Latest news with #MatPiscatella
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
$80 Switch 2 and now Xbox games aren't a big shock, analyst says, and games haven't really been $70 for a while: "The average price people are paying ... is much higher"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. One gaming analyst reckons $80 games aren't too much of a shocker because gamers have typically been paying more than the base $60 or $70 price tag for a while. Nintendo made headlines with the Switch 2 reveal, partly because of the console itself but also because of its decision to launch Mario Kart World at $80, well above the $70 standard that most publishers had transitioned to during this console generation. It didn't take long for other companies to follow, either. Xbox just announced that at least "some" of its first-party games will also adopt the new $80 norm, which will potentially affect this year's Call of Duty, next year's Fable, or any number of upcoming releases from Xbox Game Studios. Circana's games executive director, Mat Piscatella, isn't hugely surprised. "The big games have not been 60 or 70 bucks for some time at launch," he said in an interview with GamesRadar+. "With all of the Collector's Editions and Gold Editions and Silver Editions and all these other things, the average price people are paying for a new video game on average is much higher than that base price, and has been for years, and keeps inching up. So I'm not as kerfuffled about the $80 price point as a lot of other people are, because, realistically, people have already been kind of spending that, whether they want to admit it to themselves or not." Publishers sure can charge whatever they like, but will people accept the change? Piscatella reckons the "the same kind of pushback" has always come for these types of price hikes, though it doesn't usually work. "Ultimately, if someone thinks a game is really cool, they want to play it, they're going to buy it at whatever price they need to buy it at," he explained. "That's just kind of the nature of the price-insensitive video game fan that wants to play the game they want to play." And if these $80 games sell well, then there's nothing stopping other publishers from adopting the same pricing: "Is $80 for that game gonna fly in the holiday window? And if it does, then we'll see people follow. And if it doesn't, maybe they don't." "It's up to that video game buyer whether or not they want to make that purchase, and generally, if a game's good enough, they will, and if a game is not good enough, or they're not excited enough about it, they won't," he continued. "And prices come down really fast. It's just the nature of the price sensitivity and the enthusiasm of the audience. So we'll have to see. I think [Mario Kart World] will be fine at launch. We'll see what it does in holiday." Commenting on the broader shape of today's industry, Piscatella points out that there's a much greater range of price points at different levels of the industry, from premium $80 games to topical hits like the $50 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and down to many free-to-play games. "Back in the physical-only days you had 50 bucks. That was it. That was the only game you got," he says. "Now, games of all sizes, all kinds, are priced in all kinds of different ways, and more free-to-play than ever. I know everyone's kind of focused on that top level, and sure, I get it, but in terms of the available options, there's so many all over the board, and it's more diverse than it's ever been. Publishers are much smarter about discounting and pacing, pulsing of the promotional pricing and how to keep that demand going. So, yeah, it's nothing new. This is nothing new that we haven't been through as an industry, over and over again for years and years and years. A day after our interview, Piscatella reacted to the fresh Xbox price bumps on social media: "This is going to eventually happen across all gaming products which are subject to 'market conditions' (ie tariffs). Was expected to happen. Is now happening. Will be happening more." Check out the new games of 2025 and beyond to see what might be affected. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Daily Mirror
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Oblivion Remastered becomes one of the year's biggest games with one week, no marketing and a dream
After only a week on the market, Oblivion Remastered became one of the best-selling games of the year without a shred of marketing before launch, proving that the RPG still has serious legs. Oblivion Remastered has been a blast for RPG fans new and old, and it has made such an impact that it is already contesting 2025's gaming giants for sales numbers shortly after its launch. The worst-kept secret in gaming is now revealed for all to see – Oblivion Remastered, an entirely restructured and rebuilt edition of the Elder Scrolls classic RPG, is in our hands. A new Bethesda adventure has been on the cards for some time, and as players have been holding out for anything pertaining to The Elder Scrolls 6, the remaster didn't arrive a moment too soon. The hype for the game has given way for the excitement of rediscovering the best of Tamriel, and players are getting lost in the game's many winding, twisting quests – to such a degree that Bethesda is currently enjoying a pretty great influx of interest and income. It looks like we're about to have a real Oblivion Summer, as sales numbers for the remastered games are pretty incredible. Oblivion makes a superhuman effort According to video game analyst Mat Piscatella in a new BlueSky post, the Circana Retail Tracking Service has revealed that Oblivion: Remastered has, in only one week, become the third best-selling game in the United States in 2025. It trails behind Monster Hunter: Wilds and Assassin's Creed: Shadows, games that have already had more time on the market. It is, as you can imagine, the best-selling game of the week in which it launched. This news comes after the game hit the remarkable concurrent player number of 216,784 on Steam (via SteamDB), as players forewent its appearance on Xbox Game Pass for PC and opted for Valve's service instead, playing it there in their droves. This is a pretty big deal, as it is likely to make for a heaving profit for Bethesda who outsourced the game's work to third-party developer Virtuos, proving that the company's classics still have incredible demand (providing they get a new lick of paint first). Fascinatingly, though, the game didn't receive a higher number of concurrent players than Starfield at its peak, which enjoyed a concurrent player number of 330,723 when it launched (via SteamDB). This is likely a result of the total lack of marketing and the surprise-launch of Oblivion Remastered, but that doesn't mean that players aren't still rushing to the title, especially across Xbox and and PlayStation consoles. It's easy enough for us as gamers to complain that nothing much is original these days, but with numbers like this, it's hard to deny that the system works, and the same players moaning will still buy the remasters put before them. Don't worry, we'll be buying them all too.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. video game spending fell 6% y/y in March, says Circana
In data published earlier this week, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said that March 2025 projected U.S. consumer spending on video game hardware, content and accessories declined 6% when compared to YA, to $4.7B. Ubisoft's (UBSFY) 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows' debuted as the best-selling game of March, ranking 2nd YTD. March 2025 content spending fell 4% vs YA, to $4.2B. The only growth segments were non-mobile subscription (+11%) and console digital premium downloads (+12%). Mobile content finished 6% behind March 2024. 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows' was the best-selling title in March, instantly becoming the #2 best-selling game of 2025 year-to-date. 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows' finished the month ranked 1st in full game dollar sales on Xbox (MSFT) platforms and 2nd on both PlayStation (SONY) and Steam. Sony's 'MLB The Show 25' ranked as the 2nd best-selling game of March and led all titles in full game dollar sales on PlayStation platforms. Tracked launch month dollar sales of 'MLB The Show 25' were 23% higher than those of 'MLB The Show 24' during its March 2024 debut period. March video game hardware spending fell 25% when compared to a year ago, to $286M. This is the lowest March hardware spending total since 2019. PlayStation 5 hardware dollar sales fell 26% in March vs YA, however the platform once again led the market in both dollar and unit sales. Xbox Series ranked 2nd in both measures with spending falling 9% year-on-year. Switch hardware sales dipped 37% compared to March a year ago. Other top-selling games for the month of March included Capcom's (CCOEY) 'Monster Hunter: Wilds,' Take-Two's (TTWO) 'WWE 2K25,' EA's (EA) 'Split Fiction,' and Activision's 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.' Discover outperforming stocks and invest smarter with Top Smart Score Stocks. Filter, analyze, and streamline your search for investment opportunities using Tipranks' Stock Screener. Published first on TheFly – the ultimate source for real-time, market-moving breaking financial news. Try Now>> See the top stocks recommended by analysts >> Read More on CCOEY: Disclaimer & DisclosureReport an Issue Ubisoft's new 'Assassin's Creed' top-selling game in U.S. each week in market Game On: Nintendo delays Switch 2 preorders in wake of tariffs Now Streaming: Amazon's film strategy hits the big-screen Nintendo unveils Switch 2 exclusives 'Mario Kart World,' 'Donkey Kong Bananza' Game On: Ubisoft announces new subsidiary with Tencent as investor
Business Mayor
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Assassin's Creed Shadows sneaks to top of March sales
Despite some controversy leading up to its release, Assassin's Creed Shadows managed to rise to the top of March sales charts in the U.S., according to industry-tracking firm Circana. It was one of several releases that month to make it onto the charts, with Shadows also becoming the second-best-selling game of the year. However, sales in general are still as much in the red as they were last month, with hardware sales being down by 25% just as they were in February. March 2025 Dollar Sales, Millions March 2024 March 2025 Change Total Video Game Sales $4,985 $4,689 -6% Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR platforms) $4,336 $4,164 -4% Video Game Hardware $382 $286 -25% Video Game Accessories $267 $238 -11% *Mobile spending provided by Sensor Tower 'March video game hardware spending fell 25% when compared to a year ago, to $286 million. This is the lowest March hardware spending total since 2019 ($279M),' said Mat Piscatella, Circana's executive producer for games reports. 'Digital only SKUs have accounted for 75% of Xbox Series and 50% of PlayStation 5 hardware units sold year-to-date.' As with February 2025, the March 2025 hardware sales are following on March 2024's decline of -32%. It worth noting that hardware sales for the 2023 period were up by a significant percentage (68% in February 2023, 10% in March 2023). The March 2024 hardware decline could be corrective following the 2023 spike, but 2025's continued decline seems to be more indicative of how the current console generation is aging. Read More Madden's Super Bowl 59 prediction was right, but missed details Year-to-Date 2025 Dollar Sales, Millions 2024 YTD 2025 YTD Change Total Video Game Sales $15,102 $13,709 -9% Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR platforms) $13,235 $12,310 -7% Video Game Hardware $1,094 $747 -32% Video Game Accessories $772 $652 -16% *Mobile spending provided by Sensor Tower Despite the breakthrough success of several of March's titles, overall sales continue to drop. Piscatella noted, 'The only segments showing growth compared to a year ago were non-mobile subscription (+11%) and digital premium downloads on console (+12%). Mobile content spending in the month finished 6% behind March 2024 (mobile source: Sensor Tower).' Rank Last Month Rank Title Publisher 1 NEW Assassin's Creed: Shadows Ubisoft 2 NEW MLB: The Show 25^^ Multiple Video Game Manufacturers 3 1 Monster Hunter Wilds Capcom USA 4 NEW WWE 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 5 NEW Split Fiction Electronic Arts 6 6 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Microsoft (Corp) 7 4 PGA Tour 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 8 5 NBA 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 9 NEW Bleach: Rebirth of Souls Bandai Namco Entertainment 10 2 Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Plaion 11 11 Minecraft^ Multiple Video Game Manufacturers 12 9 Grand Theft Auto V Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 13 12 EA Sports FC 25 Electronic Arts 14 14 Red Dead Redemption II Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 15 10 Madden NFL 25 Electronic Arts 16 18 Elden Ring Bandai Namco Entertainment 17 NEW Xenoblade Chronicles X* Nintendo 18 NEW Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune & Dunan Unification Wars Konami Digital Ent. 19 13 Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Sony (Corp) 20 16 EA Sports College Football 25 Electronic Arts *Digital sales not included for marked titles^Digital sales on Nintendo platforms not included ^^Digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms not included A grand total of seven new games have made it onto the March list, the highest number of 2025. These games represent a relatively wide array of genres, from the action-adventure titles like Assassin's Creed Shadows and Hazelight's latest title, Split Fiction; to sports titles like WWE 2K25 and MLB: The Show 25. Bleach: Rebirth of Souls is a fighting game title, while the remaster of the first two Suikoden games made it to the 18th place. Read More 7 Horror Books That Need Video Game Adaptations - GameRant One game particularly worthy of note on this list is Xenoblade Chronicles X, the remaster of which was released in March as the Definitive Edition. The game originally launched on the unpopular Wii U, so the remaster is reaching a much larger audience. Nintendo doesn't report digital sales to Circana, so its inclusion on the sales charts is based solely off of physical sales. Given this fact, it's impressive that a remaster of a ten-year-old action-RPG made it so high on the list, and could have placed even higher if digital sales were taken into account. The latest Assassin's Creed game, Shadows, has been the subject of no small amount of discourse prior to its launch. One of the biggest talking points was about how the game's sales would affect Ubisoft. The company admitted that its 2024 title Star Wars: Outlaws had 'softer than expected' sales, and the company laid off 185 people earlier this year. It also reported that it was exploring 'strategic options' with regards to the company's future. All of which is to say that Ubisoft will be keeping a close eye on Shadows' sales. It recently spun out a new core division of its gaming business that focuses on Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six brands. Tencent invested $1.25 billion in this division last month. Shadows selling particularly well could not only help with Ubisoft's financial situation, but could also demonstrate the franchise's long-term staying power. But it remains to be seen if the sales will actually meet Ubisoft's expectations. Rank Last Month Rank Title Publisher 1 1 Monster Hunter: Wilds Capcom USA 2 NEW Assassin's Creed: Shadows Ubisoft 3 2 Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Plaion 4 NEW MLB: The Show 25^^ Multiple Video Game Manufacturers 5 4 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Microsoft (Corp) 6 NEW WWE 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 7 3 Civilization VII [Sid Meier's] Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 8 5 NBA 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 9 6 PGA Tour 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 10 NEW Split Fiction Electronic Arts 11 8 Grand Theft Auto V Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 12 10 Minecraft^ Multiple Video Game Manufacturers 13 7 Madden NFL 25 Electronic Arts 14 9 EA Sports FC 25 Electronic Arts 15 11 Red Dead Redemption II Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 16 12 Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Sony (Corp) 17 14 EA Sports College Football 25 Electronic Arts 18 16 Hogwarts Legacy Warner Bros. Games 19 20 Elden Ring Bandai Namco Entertainment 20 13 Avowed Microsoft (Corp) ^Digital sales on Nintendo platforms not included ^^Digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms not included As stated above, Assassin's Creed Shadows soared to 2nd place on the year-to-date list. It's not the only March title to make it to this list, especially as 2025's titles start to displace last year's titles. Hazelight's Split Fiction took 10th place, while sports titles MLB: The Show 25 and WWE 2K25 took 4th and 6th place, respectively. All of these games have the appeal of previous games backing them up — franchise recognition in the case of WWE 2K, MLB: The Show and Assassin's Creed, and critically acclaimed previous games from the studio in the case of Split Fiction.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
2025 was supposed to be a big year for gaming. Tariffs could derail that.
The gaming industry was supposed to get a boost in 2025 thanks to the launch of Nintendo's (NTDOY) Switch 2 console and Take-Two Interactive's (TTWO) "Grand Theft Auto VI," but the Trump administration's trade war could put those hopes in jeopardy. Unlike smartphones and laptops, game consoles, physical game discs and cartridges, and accessories aren't exempt from Trump's 145% duty on goods from China. And while companies have manufacturing bases outside of China, it won't be enough to offset the impact in its entirety. Some companies are already taking moves to protect themselves from tariffs. Nintendo, for instance, pulled US preorders for the Switch 2 just a day after announcing them over tariff concerns. While the company said the console will still be available on its original June 5 release date, there's a chance the company will have to raise its price from an already high $449. And that could seriously hurt the US gaming industry. Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump's tariffs "Entering the year, I had expected US consumer spending on video games to grow 4.8% compared to 2024," explained Circana executive director of games Mat Piscatella. "Were all currently announced tariffs fully implemented ... a reasonable expectation could be a high single-digit percentage decline or a drop into the double-digit percentages. It's simply impossible to have much confidence in any forecast right now," he added. Modern consoles like Sony's (SONY) PlayStation 5, Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox Series X, and the upcoming Switch 2 generally cost between $400 and $500, with Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro priced at $699 and some bundles topping $999. Tack on the additional duties and those prices could rise significantly. "As prices go up, demand falls. Once you start getting [tariffs] up 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, or higher, [game companies are] simply not going to be able to absorb it," IDC research director Lewis Ward told Yahoo Finance. "They're going to have to pass it on in order to remain solvent. Or it's going to materially erode or push the margins on their hardware much more negative than they had planned. And these companies simply aren't interested in doing that." For Nintendo, the tariffs come at the worst possible time. The company is launching a new console that it hopes will be as successful as its original Switch, a tall task on its own, and adding in the tariffs will only make selling the console more difficult in one of the company's biggest markets. According to Wedbush Securities managing director Michael Pachter, Nintendo may have to add anywhere between an additional $89 and $495, depending on whether the consoles are coming from China or Vietnam and if Trump adds game systems to the existing exemptions list. Even if consoles are exempt from Trump's reciprocal tariffs, like smartphones or laptops, the administration has already signaled that the reprieve on duties is only temporary and that it will impose other fees on those devices as part of its future tariffs on semiconductors, which could land in the coming weeks. The gaming industry will also have to contend with a potential rise in costs for everyday goods, forcing consumers to cut back on discretionary spending. Toss in tariff-fueled price increases and game systems look less and less palatable. Then there are actual game sales. Physical discs are produced in China, among other locations, and a jump in prices may mean fewer physical game sales. That could be a problem for companies like Take-Two Interactive, which is banking on its "Grand Theft Auto VI" being a blowout success when it's released later this year. Consumers could also, however, opt to download their games rather than purchase discs or cartridges. Since they're digital rather than physical media, the downloaded games won't be subject to tariffs, meaning they could be comparatively less expensive. But downloadable games aren't perfect. Consumers need to ensure they have the storage space necessary to download those games. What's more, game developers and publishers often release pricey special-edition versions of their titles with additional features and collectables. Tariffs would make them even more expensive and less desirable. Gamers could also move toward free-to-play games, like "Fortnite," "Call of Duty Warzone," and "Roblox," which you can download and play without having to pay a fee. Companies release free-to-play games and then offer optional paid upgrades, like special character designs. But there's no guarantee gamers will pay for even those features when they're trying to save money. There's still some hope for the industry, though. While consoles imported into the US face tariffs, those imported into the EU, South America, the Middle East, Africa, or Asia won't face the same onerous duties. And if sales hold up as projected in those regions, they could stand as a bulwark that keeps the industry on track for a decent year. It all comes down to Trump's plans. Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@ Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
