of each sales ranks, and record the sale price each time while saving the image. I actually have done it for a lot of other games, and never done anything with the data...it's just something I find interesting to watch.
@dox:
Do you know if the GameStop's sales data is for April, or is it current game sales that it's showing?
I wish the NPD data was more clear, but instead of being more open, they seem to want to restrict more information...which I guess they release for a certain price to the publishers? I just hope this can give us some idea of the breakdown when the data is released.
@djocelot:
The D-Pad seems to be a big issue with fighting games, and we had some of that discussion in the Marvel vs. Capcom sales post from back in March.
It seems the PS3 controller's D-Pad is the most preferred if there is a choice from multi-console owners.
Thank you all for the comments/feedback so far! If anybody else has any more thoughts on the post/chart, or just on Mortal Kombat in general, feel free to join the conversation, and perhaps leave some feedback that may be useful to others playing the game, or looking at purchasing it soon.
Read the Amazon reviews and you'll notice the PS3 fanboys trolling all over the place. They are saying that the 360 version looks and plays like crap which is an outright lie but if you don't know any better you'll read that and buy the PS3 version instead. I'm sure this also had a lot to do with sales in general. I buy what I like for whatever system I want and don't rely on anyone to tell me what's is or isn't better.
ReplyDeleteOne system's controller is better suited for Fighters. The other system's controller is better suited for shooters.
ReplyDeleteInteresting results, we'll have to see the NPD data to be more solid on any assumption we can glean. It's true that the D-Pad on the PS3 is much better and maybe there are just more gamers who like fighters on the PS3 thank Xbox.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really mind that the PSN was down for this game. Its way more fun to get your friends together and laugh over the crazy fatalities. Which is what I did.
I've seen a couple of comments about the controllers - and I know that topic's come up on prior posts here too. I tend to forget about that aspect of it I guess - do a lot of people use the D-pads then for games like this? I tend to use sticks for just about every game (except like Pacman where there are absolutely no angles to deal with).
ReplyDelete@Chalgyr, For fighting games, yeah the D-Pad can make or break the experience. Mainly due to the nature of how the moves are executed and designed. In MK there is a lot of Back Forward Down Forward etc that need to be executed rather quickly. Which is very challenging to do with a joystick consistently everytime. Since fighting games are very technical, most hardcore fighting fans want to make sure that the move is executed everytime. That was long winded.
ReplyDeleteThere may be an exception to this with the Arcade fighting sticks, these are considered Superior to D-Pad since you hold it with your entire hand its much easier to control and faster than a D-Pad or Thumbstick.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do like using fight sticks. One of my buddy picked up a couple when he got it for his 360, and we had fun using those. I'll have to spend some more time w/ the dpad and see if I personally feel like it makes a big difference to me. If so, that would be a good reason to consider ps3 over 360 from a system standpoint when picking a game. For me it's just usually about the online (kind of funny then, that I got the ps3 version, heh)
ReplyDeletePS3 rules and Xbox drools :)
ReplyDelete@Charlie Change, No wonder the 360's get the red ring of death all the time... drool and electricity don't mix. :-P
ReplyDeletean evil feeling enters the room . . . a force that starts to peel the paint off the walls but you don’t see anything doing it, it slows your breathing. BAM! you hear something in the next room but you know your the only one there. you can’t see it but you feel it. horror games on xbox 360 . .
ReplyDeleteExclusive Characters just ruin the game. Online is usely just millions of people using that 1 character, that shouldn't even be in the game, which eventually just ruins the experience for the real fans.
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When I initially played MK on the 360 I had a heck of troublesome time.Freaking combos wasn't connecting so fundamentally winning with kicks and punches.Personally it was simpler playing mk on the ps2 than the xbox back in the day,controls most likely factor close to restrictive character and visuals.
ReplyDelete-------------------------------------
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