NPD March 2007

Wii is heavily supply constrained still. I have yet to ever see one on a store shelf.

MS deserves the slow sales this month because of greed. Instead of a price cut they did the opposite with a more expensive sku.

 

All those ps2 buyers are gonna buy something...I don't think you can underestimate playstation's mass appeal, it seems the hardcore appeal was vastly overestimated though.

 

seriously

DS is a monster


and yes Scooby Wii is hard to find.... very hard to find

 

Paul sent me a link to Kmart Wii's in stock. I checked online about 5-10 minutes later and they were out. Little anecdote to be sure, but emblematic of what I've been seeing and hearing from friends who have been trying to track one down.

I haven't had any luck finding one anywhere, and the average eBay sales price looks to be about $100 above MSRP.

It's definitely a good thing that Nintendo is ramping up production on Wii from 1 million per month to 1.5 million per month, starting April.

 

All reports point to Wii still being supply-constrained, with every shipment vanishing within hours. A theory is that Nintendo held back some shipments (for JP holidays, and for starting FY2008 strongly), or sent large amount of units to Europe (which has been a bit neglected after launch). Also, they increased Wii production starting early April.

 

I see Wii taking a ton of those people and of course a price reduced core taking a bunch as well.

the thing I'm wondering is with these PS2 sales, is the market expanding?

I mean these new PS2 sales are people that will not buy a Next Gen console now for another 3+ years. that's not good for anybody unless they are new to gaming.

According to NPD the market is expanding so I'm gonna say that the new PS2 owners are just MORE potential future sales for everybody when the prices come down.

 

But did those existing PS2 owners buy the PS2 because it was a Playstation, or because it had the good mix of varied games, good price, and mass appeal ? The 360 is posed to reach that same combination a lot earlier than the PS3... IIRC, in marketing, they teach you that brand recognition is important, but mostly as a tie-breaker.

Also, Nintendo's own spin is in, sidestepping the excellent PS2 sales by mentioning the Wii is the fastest-selling "new" console.

 

There is another option to consider Tap In. Some people who purchased PS2 in the early days may have consoles that are breaking down now. It has been 7 years since launch after all. With 125 million PS2s out there, it's not too difficult to imagine that a good portion of those sales are replacements.

Unfortunately we'll never know.

 

SCEA says they were supply constrained:

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/news/?id=15871

 

I just realized something. Just where the hell did Gameboy Advance come from??

Uh, what???

 

Already mentioned.
I think they meant they were constrained by the supply of demand, or something like that.

 

Code:

 units (NPD)  Dec-2006  diff   Jan-2007   diff   Feb-2007   diff   Mar-2007
Nintendo DS  1,598,593  -85%    238,869  +103%    485,149  +4.7%    508,000
PS2          1,394,007  -79%    299,352  -1.5%    295,102  -5.1%    280,000
PS3            490,682  -50%    243,554   -48%    127,321  +2.1%    130,000
PSP            953,182  -78%    210,719   -17%    175,651  +2.5%    180,000
Wii            604,170  -28%    435,503   -23%    335,324   -23%    259,000
Xbox 360     1,131,886  -74%    293,774   -22%    228,225   -13%    199,000

total        6,172,520  -72%  1,721,771  -4.4%  1,646,772  -5.5%  1,556,000

HW dollars*   Dec-2006  diff   Jan-2007   diff   Feb-2007   diff   Mar-2007
total         1437.2M   -67%     471.2M   -20%     379.2M    -7%     352.6M

*consumer money spent, not cost, not revenue; console package
 only; assumes 130$ for DS, 130$ for PS2, 575$ avg. for PS3,
 200$ for PSP, 250$ for Wii, 375$ avg for Xbox 360.

I've taken the per-device dollar breakdown out of there. That has ruffled too many feathers in the past, and I really don't care about that kind of discussion. However I think the total cash volume spent on gaming hardware is a nice indicator for seasonal market fluctuations. In the case of this very month we could probably argue that it's held back by a Wii supply constraint (or likewise inflated due to strong Motorstorm tie-ins harrharr), but the point is that even though it wobbles slightly, this metric is more resilient to any such phenomena. It more closely tracks what it should track: the amount of money consumers are dedicating to whatever games console.

And before anyone asks, I'll take the disappearance of the 20GB PS3 and the PSP price-drop into account starting next month.

 

They need to just STFU! anytime I feel bad for Sony they turn it all around with such retarded comments. Does anyone there accept reality or they all live in KK land?

 

They should have clarified that they don't have 20Gb to sell (instead of just "supply constraint"). So the sales are all 599 boxes.

Given the recent rumbling (Realigned SKU, streamlining workforce and strucure, prep'ing Home beta, hints of volume sales analysis by Chubachi, upcoming shareholder meetup), we should expect to see some changes.

Perhaps another swift and decisive management move. Keep going... keep going. And where in the world is EyeToy (Thought it's supposed to be an April thing) ?

 

I have 3 co-workers who are trying to find a Wii. Two of them have never played any console/PC game. One of them is like me, a typical PS2 owner. I think the Wii is drawing a lot of traditional non-gamers into the business. And I am not saying Brain Age-playing old people and kids. They are single IT professional. Wii definitely have given them an...excuse to get their feet wet.

P.S. NPD has broken Neogaf for me in the last 3 hours. LOL

 

I've seen another thing, mostly from friends with kids: A PS2 is no longer an 'investment', so the threshold for getting a second (or even a third) one is quite low. One each for the kids, one for dad in the den...

 

Their PR department is awesome in that "I can lie right in your face / I didn't have sex with that woman" sort of way.

 

Yap, Nintendo is way way ahead. Besides bringing in newcomers and lost gamers, I think Wii does a lot in changing the image of video gaming too. MS and Sony are lucky to have Nintendo.

 

Looking at Wii hardware vs software sales, it just makes me think they aren't that good looking enough to be using them as decorative objects. 1st in next gen hardware sales and only 1 title in the top 11?

 

Truly laughable! "Supply constrained" Ha! Sony PR FTL.

Good to hear Nintendo is looking to ramp production of Wii. Maybe by next month I'll be able to buy one.