The Nintendo 3DS Was An Unexpected Guest At PlayStation Experience. December 10, 2014 . 2:31pm source: Siliconera
Of all the messages I sent to Spencer at the PlayStation Experience, one of them stood out. While I was at the Bloodbourne panel on December 6, I turned to see the people around me and how full the Palazzo Ballroom was. That’s when I saw it—a man behind me was on a 3DS. I immediately told Spencer, “Somebody’s playing Pokemon during this panel.” I then elaborated that it was either Alpha Sapphire or Omega Ruby.
Before I left for Vegas, I’d said I wanted to do a critical article going over the StreetPass situation at a Sony event. I figured it would be good for a laugh, and joked about perhaps getting swarmed for daring to use a 3DS in view of a legion of PlayStation fanatics. I was going to be dutiful about it, too. I had a note on my iPhone where I was going to keep a running tab of all the StreetPasses acquired on certain days, and planned to check my 3DS every hour.
In practice, it wasn’t so simple. The second I lined up on the first day of the event, I knew things weren’t going to be so organized. While waiting for registration to open, I accumulated over 30 StreetPass hits. That was in the span of under 30 minutes. By the time I had gotten situated in the Sands Expo hall for the keynote, there had been another 20. Checking every hour wasn’t going to be enough.
The jokes about using the 3DS at PSX proved quickly unfounded, too. I noticed two people also using the handheld while waiting for their Sony Swag Bags. Others would sit in the lounge area to check their StreetPasses as well. It was honestly reassuring. You hear about console wars online and figure lines will be drawn. It’s a Sony event, the Vita will be king. Certainly, it was. I saw many people using them. Still, I didn’t expect the 3DS to have the presence it did. I mean, I lost count of StreetPasses after the 100 mark!
I suppose one could say it shows a shift in mentality of people who game. Platform doesn’t matter, if the good games are there, and people can fervently love multiple consoles at once.
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Retro City Rampage Sold “Healthiest” On Nintendo 3DS. December 18, 2014 . 10:56am
Solo developer Brian Provinciano has said that Retro City Rampage saw the “healthiest tail” in sales on the Nintendo 3DS out of all the platforms the game has been released on in a blog post.
Overall, the 3DS version has sold less and made less revenue than the PC and PlayStation versions (which includes PS4, PS3, PS Vita), but that’s due to it being released 15 months afterwards. “[H]ad it been released simultaneously with the others it’s possible that it could’ve become the best selling out of all eight platforms (or at least toe to toe),” Provinciano writes. He puts this down to it being the right kind of game for the 3DS and promotion on Nintendo’s part.
Provinciano also makes notes on all the other platforms too. PC sold the most units but due to the discount driven nature of Steam this isn’t reflected in revenue as much. PlayStation platforms have been great sellers and money makers for him, especially due to promotions from PlayStation. He also notes that, despite the stigma that lies over the PS Vita, RCR has proven to be a healthy seller on that system.
The Xbox 360 version suffered due to not being promoted and not getting a decent store position – if you want promotion you have to pay for it. Plus, on the Xbox 360 you still need a publisher to get a game released on anything except the left for dead Xbox Live Indie Games store (the ID @ Xbox program only applies to Xbox One).
As you can see in the pie charts above, the Wii version of Retro City Rampage sold poorly, attributing to 0.1% of sales. And, as the note reveals, the Wii’s threshold policy means that the revenue for Provinciano on those sales is zero. You can probably start to see why Provinciano previously stated that he would not be bringing the game to Wii U.
Overall, Retro City Rampage has sold over 400,000 units and pushed over 270,000 copies to PlayStation Plus members.
Read more stories about Nintendo 3DS & PC & PlayStation 3 & PlayStation 4 & PlayStation Vita & Retro City Rampage & Wii & Xbox 360 on Siliconera.
