Tuesday, May 10, 2011

PS3 vs. Xbox 360: Portal 2's April Sales Ranks - Analysis with Chart

Is this guy coffee proof?


Coffee Beans:
     Portal 2 was released on April 19, 2011 for both the PS3 and Xbox 360.  The game released with a "Standard" edition with a MSRP of $59.99.
     Portal 2 was developed and published by Valve, and distributed by Electronic Arts.  Portal 2 received an "Everyone 10+" rating from the ESRB, with "Fantasy Violence, Mild Language" listed as content for gamers/parents to be aware of.

     Did more PS3 or Xbox 360 owners apparently purchase Portal 2 during its 11 days on the market in April?  Let's take a look!

Reversed chart, the higher the line the better the sales rank.
Click chart to view full size for easier viewing.
Normal chart, the lower the line the better the sales rank.
Click chart to view full size for easier viewing.
Chart Info:
     I have provided two charts above, though they contain the same data input information.
     The top chart has the graph lines reversed, which many people that don't normally use Excel/chart programs have said is easier to read with the lines reversed.  The higher the line on the top graph, the better the sales ranks.
     The bottom chart is displayed as the program outputs it, so it may be easier to read for those that read charts and use Excel or OpenOffice type programs to make charts.  The lower the line on the bottom chart, the better the sales rank.

     The charts above show the sales ranks for Portal 2 on the PS3 and Xbox 360, with sales ranks recorded from April 19 through April 30, 2011.  The sales ranks were recorded from Amazon.com's "Top 100" video game ranks each day(one day twice!), along with the dates and times, as well as sales prices for each game.
     The sale price and any Amazon.com video game credit that was being offered is shown on the charts, above the date/time spots on the chart lines.
     The chart is not supposed to be a replacement of NPD April sales numbers, but it is designed to be a supplement with the NPD numbers, and perhaps give us an idea of what the sales breakdown for each console version of Portal 2 were during April.

Highs & Lows:
     The highest recorded sale rank for Portal 2 on the PS3 was #1, for 7 of the 11 days it was available in April.
     The lowest recorded sale rank for Portal 2 on the PS3 was #7 on April 26 around 10:00PM, and as the chart shows it was selling for $56.99.

     The highest recorded sale rank for Portal 2 on the Xbox 360 was #2, for 8 days out of the 11 days it was available in April.
     The lowest recorded sale rank for Portal 2 on the Xbox 360 was #8 on April 26 around 10:00PM.  The game was selling for $59.99 at the time.

Sales Rank Averages:
     Portal 2 on the PS3 had an overall average of 2.92 for the 11 days it was available in April.

     Portal 2 on the Xbox 360 had an overall average of 2.84 for the 11 days it was available.

     The lower the average here, the better for the game.

Critical Reception:
     "Professional" review scores started being published on the internet for Portal 2 on April 19, the day it was released.

     Portal 2's current "professional" review score average on the PS3 is 93.96%, based on 27 reviews on GameRankings.com.
     Portal 2's current "professional" review score average on the Xbox 360 is 94.50%, based on 40 reviews on GameRankings.com.
Agree, or disagree?
     The PS3 version has a 4.5 out of 5 Stars rating on Amazon.com, based on 126 customer reviews.
     Portal 2's PS3 customer review score average is 94.28% when the reviews are converted to a 100% review scale.

     The Xbox 360 version has a 4.5 out of 5 Stars rating on Amazon.com, based on 99 customer reviews.
     Portal 2's Xbox 360 customer review score average is 92.72%, when the Amazon.com customer reviews are converted to a 100% review scale.
Click for larger size to view breakdown of ratings.
     Review score averages recorded around 4:00AM on May 10, 2011.

Filtered Thoughts:
     The overall sales average for both games was very close, with the Xbox 360 version's being .08 lower(better), than the PS3 version.  While the PS3 version was ranked #1 for several days, and the Xbox 360 version never hit the #1 sales rank spot; with a lower overall sales rank average, we could assume the Xbox 360 version sold more; but being that Amazon.com does not provide exact sales numbers, this would be a close call based on the data.
     I think it was interesting that both games saw a significant sales rank drop on April 26, one week after they released.  April 26 was a Tuesday, and most games are released on Tuesday, but when I checked I did not see any significant game that was released on April 26 that might have caused Portal 2 to drop like it did.
     What I did see and had recorded though, was that Mortal Kombat on the PS3 and Xbox 360 saw a price cut on April 25 to $49.99, then on April 27 the PS3 version of Mortal Kombat shot up to the #1 sales rank spot.
     April 26 was almost a full week after the PSN had been pulled down, and I think it's very interesting that the PS3 version of Portal 2 did not outrank the Xbox 360 version after the sales rank dip on April 26.  Even now on May 10 around 12:30PM, the Xbox 360 version's sales rank is #4, while the PS3 version's sales rank is #5.
     Interestingly enough, the current sale price for Portal 2 on Amazon.com for the PS3 version and Xbox 360 versions is just $39.99.

     If you're wondering, "Coffee, have you played Portal or Portal 2?" Well, when I was picking up my PS3 the very first day, the very first game I purchased for the system was The Orange Box.  I originally purchased it because I wanted to try Half-Life 2.  After I completed Half-Life 2, I gave Portal a try for only about 15 minutes(maybe) and haven't picked it back up since; maybe that will change this year.
     While I have not played Portal 2 yet, I am interested in it because of the game's cooperative mode.  Mrs. CWG does not play FPS type games often, but she might finish this one with me.

Questions:
     Have any of you been playing Portal 2 recently?  If so, which version have you been playing and what do you think about it?  If you purchased the PS3 version were you able to try out any of Portal 2's online cooperative mode before the PlayStation Network was pulled down?
    If you played the original Portal, do you think Portal 2 is as good as/better than the original?

If anybody is interested in Portal 2, you can see prices on Amazon.com linked below for all three versions of the game:
    

8 comments:

  1. I want to play Portal 2 something FIERCE. The first game was not only difficult at parts, but it featured some of the best writing in a video game that I have ever had the chance to hear. Good writing is such a rarity these days, and comedy is one genre that almost always falls flat in video games. Portal, in defiance of that fact, succeeded on both counts.

    -BitNick

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good evening - I have Portal 2 for my 360 - but I haven't hardly had a chance to play it yet. Mortal Kombat was a higher priority for me, but I'm hoping to get a review up on it something in the next few weeks or so. I wasn't really worried about the online co-op a whole lot, so I don't know if that would have proven to be any sort of a factor for me or not.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, I was lucky enough to get a review copy of Portal 2, so I'd played it a good chuck before it even came out.

    Having not played the first (I know, I know), I found it a truly awesome expereince.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Waiting for my copy, I wonder if the PS3/Steam integration was a factor here? You got the game for Free on Steam and can play co-op with a friend on a PC or PS3. At least that's what I read somewhere.

    Since the PSN has been down no one has been able to test it out yet!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Something fierce is right BitNick! I've been holding off for a summer or perhaps xmas sale and force myself to complete a few other things. Like you said P1 is such a great game in many ways and I'm hoping it lives up to my own [possibly unrealistic] expectations.

    Co-op will certainly be interesting to see how it pans out. Hard to get a full feel of it by watching videos just yet.

    @Coffee: Nice portal on the coffee cup. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. @BitNick:
    "The first game was not only difficult at parts, but it featured some of the best writing in a video game that I have ever had the chance to hear."
    I guess two reasons I should give it a try, and not let it sit on The Orange Box unused!

    @Chalgyr:
    Were you a huge fan of the original, or what was the reason for picking it up so early?

    @Matt:
    "Yeah, I was lucky enough to get a review copy of Portal 2..."
    LUCKY!(in Napoleon Dynamite voice...where's Keith now...)

    @Brad J. (The Butcher):
    Are you getting your copy via GameFly? If so...see my comment to Matt.
    GameFly really does seem like a good service, especially for a cheapskate like me!

    @Robert:
    Thanks for the comment on the banner! I spent a lot of time on it, as with most. If you knew how many HOURS I spent working on the images for that thing...you may start weeping. :)

    "...and force myself to complete a few other things."
    That's the spirit! Destroy the backlog before adding more to it!

    Thank you all for the comments/feedback! I appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. @BitNick:
    "The first game was not only difficult at parts, but it featured some of the best writing in a video game that I have ever had the chance to hear."
    I guess two reasons I should give it a try, and not let it sit on The Orange Box unused!

    @Chalgyr:
    Were you a huge fan of the original, or what was the reason for picking it up so early?

    @Matt:
    "Yeah, I was lucky enough to get a review copy of Portal 2..."
    LUCKY!(in Napoleon Dynamite voice...where's Keith now...)

    @Brad J. (The Butcher):
    Are you getting your copy via GameFly? If so...see my comment to Matt.
    GameFly really does seem like a good service, especially for a cheapskate like me!

    @Robert:
    Thanks for the comment on the banner! I spent a lot of time on it, as with most. If you knew how many HOURS I spent working on the images for that thing...you may start weeping. :)

    "...and force myself to complete a few other things."
    That's the spirit! Destroy the backlog before adding more to it!

    Thank you all for the comments/feedback! I appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete

Keep the comments clean. Rated "E" for Everyone. :)

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