Max Payne 3 sold 440,000 units in US launch month
Weak debut for multiformat game delayed since 2009
Sales of Rockstar and Take-Two's Max Payne 3 in its US launch month were 440,000 units, according to data from the NPD Group.
The game was originally due for release in 2009 but after three years of delay finally hit shelves on May 15 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and May 29 on PC to a warm reaction from the press.
Analysts had expected the title to sell around 600,000 units during the month, with Sterne Agee suggesting it could hit a total of 4 million lifetime sales.
Along with Ubisoft's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier which also sold just over 400,000 units in the US, the poor performance of Max Payne 3 was one of the main reason for the entire US software sales market sinking 16 per cent according to analyst Doug Creutz at Cowen & Company.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Morville O'Driscoll on 15th June 2012 1:56pm
I wonder if those affiliated with the retail-biz are playing down the Steam component in the ongoing defense of retail over DLC? I note that all the Next Gen download strategies have been placed on the top secret list!
Steam is very rarely mentioned in connection with sales figures, but whether that's because people just tend to ignore the PC market, or because people are trying to pretend that Steam isn't a force to be reckoned with is hard to tell. Most likely, a little from Column A, a little from Column B.
This attitude goes back to the pre-console days, I remember the C64, Sinclair, Tandy, BBC-B and Atari boys all ignoring the IBM PC games (with games such as the fantastic 'Apple Panic' or 'ChopLifter'... oh those were the days).
Now-er-days the reason is much more political, the PC crowd using machines that put most consoles to shame, already fully established DLC route to market (thanks DOOM) and also a dedicated online competition structure that is not monetized up the wazzo! Big danger to game publishers superiority complex.
I can see also a Column C issue - a lot of trash talk about the STEAM BOX (online PC console) proposal, seems to have scared a lot of publishers / manufacturers.
Probably something to do with the fact that they can't be sold second-hand, so retailers like Game shoved them to the back of the shop in a corner and try their best to pretend they don't exist.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Rick Lopez on 18th June 2012 4:58pm