European Console Sales (2009 Edition)

[22psi]

We have a Japan Sales thread and NPD but I didn't see a Euro sales thread so here it goes:

GfK-ChartTrack data shows that Xbox 360 was the fastest-growing console of 2008, with sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 over double that of the same period in 2007, spurred on by a mix of value, great games and entertainment, and the recently-launched New Xbox Experience.

Chris Lewis, Regional Vice President, Interactive Entertainment Business EMEA, said: “Christmas 2008 was a resounding success for Xbox 360. 2008 saw us grow faster than any of our competitors and we over-achieved in sales during the crucial Christmas selling period. We reduced the entry-level Xbox 360 ERP in September, understanding the need for great value, and European consumers have responded enthusiastically...”

gamesindustry.biz

I guess it's pretty decent in a region that the Xbox brand wasn't too impressive last gen. 8m units in 3 years I believe.

 

[DrJay24]

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=44754

 

[22psi]

Ah thank you. If that is official Euro sales thread, can a mod pls move this into that thread? Thnx.

 

[AlNom]

We could probably use a fresh start anyhow. It is now 2009, afterall. The old thread shouldn't be going anywhere, and as reports of EU sales are usually cumulative, a new thread wouldn't be so bad for keeping discussion fresh and uncluttered. I changed the thread title to reflect this.

 

[eastmen]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/01/microsoft-xbox.html

icrosoft said today that it had sold more than 28 million Xbox 360s since introducing the game console in November 2005. That compares with more than 20 million PlayStation 3 consoles sold by Sony since it debuted the device in November 2006, according to Microsoft executives.

"We're widening our lead against PlayStation 3," said Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for the Xbox, who noted that going into the fourth quarter, Microsoft's lead had been 5 million consoles. "This was the best year in the history of the Xbox, despite the tough economy."

Greenberg credited last year's growth to a lineup of exclusive games, including Gears of War 2, Left for Dead and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

He also credited the company's online game service, Xbox Live. The company said it now has 17 million Xbox Live subscribers who can use their consoles to find online opponents, download games or watch movies and TV shows. Though many Xbox Live subscribers opt for the free version of the service, Greenberg said that the majority pay $50 a year for the premium service, which includes the ability for Netflix members to view the service's Instant Watch movies and television shows for free.

Microsoft said online sales on the service, such as movie rentals and downloads of TV shows and games, jumped 84% in 2008 from 2007. The Redmond, Wash., company said consumers have spent more than $1 billion on Xbox Live, but it did not say how much of that was spent in 2008.

"It's a huge part of our business," Greenberg said. "And it's a quickly growing portion of our business."

How did the others do? NPD Group plans to release its sales number for the video game industry next week.

-- Alex Pham

I know its not just PAL land numbers but i figured this was a good place to post .

 

[Silent]

What a friend – that works for the biggest game retailer in this country - told me is that it’s a very big question if they can hold it in the next year. The picture that Microsoft tries to paint is in reality not that fuzzy and warm.

The sales of the Xbox 360 was abysmal since a couple of months in Belgium and the only way that Microsoft could shift some boxes was giving some unnaturally high rebates. And as far as I know this wasn’t only in Belgium where they did have this offer.

The xbox 360 was in some places cheaper then a PS2 console and that in combination with some airtime on TV did sell some consoles.

But now the rebate is over and the prices are normalized.

 

[catisfit]

We can estimate the non-US and non-Japan (i.e. Europe+Others) data by working backwards from what we do know:

Worldwide Sales

1 Jan 08 - 31 Mar 08:
PS2: 2.35m
PS3: 2.32m
360: 1.3m

1 Apr 08 - 30 Jun 08:
PS2: 1.51m
PS3: 1.56m
306: 1.3m

1 Jul 08 - 30 Sep 08:
PS2: 2.5m
PS3: 2.43m
360: 2.2m

[Sources - Microsoft and Sony financial reports]

So 2008 YTD Worldwide total at 30 Sep 08:
PS2: 6.36m
PS3: 6.31m
360: 4.8m

Japan Sales

Media Create YTD 28 Sep 08:
PS2: 389,672
PS3: 682,250
360: 188,895

US Sales

NPD YTD 4 Oct 08:
PS2: 1,750,300
PS3: 2,250,900
360: 2,087,600

Meaning that Europe+Other YTD sales at end-September (give or take a few days) were:
PS2: 4.22m
PS3: 3.38m
360: 2.52m

 

[Nesh]

That changes the whole image of the situation a lot.

 

[deepbrown]

We can estimate the non-US and non-Japan (i.e. Europe+Others) data by working backwards from what we do know:

Sales

Meaning that Europe+Other YTD sales at end-September (give or take a few days) were:
PS2: 4.22m
PS3: 3.38m
360: 2.52m

Yes but October, November and Decemeber were the months that the 360 fought back and you haven't included them

 

[catisfit]

Yes but October, November and Decemeber were the months that the 360 fought back and you haven't included them

For good reason: we won't have worldwide numbers for Oct-Dec until the financial reports come out later this month. We won't even have December US sales until next week. If I could tell the future, I'd be a very rich man!

Microsoft said today that it had sold more than 28 million Xbox 360s since introducing the game console in November 2005.

Earlier today, Microsoft's European gaming arm said hardware sales surpassed 8 million units in the region.

So 20m non-Europe, of which 12.4m US (plus NPD Dec 08), about 0.8m Japan. So "Other" must be a much bigger market than anybody realised to date. To the tune of 6.8m consoles (minus NPD Dec 08, that will still be a sizable number).

EDIT: Or, the numbers are slightly exaggerated - they do come from Aaron Greenberg's mouth after all

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

If the current numbers are 28 million for X360 and 20 million for PS3, that basically yields the following per year average sales:

X360 = 9.3 million
PS3 = 10 million

 

[catisfit]

Also,

Aaron Greenberg told Edge in a phone interview that the company sold 10.3 million Xbox 360s throughout the year.

They were at 4.8m Jan-Sep, so that's 5.5m Oct-Dec

 

[deepbrown]

For good reason: we won't have worldwide numbers for Oct-Dec until the financial reports come out later this month. We won't even have December US sales until next week. If I could tell the future, I'd be a very rich man!





So 20m non-Europe, of which 12.4m US (plus NPD Dec 08), about 0.8m Japan. So "Other" must be a much bigger market than anybody realised to date. To the tune of 6.8m consoles (minus NPD Dec 08, that will still be a sizable number).

EDIT: Or, the numbers are slightly exaggerated - they do come from Aaron Greenberg's mouth after all

They are shipped numbers.

And we have Japan and US numbers upto November don't we? Can't we add those to the picture?

 

[catisfit]

They are shipped numbers.

Surely that's worse? That would mean a huge difference between shipped and actually sold, that they overestimated demand significantly. Also, that Jan-Mar shipped numbers should be pretty low as a result as it realigns with true demand.

And we have Japan and US numbers upto November don't we? Can't we add those to the picture?

Sure, but they'll be left hanging until more info comes out. This is a Europe thread, after all. I didn't think it was worth posting Japan and US numbers with no connection to relate them to Europe. But here they are:

Japan YTD latest (21 Dec 08):
PS2: 462,080
PS3: 934,763
360: 309,084

Change from 28 Sep 08:
PS2: +72,408
PS3: +252,513
360: +120,189

Balance since 28 Sep 08: PS3 +132,324

NPD YTD latest (29 Nov 08):
PS2: 2,092,300
PS3: 2,818,900
360: 3,295,400

Change from 4 Oct 08:
PS2: +342,000
PS3: +568,000
360: +1,207,800

Balance since 4 Oct 08: 360 +639,800

 

[deepbrown]

Surely that's worse? That would mean a huge difference between shipped and actually sold, that they overestimated demand significantly. Also, that Jan-Mar shipped numbers should be pretty low as a result as it realigns with true demand.



Sure, but they'll be left hanging until more info comes out. This is a Europe thread, after all. I didn't think it was worth posting Japan and US numbers with no connection to relate them to Europe. But here they are:

Japan YTD latest (21 Dec 08):
PS2: 462,080
PS3: 934,763
360: 309,084

Change from 28 Sep 08:
PS2: +72,408
PS3: +252,513
360: +120,189

Balance since 28 Sep 08: PS3 +132,324

NPD YTD latest (29 Nov 08):
PS2: 2,092,300
PS3: 2,818,900
360: 3,295,400

Change from 4 Oct 08:
PS2: +342,000
PS3: +568,000
360: +1,207,800

Balance since 4 Oct 08: 360 +639,800

O.K. So where were you getting those YTD Worldwide numbers? You say Microsoft and Sony...but they are always shipped. So your Europe numbers can't be accurate can they?

Sorry, I'm trying to get my head round this. Those Euro numbers just can't be right, as Euro is around similar to US numbers, not that much higher. The reason for this would be that NPD and Media Create are sold numbers, whereas internal Microsoft and Sony are shipped.

 

[catisfit]

O.K. So where were you getting those YTD Worldwide numbers? You say Microsoft and Sony...but they are always shipped. So your Europe numbers can't be accurate can they?

Well no, that's why I called them estimates. Also they are Europe+Others as I stated. They are obviously not NPD accurate, but this is Europe we are talking about, ballpark is about as good as it gets.

 

[deepbrown]

Well no, that's why I called them estimates. Also they are Europe+Others as I stated. They are obviously not NPD accurate, but this is Europe we are talking about, ballpark is about as good as it gets.

But I didn't think Europe and Others was that much higher than US.

The numbers I've got when adding NPD and Media Create up to December (we can't even guestimate Europe yet) are

PS3: 7.13
360: 6.12

So Microsoft said they pulled away from Sony this year? Even accounting for slightly higher sales in Europe, it doesn't seem likely...

What about LTD using your methodology?

Edit: Sorry we don't have Decemeber NPD yet. You can add another 0.5 gain (or more) for the 360 then.

 

[Mboojigga]

But I didn't think Europe and Others was that much higher than US.

The numbers I've got when adding NPD and Media Create up to December (we can't even guestimate Europe yet) are

PS3: 7.13
360: 6.12

So Microsoft said they pulled away from Sony this year? Even accounting for slightly higher sales in Europe, it doesn't seem likely...

What about LTD using your methodology?

Edit: Sorry we don't have Decemeber NPD yet. You can add another 0.5 gain (or more) for the 360 then.

NPD alone already showed 360 outsold the PS3 as of October/November for the U.S. for 2008.

 

[catisfit]

So Microsoft said they pulled away from Sony this year? Even accounting for slightly higher sales in Europe, it doesn't seem likely...

Aaron Greenberg said that the 360 sold 3m more than the PS3 worldwide in Oct-Dec (28m v 20m, and he said the lead was 5m at end-September).

He also said that they sold 5.5m consoles in Oct-Dec. So he's basically saying the PS3 sold 2.5m units worldwide Oct-Dec. That would mean zero seasonal increase over the Jul-Sep figure (2.43m), which is highly unlikely - in the US alone the PS3 sales were up 30% over the previous quarter, and that excludes December.

So there's something fishy in the numbers somewhere. We'll have to wait for independent data to figure out exactly where.

 

[deepbrown]

NPD alone already showed 360 outsold the PS3 as of October/November for the U.S. for 2008.

I added NPD October and November to worldwide numbers...those are the results. 7.13 PS3 and 6.12 360.

Aaron Greenberg said that the 360 sold 3m more than the PS3 worldwide in Oct-Dec (28m v 20m, and he said the lead was 5m at end-September).

He also said that they sold 5.5m consoles in Oct-Dec. So he's basically saying the PS3 sold 2.5m units worldwide Oct-Dec. That would mean zero seasonal increase over the Jul-Sep figure (2.43m), which is highly unlikely - in the US alone the PS3 sales were up 30% over the previous quarter, and that excludes December.

So there's something fishy in the numbers somewhere. We'll have to wait for independent data to figure out exactly where.

And Sony says up 130% lol http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ps3-sales-up-130-per-cent-during-xmas