It’s beginning to look a lot like your respective non-denominational gift-giving holiday … or just October. Although for many businesses, that is the first month of the “season.” Likewise, many customers are bracing themselves for a merry December by preparing their gift-receiving wish lists.
In regards to video games, consumer-tracking firm Nielsen determined customers’ most anticipated titles for holiday 2012.
Let’s break this down by console.
Most anticipated Xbox 360 titles:
- Halo 4
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- Assassin’s Creed III
- Resident Evil 6
- NBA 2K13
- Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012)
- Medal of Honor: Warfighter
- WWE ’13
- Hitman: Absolution
- Fable: The Journey
Most anticipated PlayStation 3 titles:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- Assassin’s Creed III
- Resident Evil 6
- NBA 2K13
- WWE ’13
- Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012)
- Hitman: Absolution
- 007: Legends
- Medal of Honor: Warfighter
- LittleBigPlanet Karting
Most anticipated Wii titles:
- Just Dance 4
- Zumba Fitness Core
- Lego The Lord of the Rings
- Just Dance: Disney Party
- Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
- NBA 2K13
- WWE ’13
- Transformers Prime: The Game
- Skylanders Giants
- Nickelodeon Dance 2
Most notable about this data is just how similar the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 lists are. In fact, they’re nearly identical except for Microsoft’s pair of exclusives (Halo 4, Fable: The Journey) and Sony’s one exclusive (LittleBitPlanet Karting.) It’s possible that the companies reallocated the bulk of their first-party resources to next-generation systems, which many expect the manufacturers will debut next year, and third-party publishers are hesitant to restrict any of their big games to a single console.
Every single game on each list is either a sequel or part of an existing franchise. Again, we’re at the end of a generation. That’s when publishers tend to withhold new franchises so they can prep them to ride the hype of a new console launch.
Nielsen did note that Bethesda’s Dishonored, a new property, only narrowly missed the top 10 most anticipated games on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
The Wii’s list is the most depressing, but Nintendo has the Wii U due out in November. Nielsen did not provide a most-anticipated list of Wii U games.