Firmware 3.0 Bumping PSN Sales? Not Likely

James Brooksby, studio head at Doublesix was quoted recently as saying,

"We're ecstatic at the 3.00 upgrade because not only have our sales gone up 40 per cent since the update but for me personally it's what I've been calling for and looking forward to for a long time."

Of course the gaming press has decided this means the new look XMB icons must be pushing this sales increase. Instead, what we really have is a developer who is either being a bit foolish, or mildly disingenuous for Sony's benefit.

[wxer]

is this guy dumb or what ??
of course it'll go up
there is more PS3 owners now with the slim
and 3.0 got something called What’s New
if you haven't heard about that

[Mixmoff]

The point of the article is that "What's New" can't be given credit for BZB's sales spike, despite what Doublesix is claiming.

The PS3 price drop, and resultant increase in PS3 sales, would be the primary contributing factor.

[gamerdude11]

So 550k PS3 sales in the week in question will result in a 40% increase in sales for a game like Burn Zombie Burn? That seems a bit foolish. Of course the sales increase has to do with the What's New section. Like it or not, developers are demanding this type of marketing support from the platform holders. Burn Zombie Burn is clear evidence that it works. MS figured it out last year, and now Sony is on board. Does the author of this article honestly believe that 550k new PS3 owners couldn't wait to download Burn Zombie Burn. Think before you post.

[Mixmoff]

If we're talking week over week sales (which I'm inclined to believe we are) then I absolutely think 550k PS3's can result in this kind of a bump to BZB. Remember this is a 6 month old game, so we could very well be talking thousands (even hundreds) of sales, not hundreds of thousands.

EDIT: Let's not even get into the fact that since the FW 3.0 launch, I have never seen BZB in the What's New section. LBP, yes. Qore, yes. Beatles:RB, yes. Burn Zombie Burn? Nope.

[SoapShoes]

I'm quite sure both has effects on it, but what Sony did really did help out. I think this article is just written by some hater that doesn't like 3.0's look and is trying to justify that it is not good and has no impact on sells.

[Mixmoff]

Actually, I think dynamic themes and multi-audio out made 3.0 a huge success. But I still think the devs are overselling the impact of What's New on sales.