March NPD numbers

RobDickinson

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Location
Christchurch , New Zealand
Nintendo DS 508K
PlayStation 2 280K
Wii 259K
Xbox 360 199K
PlayStation Portable 180K
Game Boy Advance 148K
PlayStation 3 130K
GameCube 22K
Xbox n/a


Top 10 SW

PS2 GOD OF WAR II 833K
360 TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON: ADVANCED WARFI 394K
360 GUITAR HERO 2 W/ GUITAR 291K
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE 273K
PS3 MOTORSTORM 199K
NDS DIDDY KONG RACING 189K
NDS SPECTROBES 165K
360 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K7 165K
PS2 MLB '07: THE SHOW 164K
360 DEF JAM ICON 148K


Consider March is a 5 week month compared to Febs 4 week, unadjusted change :

[Feb | March | Diff | %]
DS: 485k | 508k | +23k | +4.7%
PS2: 295k | 280k | -15k | -5.1%
Wii: 335k | 259k | -76k | -22.7%
360: 228k | 199k | -29k | -12.7%
PSP: 176k | 180k | +4k | +2.3%
GBA: 136k | 148k | +12k | +8.8%
PS3: 127k | 130k | +3k | +2.3%
NGC: 24k | 22k | -2k | -8.4%


So 360 hardware sales down, anticipation of the Elite?

One things clear, considering GHII was out for about a week, the 360 blows everything else away for 3rd party software sales in the US, has to be great news for 3rd party software dev.

PS3's biggie manages rather poor sales considering the lack of other choices.
 
GHII is awesome.

Xbox 360 sells software.

Elite preorders are sold out in the US so I suspect anticipation has likely had a (negative) effect on 360 sales.

Is interest in the Wii flagging slightly or is supply still limited?
 
Supply of the Wii is still limited.

Is the DS really that good? Maybe a question for the ninty forum :)
And is the Ghost Recon sales for GRAW1 or GRAW2?
 
Joystiq heard that from Sony and went shopping just to see how many PS3's they could find and all 12 shops they hit had them in stock!!
 
Well the PS3 is definately not limited here in the UK, but the Wii is.
 
Sony PR is such bullsh*t, to say a item is out of stock because there are less than 30 available is such a desperate move, trying to put a positive spin on a negative situation. You can find a PS3 everywhere.
The NPD figures have become a brilliant way to measure the month by month success of the consoles, we no longer have to rely on PR from the big firms, we can see for ourselves how well the consoles are doing.

My take on the figures is that Nintendo seem to be ruling the roost, the 360 is ticking along nicely and the PS3 is struggling to sell. The drop in 360 sales did alarm me but then as someone has said the eminent release of the elite has probably put off potential 360 owners which could account for the drop off in sales.
The fact that the 360 is still outselling the PS3 is very encouraging. The price difference is obviously a big factor and the elimination of the 20 gig model makes the 360 look even better. If they had made the elite the same price as the premium and dropped the premium price point I think they could of done some serious damage to the PS3.

On the software side, if you ignore God of War 2 the 360 has had a stella month. I was expecting motorstorm to be number 2 but it seems it isnt as popular as I thought it would be. The GH2 sales are phenominal, 291K for a game that sells for $80-$90 is amazing. Also GRAW2 sales are very impressive. It seems that MS model is to get a AAA title out every month rather than bunch them up. I agree with this strategy. Personally if I play a game a lot after purchase I can be all done with it within a month, but realistically 6 weeks. If there is a game worth buying every month then 9 out of 12 months I am going to be buying a 360 game. If you bunch up the releases then I can only buy 1 game each month so releasing 2-3 AAA titles in one month is going to mean I have to chose and lose out on playing a AAA title.
Hopefully MS can get out of the games cycle of releasing all the good games around the american holiday season and spread them out throughout the year. In my opinion as gamers become older and have more disposable income they gain the ability to buy games all year round rather than just at christmas. When I was a kid I had more money to spend on games around christmas but now I can buy a game at anytime of the year so I appreciate games being released all year round so I don’t miss out on the big games because they were all released around christmas.

Anyways, back to the NPD figures. A great month for 360, 4 titles in the top 10, 2 out of the top 3, things are looking good for the 360. Now if they can keep their distance in hardware sales from the PS3 until the PS3 gets a price cut then they will be ok. Hopefully MS will be wise enough to drop the elite down to the premium price point when the PS3 gets its price cut this winter and hopefully the 360 can stay ahead of the PS3.
 
Definitely encouraging numbers for the 360, but was very surprised at how well the ps2 is still selling, really not sure i can see anyone, MS, Nintendo or Sony themselves ever reaching a home console user base for a single product like that again, cant help thinking it really has been a "phenomenon"
 
Definitely encouraging numbers for the 360, but was very surprised at how well the ps2 is still selling, really not sure i can see anyone, MS, Nintendo or Sony themselves ever reaching a home console user base for a single product like that again, cant help thinking it really has been a "phenomenon"

The ps2 has become even more popular due to the price and back catalogue, ms will never achieve that because they will never support an old console once they release a new one,as shown with the xbox, at least sony are still supporting the ps2. to be honest i'm half tempted to pick one up at £50 as there are a few games I never got the chance to play and at that prices it's a bargain. The only thing that puts me off is how it'll look on an lcd.
 
ms will never achieve that because they will never support an old console once they release a new one,as shown with the xbox, at least sony are still supporting the ps2.

What makes you say that?

Towards the end of the last gen XBOX was basically dead anyway it just made sense to kill it off and move all resources to the 360.

It was because the PS2 was so succesful that XBOX was killed off the battle had been lost, if the XBOX had been wildly succesful im sure they would have kept supporting it.

If the 360 carries on the way its going i dont see any reason why MS wont continue to support it past this generation.
 
The ps2 has become even more popular due to the price and back catalogue, ms will never achieve that because they will never support an old console once they release a new one,as shown with the xbox, at least sony are still supporting the ps2. to be honest i'm half tempted to pick one up at £50 as there are a few games I never got the chance to play and at that prices it's a bargain. The only thing that puts me off is how it'll look on an lcd.

£50? where. i'm looking to get my son one.
 
What makes you say that?

Towards the end of the last gen XBOX was basically dead anyway it just made sense to kill it off and move all resources to the 360.

It was because the PS2 was so succesful that XBOX was killed off the battle had been lost, if the XBOX had been wildly succesful im sure they would have kept supporting it.

If the 360 carries on the way its going i dont see any reason why MS wont continue to support it past this generation.

I suppose you're right. :smashin:
 
There has to be 50million PS2's sold in the US, doesnt take many broken ones to make up quite a few replacement sales.

Also people like my mate bought one for singstar/buzz for his kids, cheap as chips, thats why its selling.
 
^^^^^

Same with the wii.

Cheap as chips, thats why there selling.

A good month for SONY overall though
 
Yup & their 7 - YEAR OLD console has just outsold all other nex-gen consoles.

+ they had a record-breaking launch in UK for the ps3.

not a bad month I think.
 
Yup & their 7 - YEAR OLD console has just outsold all other nex-gen consoles.

+ they had a record-breaking launch in UK for the ps3.

not a bad month I think.

Not a good month at all in fact. They don't WANT their old console to be their top-selling machine any more. Margins on PS2 software for Sony are driven lower all the time and they need people to upgrade to PS3 to cement their income stream for the future. The launch week sales in the UK were strong but they have tailed off, the UK market is relatively insignifiant anyway. Sales of PS3 are POOR globally in every major territory. A terrible month for Sony by nearly all accounts.
 
There has to be 50million PS2's sold in the US, doesnt take many broken ones to make up quite a few replacement sales.

Fair point, now i'm wondering how many 360's sold are replacements, and with the upcoming launch of the elite, which will no doubt sell out, how many of those will be present 360 owners trading in against the new model, and not new owners.

Also people like my mate bought one for singstar/buzz for his kids, cheap as chips, thats why its selling.

Have ps2 sales suddenly increased because of price cuts? or are they actually decreasing as time goes on, the console reaches the end of its "life" and other alternatives hit the market. Regardless of your affiliation, should you have one, but over the last seven years Sony has sold over 100million ps2 consoles worldwide, and love em or hate em thats a hell of an achievement in anybodies books. Can microsoft manage the same with the 360? or can Sony outdo itself? personally i think not on both counts, but time will tell i guess.
 
PS2 is almost irrelevant to Sony's future, there milking it now but it'll die off eventualy. If they dont get an install base big enough to pay back games developers for the PS3 then that'll die too.

And its pretty obvious that the price ticket on the shelf is the hugely overriding factor in unit sales.
 
Fair point, now i'm wondering how many 360's sold are replacements, and with the upcoming launch of the elite, which will no doubt sell out, how many of those will be present 360 owners trading in against the new model, and not new owners.

I'd say very few 360's are replacements, MS are fixing & replacing most dead consoles for free, and whilst the faliure rate isnt good its not all that bad either, and improving (certainly no worse than the class action inducing PS2).

People will (for some reason)trade up to the elite, which means someone else will buy a cheap 2nd hand unit. Its all sales.



Have ps2 sales suddenly increased because of price cuts? or are they actually decreasing as time goes on, the console reaches the end of its "life" and other alternatives hit the market. Regardless of your affiliation, should you have one, but over the last seven years Sony has sold over 100million ps2 consoles worldwide, and love em or hate em thats a hell of an achievement in anybodies books. Can microsoft manage the same with the 360? or can Sony outdo itself? personally i think not on both counts, but time will tell i guess.

No idea, I doubt MS or Sony will touch those numbers (but Nintendo should). MS will replace the 360 before it even has a chance to achieve those sales and the PS3 is a different kettle of fish, PS2 was a games console first and foremost, the PS3 isnt. Its also quite common for industry leaders to fall flat on their face on a generation switch, PS3 has many key indicators of that. Its a shame as you said the PS2 was an amazing machine with great games, the balance though has shifted somewhat (how much time will tell).
 
Not a great month for Sony but the sheer number of PS2 will no doubt lead to a percentage of PS3 sales at some point in the future. If Sony have sold 10's of millions of PS2's that does bode well for the PS3 in years to come. Obviously it means nothing now, and sales of PS3 are not what Sony would have hoped but I don't think the PS3 is selling that badly to be honest.

I'd be interested in sales data for the first few months following the PS2's release if anyone has it ? I'm sure it had a relatively slow start.
 

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