EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: npd
The US hardware and software sales for November 2008 are up by 10% from last year, this despite November 2008 containing seven less post-Thanksgiving shopping days than 2007. The game industry in the US is apparently still on track to reach projected revenues of $22 billion, as the current numbers stand at $16 billion through November.
Nintendo must be smiling as their products dominate both the hardware and software sales rankings. The Wii sold an enormous 2 040 000 units, while the DS sold a just-as-impressive 1 570 000 units. Nintendo also have five titles in the Top Ten sales rankings, four of which are first-party, platform exclusive.
Early reports indicate that Black Friday sales were successful despite the economic climate in North America being dismal at the moment. General sales mania can probably be attributed to the massive discounts that were offered across the country.
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and traditionally marks the beginning of holiday spending in the States with consumers heading to retail stores in their droves to score deals.
After scouting sales at various outlets, the NPD Group issued a report from the frontlines that stated: “The overall initial conclusion for Black Friday is that sales and traffic were strong, likely on par with prior years. Consumers were drawn by the appearance of bargains and low prices and electronics are increasingly the primary driver of consumers’ interest in Black Friday shopping.”
The NPD Group will release their weekly data on the 8th of December as well as an annual Black Friday shopping report which will shed more light on Black Friday sales.
Preliminary estimates from Shoppertrack reveal that total sales in the US reached $10.6 billion with retail sales for the day after Thanksgiving up 3 percent from 2007. Consumers also indulged in a bit of internet shopping, helping web shopping traffic to increase 11% from last year (per comparison shopping site PriceGrabber.com).
According to data collected from PriceGrabber and eBay (including PayPal and Shopping.com), the Nintendo Wii was the top product of the day. The most searched-for product on eBay was the Wii, followed by none other than Wii Fit. Eager consumers bought 3 171 Wiis (average price recorded was $349) and 1 059 Wii Fit units (average price recorded was $140) over eBay.
Sources: news.cnet.com, NPD Group
The official NPD results for October were released last week and again showed Nintendo ruling the roost in terms of hardware sales.
The Wii and Nintendo DS together sold over 1.29 million units during October and sales like that led to both consoles topping the US charts (the Wii sold 803 210 units followed by the DS with 491 176). Nintendo’s total hardware sales accounted for 59.3% of the industry’s total hardware unit sales.
According to Nintendo lifetime sales for the Wii have now reached over 13.35 million in the US while the DS has racked up a whopping 23.02 million lifetime sales.
The story was similar on the software side of things with Wii Fit selling almost half a million copies in the US during October. Lifetime sales of Wii Fit in the US now stand at over 2.83 million. Nintendo boasted three games in the Top 5 best-selling games in October, Wii Fit at number 2 (487 234 copies), Mario Kart Wii at number 4 (289 869 copies) and Wii Play at number 5 (281 844 copies).
“Nintendo provides consumers with the best value not only among video games, but also among most entertainment options,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Nintendo also provides an incomparable range of experiences that everyone can enjoy, whether you’ve been playing for years or are just getting into video games.”
In a month that saw a number of high-profile game releases, Fable II on the Xbox 360 came out on top with 790 000 units sold for the period in the US, a month that saw year-on-year growth of 18%. With 2 months left to go for the year, the US games industry is still on track to top the $22 billion annual sales mark.
The evergreen Wii Fit managed another 487 000 customers, slotting in at No. 2 behind Fable II, while Fallout 3 sold 375 000 copies for the period, landing at No. 3. Two more Nintendo titles appeared in the top five, with Mario Kart Wii at No. 4 (selling 290 000 copies) and Wii Play at No. 5 (selling 282 000 copies).
Nintendo have no complaints as both of their consoles, the Wii and the DS, once again stormed the US sales charts, hitting the No. 1 (687 000 units sold) and No. 2 (537,000 units sold) spots respectively.
Sales of the Wii saw a year-over-year increase of 37% over September 2007, while 234 000 more units were sold in September than last month. Four Wii titles made the top ten in terms of software sales, three of which are Wii exclusive, with Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Play and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed all performing extremely well. Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales and Marketing, Cammie Dunaway said:
“The four Wii games in the top 10 all feature controls just not possible on other video game systems. The Wii Balance Board and Wii Wheel give players new ways to interact with their games, while the Wii Remote controller transforms into a pool cue, table tennis paddle or lightsaber. Consumers have truly responded to this variety of entertainment options.”
Go check out the full NPD sales numbers over here, or read Microsoft and Sony’s September NPD responses.
It all seems a bit glum for Sony after the NPD sales figures for the US were released. The PSP, PS3 and PS2 were all beaten out by their current-gen rival, the Xbox 360, and sales of multiplatform games were also dominated by Microsoft’s console.
Despite this, Sony took what good news it could and decided to show it off anyway. Total PlayStation brand sales were up 20% year-over-year, while PlayStation 3 sales were up 94% year-over-year and 25% up over last month. Software sales for the PS3 also saw massive growth, with a 130% year-on-year growth, totalling 1 172 000 in PS3 software sales. This rosy growth is expected to continue in October with the release of SOCOM: Confrontation, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and NBA ’09: The Inside.
The PlayStation Network names and numbers were also thrown around, reminding everyone that WipEout HD, Linger in Shadows and PAIN: Amusement Park saw releases on the service, with 12 million registered PSN users and 240 million pieces of content bought and downloaded. You can read the full release below, read Microsoft’s NPD response here or check out September NPD figures here.
US videogame software and hardware sales for September 2008 saw a 7% decline from last year during the same period. It must be pointed out, however, that this time last year saw the release of Halo 3 which had a significant affect on the overall hardware and software sales for that period, resulting in a 75% rise from September 2006. So, putting it into perspective, a 7% decline isn’t bad at all. The US videogame industry, minus PC sales, is on track to realise $22 billion in revenue for the year.
There was no one dominant piece of software this month as a replacement for Halo 3’s 35% share of September sales last year, as all of the titles released this September were more evenly spread out in terms of numbers. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, released during this period, did particularly well with 610 000 units sold on the Xbox 360, 325 000 units on the PS3 and 223 000 units on the Wii, while Wii Fit managed a still very healthy 518 000 units. Rock Band 2 (on 360) and Mario Kart Wii sold over 300 000 copies, Mercenaries 2 (on 360), Wii Play and Madden NFL 09 (on 360) all sold over 200 000 units while Madden NFL 09 (on PS2) sold over 150 000 units.
Sony remained upbeat in their response to the August NPD numbers, despite the Xbox 360 beating the PS3 this month.
Sony’s press release focused on strong PS3 sales: 185 353 PS3s sold in August and 92% year-to-date hardware sales growth with over 2 million PS3s sold in the US between January and August. Software sales for the PS3 were also up 92% from last year with 1.6 million PS3 copies sold.
Over 1.1 million copies of Madden NFL 09 were sold on PlayStation platforms, not including the Madden NLF 09 PSP Entertainment Pack. 643 000 units of the game were shifted for the PS3, showing a 90% increase from Madden NFL 08 in August 2007. Over 263 000 copies of the PS3 version of Soulcalibur IV have been sold in July and August, recording a 38% higher attach rate than the 360 version.
253 012 PSPs were sold in August, up 67% from last year, with sales driven by the Madden NFL 09 Entertainment Pack. Over 42.7 million PS2s have been sold in the US to date, with 144 096 units shifted in August. The PlayStation brand generated $365 million in August.
“We had yet another strong month for PlayStation in August, which validates that consumers are indeed recognizing the long-term value that PS3 offers as both a gaming and home entertainment device. We also began shipping the new 80GB PS3 model in late August to address any short term inventory transitions from the 40GB to 80GB model,” commented Jack Tretton, president and CEO of SCEA.
“We’re looking forward to a solid holiday season and are excited to offer a string of unmatched content to consumers in the coming months with LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: Confrontation, Resistance 2, and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift.”
Check out the full NPD results for August here. You can also see how Nintendo and Microsoft responded.
Nintendo reveled in the latest figures released from tracking firm NPD, dominating hardware sales and boasting five games for the Wii/DS in the Top 10.
The Nintendo DS and Wii occupied the top two spots on the hardware charts in the US for August, with the NDS selling 514 000 units and the Wii 448 000. This brings lifetime sales of the NDS to nearly 22 million in the US while the Wii extends its lead as the best-selling video game console of this generation with over 12 million consoles now sold in the US to date.
As mentioned, five games for Nintendo systems made it into the Top 10 for August: Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Play, Madden NFL 09 for Wii and Guitar Hero: On Tour for NDS.
“The positive public response to Nintendo DS and Wii has stayed strong throughout 2008,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “New titles like Madden NFL 09 All-Play for Wii have joined top 10 veterans like Wii Fit, demonstrating the wide and long-lasting appeal of Nintendo games.”
Check out the full NPD results for August here. You can also see how Microsoft and Sony responded.
The US video game industry showed signs of slowing down slightly for the month of August, with $1.08 billion in sales up just 9% from August 2007. Hardware sales weighed in at $394.5 million (+3%) while software figures grew 13% to $550.7 million.
“August industry sales remain strong and realized a 9% gain over last August, although the month posted the first single-digit percentage growth in 27 months” commented NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “Despite smaller growth this month, the industry is up 32% year-to-date and remains on target to achieve annual revenues in the range of $22 to $24 billion.”
The Nintendo DS was the best-selling console with 518 300 units, followed by the Wii with 453 000 and the PSP with 253 000 units. The Xbox 360 beat the PS3, although the difference between the two was marginal with the 360 selling 195 200 units and the PS3 185 400. The PS2 sold 144 100 units.
Madden NFL 09 dominates
EA’s Madden NFL 09 dominated the software chart, boasting four places in the Top 10 and over 2 million copies sold in total. The Xbox 360 version topped the chart with 1 million copies sold, followed by the PS3 and PS2 versions with 643 000 and 424 500 copies sold respectively.
According to Anita Frazier, “Madden NFL ‘09 was the top-selling game of the month, and launched with 2.3 million units out of retail doors in it’s first month, besting last year’s ‘08 title by 2%. Year after year, the industry can count on the Madden release to bring folks into stores during the relatively lazy days of late summer.”
While the NPD group usually focuses on video game and console unit sales, as far as their coverage of this market is concerned, they have recently released a report detailing the breakdown of gamers in the US.
The NPD Group put the total number of US gamers as high as 174 million, after comparing their known sales statistics with information gathered from 20 000 online participants. NPD breaks the gamers down into the following groups:
- Extreme Gamers: 3% @ 5.22 Million
- Avid PC Gamers: 9% @ 15.66 Million
- Console Gamers: 17% @ 29.58 Million
- Online PC Gamers: 14% @ 24.36 Million
- Offline PC Gamers: 15% @ 26.1 Million
- Young Heavy Gamers: 22% @ 38.28 Million
- Secondary Gamers: 20% @ 34.8 Million
Extreme Gamers, while making up a small segment of the market, are considered the ‘hardcore,’ having each bought 24 games in the last 3 months and playing for an average of 22 hours a week. Young Heavy Gamers on the other hand, the largest segment of the market, make up a third of the console owners and typically tend towards portable consoles, as six out of ten DS and PSP owners fit this category.
Other interesting titbits in the report reveal that over half of all Extreme Gamers buy additional downloadable content while a third of all Avid Gamers buy DLC. PlayStation 3 owners are the least likely segment to own any other current consoles (Xbox 360 and Wii) while only 10 percent of PlayStation 2 owners also own a PlayStation 3.
The four largest sales monitoring and reporting firms in the world are to team up to release the most definitive video game sales chart reports available.
Each of the main territories are covered, with NPD covering the US, Chart-Track covering the UK, Enterbrain providing Japanese sales data and GFK providing sales numbers from Europe. The new monthly sales report that will result from this partnership will be called the Top Global Markets Report and will provide a report that is truly representative of worldwide point-of-sale data.
Their first report has been released, revealing the worldwide, cross-platform sales data for the top five selling games this year:
- Grand Theft Auto IV - 6,293,000
- Super Smash Bros: Brawl - 5,433,000
- Mario Kart Wii - 4,697,000
- Wii Fit - 3,604,000
- Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - 3,475,000
No surprises then, except for the (still not surprising) performance of three Wii-only titles, making it to the top 5.
Sony was obviously quite happy with the PS3’s performance in the US in June. The “tremendous momentum” of the PS3 was continued thanks to the launch of the PS3-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4 and 404 488 PS3’s were sold, 84% higher than the Xbox 360.
Sony confirmed that PS3 hardware sales growth has exceeded 311% year-on-year in June, with over 94% month-on-month growth. Metal Gear Solid 4 topped the software chart in June, selling 774 647 copies. Software for the PS3 showed a 300% year-on-year increase with over 2.4 million software units for the PS3 being sold in June.
Sony highlighted key upcoming titles for the PS3 that promise to drive hardware sales into the holiday season. These include PS3 exclusives such as SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Confrontation, Resistance 2, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, NBA ’09: The Inside and LittleBigPlanet.
The Nintendo DS dominated console sales in the US for June, however, Nintendo chose to focus on the Wii in their response to the latest NPD data.
Nintendo announced that the Wii has emerged as the best-selling console in the US, just 20 months after its launch in November 2006. NPD data shows that the Wii sold 666 000 units during June while almost 10.9 million Wiis have found their way into US gamers’ homes to date.
“Wii was created with the goal of expanding the gaming universe through its intuitive motion-sensing controller,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “As we have demonstrated this week during the E3 Media & Business Summit, Wii continues to pioneer new ways for people to interact with their video games and with one another.”
The Nintendo DS was the best-selling console in US, selling 783 000 units in June and recording sales of over 20.8 million units in the US to date.
Nintendo dominated the software side of things as well with six of the Top 10 games for June being for Nintendo systems. Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS) was at number 2, Wii Fit at number 4, Wii Play at number 5 and Mario Kart Wii at number 6. The Wii version of Lego Indiana Jones came in seventh and the DS version at number 9.
The US video game industry continued to prosper in June, boasting total sales of $1.69 billion, 53% higher than June 2007. Hardware was up 54% at $615.1 million while software also experienced a bumper month with $872.6 million.
NPD analyst Anita Frazier commented “The video games industry continues to perform in the face of an ever-increasingly difficult economic environment as many turn to more in-home entertainment. Even if growth slows over the back half of 2008, the industry is poised to achieve record-breaking revenues of over $22B for the year.”
The Nintendo DS was the best-selling console in the US for the month of June, selling 783 000 units and placing it well ahead of the Wii in second place with 666 700 units.
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