SCEA Top Ten PlayStation Home Items (By Number of Units Sold) for July 2012, With Consumer Trend Analysis
Information provided by Cade Peterson, SCEA PlayStation Digital Platforms Community Manager; commentary and analysis by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief
Slash is generally considered one of the greatest guitarists of his time — possibly of all time. And he learned his trade by playing an old guitar, with only one string, for up to twelve hours a day.
Think about that. That’s resourcefulness. He learned how to make music with only one string; if that’s all he had to work with, then by god he was going to make the most of it. And it’s much the same with these top-ten lists from SCEA each month: they give us only one (partial) data point, with no frame of reference and nothing to contrast it to, but if we focus diligently enough on this information over a series of months, we can start to make reasonable inferences and see greater patterns at work.
Would it be fantastic to have more data sets — more guitar strings — to play with? Absolutely. Imagine having a top-ten list sorted by sales volume (without giving away any specifics on actual dollars) to contrast against this list. Christ, we could jam like Santana on an E chord with twice the data. But let’s remember that it’s notoriously difficult to pry any Home consumer data out, and — to be fair — Sony really doesn’t have to share anything with outside community media.
So we gratefully continue to make music with one string!
1. Let’s talk microtransactions.
The top three slots on the list are unchanged from last month; they’re in exactly the same order. And, indeed, all three — Mass Media’s Green Ticket, Lockwood’s Token Packs, and Digital Leisure’s Chips — have dominated this list all year (in some cases, even longer).
What happened to Cogs’ numbers after their featured spot in the Hub was removed?
How much of a difference does that central advertising spot in the middle of the Hub make? I say this because it seemed like Digital Leisure had more to offer last month, but Mass Media has that massive splashy ad right in front of you as soon as you spawn into Home. Without knowing any specifics, it’s safe to say that central ad location is a massively coveted spot that probably does a hell of a lot to drive traffic.
How is that featured ad spot determined, anyway? Does SCEA simply decide that a certain third-party promotion is going to have that spotlight for X-number of days/weeks, or is it something that’s up for grabs to the highest bidder? The Hub has a hell of a lot more content advertisement in it than the old Central Plaza (which, contrary to populist sentiment, I think is a good thing, given how clunky and thick the current Navigator interface is at displaying Home content), so how is it determined, for instance, that nDreams’ Blueprint:Home gets the billboard over in the corner by Exclusives while Mass Media continues to get the central display spot?
If the ad placements and scheduled runs are determined by Sony, then that’s one hell of a juggling act to keep so many third-party developers happy. If they’re determined by highest bidder, then it becomes a question of just how much advertising a developer is willing to pay for, and what sort of competitive advantage that gives to larger developers with deeper pockets.
As an aside, it’s worth noting that Lockwood’s 480 Token Pack actually gained a spot from last month to this month, suggesting that in terms of aggregate sales volume, Lockwood may have been the developer on this list that won the month. How much of that business is people gifting each other, versus people using alternate accounts to gift themselves, is unknown. The size of the Lockwood team does convey an advantage here — Lockwood is capable of feeding a beast like the Gift Machine with new content on a regular basis — but, hey, it’s not like Lockwood hasn’t earned their dominance.
It’s a foregone conclusion we’re going to see scaled-down versions of gifting showing up in Home, to try to duplicate Lockwood’s formula. Juggernaut already tried it with the multiplayer MiniBots release. Which brings us to:
2. What’s conspicuously absent.
Mid-month content launches are at a huge disadvantage with these lists. Juggernaut released multiplayer MiniBots in the latter half of the month, and even though it uses a token currency similar to the consistent sales leaders on this chart, it failed to show up. Is this simply due to it being a mid-month release, or was Juggernaut far too generous with its freemium formula?
The MiniBots are one of the coolest concepts that’s ever hit Home. But when its multiplayer variant was released, it was blatantly obvious that they had gone out of their way, bending over backwards, to give the Home community exactly the sort of “fair” freemium economy model they’ve clamored for. And I’m wondering if the end result is that Juggernaut — one of the most talented, innovative Home development houses out there — left money on the table.
The moral of the story is simple: don’t listen to the whiny brats on the Sony forum. Yes, there’s some well-reasoned constructive criticism there, but there’s also such tremendous hypersensitivity from that lot to anything that dares to try to make a profit that more often than not they sound like a bunch of self-entitled freeloaders. Winning a popularity contest with them might earn kudos, but kudos don’t pay the bills.
The community had its chance to show its appreciation for Juggernaut’s generosity by helping them hit this sales chart. Didn’t happen. So no more whining about developers aggressively trying to reach into your pocketbook.
Now, that said, there’s another conspicuous absence on this list from the other end of the spectrum, with a very aggressive grab for the pocketbook: x7.
If you recall, the x7 seven-day pass charted for two months in a row, when x7 first came out. But it failed to make the cut in June, and it’s absent once again for July. Is this a case of the consumer base finally realizing that the seven-day pass was economically the worst way to enter x7, or has the novelty worn off for this space?
If the consumers who bought the pass ended up buying more permanent access to x7 (via Plus membership or something from the Exclusives store), then the disappearance from the charts is justifiable. If not, however, it suggests that x7’s traffic (and, by extension, its revenue) may have diminished now that the promotional spotlight has moved on.
Speaking of promotional spotlights…please, in the name of all that does not suck, avoid making another official promo video like that insipid x7 ad. I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of Magnus’ Virtual Item Showcase videos anyway — they’re like the Diet Coke of HomeCast, with smarmy voice-over narration that assumes everyone in Home has to be a teenage hip-hop enthusiast — but that x7 video crossed the line into being blatantly offensive and frankly did the space itself a disservice.
Fog in the Cathedral
Are there other commodities which failed to chart? Absolutely. The one released in July which really should not be overlooked, even though it’s not on this chart, is the LOOT Fog Machine. Seriously, you need to get this. And you need to get it now. This isn’t even a question. Don’t make me use my outside voice.
3. Either fashion in Home has gone to hell, or stuff’s not selling.
The high-tops, black shirt with tattoo, and blue skinny jeans are all on the list again. What’s going on here? It’s exceptionally unusual to see this kind of sales consistency from the same articles of virtual clothing. Either virtual commodities in general just aren’t selling well in Home right now, or there’s some bizarre reason why these specific clothing items are on the list again. Who’s buying them, and why?
On the assumption that there isn’t a massive sales fall-off in Home, what is the appeal of these specific clothing items? Keep in mind that virtual clothing has been holding a less and less prominent spot on these lists throughout the year — with female clothing all but vanishing from the list, which amuses me to no end — so this sort of consistency really is statistically aberrant.
Kitteh does not understand your consumer clothing selections.
I’m starting to wonder how much of an effect seasonality has on SCEA Home. With kids out of school for three months, how much of an economic bloc do they represent in Home? Does Home see its greatest level of commerce around the Christmas holidays (much like a brick-and-mortar retailer), or is there a summer upswing from a different demographic?
My personal guess is that while we might see these clothing items on the August list, they’ll be gone by September — along with the kiddies, safely back in school.
4. Konami.
The Raver Neon Man. It’s fun. Great for parties. Combine it with some friends wearing Hellfire Games Discobot outfits and light up the room. Totally understandable as to why this charted. Next.
5. PODI!
Yes! Now this I wanted to see.
You all remember Lockwood’s original fireworks bundle, which came with the free (and awesome) Midnight Glade personal estate. The big complaint was that the fireworks were silent, and frankly it was a bit of a chore to go around trying to figure out how to place each individual emitter for different patterns.
So what did Lockwood do? They went back to the drawing board and instead of giving us just another virtual item which provides fireworks with sound effects, they went and invented a completely new interface that makes a game out of creating fireworks displays!
Seriously, if there’s a reason why we at HSM tend to sound like drooling Lockwood fanboys (and fangirls), it’s because they keep doing very nearly everything right. Rather than just slap together something quick and send it out to market, they examined the behavioral economics behind why someone would be motivated to purchase fireworks to begin with, and spent the extra time and money to create something which turned the drudgery of setting up a display into a fun and creative process. Then, by setting up an emote-based interface — a sort of very light riff on Tamagotchi — Lockwood created an emotional trigger to reinforce the behavior pattern and keep people interested in the process, not just the end result.
PODI is genuinely one of the coolest virtual commodities ever released into Home, and it deserves to be on this sales chart. With all the atomic-bomb releases into Home this year, it was easy for PODI to be overshadowed. The fact that it wasn’t reaffirms my belief that maybe, just maybe, there’s a glimmer of hope for this consumer base yet.
6. Crystal Seashores? What?
Never mind, that glimmer of hope just went away. Crystal Seashores ends up on a sales chart but the Tropical Bungalow doesn’t. What the actual frak is wrong with this?
All right, all right. Why did Crystal Seashores chart? It’s the latest in a long line of blank-box estates that are all re-skins of each other. Seriously, how many times has that same chandelier been used? So why is it that previous cookie-cutter entries — the French Chateau, the Gothic Manor, etc. — didn’t chart, but this one did?
Let’s call a spade a spade. Crystal Seashores is a barely reskinned fusion of the Mansion First Floor and Mansion Pool Deck, along with more or less the same generic floor plan seen in the aforementioned cookie-cutter estates. So why did it sell well enough to hit the chart?
Well, for starters, I can see how it would appeal to people who wanted an aesthetic experience similar to the Mansion, without being ridiculously gouged for a personal estate that clearly didn’t merit the price tag. Indeed, I have to wonder how Mansion owners feel, knowing that Sony released what amounts to very nearly the same setting for a fraction of the price.
It also has to be asked if the option to purchase it as a clubhouse helped boost its sales. Personal estates are a largely dead genre, although nDreams’ Blueprint:Home should breathe life into it and force developers to innovate once again; clubs, on the other hand, are still big business. Even though clubhouses have no additional functionality after this many years (which, frankly, is shameful), it’s fun to have different skins to provide your club with.
7. Conclusions and predictions.
The big question for August, of course, is whether or not nDreams’ Blueprint:Home will chart. We’re guessing (and hoping) that it will. There’s also the newly-announced Total Recall level for VEEMEE’s No Man’s Land, and given how polarizing that game’s commerce model is, I will be curious to see if a Hollywood A-list film can push No Man’s Land onto the chart. I, for one, hope that it does.
There’s some other really exciting content scheduled for release this month which is going to draw a lot of attention, but may be released too late in the month to show up on the sales chart. That said, while we can practically guarantee that Midway, Digital Leisure and Lockwood will continue to dominate this list (since it’s sorted by number of units sold), the real question is what virtual clothing, companions or estates will fill in the rest of the list.
One thing I’m looking forward to — and I just received clearance to write some prelim stuff about this, so look for the article soon — is a major game content release that’s going to blow a lot of people away, and stands a really good chance of cracking onto the sales list once it comes out. More to come on that.
For now, let’s end with a question: of the big three — Lockwood tokens, Digital Leisure chips and Mass Media tickets — which have you purchased the most number of, and why?
August 3rd, 2012 by NorseGamer | 11 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
LinkedIn
Twitter
love me some Lockwood but lately my money has gone to some of the lesser and relatively newer parties. I also pick up chips to play in the Casino.
nDreams will place but no higher than #5 is my guess.
I am frankly surprised the Crystal Seashores made it on the list. I don’t understand how the neon shoes keep appearing. I know they are cheap at the moment, but this makes me wonder if the Home user population is growing.
I think the wedding stuff in the gift machine may have contributed to the higher token sales for last month. People seem to really love the idea of the virtual wedding. It’s an interesting phenomenon worth looking deeper into.
KONAMI does not deserve to be on the list bcos they dislike Asia.
Mass Media is #1 as usual? Seriously?
When it comes to content, it’s definitely Lockwood with their outfit designs and Iron Fusion lineup that is truely deserving of the #1 spot, followed by nDreams and Granzella.
Out of Chips, tickets or tokens; which would I buy? Umm, kinda nine of them on any kinda regular basis to be honest. I will buy tokens if a friend expresses interest in a particular gift -- coz I’m nice like that. But really, the shocker for me is that mini-mansion getting a spot in there at all!
I think it’s unfair to throw the towel for mini bots. We should keep in mind it was a mid month release and i’m curious to see the long term result for that one. Might never show on the top ten list but can still perform well. A single purchase of the big $24.00 package can not only provide you with all your need but can also equip a few friends with the basic.
There was a lot of noise around the mini mansion. Good or bad, noise help sales. If Sony wants to fill home with hip-hop gangsta wannabe. The “mansion on a budget” make sense. Same goes for the neon shoes…
I never bought casino chips, i utterly dislike casino. Bought only 1 green ticket for almost the same reason. Never been a fan of this carnival/fair type of game. So i’ll go with the gift machine tokens
nice guitar reference Norse but I think Asians and Hillbillies were playing with one string long before Slash. It would be nice to see you become the Andre Segovia (transcribed Bach for guitar) of Game Marketing but with your limited resources you -yes -still manage to create a stir.
Okay we know why two of the three spots at the top are microtranactions -because people love to gamble. With Mass Media’s give away promotion the green ticket is not surprise, and also Digital Leisure same difference. It is however interesting that the altruistic act of giving ranks up there -that is unless people are creating second accounts to gift products to themselves from the Lockwood Machine.
I thouroughly agree with you assessment of the Magnus Commercials. Perhaps he should take a lesson from Slash and stand in the back and remain silent with a tophat and just let his one string do the talking eh? They are heinously obnoxious commercials.
x7 well bummer. Everyone is sick and tired of passing and getting cheesy lines thrown at them -surprise surprise (its easy enough to get the unexclusive kind -just hang out in the hub with the trolls). Now all the “pla-uhs” know who they are and can be corraled in the same spot- I only ever went there for the exclusive pre-releases anyway.
Oh and I did purchase the fog machine based only on the recommendation of SealWlf’s article (nods to Seal -great article) and I love it. Now my exterior virtual environments resemble the inside of my disheveled mind -in other words it helps me feel right a home.
On Skinny Jeans and hightops -there must be a new sect of Homelings that endeavor to bring back the 80’s and the gum smacking big hair -Maybe they just really want to be Slash
Rave girls -damn! -Can I get some Prince music with that please? How about Erotic City? Those girls can move. Heh. Move over Mass Media Dancer. Now if we could just get the waltz or something… but ooo touching -dont know if they will allow that. Heh.
I have not yet invested in PODI- although Burbie did give me some PODI training (no pun intended), but I think the thing is genius. I will prob buy it at some point.
Crystal Seashores -Really?! I am with Krazy on this one. I was not impressed at all really.
In answer to your question- I have never purchased anything Midway and although I have gambled enough to lose three times and win the plant (which was my intent). I have no interest what-so-ever in gambling. I do however love to give gifts. So my money goes to Lockwood. As I have a friend that has a birthday coming up here in the near future I will be dropping even more of my hard earned dough in their oven. I just wish the machine had more choices and that friends would actually use the ability to create a wish list so I could know what to buy.
As always it was a good read Norse -you actually take marketing out of the snore zone.
Correct me if I’m wrong about this, but aren’t those high tops one of the items that could be used to freeze servers? That would certainly offer some insight into who’s buying and who’s on the sidelines.
One interesting aspect of this list is that nothing on it was released after July 11, so the July 18 release of Minibots could be why those items didn’t quite make it.
I’ve been wishing for a while that the list went to 20, or at least 15, since the Top 5 tend to be a very static mix of Digital Leisure chips and Lockwood Tokens, with Mass Media at the top. I suspect the best meat for data analysis is sitting just below those Top 10 items.
I like it! You are so smart HearIt!
Perhaps one of the reasons women’s clothing sales appear down while Lockwood tokens flourish is because a lot of us buy Lockwood tokens to buy clothes from the Gift Machine and send to alt accounts. I am not sure how this works in the monthly tally of sales, but it might be interesting to have a breakdown on % of clothing sales, % of item sales, etc. from Lockwood Gift Machine. Of course, I do NOT really expect Lockwood to share that info: other developers might wake up to what they are missing out on by not inventing a gift machine of their own.
Yes I put this in my reply as well Gran. I think there is no way of really telling but I suspect if you want something bad enough you find a way to get it. I wonder if Midway will drop off the list after their big giveaway promo is done… I like HearIt’s idea about expanding the list, but I suspect that is why Norse has given us the prolonged whine of Slash’s single string. No more data. Bummer.