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

I disagree. Things like fantasy football revolve entirely around religiously following statistics and doing analysis, completely separate from any enjoyment one gets out of the game itself. Granted, fantasy leagues are a niche interest, but so is following sales numbers. A site like VGChartz has a very active forum community, but when you compare the few hundred people posting there to the few million people buying the games, it's rather insignificant.

Well when sports fans obsess about stats it's again a different thing than the sales obsession in the gaming community. Even when it's a fantasy league thing, which I've never really understood, it's all about wanting your "team" to win. Wanting your "team" to win with games? That's not really the point at all. The point of games is to enjoy playing the games or to follow the hype train for games you enjoy. Obsession about sales? I mean ok, it's a thing, but I don't think it's something we should really care that much about.

Let me put it this way. I like the AFL and follow West Coast. If one of their main midfielders or defenders gets an injury or just generally isn't performing too well I have a reason to care about that. I might even look at the game stats and see who's travelling well. It matters because that impacts on whether or not they'll win the game next week which, at the end of the day, is the only reason I watch that game. Now with games if say Smash Bros on 3DS has come out and I've got it in my hands why would I care about sales? I have the game in my hand. It doesn't make the game any less interesting if sales were poor in the US during the week of its launch. If it sells well then that's nice but it really shouldn't bother me either way.

I get that some people have fun obsessing about sales and that's cool. I just don't get why some people act like it's a massive deal when to us as gamers it usually doesn't impact us at all.

I'm glad you bring the music industry up (I always feel guilty when I force music into my thoughts about the videogame business because people might not be interested, so it's nice somebody else is doing it for me) - but we need to be reminded one thing: the music industry is infinitely more independent from item sales than the videogame industry.

When it comes to videogame sales, people do care for a number of reasons. First, good sales mean more money and appreciation for the company, which means more games - a win/win situation for people who enjoyed the products. Then there's another social phenomenon: people who invest money on a console, be it for Sony, Nintendo or whatever, start to root for the company. They start to associate themself with the brand. They feel the need to defend it against accusations and to celebrate it over other brands. They want to demonstrate to other people that by investing, they have made the right choice.

This, I believe, it's very similar to the way some companies create trust in their workers by giving them a minuscule share of the company when they get hired, thus making them shareholders and more interested in the wealth of the company. Videogame companies have created this subtle "I give you, you give me" rapport with their customers. What people struggle to understand now, is that most companies (like Sony) give you a fiver with one hand and take a 50 from your pocket with the other hand.

In music this is not entirely true because the wealth of an artist does not entirely depend on record sales. And the production of an artist in not entirely dependent on their wealth. People have made their best to destroy the music industry and, to some extent, they have succeeded. Proof is that stealing music from Youtube or Spotify is common practice now, and people don't even realize they are stealing an artistic product. But music continues, and musicians know the big money is in live performances rather than record selling now. Of course the good old days of single 7" vinyls is gone because business-wise it's suicidal. The difference is that the videogame industry is based on sales, while the music industry is based on listeners. As long as there are listeners, there will be musicians making music, even if we have to settle for the crappiest format of music available - mp3s.
But once people stop buying games in millions, it's going to be the end of an industry that is becoming too opulent to last.

@spizzamarozzi
I think the only reason you're right is because music is generally cheaper to produce and is in some ways more accessible to produce. Especially if you want to make something that's quality wise "on paper" as good as what some best sellers are. You couldn't make GTA or Super Mario Galaxy by yourself but people can and do create record breaking albums that don't sound second rate in your bedroom. But the principle is the same even if it applies more to "indie" games than it does the AAA stuffs. If people buy it the guys who made it will make a profit and they'll be more likely to make more of that sort of stuff.

That said maybe it makes more sense to compare the gaming industry to the movie industry. Right down to the fact that we only ever seem to get the same stuff over and over again with just a bigger number at the end.

Maybe because we love the games we played so much that it deserves to sell well.......like Fire Emblem Awakening! If that didn't do well, we'd never see fire emblem ever!

pretty much this.... I have a TON to keep me busy on my Wii U. And we know that Nintendo has enough money to survive several years- but it can't bleed $200m per quarter forever. Hopefully things turn around soon.