Land of the living
Ubisoft’s flawed survival horror experiment I Am Alive was the top selling PlayStation Network title in April. The oft-delayed adventure managed to displace thatgamecompany’s Journey from the top spot, while Telltale’s The Walking Dead adaptation occupied two spots in the top five. The episodic title's Season Pass and...
Golden weak
Golden Week did nothing to improve the PlayStation Vita’s fortunes in Japan. Following a minor resurgence last week, the system dropped back down to a familiar position of 10k units sold. To compound the disappointment, the new handheld slipped behind Nintendo's aging Wii for the first time since its release late last year. It was...
Hot shot
Rebellion’s super satisfying tactical shooter Sniper Elite V2 has put a bullet in this week’s UK sales charts. The new release shot straight to the top of the multiplatform best sellers, pushing last week’s winner Prototype 2 into the second spot. Sgt. James Heller won’t be pleased. Elsewhere, it was largely as you were: EA’s holy...
Brand awareness
Slant Six’s rotten squad-based zombie spin-off Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City has sold over 2 million units worldwide. According to publisher Capcom’s annual financial report, the shoddy shooter had sold 1.7 million copies as of 31st March 2012. Factor in the title’s surprisingly strong Japanese debut of 290,000 units,...
Huge numbers incoming
Call of Duty: Black Ops II is poised to become another blockbuster of epic proportions, if early indications from online retailer Amazon are to be believed. A report on MCV notes that early orders for the upcoming title are already triple those of the original Call of Duty: Black Ops which released in 2010. Amazon’s Graham...
On the rise
After a torrid couple of weeks in Japan, the Vita has finally emerged from its temporary slump. Sony’s shiny new system sold a respectable 12,299 units for the week ending 29th April – a significant improvement over last week’s worrying 8,206 units tally. The boost was no doubt orchestrated by the release of Surge Concerto: Ciel...
Bargain bin
We’re going to go out on a limb and assume you’re excited for the upcoming PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Guess what? Sony is too. To celebrate the title’s announcement last week it has revealed a brand new PlayStation Store sale, dedicated to honouring the contenders of the upcoming mascot mash-up. Discounts apply to various...
Consumes the competition
Activision’s angry open-world adventure Prototype 2 has shot straight to the top of the UK sales charts. However, despite its position, it failed to outperform the first week sales of its predecessor which launched back in June 2009. The rest of the chart paints a familiar picture, with EA’s FIFA Street, FIFA 12 and Mass...
Through the keyhole
There’s a myth on various forums and websites that the PlayStation 3 is unpopular and the poorest performer of the current generation consoles. It stems from years of disappointing NPD reports, where Sony’s home console has spent the generation lagging behind the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 in North America. But overseas,...
A familiar story
This week’s Japanese sales charts prove the nation is gripped in 3DS fever. After enduring a tepid start, Nintendo’s handheld has become something of an unstoppable force, dominating the software and hardware sales charts alike. Meanwhile, the Vita continues to lurk beneath the decisive 10k units mark, selling 44 consoles less...
Priceless treasure
Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series has officially entered the pantheon of great PlayStation sellers, with Sony announcing this evening that the franchise has surpassed 17 million sales globally since its debut in 2007. The numbers account for the PS3 trilogy and Sony Bend’s recently released Vita spin-off. To celebrate the news,...
Cash is king
New intellectual properties have it tough in today’s video game market, so it’s refreshing to see a title like Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning post impressive US sales. The EA published action RPG has sold 410k units since its launch in February, with a sizeable chunk of those sales coming from the month of March. NPD’s David Riley...
How low can you go?
Whatever Soul Sacrifice is, it can’t come soon enough. With no new releases to speak of, the Vita continued its decline in Japan this week, selling a paltry 8,250 units. To its credit, it wasn’t the only system to decline. Only the DSi LL managed to post an improved figure, beating its previous tally by a measly seven units...
Series on a slippery slope
Call of Duty isn't quite the infallible mega franchise it’s made out to be. Don’t worry, the series is still selling a ridiculous number of copies with each new iteration – but it appears its success has peaked. That’s according to analyst firm Macquire Equities, who believe that sales for the most recent outing...
Back of the net
As the Premier League season dribbles to its conclusion in predictable and conveniently tense fashion, FIFA Street has casually returned to the summit of the UK sales charts after a week or two floundering outside of the top three. It was another good week for publisher EA, with the brilliant (but controversial) Mass Effect 3 sitting...
Geth a load of that
Mass Effect 3 sold 1.3 million copies across multiple platforms in North America last month, the NPD has confirmed. The figure covers retail releases only, so digital downloads on the PlayStation Network (and EA’s own Origin) are not counted. As such, it’s safe to assume the true, ahem, Tali is significantly higher. To put...
Bad news
Binary Domain is a rare gem. Sure, it gets a bit repetitive in places, but it’s uncommon to find a new IP with a genuinely intriguing universe and likable cast. It’s just a shame the general public didn’t agree. According to this month’s NPD report, the Yakuza Studio developed third-person shooter sold just 20k copies in North...
Not especially pretty
Despite the arrival of several massive new releases, software and hardware sales continued their decline in North America for the month of March 2012. The latest NPD report shows that the month brought in $1.1billion in revenue, a whopping 25 percent less than the same period in 2011. Hardware, software and accessory sales were...
The end is nigh
A lot of industry conscious gamers hold a significant amount of faith in Japan’s weekly sales figures. It’s those same commentators that invented the so-called "10k units rule". The fabricated philosophy states that if a system’s sales are above 10k units a week, it’s “alive”. But should the unthinkable happen...
Minor boost for Vita
There was a Mickey Mouse-shaped cloud raining over the Japanese sales charts this week, as Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance cooed its way to the top spot. It was joined by numerous iterations of Konami’s Pro Baseball Spirits series, as the PS3, PSP and PS Vita versions of the latest bat-and-ball entry all...
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