NPD January 2011

[Rangers]

They dont need a price reduction. PS3 is chugging along fine. Considering worldwide especially. Look at the software sales for example, perhaps it was anomaly but X360 only sold 20% more software revenue than PS3 in January according to Pachters figures ($171m vs $140m)

Earliest I would expect to see any price cuts is fall 2011, if then. And whichever cuts the other will quickly follow, so you'll end up with relative stasis.

I kind of see all the "deals" Sony is running on PS3 lately, such as packing in Killzone 3, the $100 GC's in December, etc, as possibly an attempt to make their FY ship forecast, not necessarily a price drop harbinger.

 

[assen]

The Kinect gambit has paid off handsomely thus far and it looks like the EDD has made another gambit with Nokia and WP7.

Good observation.

Sad for us gamers, but probably at this point each dollar spent towards Nokia/WP7 will probably return more than if spent on Xbox.

 

[Squilliam]

Good observation.

Sad for us gamers, but probably at this point each dollar spent towards Nokia/WP7 will probably return more than if spent on Xbox.

Im not sure if one dollar spent on Nokia is one dollar less spent on Xbox. Im pretty sure Bkillian might have an opinion on this one since hes in the thick of things so to speak.

 

[patsu]

not really. MS expected 5 million for Kinect in the first month or two. yes it did better than that but if Sony expected move to sell 1/5 of MS expectations (1 million??), I'd be more surprised than even you seem to be.

If you look at their shipments, Move performed better than they expected. Their expectation seems to be pretty low but they wanted Move to be profitable from day one. It looks like they were targeting the tech savvy and core gamers because most of their Move-related communications were with game and tech magazines; their worldwide marketing budget was clearly not as high as MS's. The Move advertising was also left to the country managers to handle. Now we know Kaz and others were probably involved in something else. They may have reserved the $$$ for all the NGP and PS Suite R&D all along.

Plus, nothing happens in a vacuum as you seem to be trying to portray here. Move was released in the same time frame as Kinect. Move was positioned by sony to compete with Kinect. So by all measuring sticks, it got its ass handed to itself.

they have a Killzone 3 bundle. maybe that is the start of the price *reduction*

Move has a different positioning from Kinect: It targets the core gamers and their families. They spoke about using Move to attract Wii upgraders. It seems that the main mechanism for Sony to address the casuals and non-gamers is the Playstation Suite.

I doubt Sony will drop price on the PS3 in the short term. They want the game consoles (PS3 + NGP) to remain focused on core gamers. They will continue to work towards the Android and iOS crowd for expanding their reach. So it's possible that Sony is still after margin and profitability for PS3, instead of focusing on marketshare.


EDIT:

I kind of see all the "deals" Sony is running on PS3 lately, such as packing in Killzone 3, the $100 GC's in December, etc, as possibly an attempt to make their FY ship forecast, not necessarily a price drop harbinger.

I suspect now that they are turning a profit, they can be more aggressive in promotion. They needed their money for Qriocity, PSN and other major development (That's why PSN was not profitable yet, but they expect a ten fold increase in PSN revenue this year).

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

not really. MS expected 5 million for Kinect in the first month or two. yes it did better than that but if Sony expected move to sell 1/5 of MS expectations (1 million??), I'd be more surprised than even you seem to be.

Plus, nothing happens in a vacuum as you seem to be trying to portray here. Move was released in the same time frame as Kinect. Move was positioned by sony to compete with Kinect. So by all measuring sticks, it got its ass handed to itself.

None of those "measuring sticks" wouldn't have anything to do with how well it lends itself to gaming variety or accuracy, would it?

 

[bkilian]

What do Microsoft want from 2011? Market share or profit?

Yes.

 

[Tap In]

None of those "measuring sticks" wouldn't have anything to do with how well it lends itself to gaming variety or accuracy, would it?

I think you made a wrong turn. you were looking for this thread.The non-standard game interfaces discussion thread


this is a sales thread :smile:

 

[Toaddio]

I think you made a wrong turn. you were looking for this thread.The non-standard game interfaces discussion thread


this is a sales thread :smile:

Were PS3 sales actually poor or were people just assuming that before actually seeing the numbers?

 

[Tap In]

Were PS3 sales actually poor or were people just assuming that before actually seeing the numbers?

I don't understand your question. read the whole thread as it developed for your answers I guess.

 

[Squilliam]

Yes.

You're such a Microsoft.

 

[AlphaWolf]

COD black ops: 750k
Zumba Fitness: Over 300k.

from Gamasutra

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

I think you made a wrong turn. you were looking for this thread.The non-standard game interfaces discussion thread


this is a sales thread :smile:

I thought someone overstepped accuracy with their statement, in an attempt to grandstand. But, I guess it could as you said, too.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

They dont need a price reduction. PS3 is chugging along fine. Considering worldwide especially. Look at the software sales for example, perhaps it was anomaly but X360 only sold 20% more software revenue than PS3 in January according to Pachters figures ($171m vs $140m)

Earliest I would expect to see any price cuts is fall 2011, if then. And whichever cuts the other will quickly follow, so you'll end up with relative stasis.

I kind of see all the "deals" Sony is running on PS3 lately, such as packing in Killzone 3, the $100 GC's in December, etc, as possibly an attempt to make their FY ship forecast, not necessarily a price drop harbinger.

It's unlikely either MS or Sony will be cutting prices anytime soon. The only case that can be made for cutting prices and eating into profitability is if shipments start to go down. Both companies, however, are showing growth worldwide.

While PS3 hardware sales may be declining in the US in comparison with the rest of the world, that isn't going to be enough on its own to make them cut prices on the console. If their WW numbers start to take a dive over the course of 2011 (doubtful, IMO) then we may see some adjustments to price this fall.

Regards,
SB

 

[egoless]

Delete

 

[Squilliam]

Question. Is there a Silver/Gold dynamic for LIVE on WP7 or is everything "free"? I don't know since Microsoft is dragging their feet on releasing a CMDA WP7 I can buy whenever they bloody release it.

Everything is free... they only charge for Xbox Live Gold, nothing else.

 

[Nesh]

Does anyone know how well did Kinect do during January?

 

[AlphaWolf]

Does anyone know how well did Kinect do during January?

We've never actually gotten monthly breakdowns for it, just milestones. I'm sure we'll get a 10million total sales notice at GDC or something.

 

[Squilliam]

Does anyone know how well did Kinect do during January?

It did 3/5ths of all systems sold in the U.S.A. so thats around 220K Kinects sold as bundles. I have no idea for standalones however...

 

[BRiT]

Off-topic discussion on motion controllers moved over to here: The non-standard game interfaces discussion thread (move, voice, vitality, etc.), right or wrong it's at least closer to that topic than NPD numbers.

 

[NavNucST3]

NPD Behind the Numbers

While not in precisely the same class as the Wii fervor of 2007 and 2008, we were impressed to see the Xbox 360 move 381,000 units in January, a 14.4% increase over last January's record 333,000 units.

For a system in its sixth year on the market, which hasn't had a proper price cut since September 2008, and whose average price has increased to over $300, those kind of January sales are unheard of.

...

Second, there is the issue or price. When we looked at hardware prices for October 2010, the average price of the Xbox 360 was $256, suggesting that consumers favored the $300 Xbox 360 model over the $200 model.

With the launch of Kinect in November, that price rose about $25 to $281. As of January, the average Xbox 360 is selling for around $306, according to official NPD Group data.

emphasis mine

Kinect is a bet that has, so far, paid off. MSFT will need to ensure continued software support though for a variety of reasons that irritates the core.