Topic: Why do people care about numbers? (Sales Forecast)

(This also includes the Wii U) You know as a gamer, that is determine & has been playing videogames all my life. To this day and time I will never understand this. "Why do gamers feel the need to care for numbers?" (Sales Forecast). Is it something to determine if a console is worth it or is it because that's what matters in this day & age? (What's the point in all this?) — Here's what I see all the time it never fails. If a company like NPD (I don't if I'm saying this right) says that a console (Example Wii U) is doing terrible in numbers (Sale Forecast). People will freak-out & start saying stuff, like my all time favorite "Ohh Nintendo doomed". Or like today a video came out from Reviewtechusa (Yes I'm subscribe to him) that still the PS4 is still outselling the Xbox one. See I understand that Microsoft has done stupid things but here's my take on this. I think worrying about Sale forecast is quite ridiculous. Not unless you're an invester or is in business with them. See before I finish this & get to the point here. I do want to say this, what matters is that as long is the company & others are making games for a console & its good then that matters to me. (Games, games, games) So again what's the point in all this to care for numbers?

Apparently, everyone's a businessman and they like having a winner in terms of console and software sales.

Because we're all used to playing as characters that we're not and winning a game, and for some strange reason, it has to be applied to every situation in real life.

Why do people care about sports scores?

Even though I'm not obsessed with sales numbers... they still matter. If something is selling bad then a company suffers and needs to figure out what's wrong. If something is selling well then a company should stick to what's working. Games are an entertainment business after all. MONEY MATTERS.

Well, we like playing games, and the numbers have a hand in determining what kind of games will come out. They can be a big deal if something you want ends up getting cut because of 'the numbers'. (I'll never forget you, Timesplitters 4)

Well, the difference is two things can sell highly, one can sell more, and they both can win. In sports, there's only one winner. Two different uses of numbers.

Another one of these 'comments', no one should have justify looking at things from another perspective. Thats all I'm going to say.

Edit: Why on earth do you think Gamer talk and Sales Talk are interlinked? They aren't, there separate things. People can talk sales, games and what have you,

I'm always interested in both sides of gaming, the entertainment AND business part, since I'm working towards creating my own games.
It's also something I like to know to roughly gauge what to expect of the developer with future projects. The lackluster sales figures of W101, for example, made it rather obvious that Platinum Games won't revisit the IP without external support for the next few years. However, I don't determine anything based on that, that'd be somewhat short-sighted.

Because.
1. I own Nintendo stock
2. I find it interesting to analyze how businesses are doing. It talk about this with Apple and Netflix and other tech companies too.

People care about sale numbers because the higher the sales the more support your product gets. If a game does well it is more likely to get DLC or a sequel. If a console sells well it is more likely to get more games. Some people make a competition out of sales numbers.(Console Wars)

Sales numbers only matters to persons which can interpret those numbers. That kind of knowledge is very rarely seen on gaming forums.

All I want is Nintendo to be profitable again and stop being so conservative in terms of the games they choose to make.

The best games from Nintendo tend to be ones that until I actually got them I didn't even realise how good they were going to be.

But you do realize that you don't talk with Nintendo by discussing on this forum?

Which are normally not the ones that sell well, so for Nintendo to be profitable they should be more conservative... I want more unique games too. I hope Nintendo can reach a point in development where they can make money on those unique games.

Yes, I like discussing my thoughts on business practices with other people in general. I like to talk about how Apple's failure to differentiate as of late will be their undoing if they don't change it. I like to talk about how Netflix's exclusive television will continue to have massive impacts on the TV industry.

It's simple, sales determine what survives and what doesn't. If the games that you like stop selling, then there won't be any more of them. What reason do you have to keep buying video games in that case? Certain development patterns may also be affected as well. A great example of this is the notion that innovation doesn't sell. Suppose you don't like having the same games over and over. You probably wouldn't want to keep buying games in that scenario either. The bottom line is that people's interests are at stake here.

I understand that people want a company to do well for obvious reasons. However, I do not and cannot care about the sales, as I can't change the sales. You can care about the sales all you want, but if a game sells well, it sells well; and if a game sells badly, it sells badly. I just go with the flow, as it is not within my reach to affect the sales outcome.

Most people care about numbers because most people are robots.

It's like fantasy football and / or anybody really interested in any sport for that matter, tracking statistics and draft picks.....taking bets, being obsessive over a team or player.

Does it really matter? No, but you love the topic, and it's something to discuss in a subject field that your passionate about.

Most people really hate Maths.

And if the entire industry turns into something you hate?