Should video game sales matter to gamers?

[Nick]

Every month, the NPD group releases the American video game hardware and software sales data for the previous month, and every month it quickly becomes a cesspool of rabid fanboys(and Aaron Greenburg) blasting each others favorite consoles.

Presumably, we don't work for any developer or publishers. So should video games sales even matter to the average gamer?

I have mixed feelings, personally. In some ways, it shouldn't matter. As long as your console is selling well(which all of them currently are), you aren't going to have to worry about them being discontinued.

On the flipside, though, there have been games I like that have come out, bombed, and never had any sequels developed. Shadows of Rome, Psychonauts, and Beyond Good and Evil all spring to mind when I say that. Of course, UbiSoft announced last year(after a 3-4 year hiatus), that they would make a Beyond 2, but my concern still exists for other games. Most recently, it's been Valkyria Chronicles, which sold less than 70K in the US.

[CASAIS]

Tough one. No it shouldn't matter cause a Great game will always sell well and Gamers will find out and go buy the game. Unfortunately game sales matter for developers cause they can then see what the gamers want and where they have to spend on and support to make money.

Catch is that Good games that are not on the Majority of gamers cupboards do tend to never be seen or heard from again thus Hurting the REAL Gamer where sales don't matter to Him/Her and they just want a GOOD game.

[SaintAvi]

I think it should to a degree, If you know you are going to be picking up a title by a developer who isnt exactly financially stable or are in a make or break position, pre-order
that game as a vote of confidence, this will increase units ordered by the retail outlets
and help generate some buzz

[Antonie]

Depends really. I only ever pay attention to the sales of games that would be considered "sleeper hits". Low key games that don't have much advertising or hype. Those are the games I pay attention to sales. If they don't sell well then what motive do publishers and developers have to make more games like it? It's a shame when epic games go unnoticed and never get a follow up.

[EIN]

See here's the thing about games selling well or not: publicity.
You got it, they'll buy it. Run a huge campaign and people will eat that stuff up; especially if you're a big publisher. Doesn't matter if the game is average or whatnot, the PR department will just put embargoes on the people who preview them, claiming that they'd be giving too much away if the game was crappy. Or in developmental phase, etc. Bottom line is, get enough people talking about this game and people will buy it.

But here's the key issue; publishers who can afford massive PR campaigns usually also have the finances to back support for their games. Big budget advertising usually means a big budget game, which usually means alot of work went into making it into something worth playing. This means online support, this means a professional art team, this means developed/tested gameplay, this means orchestral scores, this means high production values, and so forth ad nauseam. Publishers put time, money and effort into these games because they believe it will sell; in order to make more money, they make better products as a general rule. So they toot their horns, beat their chests, and generally amke enough noise that people say "Hey, why not I'll give it a shot".

Thus, NPD reports every month.

So it all boils down to that; you have a higher chance of buying a decent game when you buy games that sell well. After all, if so many other people thought so, why not you? As an added plus, with the prevalent online support most games include nowadays, the axiom that more people who buy it will equate to more people online to play with/against holds true.

So typically, the games that do well on the NPD charts are blockbusters, and failing that, are at the very least, decent games.

Unless its about the Wii... Lord only knows wtf is going on with that...

[Frappoccino]

It depends on the game...I dont want to purchase a game for $70 and 3 days later im done with it. And 3 months later the same game is selling at $49.99. I think that games are expensive, buying 5 games at $80 taxes in per year is $400 (these prices are canadian dollars). Im a big gamer and play a lot of games, but unfortunately I have to wait until the price jobs before I can purchase some of them

[EIN]

It depends on the game...I dont want to purchase a game for $70 and 3 days later im done with it. And 3 months later the same game is selling at $49.99. I think that games are expensive, buying 5 games at $80 taxes in per year is $400 (these prices are canadian dollars). Im a big gamer and play a lot of games, but unfortunately I have to wait until the price jobs before I can purchase some of them

How does this relate to whether or not sales figures should be a factor in your purchase?

But i agree totally with you, some games just aren't worth the money paid for them **cough** Watchmen **cough**

[m0tl3sl4y3r]

For me, it depends. On one hand, you should not care if a game sells a lot, you should only care about if you like to play it. But if a game does not sell that much, then that means not much people will play online, so then online probably won't be that fun. PS3 games are expensive, so you should get your moneys worth, so it depends on what you like, so if you don't really care about online play, you could buy a game that didn't sell that much if you wanted, but if you like to play online a lot, then stick to the hot selling games. It's all about what the gamer likes