It appears as though consumers in the U.K. weren’t pleased with Microsoft’s Xbox One press conference on Tuesday. Before the company revealed its next-generation console, the Wii U console’s sales rank was at #390 on Amazon UK. Shortly after the Xbox One conference, the Wii U console’s sales rank apparently jumped by a whopping 875 percent, elevating its rank to #40 on the online retailer.
Thanks, sosukebzr.
Microsoft Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer has told Polygon that the company is preparing to reveal a historic Rare franchise for the newly unveiled Xbox One at this year’s E3 event in June. Spencer wouldn’t give any hints regarding which franchise he is referring to, but Rare clearly have a legendary back catalogue of games. Which Rare IP would you like to see revitalised for the Xbox One?
“Fans of Rare and Rare IP I think will be pleased with what we’re going to show at E3. We had a limited amount of time today and a lot of story to tell. But Rare remains an incredibly important part of our development capability. That historic IP that they’ve built I think can play a real important role on Xbox One.”
This week’s Media Create sales charts are now in from Japan. Tomodachi Collection: New Life has been pushed aside this week for Summon Night 5 for the PlayStation Portable. In total there are seven games for Nintendo platforms in the Japanese top ten. The Nintendo 3DS continues to be the best-selling video game device in Japan, while the Wii U sees sales dip once again. Hopefully Wii U sales momentum will pick up after E3. Here’s the Japanese software and hardware charts.
Nintendo and Sony have both seen their stock prices rise following today’s Xbox One announcement from Microsoft. Nintendo saw a rise of around 2.2 percent, while Sony saw a rise of 9.3 percent. We should remember that Nintendo’s shares also rose when Sony hosted the PlayStation 4 presentation in February. On February 22nd Sony’s U.S shares were down 2.7 percent to $14.08 by midday, with Nintendo’s shares up 2 percent to $11.79
Former Grand Theft Auto producer at Rockstar, Jeremy Pope, has told Games Industry that he can’t see there being three consoles in the next, next generation. Pope says it will be extremely challenging for Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, and says that it is hard to fathom that we are going to have these three big players in the console market in the future. Pope wouldn’t be drawn into who he thought might leave the home console market, but he did say that several companies have stopped developing console games because it’s become so expensive and time-consuming. Here’s what Pope had to say.
“It’s going to be very challenging for Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see by the next generation some consolidation of some sort — it seems hard to fathom that we’re going to have these three big players again and again with the way everything is shaking out.”
The NPD Group has said that April was a dismal month for video game sales in the United States. Industry sales slumped 25 percent, reaching $495.2 million. Software sales for April fell 17 percent to $267.8 million, while hardware sales plummeted 42 percent to $109.5 million. That didn’t stop Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon and LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins sneak into the all formats top ten. You can view all the best-selling games in the United States for the month of April, below.
This week’s Media Create sales charts are in from Japan. Tomodachi Collection, which is exclusive to Nintendo 3DS, is the best-selling game in Japan once again. The life simulation is closely followed by the well-received Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The Nintendo 3DS remains the best-selling system, although the Wii U has seen sales dip once again. Here’s the Japanese software and hardware charts.
Insomniac Games’ CEO, Ted Price, has recently participated in an “Ask Me Anything” post on Reddit, in which he was asked to share his thoughts on next-generation consoles, including the next Xbox, PlayStation 4 and Wii U. Price said that, while he’s excited for upcoming consoles from both Microsoft and Sony, he considers the Wii U a current-generation console. Also, according to Price, Insomniac Games is not developing any games for Nintendo’s Wii U.
“Wii-U is something I’d consider more current gen – but we’re not working on games for it. When it comes to PS4 I’m excited that they seem to be lowering barriers for independent developers. It’s cool to see almost weekly announcements from Sony explaining how they’re opening things up for indies. And of course I’m very excited to see what Microsoft announces soon.”
UK retailer GAME has planned to open up 18 new stores across the UK by the end of July – only a year since their troubled finances forced them to close 227 stores. The news comes after the company paid its backing investment firm OpCapita £3.2 miliion in interest from its first four months under the new ownership.
According to The Telegraph, though, GAME still owes £103 million to OpCapita, but are paying it back above the base rate at 7.5 per cent. If sales continue to go soundly for GAME, they should be able to pay off the whole sum by April 2017. GAME, which has over 300 stores across the UK, said their outlook was ‘positive’ for the future.
This week’s Media Create sales charts have come in from Japan. Tomodachi Collection: New Life was the best-selling game this week selling an impressive 208,814 units. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon clung onto second place, swiftly followed by Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The Nintendo 3DS was the best-selling hardware this week, beating both the PlayStation Vita and the PlayStation 3. Here’s the Japanese sales charts.
