Report: GT6 sales fall off cliff

While by most accounts GT6 is solid, GT5 was such a disaster I think that GT6 deserves poor sales. People that build up fanbases of millions of people shouldn't knowingly screw them and Sony and PD knowingly screwed fans when they shipped that broken POS.

http://www.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/2014/01/14/gran-turismo-6-sold-almost-3-million-fewer-copies-in-its-opening-month-than-gran-turismo-5/

The numbers are most striking when comparing US sales figures. In December, analysis firm Cowen & Co estimates that GT6 sold 300,000 units stateside. Over the same period, GT5 sold 1,169,074 copies to American owners.

@CarnageHeart: The numbers are most striking when comparing US sales figures. In December, analysis firm Cowen & Co estimates that GT6 sold 300,000 units stateside. Over the same period, GT5 sold 1,169,074 copies to American owners.

I remember that the GT5 sales in December 2010 were around 550k. 1,169k is simply not accurate for the month of December. In fact, iirc it sold ~400K in November so it hadn't even reached a million in NA by the end of December. Their numbers are wrong.

That said, I called it. They should've released a PS4 version along with the PS3 port. Big big mistake.

It's eye opening that nearly every PS3 exclusive underpowered this year. GoW Ascension, Beyond Two Souls, GT6, Tearaway, Pupeteer, KZ Mercenary all sold awful to mediocre.

looking at the amazing software sales on the PS4, it's obvious that people were hungry for next gen stuff. Next gen GoW, Beyond and GT6 would've made PS4 an even bigger success. It would've certainly convinced those on the fence waiting for new exclusives to come out. Especially PC gamers like rag who are already playing cross gen games at high settings and needed exclusives to push them over the edge.

They need to let Shu go.

Yeah I agree, a PS4 version would have been nice, at least this time they won't go spending 5 years on a game that when completed doesn't hold up to modern standards. Just f***ing make the PS4 already, full on development and give it a good year. GT6 is out and there's nothing else they can do except hope to salvage some of their fanbase.

@S0lidSnake: Killzone Mercenary and Tearaway aren't on the PS3. I doubt that any of the PS3 games not named The Puppeteer would have put up better numbers on the PS4. For example, Beyond selling a million in two months probably put its sales in the same ballpark as any PS4 game not named CoD (PS gamers don't tend to clump much around single games) even if its sales are a bit behind those of Heavy Rain.

@S0lidSnake: I agree. A next gen GT would have been great. I prefer Forza to GT, but both are solid. And it would have been a great addition to the PS4 lineup to have a big hitter like that in their stable of games.

But I can see the decision's logic. They were probably banking on Drive Club being their big racer and likely wanted to give it some room to breath before the alpha dog came along to steal attention away from the new kid on the block. Had Drive Club made it out on time, it surely would have suffered from the comparison if GT6 were a launch game.

I dunno. That doesn't make it any better really. But I can see how the decision probably got made.

@ZZoMBiE13: I agree that Sony probably decided that Drive Club and GT shouldn't release so close to each other on the same console. And I'm sure when the decision was made, they had no idea DC would be delayed. To which I'm sure Sony thought. "Oh crap, now we have no racer on the PS4".

While I wish they released it on Ps4, it still is a good game.

Everything has improved from Gran turismo 5. Also the first major update added so much stuff and theres no end in site for the amount of content they keep giving owners. With the added seasonal events, free cars, community updates, and new challenges, there is a ton of content to keep you busy for months. Also micro transactions are not needed anymore because you can win a lot of money in the seasonal events. I won like 2 million getting gold in 3 events.

If it was released on Ps4, I bet it would of sold a lot more. I hope Gran turismo 7 sells well.

Bad timing, the series isn't evolving. People are taking notice. Either Sony changes the developers or the brand is going to take a nosedive. I doubt gt6 can sell 10 million copies like gt5 did, hell it'll be lucky to sell 4 million.

Ehhh, DriveClub and GT are made for very different audiences, I don't think they would have hurt each other that much.

Yeah I was pretty disappointed in GT5 myself so I haven't been all that interested in getting GT6.

I will definitely be getting GT6 eventually. I really like Gran Turismo 5 (XL Edition).

@Randolph: You are talking about a game that looks so similar to a sim that nearly every thread has someone asking whether its a sim or an arcade racer. Drive Club is a very tough game to market and Sony knows this. It doesn't look arcadey like Motorstorm and doesn't have the NFS name behind it to give Arcade cred. I dont blame Sony for not wanting to release both at the same time.

BUT they could've easily delayed DC to March 2014. After all they only had 2.5 years to make this new IP on a new console after releasing Apocalypse in May 2011. They should've forced Kaz's arrogant ass to release the next GT on the PS4 at launch. 3 years would've been the perfect time to build upon GT5 on a new console.

Like I said earlier, whoever is incharge of Sony Worldwide Studios and it's only one man Shu Yoshida, is responsible for this barren wasteland of a PS4 lineup. When you have people looking forward to yearly baseball games, you know the situation is dire.

Edit: What Solid said before me. Most people probably would've thought they were more similar than dissimilar.

Its not over the top, but the question also tends to be asked in part because arcade racers aren't wildly popular nowadays (though it you take the once phenomenally popular GT off the table, sims aren't doing too much better).

Its ahistorical to argue that a game needs to NFS name behind it to give it arcade cred. The revival of arcade racers was led not by NFS but Burnout 3. EA's desire to tie the Burnout team to one of its old IPs (I remember the first NFS on 3DO, a pure sim before GT made such games fashionable) doesn't mean that gamers are similarly fixated.

Expecting Polyphony Digital to launch a reasonably complete PS3 game on time (as they seem to have done with GT6) was optimistic given their track record. Expecting them to launch a multiplatform or even PS4 only game in that same timeframe would have been insane.

As for your claim that Yoshida not forcing developers to abandon the PS3 and focus completely on the PS4 was a bad move, I'll quote something I wrote eight years ago.

http://www.gamespot.com/profile/blog/the-importance-of-reputation/23486363/

To touch upon recent topics of discussions (occasioned by the fact that both the PS2 and the DC were released Stateside September 9th) , the success of the PS2 and the failure of the DC had much to do with the reputation of their manufacturers among gamers. Coming off the PS1 (which was strongly supported throughout its five year lifespan), Sony had a sterling reputation among gamers which enabled the PS2 to do well despite a shaky first year (in terms of software). Coming off the Saturn (which died after three years of weak support), Sega had a poor reputation among gamers that doomed the DC to failure despite a strong first year.

Erring on the side of oversupport of a last gen system benefits its successor more than starving the last gen system and just telling all teams to work on its successor. Getting people excited about the successor to the console that dominates their playtime is easier than getting people excited about the successor to the console that has been collecting dust in their closets for two years. The PS2 is far and away the most popular console in history and the PS4 (which is unlikely to hit the PS2's heights) has had the biggest launch in history.

Last and probably least your statement that the fact that that people like sports games on the PS4 means that the library is in bad shape is ridiculous. I guess all videogame systems in history must be in bad shape bad because sports games have always been phenomenally popular. Even modern Nintendo console fans like sports games.

This isn't surprising. The PS4's sales numbers show that people were more than willing to move on to next generation. GT5's less than impressive (for the series anyway) numbers aren't any different than the last gen Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed IV, and CoD Ghosts selling significantly less than previous entries.

Personally, I didn't care because GT5 wasn't any good until it was patched and updated about 34 times so I wasn't in a hurry to get the, admittedly better looking, GT6.

I'm sure you can see that his point was that there is nothing major coming soon, making MLB The Show the highlight of the lineup.

However, even though I'm not particularly looking forward to it, there is Infamous Second Son also coming. So are Tomb Raider and Thief.

Should've been a PS4 launch title.