All purpose Sales and Sales Rumours and Anecdotes [2023 Edition]

[eastmen]

Not sure where to put this or if it has been posted before

Games are to expensive and people wait for discounts

https://medium.com/ultra-io/how-do-pc-gamers-feel-ultras-pc-gamer-survey-sheds-light-on-trends-and-concerns-4da3cfce13fc

They wanted what $40 for the dlc on cyber punk ? I'm going to wait for it to be $20 and the 5000 or rdna4 to be out before I buy it. I have so many games between game pass and steam sales that I barely had enough time to put a 100 hours into starfield

 

[chris1515]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1733170710372110401

 

[chris1515]

In terms of consoles, hardware sales were up 34% over Black Friday 2022, and this was driven by the Playstation 5. PS5 was in limited supply in 2022, and as a result PS5's Black Friday performance is 217% up compared with the year before.

It was the second biggest sales week for Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series S and X sales since all three consoles were on the market. The previous biggest was the launch week of PS5, which was also Black Friday and the second week of Xbox Series S and X.

PlayStation may grab the headlines, but it was still a strong week for Xbox Series S and X, which managed to match its Black Friday performance from last year. Overall, Black Friday 2023 was the third biggest week yet for Xbox Series S and X console sales.

Over in accessories, and it was the biggest Black Friday yet for peripherals sales, GfK reveals. This was driven by strong sales of VR headsets, joypads and gaming headsets.

"VR was in the spotlight over Black Friday 2023 and this was the biggest ever revenue week for VR" says GfK games boss Dorian Bloch.

"Gaming Headsets show a similar picture to joypads, with a reverse on units and slight revenue increase," Bloch concludes. "For headsets, the under £60 category grew 5% points to 45% of overall revenue and this segment actually saw an average selling price increase from £25 to £29. At the same time the over £100 category took 26% of revenue in both time periods, but the average selling price grew from £139 to £156, which confirms a trend that has been happening for a long time – namely that the premium end of the market is highly prized by consumers, willing to trade upwards to higher priced SKUs."

 

[Deleted member 11852]

The reality is that MS has decided that they likely can't grow the business enough without GP because of Sony's dominance in the console space.

And around-and-round we go. Why does Sony dominate compared to Microsoft? Maybe because Sony market PlayStation, and sell hardware and games in more than twice as many countries as Microsoft. The biggest barrier to Microsoft selling more consoles seems to be linked to not trying to sell to more people compared to Nintendo and Sony.

You will again claim Microsoft cannot sell to these territories, and we'll go around again asking how Microsoft cannot sell into markets they they ave not tried selling into. Again.. it's a defeatist attitude. Microsoft don't want to a fight, they want an easy win but they're in the wrong market for that.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

The half of the territories with 5-10% of the market. Not likely that sales in Slovenia are what's making Sony dominate the EU.

MS haven't given up. They are taking a different approach and fighting smart battles instead of trying to make the impossible happen. You know when Slovenia will be in play for MS? When they're competitive everywhere else first. Concentrate on winning the US and getting to parity in the UK before having dreams of conquering Latvia.

Look at Japan: Remember when MS couldn't win Japan because the Xbox was too large and now Sony is dominating with a router looking console bigger than most Japanese kids? There are cultural barriers to success there that MS is no longer naïve about. The same goes for some areas of the EU.

If MS doesn't want to fight they have a funny way of showing it: buying 40 studios in 5 years for $80 billion, developing the affordable S so that Eastern Europeans and new entrants to the gaming market could afford a console, investing heavily into getting big Japanese games like Persona series and Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest on GP (even though they can't sell units in Japan) and getting aggressive with pricing when they need to boost sales. How can you say they aren't fighting? It's ridiculous.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

The half of the territories with 5-10% of the market. Not likely that sales in Slovenia are what's making Sony dominate the EU.

It is known that where Microsoft does make an effort to market Xbox, e.g. USA and UK that Xbox sells well and competes on sales with both Nintendo and Sony. Based on Xbox selling a little under half as many territories worldwide, and the countries they do operate (usually with a reduced offering of services, i.e. no streaming), and/or having next to no marketing, that Microsoft are leaving 40-50% of the worldwide market on the table.

If Microsoft are putting all of their eggs in the cloud/streaming basket, they are doomed because shipping a box to a country for sale is far less of a time/cost investment that setting up multiple server farms.

 

[eastmen]

Today walmart and amazon had the series X for $350 sold out pretty fast on both platforms.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

It is known that where Microsoft does make an effort to market Xbox, e.g. USA and UK that Xbox sells well and competes on sales with both Nintendo and Sony. Based on Xbox selling a little under half as many territories worldwide, and the countries they do operate (usually with a reduced offering of services, i.e. no streaming), and/or having next to no marketing, that Microsoft are leaving 40-50% of the worldwide market on the table.

If Microsoft are putting all of their eggs in the cloud/streaming basket, they are doomed because shipping a box to a country for sale is far less of a time/cost investment that setting up multiple server farms.

We'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[Shortbread]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1734241385471963425

Over 4.55 million video games were sold during November in the UK, a drop of 3% over the same period in 2022.

This is according to GSD data, which tracks digital and physical video game sales.

The drop is due to a weaker release slate in November this year. Last year saw major launches including God of War Ragnarök on PlayStation platforms and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet for Nintendo Switch.

There was one major title that helped keep sales strong, and that was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Activision Blizzard's shooter was comfortably No.1 for the month. Last year's Call of Duty released in October, which meant that Call of Duty had a stronger November this year than the year before.

However, despite efforts from Activision to position Modern Warfare 3 as a full sequel to last year's game, fans were not so convinced and first three weeks of sales for Modern Warfare 3 are just under 38% lower compared with last year's Modern Warfare 2.

Another decent release last month was the arrival of Hogwarts Legacy on Nintendo Switch. Sales of the Warner Bros game jumped 100% month-on-month due to Switch release (plus a bit of Black Friday discounting).

EA Sports FC 23 sold slightly fewer in November compared with FIFA 23 last year, but it was close. EA's new football title saw some strong discounts during the Back Friday sales period.

It was another big month for game sales over the Black Friday week, with 1.66 million games sold in the UK, led by EA Sports FC 24. Compared with Black Friday last year, sales are very slightly up by 0.8%, which is impressive when you consider the general lack of new releases.

Elsewhere, Football Manager 2024 makes No.6, with sales down 4% compared with last year's title. The only other new game of note is RoboCop: Rogue City, which reached No.11 in the charts for November.

PS5 delivers big month for the console market

Moving over to GfK data, over 486,000 games consoles (panel data) was sold in the UK during November, a sharp rise of 176% month-on-month, and up 32% over November last year.

This was due to heavy discounting around Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo consoles over the Black Friday period. It was really the first Black Friday where PlayStation 5 was able to participate (the console was almost entirely sold out during this period in 2022, 2021 and 2020).

Sony's machine accounted for practically half of the games consoles sold during November. PS5 sales were up 149% month-on-month, and up 126% over last November.

In second place for the month was Xbox Series S and X, which saw a hefty 231% sales jump month-on-month, again due to Black Friday discounting. Compared with November 2022, Xbox sales are up 4%.

Nintendo Switch took third spot, with sales up 175% month-on-month but down 19% over the same period last year.

Year-to-date, console sales are up 12% over the year before, driven by improved sales for PS5.

Elsewhere, 1.275 million peripherals and accessories were sold in the UK across November (GfK panel data), which is a rise of 118% over October but down 3.5% over last November.

The new PlayStation Portal accessory for PS5 debuts at No.5. The product sold out at UK retail last month

UK GfK November 2023 Top 10 (Digital and Physical)​

Position	Title
1	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard)
2	EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
3	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
4	Spider-Man 2 (Sony)
5	Super Mario Bros Wonder (Nintendo)*
6	Football Manager 2024 (Sega)
7	Assassin's Creed Mirage (Ubisoft)
8	Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)*
9	Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo)*
10	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)

*Digital data unavailable

 

[Shortbread]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1735251222741897230

Game sales dip but PS5 drives console market up 60% | European Monthly Charts

Europe posted a solid month for video game sales during November, driven by Call of Duty, EA Sports FC 24 and PS5.

24.6 million video games were sold across tracked European markets, a rise of 20% over the year before. However, this is because November 2023 was a 'five week' month compared with the four weeks of November 2022. If we just look at the same four week period, sales were actually down slightly by 2%.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the big driver of sales. It was the only real new release of note for the month, and made up for the absence of other AAA titles (last year saw the release of God of War Ragnarök and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet). Last year's Call of Duty (Modern Warfare 2) launched in October, so it was a significantly bigger November for COD this year than last year.

However, for its first four weeks, Modern Warfare 3's sales were 33% down compared with Modern Warfare 2. This year's title was similar to last year's release, which may have impacted interest. It was still comfortably the best-selling game of the month.

Elsewhere, EA Sports FC 24 sold 3% additional units over November compared with FIFA 23 (for the same five-week period). The game was discounted heavily over the Black Friday period.

Sticking with football, the second biggest new game of the month was Football Manager 2024, which sits at No.10. The game narrowly sold a little less than last year's title for its first four weeks on sale.

The other new game in the chart is Super Mario RPG on Switch, which makes No.13. Nintendo doesn't share digital data, so it may have charted higher if download figures were available.

For its first three weeks on sale, the SNES remake sold 13% fewer units than 2020's Paper Mario: The Origami King (which is also a Mario RPG). Of course, Super Mario RPG had competition from this Christmas' big Mario game, Super Mario Bros Wonder, which continues to sell very well at No.4. In fact, Wonder's sales only dropped 15% compared with October, which was when the title came out.

November also saw the release of Hogwarts Legacy on Switch. The game also received discounts over Black Friday on the other platforms, and as a result sales surged 509% month-on-month. The Switch version accounted for over half of the game's November sales. The Warner Bros game seems destined to end 2023 as the second biggest game of the year behind EA Sports FC 24.

In terms of Black Friday, 7.8 million games were sold that week, a slight drop of 1% over the same period in 2022. EA Sports FC 24 was comfortably the best-selling title of Black Friday, followed by Call of Duty and Hogwarts Legacy.

Over in console, and 1.3 million units of hardware were sold across tracked markets. If we just look at the same four week period as last year, sales are up 59% year-on-year

This was entirely driven by PS5, which was in stock over the popular Black Friday period for the first time since it launched in 2020. PS5 sales are up 376% over the year before, and was comfortably the biggest console of the month. Nintendo Switch is the second biggest, but sales are down 35% over last November. Xbox Series S and X is in third position, with sales down 26% over the year before.

Console data does not include all markets and is missing Germany and the UK. For UK data, click here.

Over in accessories, and 2.56 million units of peripherals were sold over November. In terms of the same four-week period in 2022, sales are up 13.8%.

Controllers continue to dominate, driven by the PS5 DualSense which saw a big spike in sales thanks to the performance of PS5 overall. The new Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Amiibo debut at No.7 and No.9, while the PlayStation Portal accessory comes in at No.8.

European GSD November 2023 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)​

Position	Title
1	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard)
2	EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
3	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
4	Super Mario Bros Wonder (Nintendo)*
5	Spider-Man 2 (Sony)
6	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
7	Assassin's Creed Mirage (Ubisoft)
8	Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)*
9	Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
10	Football Manager 2024 (Sega)

*Digital data unavailable

 

[Johnny Awesome]

The bottom dropped out of the Estonian Xbox market I'm told.

Likely due to lack of advertising.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

The bottom dropped out of the Estonian Xbox market I'm told.

Why are you fixated on Estonia? Why did your interest in Albania wane?

Is this some North American thing us europeans don't understand?

 

[chris1515]

from estimate

https://twitter.com/x/status/1735251222741897230

Game sales dip but PS5 drives console market up 60% | European Monthly Charts

European GSD November 2023 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)​

Position	Title
1	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard)
2	EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
3	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
4	Super Mario Bros Wonder (Nintendo)*
5	Spider-Man 2 (Sony)
6	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
7	Assassin's Creed Mirage (Ubisoft)
8	Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)*
9	Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
10	Football Manager 2024 (Sega)

*Digital data unavailable

estimate from installbase
978k PS5
267k Switch
54k Xbox Series

 

[Shortbread]

Why are you fixated on Estonia? Why did your interest in Albania wane?

Is this some North American thing us europeans don't understand?

Just the typical "nothing to see here" drive-by posting, wrapped in the poor delusions that certain geographic locations/groups aren't capable of seeing or understanding the awesomeness of the Series consoles like us Americans!!! Well, I take that back, Series consoles haven't been selling all that well over here... so...

Anyhow...

 

[metacore]

from estimate


estimate from installbase
978k PS5
267k Switch
54k Xbox Series

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626605215964069888

Vgchartz are estimating 1.7mln PS5 vs 0.25mln Xbox sold during November in Europe (including Uk and Germany which are missing from gsd) Still , Highest gap ever, highest PS result and one of lowest for Xbox. In US had xbox its lowest November since 2006. Starfield forza and gamepass didnt help and in hindsight are often criticized.

We are already seeing sings of lesser optimization care in xbox versions of multiplats. Things will look pretty dire next year with ps5pro and switch successor.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Not really, but we've been over it all already.

 

[RobertR1]

XSX for 359 and XSS for 199 in the UK is what I saw today.

These should be the price points going forward for the X series consoles.

Just like AMD can’t command price parity with nvidia, same goes for Xbox against PS.

 

[JPT]

XSX for 359 and XSS for 199 in the UK is what I saw today.

These should be the price points going forward for the X series consoles.

Just like AMD can’t command price parity with nvidia, same goes for Xbox against PS.

Just to add Norway price points, these are with 25% VAT.

PS5 Slim = 700 usd
PS5 Slim digital = 630 usd

XSX = 550 usd
XSS = 320 usd

 

[eastmen]

Costco in the usa has the series s with a headset for $150

my guess is the 512 gig model wont exist after the holiday

 

[Shifty Geezer]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626605215964069888

That's just France though. Another piddling little irrelevant backwater market like Estonia and Albania. I suppose you'll be blaming that on a 'lack of marketing' as well!