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Aquamarine on 13 May 2016
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Aquamarine said:
ExtremeBrawler said:
Aquamarine said:

Another comparison I can share.

This compares NPD software sales throughout 2015 and 1Q 2016 for Activision franchises:

 

I can do this with other publishers!

Thanks for the clarification.

Just by looking at Q1 2016 numbers for COD, it should be clear these numbers don't consider bundles.

I am quite surprised to see the "other Activision titles" doing on Wii U not that lower than on PS4+PS3 combined, alongside Skylanders being strongest on Wii U.

The NPD Group has three separate feeds:

1) Hardware feed

2) Software feed

3) Accessories feed

 

Hardware bundles are located in the "Hardware" feed. They're made in cooperation with the Hardware manufacturers to sell-through hardware so they aren't really associated with how *Activision* is performing in the overall market.

This comparison is supposed to act as an in-depth look to show how Activision performs as a software publisher that operates in USA retail stores like Gamestop and Amazon. So it looks at the Software feed.

 

Oh and also:

April 2016 Software Marketshare ($):

Nintendo: 16.94% (+23.2% YOY)

Sony: 10.13% (+7.6% YOY)

Ubisoft: 9.59% (+97.4% YOY)

Electronic Arts: 8.40% (-28.9% YOY)

Take 2 Interactive: 7.11% (-43.1% YOY)

Activision Blizzard: 6.97% (-17.2% YOY)

= 59.14% of the market with these six publishers alone. And this doesn't even include Microsoft (who is generally pretty weak in the 1st-party software market) It's fascinating how homogenous the retail industry has become.

Continuing on this thought:

 

Ubisoft + Electronic Arts + Take 2 Interactive + Activision Blizzard:

2012: 54.4% of NPD software sales

2013: 58.8% of NPD software sales

2014: 57.5% of NPD software sales

2015: 49.3% of NPD software sales

 

Bethesda + Warner Bros:

2012: 6.4% of NPD software sales

2013: 6.9% of NPD software sales:

2014: 8.2% of NPD software sales:

2015: 18.6% of NPD software sales:

 

The Top 6 Third-party publishers:

2012: 60.9% of NPD software sales

2013: 65.7% of NPD software sales

2014: 65.7% of NPD software sales

2015: 67.9% of NPD software sales

 

1st-party publishers:

2012: 19.7% of NPD software sales

2013: 19.4% of NPD software sales

2014: 21.3% of NPD software sales

2015: 19.6% of NPD software sales

 

1st-Party publishers and the Top 6 Third-party publishers (Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Take 2 Interactive, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Warner Bros.):

2012: 80.6% of NPD software sales

2013: 85.1% of NPD software sales

2014: 87.0% of NPD software sales

2015: 87.5% of NPD software sales

 

The USA retail video game industry has pretty much become an oligopoly.