NPD February 2007

[PatrickL]

The preorder numbers were just fake numbers used by sony PR to hype the launch. Or it counted preorders with no deposit that people could cancel as they wished.
I bet by the end of that weekend sony should sell in France around 50- 60 K PS3. That number would be very good if it was not tarnished by the crap PR talks about very high sales expected, and that fiasco at the special event.

 

[JardeL]

NPD : PS3 selling faster than Xbox 360 in US

Although sales figures from the United States show the PlayStation 3 is currently being outsold by its rivals, a US based sales tracker has said the machine is ahead of Xbox 360 in real terms.

A spokesman from NPD, a respected sales tracking firm, said, "figures show that the PS3 is selling slightly faster in the US than the Xbox 360 did at the same stage in its release".

After a delay of more than four months, one million PlayStation 3 consoles went on sale from midnight across Europe, with over 200,000 available in the UK.

Although current UK figures show the Nintendo Wii is outselling all other consoles at the moment, one analyst believes Sony can become number one if it releases the right games.

Gartner principal analyst Paul O'Donovan said, "The real issue for Sony is whether they can get back the momentum they had with PS2. The only thing that is going to drive that is the number of titles available."

[ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/a44314/ps3-selling-faster-than-xbox-360-in-us.html ] ...

Yeah , sales not as expected but not that bad ...

BTW , we hear good news about PS3 recent days like FF support [Settle with Immersion , GT: HD 2.0 FF support ] and great firmware upgrades ... Even MS's statement about Blu-Ray add-on for X360 can improve PS3's image as well as HDMI equipped X360 , imo ... But not enough , we need killer apps primarily ...

 

[aselto]

A spokesman from NPD, a respected sales tracking firm, said, "figures show that the PS3 is selling slightly faster in the US than the Xbox 360 did at the same stage in its release".

It's not true. While LTD sales would be slightly higher, it is because PS3 sold better in December by a wide margin. The console has completely lost its momentum after holiday season though and sold in January and February less than X360 sold in Jan and Feb 06.

 

[inefficient]

It's not true. While LTD sales would be slightly higher, it is because PS3 sold better in December by a wide margin. The console has completely lost its momentum after holiday season though and sold in January and February less than X360 sold in Jan and Feb 06.

They both lost momentum In Jan Feb. It's just a slow time of the year. Saying it has "completely lost its momentum" just because it is slightly lower in Feb is stretching the truth.

X360 Jan 06 269,000
X360 Feb 06 187,250

PS3 Jan 07 273,000
PS3 Feb 07 133,750

 

[infinity4]

They both lost momentum In Jan Feb. It's just a slow time of the year. Saying it has "completely lost its momentum" just because it is slightly lower in Feb is stretching the truth.

X360 Jan 06 269,000
X360 Feb 06 187,250

PS3 Jan 07 273,000
PS3 Feb 07 133,750

we need to know that 360 sold that much without any competition, whilst ps3 had competition of wii and 360. but it still looks bad for its name value.

 

[inefficient]

we need to know that 360 sold that much without any competition, whilst ps3 had competition of wii and 360. but it still looks bad for its name value.

Also $200 more expensive.

The odds were against them, but they still managing to hang in there.

 

[infinity4]

Also $200 more expensive.

The odds were against them, but they still managing to hang in there.

its not going to last forever lol when big franchises come out sales should be exponentially increasing (did i get this right???)

 

[aselto]

They both lost momentum In Jan Feb. It's just a slow time of the year. Saying it has "completely lost its momentum" just because it is slightly lower in Feb is stretching the truth.

Xbox 360 was supply limited at the time. And IIRC everyone here expected PS3 to be actually sold out through March, thus saying it is doing well is not true.

we need to know that 360 sold that much without any competition, whilst ps3 had competition of wii and 360. but it still looks bad for its name value.

360 had competition of people's dreams and Sony's PR ("PS3 is going to be so awesome, 2x more powerful than Xbox 360" 4D, 120fps etc.). It is sometimes harder to fight them than actual competition.

 

[infinity4]

360 had competition of people's dreams and Sony's PR ("PS3 is going to be so awesome, 2x more powerful than Xbox 360" 4D, 120fps etc.). It is sometimes harder to fight them than actual competition.

but it wasn't only sony who were bashing at others??? i remember microsoft making some statements like "forza 2 will have over 300 cars on disc" (when GTHD was in rumours of having no car release) and "some guys do rubber ducks, some guys do tattoes"

anyway i was only talking about physical competition that people could only buy a 360 for 360 days. of course PR competition was always there from E3 05

 

[Nesh]

[ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/a44314/ps3-selling-faster-than-xbox-360-in-us.html ] ...

Yeah , sales not as expected but not that bad ...

BTW , we hear good news about PS3 recent days like FF support [Settle with Immersion , GT: HD 2.0 FF support ] and great firmware upgrades ... Even MS's statement about Blu-Ray add-on for X360 can improve PS3's image as well as HDMI equipped X360 , imo ... But not enough , we need killer apps primarily ...

If that is true then wow I am extremely surprised. Selling that much under such a price tag AND in the US is very surprising

 

[mrcorbo]

How many times is this invalid comparison (PS3 selling as well or better than 360 during the same period after lauinch in the US) going to be made? The fact that the 360 was supply limited during this time completely invalidates it.

People who might have chosen to buy the 360 could not because it was unavailable.

Check out the bottom chart on this page of US NPD numbers:http://www.vgcharts.com/page3.html

See what happens to the 360's sales in April '06? See how they go from 192k units to 292k units? Looking at that month's software releases I don't see a system seller there. There was no price cut to stimulate demand. So why did the sales numbers jump so dramatically? You think maybe it was because finally all the people that wanted to buy a 360 but couldn't finally were able to? After this point the 360's sales (which had finally become demand limited) never dipped below 200k units in any month.

Don't come with this weak argument any more. It is irritating to have to revisit this over and over (and over). At least wait until April's NPDs are out so you can compare a demand limited PS3's sales to a demand limited 360's sales.

 

[Tap In]

If that is true then wow I am extremely surprised. Selling that much under such a price tag AND in the US is very surprising

the NPD guy at GAF is now predicting 150k or so at best in a 5 week reporting March for PS3 which would be a very dangerous trend. I would not doubt he's being conservative though so maybe 175k at most?

Sony really NEEDS to be at 250k+ /month to have any hope to catch 360 in NA (doubtful after the 360 price drops) and a LOT more to have any hope against Wii.

If they can turn that around they have hope in NA, other than that I'd say they are definitely in 3rd place in NA and need to live in Europe and try to find a way to make ground on Japan against the Wii. they could still end up 1st WW (which was a no brainer before the Wii's success) but even that will be tricky until we see some price drops.

 

[Sis]

They both lost momentum In Jan Feb. It's just a slow time of the year. Saying it has "completely lost its momentum" just because it is slightly lower in Feb is stretching the truth.

X360 Jan 06 269,000
X360 Feb 06 187,250

PS3 Jan 07 273,000
PS3 Feb 07 133,750

Break it down by week. Comparing year over year is a tad incorrect. I believe last Feb was a 4 week month, this year was 5. So last year Xbox 360 sold roughly 45k a week, while PS3 in its first Feb sold 25k.

Off-hand I don't know whether January was a 4 or 5 week reporting period.

 

[Deusp]

Break it down by week. Comparing year over year is a tad incorrect. I believe last Feb was a 4 week month, this year was 5. So last year Xbox 360 sold roughly 45k a week, while PS3 in its first Feb sold 25k.

Off-hand I don't know whether January was a 4 or 5 week reporting period.

February is a 4 week month. January is a 5 week month.

 

[Sis]

February is a 4 week month. January is a 5 week month.

Oops, that's right, I had my months mixed up. Jan 07 was a 5 week month, so adjust accordingly for that:

X360 Jan 06 269,000 67,250 per week
X360 Feb 06 187,250 46,812 per week

PS3 Jan 07 273,000 54,600 per week
PS3 Feb 07 133,750 33,437 per week

Unless I screwed up again and Jan 06 was also a 5 week month, but I think I'm safe given this write-up: (link)

This requires a "leap week" to be added to the January reporting period (typically a four-week period) every five to six years in order to preserve the seasonal integrity of the months.

And again, the caveat that the Xbox 360 was still in shortage during this period.

 

[Nesh]

Oh well I ll go back to pessimism then

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Considering that PS3 is bleeding a rather major amount of cash with each console sold compared with both X360 and Wii...

They really need that attach rate to go up a lot more if they hope to have a future.

Wii can survive a low attach rate just because they actually make a profit on each console. And with the large installed base even a low attach rate will indicate a fairly incoming cash flow.

The X360 is amazingly still raking it in from attach rates. Even if they were still losing lots of cash with each console they're more than making it up in games/accessories sold.

Here's to hoping that new titles for PS3 up that attach rate. I'm also expecting Sony to release a rumble controller in hopes of increasing accessory attach rates. Granted I'd like to see Sony have a bit of egg on their face to bring them back to reality, I don't want to see them fail and to be left with basically 2 competitors in the console market.

Such a shame as I generally like Sony electronics.

Regards,
SB

 

[DVFtaxman]

Just curious (as I can't remember of the top of my head), but were we aware at Jan/Feb 06 that the PS3 would be delayed until November?

This may well have had a huge effect on XB360 sales at this time ie,
1. if we were just made aware, then many that had been holding out expecting a spring PS3 release may have given up waiting and bought a XB, and conversely,
2. if we weren't aware, then many may have been holding off XB360 in the expectation of an iminent PS3.

 

[TheChefO]

Just curious (as I can't remember of the top of my head), but were we aware at Jan/Feb 06 that the PS3 would be delayed until November?

This may well have had a huge effect on XB360 sales at this time ie,
1. if we were just made aware, then many that had been holding out expecting a spring PS3 release may have given up waiting and bought a XB, and conversely,
2. if we weren't aware, then many may have been holding off XB360 in the expectation of an iminent PS3.

Infered but not fact at the time. Then again, those that were following closely knew ps3 was not going to launch in Spring (2006) and it was yet another tactic to stall xb360 sales.