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Forums - Sales - The Official April NPD Thread (Data at 6:30 PM EST)

thx1139 on 14 May 2009
TheSource said:

Pretty uniform drops in weekly sales rates for PS3, 360, and Wii (30-35% - with 360 seeing the highest drop). Remember March was 5 weeks, April 4 weeks.

Wii still topping PS3 + 360 combined. PS2 within 3k of Xbox 360 on a $29 price drop is impressive, although I guess it re-established a $100+ price point distance between the two systems.

I don't think its unreasonable to expect PS3 to dip below 100k again in May as it did in 2007. X360 could be down to <150k numbers too.  Brett was showing me some preorder data for Punch Out, I don't see Wii dropping off any further in May, and EA Active which comes out the same week could end up having better legs anyway.

 

 

I dont think Punch Out no matter how many pre-orders is going to make much of a bump in hardware sales.   With 23 million consoles sold in the US already the game can sell stellar and since this is a long time Nintendo fan favorite it is pretty certain that those Nintendo fans have a Wii.

 



Its libraries that sell systems not a single game.

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Hyruken on 14 May 2009

Possibly the worst day Sony has had then what with posting 2billion loss and being outsold by its 10 year old brother and being 40% away from its nearest competitior?



Soundwave on 14 May 2009

I think Punch-Out! will be a hit though. The marketing campaign for it is really good and the whole nostalgia card draws in older players while the accessible controls make it a fun party game too. 

The graphics are nice too. 

I'm thinking 400k+ first month for Punch-Out!, but it will sell for a loooooooong time beyond that. It has "crowd pleaser" written all over it. 

DSi sales will come down next month, and Wii sales will even out a bit more. The Wii/DS ratio was out of whack this month because of the DSi launch. 



noname2200 on 14 May 2009
Kenology said:
appolose said:
So, can we expect a litany of "Wii is doomed" articles in the next few days?

Wii still > HD Twins = yes.

It'll read "Wii down 50% YoY, has the bubble burst?" and neither Mario Kart Wii nor Smash Bros. Brawl will be mentioned in the article.  It'll be epic.

Found the first one already!

In a troubling month for the game industry, the Wii led the market's downfall by recording an over 50% drop in hardware sales from this time last year, and an over 40% drop from just last month.

Especially disturbing is the complete failure of any third-party Wii software to chart. Indeed, every third-party Wii game was outsold by the now two-years-old New Super Mario Bros. on the DS. Where third-parties saw success on Microsoft's Xbox 360 with solid second-month sales of Resident Evil 5, and great sales for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (now in its ninth month of release), not a single third-party was able to muster sales of over 90,000 copies on Nintendo's Wii system.

"We think it's clear that third-parties simply can not find success on the Wii" says Kotaku's Brian Crecente, a respected blogger who covers the gaming industry in depth. "When you have games like Madworld that would have sold millions of copies on the 360 or PS3, but which fail to chart on the Wii, you know you have a problem."

"The Wii's bubble has definitely burst" agreed Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter. "Wii hardware sales are in freefall, and while I hesitate to say that Nintendo's about to drop out of the race, I definitely think they need to release Wii HD sooner rather than later. Introducing killer software like Wii Sports Resort is also a must, as I think the public is finally tired of doing yoga routines on their copy of Wii Fit."

In a sign that investors also believe that it's Game Over for Nintendo, Nintendo's stock has declined roughly 40% since last Summer, and even company president Satoru Iwata admitted in his most recent press release that Nintendo expects Wii sales to flatline this year, with only a modest 2% increase over its 2008 Fiscal Year performance.

In the final analysis, it appears that Nintendo's Wii, and Nintendo itself, are no longer recession-proof.

Source



thx1139 on 14 May 2009
Soundwave said:
thx1139 said:
Last year Wii hardware sales had little to do with game releases. The Wii was still riding a huge amount of hype month after month. Games had little to do with hardware sales.

 

Smash Brothers sold 2.7 million in March 2008 and Mario Kart Wii sold 1.2 million in April ... you think neither one of those impacted hardware sales?

Nintendo still needs the "big" core games like Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and Mario Galaxy. Can't just rely on Wii Fit/Music/Sports/etc.  

I do think though this month the Wii probably lost some sales to the DSi. Working at retail I notice lots of people go back and forth between a Wii or DS (they probably ending up buying both over time anyway though). This was the DS' month with all the marketing the DSi got. I saw the Beyonce DSi TV spot and the "two dudes messing with photos" DSi spots like 10x+ this month which is a lot for Nintendo. 

 

 Unrelated.  Last year Nintendo could release as many pieces of hardware they could find and they would sell. Didnt matter what game released.  You may not believe it, but it was the market last year.

As for needing "big" core games like Smash, etc. Nope Nintendo doesnt need them.  The market for the Wii is decidly casual/fitness related now.  The Nintendo fan has got his Wii, most core gamers I know anyway consider Smash, MK, and Galaxy "Nintendo titles" not "core titles".



Its libraries that sell systems not a single game.

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noname2200 on 14 May 2009
thx1139 said:

I dont think Punch Out no matter how many pre-orders is going to make much of a bump in hardware sales.   With 23 million consoles sold in the US already the game can sell stellar and since this is a long time Nintendo fan favorite it is pretty certain that those Nintendo fans have a Wii.

I thought all the long-time Nintendo fans jumped ship long ago when Nintendo sold them out and went casual?

 



Soundwave on 14 May 2009
thx1139 said:
Soundwave said:
thx1139 said:
Last year Wii hardware sales had little to do with game releases. The Wii was still riding a huge amount of hype month after month. Games had little to do with hardware sales.

 

Smash Brothers sold 2.7 million in March 2008 and Mario Kart Wii sold 1.2 million in April ... you think neither one of those impacted hardware sales?

Nintendo still needs the "big" core games like Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and Mario Galaxy. Can't just rely on Wii Fit/Music/Sports/etc.  

I do think though this month the Wii probably lost some sales to the DSi. Working at retail I notice lots of people go back and forth between a Wii or DS (they probably ending up buying both over time anyway though). This was the DS' month with all the marketing the DSi got. I saw the Beyonce DSi TV spot and the "two dudes messing with photos" DSi spots like 10x+ this month which is a lot for Nintendo. 

 

 Unrelated.  Last year Nintendo could release as many pieces of hardware they could find and they would sell. Didnt matter what game released.  You may not believe it, but it was the market last year.

As for needing "big" core games like Smash, etc. Nope Nintendo doesnt need them.  The market for the Wii is decidly casual/fitness related now.  The Nintendo fan has got his Wii, most core gamers I know anyway consider Smash, MK, and Galaxy "Nintendo titles" not "core titles".

 

So if Nintendo had a Donkey Kong game or say a Zelda game this month, you believe it would have made zero difference? 

Keep in mind last year this time Wii Fit wasn't even out in North America. They sold 700k+ Wiis in March/April and the only big releases were Smash and Mario Kart. 

I don't care what some kids on the internet consider to be "core" or not, Mario Kart and Smash Bros. were core titles 10 years ago and they are still today. 



salaminizer on 14 May 2009
noname2200 said:
Kenology said:
appolose said:
So, can we expect a litany of "Wii is doomed" articles in the next few days?

Wii still > HD Twins = yes.

It'll read "Wii down 50% YoY, has the bubble burst?" and neither Mario Kart Wii nor Smash Bros. Brawl will be mentioned in the article.  It'll be epic.

Found the first one already!

In a troubling month for the game industry, the Wii led the market's downfall by recording an over 50% drop in hardware sales from this time last year, and an over 40% drop from just last month.

Especially disturbing is the complete failure of any third-party Wii software to chart. Indeed, every third-party Wii game was outsold by the now two-years-old New Super Mario Bros. on the DS. Where third-parties saw success on Microsoft's Xbox 360 with solid second-month sales of Resident Evil 5, and great sales for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (now in its ninth month of release), not a single third-party was able to muster sales of over 90,000 copies on Nintendo's Wii system.

"We think it's clear that third-parties simply can not find success on the Wii" says Kotaku's Brian Crecente, a respected blogger who covers the gaming industry in depth. "When you have games like Madworld that would have sold millions of copies on the 360 or PS3, but which fail to chart on the Wii, you know you have a problem."

"The Wii's bubble has definitely burst" agreed Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter. "Wii hardware sales are in freefall, and while I hesitate to say that Nintendo's about to drop out of the race, I definitely think they need to release Wii HD sooner rather than later. Introducing killer software like Wii Sports Resort is also a must, as I think the public is finally tired of doing yoga routines on their copy of Wii Fit."

In a sign that investors also believe that it's Game Over for Nintendo, Nintendo's stock has declined roughly 40% since last Summer, and even company president Satoru Iwata admitted in his most recent press release that Nintendo expects Wii sales to flatline this year, with only a modest 2% increase over its 2008 Fiscal Year performance.

In the final analysis, it appears that Nintendo's Wii, and Nintendo itself, are no longer recession-proof.

Source

your quote is serious? I mean: "and while I hesitate to say that Nintendo's about to drop out of the race". what the hell is that?

 



the words above were backed by NUCLEAR WEAPONS!

dejelek on 14 May 2009

great xbox 360 number increased in YOY, PS3 number not so much decreasing YOY



point x on 14 May 2009
TheTruthProphet said:
killzone 2 DISAPPEARED

halo wars DISAPPEARED

VERY DISAPOINTING for the HD TWINS

Halo 3,..APPEARED.   104,415,..

x360 6 games in top 20

ps3,  1,..

 

 



 

 

''Halo reach''.. sell 7.m first week ,Believe¡¡¡¡¡¡