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Forums - Sales Discussion - The Official March NPD Thread

ahah... would of won those bets...



Proud Member of GAIBoWS (Gamers Against Irrational Bans of Weezy & Squilliam)

                   

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DMeisterJ said:

Nevermind... I take back my above post.

Had to pull that PS Family shit.

Sony, you make me hate you some days

 

 Actually, I don't mind it, we can use it to deduce some data.



The Nintendo Wii sold an astonishing 721,000 units during the five-week retail period in the US in March, more than doubling hardware sales for competing home consoles, research firm NPD Group reported Thursday.
ImageNPD analyst Anita Frazier said that the Wii captured "the highest single month unit sales of any platform outside the holiday timeframe," thanks to improved supply and the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii, which sold 2.7 million units in the US during the month

Total game industry sales (console hardware, software and accessories) were up 57 percent to $1.7 billion.

"You'd never know that the U.S. economy was under distress by looking at the videogames industry sales figures. Year-to-date growth is a rock-solid 27 percent through March 2008," said Frazier.

Analyst Jesse Divnich with research firm EEDAR said Wii hardware sales will likely stay in the 600,000 to 700,000 unit range over the next couple of months as Nintendo supports the big upcoming first-party titles, Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii.

DS sales rounded out Nintendo's hardware dominance, as better supply and more promotional activity drove sales to 698,000 units for the month. Frazier expects DS demand to continue to be strong through the summer months.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 sold 262,000 units, just edging out the PlayStation 3, which sold 257,000 units during the month.

Microsoft said earlier this year that it had been struggling with hardware supply issues, although now supply appears to be back to normal. The PS3 managed to outsell Xbox 360 in January and February this year.

"March has proven that the PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii can co-exist perfectly together," said Divnich.

Frazier added, "Across hardware, software, and accessories, the Wii contributed the most to total industry sales, representing 31 percent of total industry dollars for the month."

In addition, Sony's PSP handheld sold 297,000, while the PS2 sold 216,000

Overall hardware sales were $551.3 million, up 46 percent year-on-year.

Software sales nearly doubled those of hardware, as titles such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Army of Two drove sales to $945.6 million, up 63 percent.

Super Smash Bros. was the top-seller, as it sold to 31 percent of the Wii installed base, according to Frazier. Compared to last March, she said that twice as many SKUs achieved sales in excess of 100,000.

Accessory sales were up 58 percent to $220 million, driven by sales of Xbox Live points and subscription cards, along with the PS3 wireless controller.

NPD's top-selling games for March (*Includes bundles, spec eds.)

1. WII SUPER SMASH BROS: BRAWL; NINTENDO OF AMERICA; Mar-08--2.7M
2. 360 *TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS 2; UBISOFT; Mar-08--752.3K
3. 360 ARMY OF TWO; ELECTRONIC ARTS; Mar-08--606.1K
4. WII PLAY W/ REMOTE; NINTENDO OF AMERICA; Feb-07--409.8K
5. PSP GOD OF WAR: CHAINS OF OLYMPUS; SONY; Mar-08--340.5K
6. PSP CRISIS CORE: FINAL FANTASY VII; SQUARE ENIX INC; Mar-08--301.6K
7. WII GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK; ACTIVISION; Oct-07--264.1K
8. 360 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K8; TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE; Mar-08--237.1K
9. 360 *CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE; ACTIVISION; Nov-07--237K
10. PS3 ARMY OF TWO; ELECTRONIC ARTS; Mar-08--224.9K




FishyJoe said:
Nintendo's statement was once again short and sweet with limited boasting.



It doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know, though. At least they gave a release for Canada with some new info.



drudaddy said:
I'm just gonna say this, nintendo doesn't even need third-party, its first party is what's driving the system. I say after holiday 08 people are gonna see less thirdparty support for the wii which sales are not doing so well. only publishers u will see will be activision, Ea,Ubisoft, and Sega

Every time I go to the Real Canadian Superstore near my apartment I check out the game section to see what they're stocking and (on occasion) to pick up a game. One trend I have been seeing since the Wii was released is that the shelf space devoted to Wii software has steadily grown since it was released; since before Christmas last year Wii shelf space has been much larger than PS3 shelf space, and (roughly) the same as XBox 360 shelf space. Another trend that started early in 2008 is the Wii has been slowly "eating" the PS3's shelf space, and the PS3 now has only about 80% of one display rack ...

This is just one store and I can't say whether it is representative of all stores in this chain, or of retailers in general. What I can say is that third party software has been selling very well on the Wii in particular when you consider the sales of the game in relation to the quality of the game and marketing that it received.



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BKK2 said:
FishyJoe said:
Nintendo's statement was once again short and sweet with limited boasting.



It doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know, though. At least they gave a release for Canada with some new info.


But we're not the audience. It goes out to the press at large. It is not targeted at people who comb over every detail of the NPD report. 



HappySqurriel said:
drudaddy said:
I'm just gonna say this, nintendo doesn't even need third-party, its first party is what's driving the system. I say after holiday 08 people are gonna see less thirdparty support for the wii which sales are not doing so well. only publishers u will see will be activision, Ea,Ubisoft, and Sega

Every time I go to the Real Canadian Superstore near my apartment I check out the game section to see what they're stocking and (on occasion) to pick up a game. One trend I have been seeing since the Wii was released is that the shelf space devoted to Wii software has steadily grown since it was released; since before Christmas last year Wii shelf space has been much larger than PS3 shelf space, and (roughly) the same as XBox 360 shelf space. Another trend that started early in 2008 is the Wii has been slowly "eating" the PS3's shelf space, and the PS3 now has only about 80% of one display rack ...

This is just one store and I can't say whether it is representative of all stores in this chain, or of retailers in general. What I can say is that third party software has been selling very well on the Wii in particular when you consider the sales of the game in relation to the quality of the game and marketing that it received.


I'd suspect this isn't a larger trend, as PS3 software sales are increasing, albeit more slowly than Wii software. The sections that should be shrinking are the areas where software sales are slowing down -- specifically PS2 and any remnants of Xbox/GC software. 

 



http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a324/Arkives/Disccopy.jpg%5B/IMG%5D">http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a324/Arkives/Disccopy.jpg%5B/IMG%5D">

The PS2 still has a lot of software in its future release lineup: next Guitar Hero, Madden, Star Wars the Force Unleashed, Ultimate Band, Need for Speed, etc. It will keep selling for at least a couple more years.



Currently playing on PS3: God of War III

Currently playing on Xbox360: Final Fantasy XIII

Currently playing on NDS: Chrono Trigger

FishyJoe said:
BKK2 said:
FishyJoe said:
Nintendo's statement was once again short and sweet with limited boasting.



It doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know, though. At least they gave a release for Canada with some new info.


But we're not the audience. It goes out to the press at large. It is not targeted at people who comb over every detail of the NPD report.


Of course, that's why Nintendo's press release doesn't interest me.

Anyway:

01. WII SUPER SMASH BROS: BRAWL; NINTENDO OF AMERICA; Mar-08--2.7M
02. 360 *TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS 2; UBISOFT; Mar-08--752.3K
03. 360 ARMY OF TWO; ELECTRONIC ARTS; Mar-08--606.1K
04. WII PLAY W/ REMOTE; NINTENDO OF AMERICA; Feb-07--409.8K
05. PSP GOD OF WAR: CHAINS OF OLYMPUS; SONY; Mar-08--340.5K
06. PSP CRISIS CORE: FINAL FANTASY VII; SQUARE ENIX INC; Mar-08--301.6K
07. WII GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK; ACTIVISION; Oct-07--264.1K
08. 360 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K8; TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE; Mar-08--237.1K
09. 360 *CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE; ACTIVISION; Nov-07--237K
10. PS3 ARMY OF TWO; ELECTRONIC ARTS; Mar-08--224.9K
16. PS3 Rainbow Six Vegas 2; 154.7K
**. PS3 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE 153k
**. 360 Guitar Hero III; 121.2K
**. NDS FFCC: Rings of Fate; 67.3K
**. 360 Lost Odyssey; 65K
**. WII Bully; 37.4k
**. PS3 Hot Shots Golf 5; 36.2K


Guitar Hero 3 All versions; 631k
MLB 2K8 All versions; 415k
Rock Band PS3+360; 300k



Am I missing any?



Bodhesatva said:
HappySqurriel said:
drudaddy said:
I'm just gonna say this, nintendo doesn't even need third-party, its first party is what's driving the system. I say after holiday 08 people are gonna see less thirdparty support for the wii which sales are not doing so well. only publishers u will see will be activision, Ea,Ubisoft, and Sega

Every time I go to the Real Canadian Superstore near my apartment I check out the game section to see what they're stocking and (on occasion) to pick up a game. One trend I have been seeing since the Wii was released is that the shelf space devoted to Wii software has steadily grown since it was released; since before Christmas last year Wii shelf space has been much larger than PS3 shelf space, and (roughly) the same as XBox 360 shelf space. Another trend that started early in 2008 is the Wii has been slowly "eating" the PS3's shelf space, and the PS3 now has only about 80% of one display rack ...

This is just one store and I can't say whether it is representative of all stores in this chain, or of retailers in general. What I can say is that third party software has been selling very well on the Wii in particular when you consider the sales of the game in relation to the quality of the game and marketing that it received.


I'd suspect this isn't a larger trend, as PS3 software sales are increasing, albeit more slowly than Wii software. The sections that should be shrinking are the areas where software sales are slowing down -- specifically PS2 and any remnants of Xbox/GC software. 

 

 

I both agree and disagree ...

A big box retailer like Superstore isn't interested in how well software in general sells, they're focused on carying only software which has a high turnover rate; they're probably carying such a high selection of Wii software because they can consistently sell enough copies of a lot of games people consider "poor sellers" (like Zack and Wiki), and are eating into the PS3's space because there are less similarly steady selling PS3 titles.