What do you define as 'good sales'?

I think the 1.5 million mark is a real hit.

Whatddaya think, SW?

it makes a profit and warrants a sequel

If I enjoy the game then "good sales" is when enough is sold to warrant a sequel.

more than 2 million for and exclusive and 3.5 million for a multiplat is very good imo

more than 2 million for and exclusive and 3.5 million for a multiplat is very good imo

PAL360

Yeah, agreed.

I think the 1.5 million mark is a real hit.

Whatddaya think, SW?

muzik_mafia

Depends on the title and expectations. For example -

Uncharted 2

• ~1 million = not good
• ~2 million = good
• ~3 million = great

inFAMOUS

• ~500k = not good
• ~1 million = good
• ~2 million = great

There is no set figure for good sales, if they broke even and make a good return; then it sold well. Regardless of whether that game sold 3 million or 300 thousand.

Take Sins of the Solar Empire which only cost 1 million to make, they would be making a profit on sales a lot faster compared to a 20 million blockbuster. Big budget blockbusters have to sell more to make a worth while return, not every game has to sell millions to be be worth it.

Depends on hype... Regular games, avrage hype 1 mil is probably a huge thing. But for games like Halo and blockbuster sequels 4-5 mil is okay.

There is no set figure for good sales, if they broke even and make a good return; then it sold well. Regardless of whether that game sold 3 million or 300 thousand.

Take Sins of the Solar Empire which only cost 1 million to make, they would be making a profit on sales a lot faster compared to a 20 million blockbuster. Big budget blockbusters have to sell more to make a worth while return, not every game has to sell millions to be be worth it.

it all depends on how much they spent on development

if GTA4 or MW2 sells 1mil.... thats terrible

if boomblox sells 1mil... thats great!

Likewise, I think the one million mark is the bar you want to hit in your initial sale period. Lifetime sales, I think you would hope, would exceed 2 million, but perhaps that's a bit greedy.

I base it off of hype, the production values and marketing that a game is getting. 1 million would be amazing for a super niche JRPG like Disgea 3 but it would be terrible for Modern Warfare which has an advertising budget alone of like double digit millions and has been hyped up as the gaming event of the year.

The Disgea guys would probably get treated to a steak and lobster dinner along with multi-thousand dollar bonuses for everyone while IW would probably get called into a meeting with a bunch of pink slips on the table and everyone sitting around like, "damn, we really ****** this up."

That's good sales for me. Successful sales is simply doing well enough to pay all your employees and continue making games in the future.

it makes a profit and warrants a sequel

88mphSlayer

there we go.

it doesnt have to sell 1m copies to have good sales.

profit is more important.

a game can sell 4m copies if it doesnt make a profit it still sold poorly

if its profitable then its good

Personally for me it depends on the game or series to determined whether or not it net a good amount of sales. A popular game would most likely expect a larger amount of units sold compare to a relative new or unknown titles.

It seems like many people don't have a realistic view of what good is, with some of you claiming if a game doesn't sell 3 million it isn't "good".

First, good is relative to the cost of the game.

Second, with the hundreds, rather, the many thousands of games that have taken losses....any game that makes its return on investment has done "good".

typical games, games that cost less than 10 million Dollars I mean, when they sell 500,000 copies, they have usually made their money back and tabulated profit.

In the music industry, that would be a GOLD record. Many are lucky to get that, and it usually means said artist will be back for another record.

You need a realistic perspective when you think about this, or at least you should.

500k = Not bad :oops:
1m = I think we got a winner :)
1.5m = Well alright :shock:
2m = ::hmmm:: check (thats a milker) 8)
5m = :question: Why didn't we think of this before :|
10m+ = We are evil people muahahahahah :twisted:

New IP- 1 million

Sequel to new IP - 1.5 million

I'd say about 1.5 million is "good", If you take averages of titles you need to sell 750,000 copies just to break even. I think MW2 had to sell 9 million to break even though so it can vary for certain games.

less than 500k - sucks

750k - average

1.5m - good

3m - great

5m - awesome.

10m - Activision is going to fire you, and run your game into the ground.

I'd say about 1.5 million is "good", If you take averages of titles you need to sell 750,000 copies just to break even. I think MW2 had to sell 9 million to break even though so it can vary for certain games.

less than 500k - sucks

750k - average

1.5m - good

3m - great

5m - awesome.

10m - Activision is going to fire you, and run your game into the ground.

jrhawk42

1 million for exclusives, for multiplats multiply it by the number of systems it's available for.

it makes a profit and warrants a sequel

88mphSlayer

Depends on the title and expectations. For example -

Uncharted 2

• ~1 million = not good
• ~2 million = good
• ~3 million = great

inFAMOUS

• ~500k = not good
• ~1 million = good
• ~2 million = great

Nike_Air

agreed with both of these especially the 2nd, the success of the game corrercially should be linked with its cost and hype.

There is no fixed number, so I had to wonder why the importance of "one million," as a high-budgeted game can be considered a sales flop even it simply reaches that number. I consider factors for "good sales" as budget, sales expectations (whether by publishers or analysts, as I do not count the expectations of fans and gaming journalists), and profit.

In speaking of high sales, the infamous flop E.T. sold more than four million copies, but it is considered a flop because Atari was unable to make back the $23 million it paid to the studio to purchase the license for the film, as well unable to sell out the excess copies it produced. The unsold copies were alleged to buried in a landfill in New Mexico, and concrete was poured upon them so would-be collectors will not be able to dig them up.

Because of this fiasco, Atari's reputation was tarnished and it was unable to recover from it.

Most titles that sell over a million is really good, regardless of how much more Halo sold.

It depends on the game.

games make a very good profit selling 500k units, i think 500k is a success

Those people stating numbers are idiots.................it depends on the cost of production.ocstew

depends on how much hype it has.

[QUOTE="ocstew"]Those people stating numbers are idiots.................it depends on the cost of production.2mrw

lol how about shipping cost, handling fee, and inventory cost?

10 million,

A million copies I guess.

I think the 1.5 million mark is a real hit.

Whatddaya think, SW?

muzik_mafia

1 million is great imo, I think the 3 mil is the great marker. Everything after that is awesome and anything over 10 is astounding

1.5mil

i would say 1mil.