PlayStation by the Numbers
December 2008

PlayStation Brand Staged for Continued Momentum in 2009
Total 2008 PS3 Hardware Sales Up 40% and PS3 Software Sales Up 115% in the U.S.

PLAYSTATION 3

The PlayStation® brand delivered continued sales momentum throughout 2008 with a total of 3.6 million PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) units sold in the U.S. by the end of 2008, an increase of 40% from the previous year. In December, 726,005 PS3 hardware units were sold, representing an increase of 92% from November.

PS3 also generated one of its strongest months in software unit sales in the U.S., with almost 6 million units sold in December. For the calendar year, PS3 software unit sales increased 116%.
Top-selling games for PS3 in December included exclusive hits Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet, as well as third-party blockbusters, such as Activision’s Call of Duty: World at War, Midway Games’ Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and Ubisoft’s Price of Persia.

Top-selling games for PS3 in 2008 included Grand Theft Auto IV, Call of Duty: World at War and the exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

PlayStation Network

With more than 17 million PlayStation®Network users worldwide and a total of 330 million pieces of content downloaded to date, the PlayStation Network continued to be a destination of choice during the holidays for interactive entertainment content.

Top three most downloaded games in December included Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer and Linger in Shadows.

Top three most downloaded movies in Decemberincluded The Dark Knight, Step Brothers, and GetSmart.

PlayStation Portable

PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) and the Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters PSP Entertainment Pack continued to be popular choices in the U.S. for on-the-go entertainment in December, with more than 1 million hardware units sold, an increase of 143% from November. In December, more than 3.7 million software units were sold for PSP, including popular hits such as Madden NFL 09, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 and Lego Batman: The Videogame.
The PSP exclusive titles Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and God of War: Chains of Olympus, which both launched in March, were the top two most popular titles of 2008 and sold a combined 1,313,893 units in 2008.

PlayStation 2

PlayStation®2 (PS2) and the LEGO Batman: The Videogame PS2 Entertainment Pack delivered another month of solid sales in December, with a 99% increase in hardware units and 124% lift in software units from the previous month.
The Guitar Hero franchise sold over 3 million units on the PS2 in 2008.

Power of the PlayStation Portfolio

In 2008, the PlayStation brand generated more than $6.4 billion in revenue in the U.S.
PlayStation’s hardware unit revenue generated more than $2.5 billion in 2008.
PlayStation’s software unit revenue totaled more than $3.2 billion in 2008.
Executive Perspective

“The PlayStation brand has had a solid calendar year with total PS3 hardware sales up 40% and total PS3 software sales up 115%. We remain confident in our momentum into 2009 as we continue to deliver to our consumers the best entertainment content and technology out there. And we delivered on that promise this past year with one of the best software line-ups in the industry, a dramatically expanded PlayStation Network with the launch of the video delivery service and the beta of PlayStation Home, as well as extended hardware offerings with the PSP 3000 and Uncharted 160GB PS3 bundle. We also hit a remarkable milestone for the PlayStation 2 platform in North America with 50 million units sold. It’s truly an amazing testament to the power and legacy of our brand.”

— Peter Dille, Senior Vice President, Marketing and PLAYSTATION®Network, Sony Computer Entertainment America

NPD: PC Game Sales Fall 14% in 2008

While U.S. video game software sales approached nearly $11 billion, PC game sales at retail totaled only $701 million, NPD has revealed.

by James Brightman on Thursday, January 15, 2009

While the console video game market has been soaring (as demonstrated by the just released NPD 2008 totals), PC game sales aren't so hot – from a retail perspective, that is. The NPD Group has revealed to GameDaily BIZ that PC games totaled just $701 million in 2008, which is down 14 percent from 2007.

It's important to keep in mind, however, that this NPD data concerns retail data only and does not include sales of digitally downloaded games, micro-transactions, online subscriptions, etc. The NPD Group recently started paying more attention to online revenue with its quarterly subscription tracker, but this data does not include that. NPD is expected to release more in-depth information on the PC games market next week.

When looking at the complete PC games picture, many in the industry would argue that the market is actually quite healthy. Games for Windows - Live Senior Marketing Manager Michael Wolf told us back in November, "The PC gaming industry is not in decline; it's evolving and it's definitely evolving to a more online market. I believe the PC is the cradle of innovation; there's always new things happening on the PC."

December NPD results are in and Xbox 360 highlights include:

* December ’08 was the biggest month for Xbox 360 in history
* Xbox 360 sold more consoles, games and online entertainment experiences in 2008 than any previous year
* In the all-important holiday quarter, Xbox 360 outsold PS3 by more than 2:1

Despite a decline in overall consumer spending during the holidays, video games continued to shine as a bright spot, with Xbox 360 registering record-setting numbers in December, selling 1.4 million consoles in the U.S. (December NPD data).

Not only did the Xbox 360 see its weekly sales run rate increase 38 percent compared to November, it also continued to outperform the PS3 by two-to-one for the third month in a row (December NPD data).

With third-party game sales for Xbox 360 increasing from $298 million in November to $504 million in December, it’s no surprise that Xbox 360 has generated more life-to-date dollars at retail for third-party publishers than the PS3 and Wii combined. “Gears of War 2,” “Call of Duty: World at War,” “Grand Theft Auto IV,” “Madden NFL 09,” “Left 4 Dead” and the critically acclaimed “Fable II” were some of the hottest Xbox 360 games in 2008. Three Xbox 360 games appeared on the top 10 list in December, including “Call of Duty: World at War,” “Left 4 Dead” and “Gears of War 2.” (December NPD data)

“Our goal for 2008 was to reach new audiences by bringing ground-breaking games and entertainment to Xbox 360,” said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Looking forward, new waves of innovation will extend our position as the global leader in interactive entertainment.”

As announced by Microsoft last week, Xbox LIVE continues to experience rapid growth; online transactions over Xbox LIVE grew 84 percent in 2008 over 2007. More than 40 million downloads took place through the LIVE Marketplace in December alone (Microsoft internal data). With consumer appetite for immediate online entertainment growing exponentially, Xbox LIVE is poised for another great year in 2009.