US sales in August were nearly $1,000,000,000
life-to-date totals in the U.S. as follows:
- PS2: 39.1 million
- PS3: 1.75 million
- PSP: 8.3 million
- Xbox 360: 6.3 million
- Wii: 4 million
- NDS: 12.7 million
...
"August was Madden month as it usually is, so that isn't surprising," Frazier continued. "It was the biggest introduction month for a new Madden game ever, with over 2.2 million units selling in the U.S. across 8 platforms. It slightly exceeded the sales of the previous record holder, Madden '06, which was introduced in August 2005. And with the next-gen platform games at higher price points, dollar performance was even stronger. Also continuing a trend that we've seen the past several months, Nintendo scored in hardware sales as the Wii and the DS captured the top two spots for the month and the Wii had 4 of the top 10 software items for the month. So Nintendo's strength continues as well."
We also questioned Frazier about the increase in Xbox 360 sales and the slight decline in PS3 sales for the month. Not only does she think that the price cuts boosted the platform, but she also believes the Xbox 360 is in a great position to gain momentum going into this holiday season.
"The price cut had a lot to do with the Xbox 360's success. Looking at the unit sales this year, 360 sales had slowed down quite a bit. From our survey of consumers' attitudes about purchasing new hardware, we know that there are a lot of consumers that do indeed wait for price cuts to make their buying decisions. It's pretty clear that the price cut stimulated sales, and in front of the Halo 3 launch, I think we'll continue to see some pretty strong results through the end of the year for the Xbox 360 platform," she explained.
As for the PS3, Frazier acknowledged that Sony better start moving some hardware at a faster clip before time runs out. "There is no doubt that the window that Sony has to turn this around and bolster their position in the marketplace is narrowing," she said. "With only 4 months left in this calendar year, November and December will be absolutely critical to them to gain more solid ground with the PS3. That said, the story is still not fully written, but it's coming much closer to being so."
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=17421&page=1
People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
When there are more laws, there are more criminals.
- Lao Tzu
