No sales don't matter, at least as far as SW goes.
I had this to say about it a couple months ago:
[QUOTE="agentfred"]
I think you are all missing the point of the whole "you can't play sales/ sales don't matter" argument. I'll try my best to clarify.
Everyone agrees that sales are critical for a console's success, at least as far as the business side of things are concerned. No one disagrees. A console that sells like hotcakes, i.e. the Wii, is far more successful than a console that has sluggish sales i.e. the Dreamcast. No one debates this fact. Why? Because no one cares.
That's right. Real gamers don't care whether their console of choice is a success from a business point of view. That just doesn't matter. What does matter however, are the games that they get to play on their console. From a gamer's point of view, this is all that matters. Thus, a system that has a great lineup, is a better system than one without one, regardless of sales. Why is this? Don't we care about the well being of the console maker? Of course we do, but sadly, they won't be giving a cut of the profits, the only thing they'll give us, are the games. Thus, whether in victory or defeat, a console is judged solely by the games it had. It's ironic that you mentioned the Dreamcast as a "failure" because most gamers who actually owned a Dreamcast look back on it fondly, and as an excellent system.
"Now then, what about the software sales? Don't tie-in rates matter? Doesn't it matter how many copies a game sells on each system? And Agentfred, don't you know that selling boatloads of copies will lead to more games? And are you so heartless that you don't care whether a game succeeds or not?"
Software sale's follow the same principle as Hardware sale's do. By this I mean, if you are truly concerned about playing games, then the number of copies a games sells doesn't matter, only the quality of the game does. To prove my point, I'll draw upon the analogy between System Shock 2, and 50 Cent's Bulletproof. Yes I know, you've seen it a thousand times before, but that doesn't make it any less effective. System Shock 2 was a simply amazing game, no one can deny, yet it failed in terms of sales. Bulletproof however, outsold it by a great margin, but was a terrible game. No matter how many times Bulletproof outsells SS2, it'll still be the worse game.
Before I move on let me recap that part: Software sales mean nothing to gamer, when it comes to playing games. Remember, hamburgers sell more than steaks.
"But wait! Everyone knows that if a game sells lots of copies, the developers will prosper, and make more games for your system! Thus, sales are important to gamers, and you're wrong agentfred!" A powerful argument it seems, yet it is still flawed. In this case, sales are a means to an end, meaning that sales are the cause of quality games. However, untill those games materialize, it's all just theory. At the end of the day, if those sales haven't made more quality games, than the gamer loses, regardless of how many copies he bought. So, again, the only thing that matters is the amount of quality games on a system. If sales help to increase that, great, but alone, those sales mean nothing.
"Are you just a complete jerk?" Yes. "Do you care about the developers at all?" I sure do. Don't get me wrong, I hope every single good game out their succeeds, and sells millions of copies. I feel for developers when the get the short end of the stick, and I'm happy for them when the get a hit on their hands. Still, however I feel about the developers, it doesn't effect my enjoyment of a game, nor the system it is on. As such, this isn't an effective argument in System Wars.
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Alright then, now that I've written a long post, allow me to summarize.
Hardware/Software sales are one factor of success, quality is another. I, as a gamer, only care about the latter.
Do sales matter? Yes sir. Do they matter to me? Not even a little.
I hope I clarified this for even one person, because I spent way to much time writting this. :P
agentfred
You make one faulty assumption in your argument. Real gamers who don't care about sales aren't real gamers.
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