Topic: what is more important?

[tendoboy1984]

What's more important for console sales... Launch sales or end-of-generation total sales?

[Sarail]

In this day and age of the gaming industry?

Neither.

[azeke]

Depending on what is your fanboy agenda at the moment, you pick the option that makes your favorite platform shine the most.

[pokepal148]

End of cycle sales will always matter more given that those are the numbers people really look at.

[Spak-Spang]

I think the best answer is ongoing continual sales.  Because those are the sales that matter when people are looking at how healthy a console is, and what to expect from the future of the console in terms of software support.

[Adrock]

What's more important for console sales... Launch sales or end-of-generation total sales?

According to whom? It shouldn't really matter to consumers either way because launch sales are typically skewed due to early adopters and end-of-life sales can't affect the support of a console since the console has already been discontinued. End-of-life sales are more important to companies because what led up to those numbers affects their strategy for future hardware releases, not that this always works (see Wii U).

[lolmonade]

It's sort of an apples & oranges thing in comparing the two.
 
Launch sales only depicts a small window of sales, and higher sales during this time period can usually point to there being enough supply to meet most of the pent-up demand of a product.  I'd be more interested in seeing what the next year or two shows for console sales to see a more realistic comparison.
 
End-of-Life sales gives a quick summary, but doesn't tell the entire story.  The Wii sold gangbusters through its life, but we all know how miserable the last year was from a console sales standpoint.
 
Realistically, a business at the beginning of their fiscal year will make sales projections on their product line based on market conditions, historical demand, and surveyed interest in the product.  It's more important for the business to meet those yearly goals as a sustainable revenue source than anything.

[ejamer]

If forced to pick, I'd rather see huge sales at launch because I feel like third party developers are more influenced by early install base numbers than late ones. That said, Nintendo consoles are probably doomed either way when it comes to third party support...