Final confirmed Jan NPD's

[Scott_Arm]

I honestly don't think BR and HD-DVD are the big selling factors of these systems. They are still primarily game consoles, and most people will buy them to play games with the media playback being far secondary. Most people have no interest in the format war and will pick up a next gen disc player when they're cheap, like they did with DVD. I also don't understand people that say the Wii cannot be compared to the 360 or the PS3 because it's not hi-def or provides different capabilities. All three are gaming machines and they are all competing directly with one another. In fact, the PSP and the DS compete directly with those systems. People have an entertainment budget, and if you have X number of dollars set aside for gaming, money spent on any console or handheld is going to come out of that pool.

PS3 and the Wii have been out far too short a period of time to make any predictions. All we know is that they look like they are not going to flop.

 

[22psi]

Xbox 360:
1. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - Capcom
2. Gears Of War - Microsoft
3. Rainbow Six: Vegas - Ubisoft

PlayStation 3:
1. Resistance: Fall Of Man - Sony
2. Madden NFL 07 - Electronic Arts
3. Fight Night Round 3 - Electronic Arts

Wii:
1. Warioware: Smooth Moves - Nintendo
2. Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo
3. Rayman Raving Rabbids - Ubisoft

PlayStation 2:
1. Guitar Hero 2 w/guitar - Activision
2. Madden NFL 2007 - Electronic Arts
3. WWE Smackdown Vs. RAW 2007 - THQ

Gamecube:
1. Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo
2. Naruto: Clash Of Ninja 2 - D3Publisher of America
3. Lego Star Wars II - Lucasarts

Handhelds:
1. New Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo (DS)
2. Mario Kart DS - Nintendo (DS)
3. Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends - Nintendo (DS)

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=12841

 

[Corwin_B]

These numbers make zero sense. If Sony shipped 1 million by the end of the year, how the heck did they not sell out by now? Where are all these ps3's hiding??

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/02/10

 

[22psi]

I honestly don't think BR and HD-DVD are the big selling factors of these systems.

Well for me, the main reason why I want a PS3 is for BR movies not for the games. Most of the games will come out for the 360 as well (and maybe better on the 360) which I already have. I am sure others are in the same position as me. I think Sony has a very tough battle ahead. For people like me, they will have to market that their machine has great games in the works. For people not like me, they have to market the machine as great games machine AND a BR player together for a low price of 500-600 (compared to stand alone players). Then there are the masses which just cannot afford to even think about anything over 299.

I wish them luck, I still believe Sony can pull through in late 08 or early 09.

 

[Jov]

...
I also don't understand people that say the Wii cannot be compared to the 360 or the PS3 because it's not hi-def or provides different capabilities. All three are gaming machines and they are all competing directly with one another. In fact, the PSP and the DS compete directly with those systems. People have an entertainment budget, and if you have X number of dollars set aside for gaming, money spent on any console or handheld is going to come out of that pool.

Its great the Wii is selling like hot cakes, but could it possible a portion of the PS2 user base (and others o'cause due to expanding markets) are picking up the Wii with the mentality of it eventually be their secondary console while waiting for:
1) PS3 to come down in price and/or
2) hit its strides or
3) flip to the X360 when its compelling enough?

I personally believe for this gen majority of gamers will either have PS3+Wii or X360+Wii to be in the best of both (SD and HD) worlds. Either way Nintendo benefits most.

I disagree regarding the PSP/DS is competing head on against the home consoles as they two category provides different experiences/price point/markets, but they are not exactly mutually exclusive though.

 

[TheChefO]

I still believe Sony can pull through in late 08 or early 09.

That's the thing, They need to sell better NOW Not in 2009 when the gen is a year or two from ps4, xb3, wiiHD.

I do hope MS does not sit idle. Their recent estimations seemed to suggest they were looking to clear out their inventory. Hopefully this is for a price drop on this side of summer.

If they sit on these prices they deserve to be passed this gen. If Sony sits on these prices, they deserve to be shot (or rule the HD movie market but certainly one of the two).

Nintendo is exempt.



I wonder how Sony execs are handling these numbers.

It's not a fair comparison; not fair on them, I should stress. That sounds arrogant, maybe, but it's the truth

 

[arkaerial]

I know lots of people use the NPD figures, but I wondering. Does Wal-Mart supply sales information to them now? I remember for a long time they wouldn't. Also if I remember correctly NPD does take into account online only stores such as places like Newegg. Have these since changed?

 

[infinity4]

am i the only person who isn't going to buy a wii because it lacks games??? there aren't many games suiting my taste

 

[Jov]

am i the only person who isn't going to buy a wii because it lacks games??? there aren't many games suiting my taste

2 games on the Wii compells me to get it once I get a TV and find one in London:
1) LoZ
2) next Metroid

also my gf wants it so it doesn't matter so i guess its a must

 

[infinity4]

2 games on the Wii compells me to get it once I get a TV and find one in London:
1) LoZ
2) next Metroid

also my gf wants it so it doesn't matter so i guess its a must

i will see how things go. i have 350GBP to spend atm, by this summer budget should double. i wouldn't be sure what system to get between

1, Vista
2, XB360
3, PS3
4, Wii

none of systems really give me most games that fit my tastes. 360 has most with about 6-7, but i am just discouraged by h/w failure rate

 

[TheChefO]

...Luckily, all of it's problems are transitory (high price, lack of games, lack of "hype", etc.) whereas all of it's opposition's problems are more or less permanent (no next-gen media, no built-in HDD, etc.)...

Problems? Oh you're right! I forgot how many people last year ditched ps2 in favor of xbox because it didn't have a HDD standard. No wonder they only sold 100million+ ps2's!

If only Sony would have had that standard HDD, imagine the sales then!

The storage issue has been debated to death. Wake me when a game can't be reproduced on dvd9.

 

[TheChefO]

Its great the Wii is selling like hot cakes, but could it possible a portion of the PS2 user base (and others o'cause due to expanding markets) are picking up the Wii with the mentality of it eventually be their secondary console while waiting for:
1) PS3 to come down in price and/or
2) hit its strides or
3) flip to the X360 when its compelling enough?

I personally believe for this gen majority of gamers will either have PS3+Wii or X360+Wii to be in the best of both (SD and HD) worlds. Either way Nintendo benefits most.

I disagree regarding the PSP/DS is competing head on against the home consoles as they two category provides different experiences/price point/markets, but they are not exactly mutually exclusive though.

Interesting theory, but seriously If you have $250 why wouldn't you search around for some change and pick up the xb360 core if your aim is HD graphics?

I think most sales for Wii right now are Wii targeted, not a holdover purchase for another system.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

I'm actually a lot more surprised with the PSP. It has been doing rather well this last few months for a supposedly dead platform. Did any big games come out?

And what the hell happened with the DS? Seems almost impossibly low. I can't believe Nintendo is still having trouble producing such simple hardware after all this time (assuming it's supply limited). They really need to get their act together.

Because nintendo needs to produce insane amounts of it. They already bumped up production from 2 to 2,5million a month. Pretty insane numbers if you ask me.

 

[Rolf N]

am i the only person who isn't going to buy a wii because it lacks games??? there aren't many games suiting my taste

It plays Tomb Raider Legend!
And Chibi Robo. And Pikmin 2 ...

You do have a point though. I think most of the Wii owners are just messing around with their daily Wii Sports routine. Nintendo is doing a good job making the system feel alive/useful with the weekly updates on the VC, daily news updates, and now every two or three days a new poll to vote on. It's silly, but it gives you a reason to turn the thing on regularly.

The Virtual Console keeps me busy (and happy) enough until Metroid and Smash Bros come out, but that strategy probably won't work for everyone.

 

[dobwal]

xbox 294k.

Way more than I expected. Maybe the 360 is still benefitting from the lack of supply from competition. Regardless, to sell 294k at the original MSRP roughly 15 months from launch is a healthy sign. In comparsion the xbox 1 moved 181k in its second jan with the added benefit of $100.00 price cut the previous May.

ps3 244k.

I am under the impression that the PS3 is still fairly supply limited. While you can find the PS3 on some store shelves, a product doesn't need to be impossible to buy to show supply constraint. The ideal supply would have the PS3 on all relevant store shelves and thats not the case. Based on Sony's 1 million shipment to the US, less than 700,000 NPD sales figures for 2006 and this current data, Sony probably hasn't shipped any additional units to the US as well as japan in preparation for the PAL launch. Therefore, 244k isn't indicative of demand but the reality of a product thats still supply constrained.

even wii 435k

Wow. 435K during the first jan after launch is a sign that the Wii still has a healthy demand and a production capacity that no other manufacturers has ever been able to establish so early in the life of their console. All while being still supply constrained.

 

[Arwin]

The storage issue has been debated to death. Wake me when a game can't be reproduced on dvd9

There's no point. You just keep on hitting snooze ...

 

[Miksu]

Any word on current software attach rates?

 

[TheChefO]

There's no point. You just keep on hitting snooze ...

Of course I do. False alarms.

 

[TheChefO]

Regardless, to sell 294k at the original MSRP roughly 15 months from launch is a healthy sign. In comparsion the xbox 1 moved 181k in its second jan with the added benefit of $100.00 price cut the previous May.

Thanks for the sobering comparison.

 

[Todd33]

Wow, the 360 fan... enthusiasts are out in mass dancing on the would be grave of Sony. It was amazing to see people come out of the woodwork to jump in celebration of spinning numbers, it also coincided with a spike in the younger demographic in the age poll, interesting.


Do these numbers surprise anyone? Seriously?

The 360 is a mature product and has been selling 150k-300k during the non-Xmas months since launch. So nothing new here, they are riding strong NA support and GoW word of mouth. Sales will only go go up if they drop the price. The Xbox owners have to buy a 360, there is no Xbox support or games. This is in strong contrast to strong PS2 support, some of the best games are just now coming out (FFXII, Rogue Galaxy, GoW2), when was the last Xbox exclusive hit?

The PS3 is selling about where most expect (unless you "expect" a lot more just to set high expectations). It's selling a little lower than the 360 during the same periods (I think). The 360 didn't get a spike in sales until April 06 (where it reached 300k), when GRAW and Oblivion came out (surprise, games sell consoles!). People keep screaming about shortages with the 360 to somehow explain the numbers in Jan-March, but it was not hard to find when I bought mine in the first week of Feb. So what should the "most expensive console ever" sell monthly? I'd guess 150k-250k, sort of like the 360, but there is a larger untapped pool of Playstation loyalist still playing their PS2.

PS2, holly Jebus. Take PS2+PS3 sales and you still have a Playstation giant. If Sony can convert more PS2 owners to the PS3 this year with some franchise games then they will be sitting pretty.

The Wii is still riding the holiday buzz. It's not selling due to games, the game reviews stink. Once the non-gamer buzz wears off, Nintendo will be left trying to court the gamers again and might be back to the GC days.

This "war" doesn't even start until Nov-Dec 07 and even then it's in its infancy. Right now all sides are just warming up for the battle.