November 2015 NPD Thread! Hardware and software in OP!

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ZhugeEX said:

This months NPD is an interesting one. This marks the second holiday (excluding launch) for Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One and this is traditionally when the consoles have their highest selling holiday periods. Of course there are exceptions to that as evidenced with both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 last generation due to the 'Move' and 'Kinect' launches.

That being said, I'm not entirely sure if this month will show the big jump in sales that many in this thread are expecting. Last year the Xbox One ran a $349 promotional campaign from the beginning of November through to the end of the year and during Black Friday there were deals as low as $329. The lower price as well as in demand software such as Halo MCC drove demand for the Xbox One and helped Microsoft achieve higher sales than the PlayStation 4 during the month.

This year there was no big incentive to purchase an Xbox One at the beginning of November and sales for October showed that Halo 5 didn't do much to push hardware sales. The only big incentive this month for Xbox came during Black Friday week when Microsoft offered $50 off on their holiday bundles. It's clear that Microsoft will have another successful November but I'm not sure if they can replicate the success of last year, even if Black Friday sales were up year on year.

Sony's PlayStation 4 was outmanoeuvred last year by the Xbox One's strong brand, marketing and price. This year they made sure to match in all 3 and just like Microsoft last year they dropped the price of the console just before November. This didn't make too much of an impact during October however I believe that the additional $50 off promotion during Black Friday will have allowed the PS4 to exceed its November total from last year and I believe the additional software bundles and marketing will help solidify the PlayStation 4's place as the number one selling console this month.

When it comes to actual totals there are plenty of signs that show that total sell through via retail channels may not have been that strong and so in that case I'm willing to bet that the PS4, whilst being up year on year, will fail to match Xbox One's total from last November. I also see plenty of signs that the Xbox One will not match that total either.

NPD Hardware predictions-

PS4 - 1.15m
XB1 - 1.05m

But hey, I can be wrong.

PS4 is for sure significantly up YoY. Xb one almost certainly down, but whther by a big amount or a small amount is hard to say. Assuming a slim and proper $299 price for PS4 in 2016, I think holiday 2016 should be the biggest holiday period for PS4. I suspect Xb one will get a slim too, and possibly be $250, permanently, late next year.