NPD December 2007

[AlNom]

Canadian numbers please.

 

[deepbrown]

That is a misleading statistic.

I was being "cute"

 

[deepbrown]

I want to see Uncharted numbers also, but my feeling is that since its launch, the title has sold fairly well actually.

Has in Euro land.

 

[quest55720]

"Sony's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3) also smashed expectations, selling 206,000 units, well ahead of the market's expectation of 139,900 units."

From Sonycowboy Good numbers!

Good number really? Rockband at 169 dollars did 2x as many sales. It might help ND break even but those are not good sales. The flag ship AAA exclusive PS3 game this holiday season did 300k or 1/2 a 169 dollar multiplatform game.

 

[Rangers]

Canadian numbers please.

They usually come a few days later if I recall..

 

[AlphaWolf]

Good number really? Rockband at 169 dollars did 2x as many sales. It might help ND break even but those are not good sales. The flag ship AAA exclusive PS3 game this holiday season did 300k or 1/2 a 169 dollar multiplatform game.

Hrm? Rockband on the ps3 has sold less units than Uncharted.

LTD US 325k for Uncharted
LTD US 245k for Rockband PS3

Of course Rockband isn't depending on those ps3 sales for the success of their game as they have also sold 775k on the 360. I agree that Uncharted numbers still aren't good, but at least they're not as pathetic as they were in Nov.

 

[iceberg187]

Sonycowboy said this about UT3
Over 100k

9th best PS3 selling title.

61st best selling title in December

 

[expletive]

360 = decent numbers. Remember this year it's facing a $399 PS3 in full supply vs a Wii with immense hype and much larger shipments. Thus, good number. Not great but good. Hearing about premiums and elites out of stock propbably didn't help much.

Agree, I said this somewhere else but i think the 360 story concludes with the Feb NPD, i havent seen a premium in a few weeks.

 

[Rangers]

Here's some Canadian NPD

Canadian video game sales hit a record $1.5 billion in 2007

5 hours ago

TORONTO - The Canadian video game industry rang up a record $1.5 billion at the cash register in 2007, up 56 per cent from the previous year.

The figures, as reported Thursday by the NPD Group which tracks the industry, follow sales of $933 million in 2006, which in itself was a 22 per cent rise from the year before. Those totals include hardware, software and accessories

Nintendo, which continues to enjoy great demand for its Wii console and strong interest in its portable DS, accounted for 10 of the top-20 selling games in 2007. The Wii "Play" game, which came with a remote, was the No. 1 game of the year, consigning "Halo 3" for the Xbox 360 to second place.

Xbox had six 360 games in the top 20 while PlayStation had four, all for the PS2. Four of the top 20 games were part of the "Guitar Hero" family.

"Super Mario Galaxy" for the Wii was third, followed by "Pokemon Diamond"for the Nintendo DS and "Guitar Hero 3" for the PlayStation 2. The rest of the top 10 featured "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" for the Xbox 360, "New Super Mario Bros" for the DS, "Guitar Hero 2" for the 360, "Mario Party 8" for the Wii and "Brain Age 2" for the DS.

Ubisoft's made-in-Montreal "Assassin's Creed" for the Xbox 360 finished the year at No. 12.

Hockey games, which often dominate the Canadian sales charts, had to settle for No. 14 and 17 - both versions of EA's made-in-Canada "NHL 08."

The top-selling game in December was "Super Mario Galaxy" for the Wii.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5j1UP6PnQ2YtCvWZMoV3Gms2ZAtLw

Overall it amazes me that we continue to see absolutely huge year over year percent gains for videogames that would be the envy of any other industry, despite a supposed recession. It's rather shocking. Too bad I cannot seem to find a way to translate this into great stock market gains..

 

[quest55720]

Hrm? Rockband on the ps3 has sold less units than Uncharted.

LTD US 325k for Uncharted
LTD US 245k for Rockband PS3

Of course Rockband isn't depending on those ps3 sales for the success of their game as they have also sold 775k on the 360. I agree that Uncharted numbers still aren't good, but at least they're not as pathetic as they were in Nov.

It is just basically 2x november like hardware. It was nothing earth shattering. I was talking about RB360 compared to uncharted. We can even use dead rising and saints row did as many units with a similar userbase in 1 non holiday month than uncharted did in the whole holiday season. Yes better but still very very poor for a flag ship title that was very well reviewed. I really think sony and pushing and pushing future exclusive titles really hurt the exclusives they had this holidays season.

 

[Barbarian]

LTD US 325k for Uncharted

No way they are close to breaking even with mere 325k LTD. Hopefully the game is going to have some legs and their WW sales will eventually take them to a million units, where they should be about breaking even. ND have been working on Uncharted for almost 3 years and they are much bigger studio now (and have always been a premier operation).

ND are completely Sony owned studio so they can not do multiplatform even if they really wanted to. Unless they buy themselves out - Bungie style.

 

[Rangers]

It is just basically 2x november like hardware. It was nothing earth shattering. I was talking about RB360 compared to uncharted. We can even use dead rising and saints row did as many units with a similar userbase in 1 non holiday month than uncharted did in the whole holiday season. Yes better but still very very poor for a flag ship title that was very well reviewed. I really think sony and pushing and pushing future exclusive titles really hurt the exclusives they had this holidays season.

I think there might be a pretty strong FPS factor there too. I think Sony might do well, and probably is, to refocus more toward FPS. Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 are two of their most highly anticipated games..

But, Uncharted plays much like Gears I guess, just without the warlike nature. I dunno, though Gears is technically third person, I almost look at it like an FPS anyway, so I'd guess the same should go for Uncharted. Though Uncharted has platforming elements.

Uncharted sold similar by userbase to Mass Effect. 300k>3m, 900k>9m. That makes it look a bit better. I dunno though, the lower the userbase, generally the higher percent you sell into.

 

[Rangers]

MS PR is out, 7.0 attach rate.

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/15489/NPD-Numbers-Are-In-Xbox-360-Leads-Industry/

Xbox 360 Drives the Video Game Console Industry in 2007: NPD data released today confirms consumers spent more dollars on Xbox 360 in 2007, with more than $13.7 billion in total consumer spending. Xbox 360 won 2007 with $4.8 billion in total consumer spend compared to Wii with $3.5 billion and PlayStation 3 with $2.2 billion. This wraps up a historic year, with NPD reporting consumers have spent nearly 45 percent of total industry figures on Xbox 360.

Here is a quick snapshot of what is driving revenue for Xbox 360, based on the latest reports from NPD and Microsoft data:

* XBOX 360 WIDENS THE GAP OVER PS3 WITH CONSOLE SALES: According to NPD, Xbox 360 sold 1.3 million consoles in December alone, and has steadily widened the gap between Sony’s PlayStation 3 console sales. In December, NPD stated that Sony sold 798,000 PS3 hardware units. Since PS3’s launch in November 2006, Xbox 360 has outsold PS3 by nearly 2:1 on average, bringing a total U.S. Xbox 360 install base of 9.2 million consoles, compared to and installed base of 7.4 million Wii consoles and 3.3 million PS3 consoles.

* GAMES DRIVE INDUSTRY GROWTH: Xbox 360 robust games portfolio spans across the highest-ranked AAA titles to the largest collection of “Everyone” and “Teen” rated games. According to NPD, of the top 20 best-selling titles in 2007 for this generation, 11 were on Xbox 360; while only seven were sold on the Wii and two sold on the PS3.

o NPD reported that this holiday’s leading multiplatform blockbusters continue to sell better on Xbox 360:
+ “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” for Xbox 360 was the leading game last month with 1.5 million copies sold, outselling the PS3 version nearly 3:1.
+ “Assassin’s Creed” for Xbox 360 was the fourth best selling title, having sold 894,000 units. It outsold the PS3 version more than 2:1.
+ “Guitar Hero III” outsold the PS3 nearly 2:1, having sold 625,000 copies.
+ “Rockband” continues to rock the charts, selling 463,000 units for the Xbox 360 platform, compared to 174,000 units for the PS3
o To date, 33 third party games on Xbox 360 hit the top 10 list across all consoles compared to five third party games on PS3, and four on Wii. These results confirm that third party partners create better games and reap more sales on Xbox 360 than any other platform.
o In its fourth month on the market, Halo 3 continued its strong performance and was the sixth best selling title in December, selling another 742,000. In 2007, NPD projects that Halo 3 has sold 4.8 million units in the U.S. since its launch in September.
o Xbox 360 continues to lead in number of games sold per console, setting another record with an attach rate of 7.0 games per console.


* XBOX LIVE SETS NEW HEIGHTS: Xbox LIVE’s network is 10 million members strong and growing, achieving membership goals six months ahead of schedule. Only on Xbox LIVE can members experience the largest catalog of on-demand, high-definition content in the U.S., including movies and television shows from our most recent partners: Disney-ABC Television Group and MGM Studios.



We’re not slowing down in 2008. The next versions of powerhouse franchises like “Grand Theft Auto,” “Resident Evil” and sports games like “Madden”, “FIFA”, and “Pro Evolution Soccer” open up a new arena for game play on Xbox 360. This year we will make great strides toward improving our brand appeal to consumers interested in more physical game play. With titles like “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,” “Rock Band” and “Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action” we’re creating interactive experiences on Xbox 360 for the entire family.

AC and COD4 PS3 did 450k and 500k then. That's a nice chunk of change, and helps to guarantee continued PS3 third party support.

Kind of interesting to me how AC consistently sells into PS3 userbase percentage relative to COD4 more than 360. Probably speaks to Live being a arguably better platform right now, as I'm sure much of COD4 is multiplayer based sales.

Also interesting that for the second time recently, MS mentions RE5 and 2008 in close proximity to each other..

 

[PARANOiA]

Begin thy fairly tale analysis.

HW Sales
System December 2007 Annual 2007
PlayStation 2 1.1 million 3.97 million
PlayStation 3 797.6 K 2.56 million
PlayStation Portable 1.06 million 3.82 million
Xbox 360 1.26 million 4.62 million
Wii 1.35 million 6.29 million
Nintendo DS 2.47 million 8.50 million

So the DS sold about the same in December than the PS3 did all year? Someone stop that runaway train!

Otherwise the numbers are fairly predictable. Good to see so many big selling games this holiday, though the PSP continues to be the machine moving hardware while software doesn't register a blip. Arrrrrr.

 

[djskribbles]

The wii and 360 both got hurt by shortages the Wii was hit the hardest. The ps3 had a terrible x-mass. Price cut,3 AAA exclusives and a new model and it did not even come close to the 360 last season.

i wouldn't say terrible, but to each his own. PS3 probably did relatively well in europe, and obviously has a comfortable second place in Japan. as for coming close to the 360, i'd say ~800k isn't too far from 1.1m.

Even worse than the hardware 0 titles in the top 10.

its kind of hard to compete when the competition has more than 2x (Wii) and almost 3x (360) the install base.

If ND is smart uncharted 2 will be multiplatform so they can get the sales they deserve.

lol, that won't happen.

i'm not trying to spin this into a successful holiday season for Sony. but imo, some of you guys are speaking too negatively of the PS3. i think what Sony did this holiday season is all they could have done. we all knew Sony would not outsell the competition in 2007. i think this year is when sales will pick up though.

 

[djskribbles]

No way they are close to breaking even with mere 325k LTD. Hopefully the game is going to have some legs and their WW sales will eventually take them to a million units, where they should be about breaking even. ND have been working on Uncharted for almost 3 years and they are much bigger studio now (and have always been a premier operation).

ND are completely Sony owned studio so they can not do multiplatform even if they really wanted to. Unless they buy themselves out - Bungie style.

Uncharted is selling way better in Europe. i think they are around 800k-900k sold ww as of now.

 

[mrcorbo]

for reference her the vgchart estimates posted by Rangers on 16th


Weekly Hardware Sales and Totals for Five-Week December:
Platform 8-Dec 15-Dec 22-Dec 29-Dec 5-Jan Totals
DS 630,859 725,740 902,172 410,014 207,255 2,876,040
Wii 261,643 173,798 725,740 289,079 188,589 1,638,849
X360 282,001 337,538 384,290 180,900 104,427 1,289,156
PSP 214,208 251,689 277,965 140,154 76,869 960,885
PS2 194,185 253,824 289,279 141,134 73,342 951,764
PS3 163,222 194,214 228,579 119,483 69,298 774,796

VGChartz' own analysis of their numbers vs. NPD.

Hardware worked out to be pretty close this month, but their software estimates were a total mess generally heavily undertracking everything. As an example they undertracked COD4 on the 360 by over 900,000 units!

Anyway, pretty good sales all around considering the poor economy. The industry as a whole made an incredible amount of money, not only in the holiday season but throughout the whole year and that is good for all of us whatever our console(s) of choice.

The lingering question remains for me about why PS3 exclusives don't seem to sell in comparable numbers to the big multiplatform releases. Can this continue into 2008 or will MGS4 finally be the breakout exclusive title and system-seller that has been lacking so far? I have to admit the PS3 user base has me as baffled as the Wii user base as far as predicting their buying habits. The 360 user base, though (at least for me), continues to be fairly consistent and predictable for the most part.

 

[AlphaWolf]

i'm not trying to spin this into a successful holiday season for Sony. but imo, some of you guys are speaking too negatively of the PS3. i think what Sony did this holiday season is all they could have done. we all knew Sony would not outsell the competition in 2007. i think this year is when sales will pick up though.

In terms of the US its hard to say positive things about the PS3. Even when you look at things like launch aligned the PS3 is trending significantly worse than the 360.

 

[Readykilowatt]

* Nintendo accounted for 52 percent of all video game hardware systems sold in 2007 – more than all other manufacturers combined.
* Since their respective launches, Nintendo has sold more than 17.6 million Nintendo DS systems and nearly 7.4 million Wii systems in the United States alone.
* Wii Play™, a collection of nine fun mini-games, finished 2007 with 4.1 million units sold.
* Super Mario Galaxy™ sold through more than 2.5 million copies since it launched on Nov. 12.
* The two games in the Brain Age® series each sold about 1 million copies in 2007.
* Half of the top 30 best-selling games of 2007 were made for Nintendo systems, including Pokemon® Pearl, Pokemon® Diamond, Mario Party® DS, Guitar Hero III™: Legends of Rock and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games™.
* Nintendo continues to dominate the hand-held market: Of the top 30 best-selling portable games sold in 2007, 25 were made for Nintendo DS and another two were made for Game Boy® Advance.
* Sales of Nintendo DS systems grew 60 percent over those from 2006.
* In 2007, the video game industry grew by 43 percent over 2006. Nintendo is responsible for 60 percent of that growth.

Wow.

 

[iceberg187]

i wouldn't say terrible, but to each his own. PS3 probably did relatively well in europe, and obviously has a comfortable second place in Japan. as for coming close to the 360, i'd say ~800k isn't too far from 1.1m.

.

Japan is insignificant for all except Nintendo and Square

This is the breakdown for sales in Japan this past week for software

NDS - 24
WII - 11
PS2 - 5
PSP - 5
PS3 - 4
360 - 1