XBLA Top 10 -- Week of 11/12/07 -- Something's Amiss Edition
I must say that I'm trusting these numbers on Major Nelson's site less and less. It's not really Major's fault, but we don't know exactly how the numbers are being counted and weird things are showing up (like the unreleased Omega Five) on the list and then necessarily being removed (and thus, damaging the credibility of the list).
In addition, UNO has reappeared magically. Why would it be on the chart for so many weeks, drop off for a couple, and then just pop back up?
No matter, the list stands before you. Read it and weep.
Way too much text (and opinion) after the break.
Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
| Rank | Last Week | Title | Release Date | WOC* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Switchball | 11/7/2007 | 1 |
| 2 | 5 | Word Puzzle | 11/7/2007 | 1 |
| 3 | - | Sonic The Hedgehog 2 | 9/12/2007 | 9 |
| 4 | - | UNO | 5/9/2006 | 79 |
| 5 | - | Screwjumper! | 11/14/2007 | - |
| 6 | - | TMNT 1989 Arcade | 3/14/2007 | 35 |
| 7 | - | Shrek-N-Roll | 11/14/2007 | - |
| 8 | 8 | Bomberman Live | 7/18/2007 | 17 |
| 9 | - | Worms | 3/7/2007 | 36 |
| 10 | - | Tetris Splash | 10/3/2007 | 6 |
*WOC: Weeks on Charts (Only full weeks are tallied, thus first week is zero.)
Beyond the mysterious reappearance of UNO you also see Worms, TMNT, Sonic 2, and Tetris all back on the chart. This supports my hypothesis that something is not quite right about these charts. All of these returning games have powerful name recognition about them that easily explains their presence on the chart. So, why the short lived vacation from the chart? Hmm...
As for the other games (debuting in the last two weeks) I was personally a tad disappointed with Switchball. It lacked a certain punch that I found in Marble Blast Ultra. I know they are wildly different in their intent and scope, but while Switchball has nice visuals, the pace was surprisingly slow considering the puzzles have a timed mode. Word Puzzle is what it is. Period. Shrek-N-Roll falls a bit flat as a solo game but I could see how playing with a friend/child/gremlin would make playing this more fun. And finally, Screwjumper! merely gave me a wee bit of information overload. Thererfore, I will abstain from judgement as my opinion may be tainted by the fact that I sucked at game in general. Wouldn't want to get people upset like OXM Dan.
Shrek-N-Roll and Screwjumper's presence in the middle of the chart is more indicative of the only-half-a-week sales number epidemic for debuting XBLA titles. This is probably why Major has decreed that the lists will now be posted on Mondays or Tuesdays to acquire nearly a full week's worth of data prior to posting. Hopefully it will be a better gauge of XBLA sales.
That's all I got. The form to complain about my ignorance/tardiness is below. Use at your discretion.
[via Major Nelson]
Comments
drwhite2001
15237
Plurre
15003
Great to see these posts again :)
And yeah, I find the charts weird too. I wrote this in the forums last week: "I'm starting do doubt if these lists really are correct. Some things just doesn't make sense compared to last week ... Originally, even Omega Five was on the list. And this isn't the first time the Major has to edit it."
The uncertainty if the charts are correct really kills some of the (kind of geeky) fun that comes from predicting and analyzing. Anyway, the Major starting to post them on a different day sounds good.
Btw, we've got a lot of mediocre games the last few weeks... Last one I bought was Puzzle Quest.
Tomacco
22209
I wonder if the placing of highly reconizable titles is due to the last couple of months sales numbers of the actual hardware.
As new people pick up the system, they are probably going to be picking up some XBLA titles, what better titles to pick up than ones that you've actually heard of before :)
LunarDuality
36370
@ Tomacco
I believe that you are very correct. But that is why the spikes and crashes of these titles puzzles me? Based on what I know about the hardware sales, the only real major spike I've seen recently was in Japan when Ace Combat 6 arrived. I doubt that single handedly changed this chart. Then again, maybe sales of everything is lower than I thought and thus more volatile?
@ kingmonkeyisgod
If the arcade console had that large of an impact I would also expect to see Pac-Man C.E., Boom Boom Rocket, and the other games that are packed in.
TRON 76
17527
not sure if this is true but , check out this link, shows every game
http://www.vgchartz.com/news/news.php?id=649
doesnt quite sync with major nelsons number
Ah, the first ever weekly XBLA sales charts. And it's a doozie. We see the partial effects of what a 48hr free game does, as well as a debut game seems to bomb.
Now, the Charts:
Notations:
*Recieved a 48hr free download (Carassanone 11/15/07-11/17/07, Texas Hold 'Em 8/23/06-8/25/06)
** Recent Temporary Price Drop of 50%
^ A title that is either a full game in Xbox 360 Arcade Pack-In, or included as in Xbox Live Unplugged Vol #1
Bold: New Title.
My Notes:
Carcassanone has a beyond-huge boost. This increase in sales is litterally a 50% boost in total users in a 48hr period. Expect a strong hold next week, as more users that downloaded, activate the game and start unlocking achievements. Also, this game alone is responsible for nearly 30% of every downloaded game.
As for revenue, sales are pretty meager: taking out Carassanone's $542,000, XBLA revenue was only $850,000 for the week. Not great, but not horrible either.
The 2 new titles were what caused such bad numbers: Both Shrek N Roll and Screwjumper! seemed to of had very tepid debuts. Nevertheless, they should do well next week.
Switchball and Word Puzzle did very, very well on the week. They both account for 20% of total XBLA revenue for the week. Puzzle Quest: COTW and Hexic 2 also did great this week.
Next Week's Wednsday Title: Undertow
Expect a huge opening for Undertow. It's been anticipated for months now, and is a full UE3-Powered 16 player shooter for under 1200 points. Could do great for XBLA next week, reviving a rather week opening for the newbies.
Also, I apologize for the meagerness of the charts. There's no LTD total on them, or release dates. Next week, I will correct that. But for now, please enjoy the charts!
Plurre
15003