NPD October 2011

[AlNom]

And stolen from GAF as usual

Oct 2-29

Software:

1. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)** Electronic Arts - almost 2 million
2. Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3)** Warner Bros. Interactive - 1.5 million
3. NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, PSP, Wii, PS2, PC) Take Two Interactive
4. Rage (360, PS3, PC) Bethesda Softworks - 550k
5. Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360) Ubisoft
6. Dark Souls (PS3, 360)** Namco Bandai Games
7. Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP)** Electronic Arts
8. Forza Motorsport 4 (360)** Microsoft
9. Gears of War 3 (360)** Microsoft
10. FIFA Soccer 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, 3DS) Electronic Arts
11. Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (not in order 3DS, Wii, 360, PS3, PC) Activision

**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)


Hardware

360 - 393k (+20.9% YoY)
3DS - >250k
WII - <250k (<+7.75%)
PS3 - 240k~250k (estimated from Microsoft, Nintendo and NPD PR) (-4.0% - 0.0%)
NDS - <180k (>-47.4%)

----------------------------

hm... so Batman Arkham Asylum did 1 million on PS360 according to NPD August/September 2009. Nice jump here.

 

[Rangers]

I cant figure out if Rage did good or bad.

360 should be up 21% btw.

I'm also not sure where the PS3 240-250k range comes from. MS PR said 44% share, so that works out to 250k. Not sure why the range...if anything I suspect Neogaffers slyly "adjust" the numbers to be more correct since some of them have NPD access, leading me to possibly suspect ps3 is something like 245k. ANYWAY.

 

[AlNom]

They might have put the range because Nintendo mentioned "nearly 250K" for Wii.

Nintendo's PR is just silly, but I suppose they just wanted to round things to nearest 5K :

675,000 combined hardware units in October. This includes more than 250,000 units of Nintendo 3DS, nearly 250,000 Wii™ systems and nearly 180,000

675 is somehow ~250 + ~250 + ~180

 

[RobertR1]

360 dominating!

PS3 price drop deflated after one month. The $199 bundles all holiday season should breathe some more life into it.

I'd love to see a split for BF3. I'm sure it'll be heavy towards the 360.

Dark Souls sold more on the PS3. That should be a good split to see also.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Some interesting things.

COD:BO finally drops out of the top 10.

BF3 sells less than GeOW 3 (sales in both titles launch months). Impressive for GeOW 3 as it was limited to one platform.

Dark Souls made the top 10 and sold better on PS3. No surprise on the PS3 front, but nice to see that Dark Souls made the top 10.

FIFA 12 did better on X360. Doesn't FIFA generally do better on PS3? Or is my memory just wonky? Don't feel like looking this up so I'm probably just wonky on memory.

2 Microsoft exclusives in the top 10. I get a feeling MS is pretty happy with software sales for theh plaform.

X360 as predicted (well at least by me), is rebounding heavily (when comparing YoY numbers) entering the Holiday season where availability of Kinect should help significantly boost holiday sales. +20.9% YoY is nice. Next month will be the interesting one as that was when Kinect first hit the platform (Nov. 4).

PS3 price reduction seems to be already dying down. This one is surprising me. I was fully expecting PS3 to be up YoY again. Not a good sign entering the holiday season. Still there's 2 more months to make up for it.

Next month it's going to be interesting to see how COD: MW3 impacts the charts. Will BF3 have damped sales of it any? Will it be yet another record breaking launch?

Regards,
SB

 

[RobertR1]

MW3 sold 6.4m in 24 just in the UK and US alone. Given the entire month and with BF included, I'm expecting a 9-10m sales month in the US.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

MW3 sold 6.4m in 24 just in the UK and US alone. Given the entire month and with BF included, I'm expecting a 9-10m sales month in the US.

So, it's looking to be potentially another record breaking launch month for the COD franchise with BF 3 doing little to nothing to impact sales.

Regards,
SB

 

[Rotmm]

Corporate blurbs:

Microsoft

Xbox 360 turned in the most successful October on record maintaining its lead in the current-generation console market. This holiday season, Xbox 360 delivers outstanding value as an all-in-one entertainment platform and is already off to a great start as a hot holiday gift.

October 2011 NPD highlights:

· Holding 44 percent share of the overall current-generation console market, Xbox 360 sold 393,000 units in October, maintaining the number-one console spot in the U.S. for 2011. This marks the eighth consecutive month Xbox 360 has had more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share. (Source: NPD Group, October 2011)

· Xbox 360 unit sales grew 21% YOY in October, and it was the only current-generation console showing double digit growth. (Source: NPD Group, October 2011)

· Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in October (hardware, software and accessories) reached $490 million, the most for any console in the U.S. (Source: NPD Group, October 2011)

· During the month of October, Xbox 360 held six of the top ten console game titles including: “Battlefield 3,” “Batman: Arkham City,” “NBA 2K12,” “Rage,” and Xbox 360 exclusives “Forza Motorsport 4” and “Gears of War 3.” (Source: NPD Group, October 2011)

Kinect momentum continues with a growing portfolio of more than 75 new Kinect for Xbox 360 titles in the market by holiday – four times more than last holiday. New titles include sequels to best sellers such as “Kinect Sports: Season Two” and “Dance Central 2.” New games like “Kinect Disneyland Adventures” are making Xbox 360 home to the best family friendly content available; more than 90 percent of Kinect titles are rated Everyone or Teen.

Xbox 360 also released some of the biggest excusive blockbuster games this holiday with titles like “Gears of War 3,” “Forza Motorsport 4” and “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.”

In addition to games, Microsoft is rolling out the next generation of TV entertainment on Xbox LIVE this holiday, bringing a breadth of content providers and innovative user experiences unmatched by any other games or entertainment devices to Xbox 360 . With nearly 40 world-leading TV and entertainment providers including Comcast, HBO GO, BBC, Bravo and Televisa, the platform is taking a major step toward realizing its vision to bring all the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, made easy.

With a robust holiday portfolio that has something for everyone, we are expecting another blockbuster holiday and finishing the year as the number one console worldwide.

Nintendo

NINTENDO 3DS POISED TO SURPASS FIRST-YEAR SALES OF NINTENDO DS

In its eighth month on the market, the Nintendo 3DS™ system crossed 1.65 million units sold in the U.S., according to the NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. This milestone puts the platform on track to surpass the first-year total of Nintendo DS™, the best-selling game platform in U.S. history.

The Nintendo DS system sold 2.37 million units in its first 12 months (November 2004-October 2005), with approximately 50 percent of those sales occurring in the holiday time frame. With its first holiday season and the launches of the Super Mario 3D Land™ and Mario Kart™ 7 games on the horizon, Nintendo 3DS is poised to eclipse that number and establish a new benchmark for hand-held gaming launches in the United States.

"With a massive lineup of software on the way and the first-year sales record of Nintendo DS in its sights, Nintendo 3DS enters its first holiday season with a full head of steam," said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing.

Other Nintendo news from the month includes:

• Nintendo sold more than 675,000 combined hardware units in October. This includes more than 250,000 units of Nintendo 3DS, nearly 250,000 Wii™ systems and nearly 180,000 units of the Nintendo DS family of systems.

• For the year, Nintendo has sold a combined 7 million hardware units and more than 55 million units of software have been sold for Nintendo platforms. Both of these numbers should increase with the Nov. 20 launch of The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword for Wii.

• Both Wii, up 8 percent year over year, and Nintendo DS, up 23 percent over the previous month, demonstrated strong momentum heading into their respective sixth and eighth holiday seasons. In total, the two platforms have sold more than 87 million combined hardware units and more than 540 million combined units of software in the United States.

Sony

"PlayStation 3 is primed for a great holiday season as this month's NPD report shows. We're seeing increased momentum in our 1st and 3rd-party software sales at retail, which are up 5% over last year, and we're demonstrating the industry's strongest software line up with blockbusters like UNCHARTED 3, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, Battlefield 3, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and new Move titles Everybody Dance and Carnival Island. On the digital front, we are also pleased to report that inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood is the fastest selling PS3 digital game ever launched on PSN."

-- Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications at SCEA

 

[Rotmm]

So, it's looking to be potentially another record breaking launch month for the COD franchise with BF 3 doing little to nothing to impact sales.

I suspect that, for all of the EA talk of killing COD, if they can get anywhere to within 40-50% of the sales with BF3 by hanging on to the coat-tails of the COD behemoth, I'm sure they will be more than happy.

 

[patsu]

How come no more mention of average selling price ?

EDIT: For PS3/360 split of Dark Souls, I remember in the first week, more 360 folks bought RAGE than Dark Souls. PS3 is the reverse.

 

[Rangers]

How come no more mention of average selling price ?

Last I recall 360 was higher than PS3 for the first time last month? Search Gamasutra for last months NPD article I believe. With all the gift cards going on this time of year and such I suppose that can change, as they apparently are accounted by NPD.

Anyways ASP's never come from NPD as far as I know, just Gamasutra articles. And even then I'm not sure if he gets the actual data or works some potentially fuzzy math to estimate.

 

[NavNucST3]

Some interesting things.

COD:BO finally drops out of the top 10.

BF3 sells less than GeOW 3 (sales in both titles launch months). Impressive for GeOW 3 as it was limited to one platform.

Dark Souls made the top 10 and sold better on PS3. No surprise on the PS3 front, but nice to see that Dark Souls made the top 10.

FIFA 12 did better on X360. Doesn't FIFA generally do better on PS3? Or is my memory just wonky? Don't feel like looking this up so I'm probably just wonky on memory.

2 Microsoft exclusives in the top 10. I get a feeling MS is pretty happy with software sales for theh plaform.

X360 as predicted (well at least by me), is rebounding heavily (when comparing YoY numbers) entering the Holiday season where availability of Kinect should help significantly boost holiday sales. +20.9% YoY is nice. Next month will be the interesting one as that was when Kinect first hit the platform (Nov. 4).

PS3 price reduction seems to be already dying down. This one is surprising me. I was fully expecting PS3 to be up YoY again. Not a good sign entering the holiday season. Still there's 2 more months to make up for it.

Next month it's going to be interesting to see how COD: MW3 impacts the charts. Will BF3 have damped sales of it any? Will it be yet another record breaking launch?

Regards,
SB

You could also add that with their now being a Just Dance 3 for the 360 that every title in the top 10 was available for the 360.

patsu, we don't get ASP until Matt's article on Monday if he has the data for the calculation. As for "first week" you are probably thinking of GAF PAL threads.

Wal-mart Black Friday deals are definitely going to move a lot of Wii ($99) and 360 (4GB Kinect $199 + $50 Wal-mart gift card) the PS3 will move units as well but not like the other two ($199 + LBP2 + Ratchet)

Can't wait until my son opens Skylanders can't wait to play. Activision is going to make some serious money on the title, they have found a new way to push plastic; I'm already in for over $100.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

You could also add that with their now being a Just Dance 3 for the 360 that every title in the top 10 was available for the 360.

I hadn't even noticed that. Dark Souls (sequel to a game that was PS3 exclusive) and Just Dance 3 (sequel to a game that was a Wii exclusive) both being on X360 means everything released is on X360. Although both of those games also sold better on their formerly exclusive platforms.

Can't wait until my son opens Skylanders can't wait to play. Activision is going to make some serious money on the title, they have found a new way to push plastic; I'm already in for over $100.

Hadn't even heard of this until now. Shows how busy and isolated I've been. But that is just freaking brilliant. If that game ends up being popular with kids and teens, Activision just made yet another game with which to print cash.

Regards,
SB

 

[AlphaWolf]

360 should pass 30m for the US this month (November). There could be other milestones this holiday PS3 20m and Wii 40m, although they might be a bit of a reach to do so. (Ps3 would need to outperform 2010, Wii would need to almost match 2010)

 

[Cyan]

I hadn't even noticed that. Dark Souls (sequel to a game that was PS3 exclusive) and Just Dance 3 (sequel to a game that was a Wii exclusive) both being on X360 means everything released is on X360. Although both of those games also sold better on their formerly exclusive platforms.



Hadn't even heard of this until now. Shows how busy and isolated I've been. But that is just freaking brilliant. If that game ends up being popular with kids and teens, Activision just made yet another game with which to print cash.

Regards,
SB

Can't say I am surprised with the game numbers, but this is the way to go 3DS for being the second best seller! Others may have written it off, but I still have faith in a portable console like the 3DS, although Vita is more the kind of handheld I like (but a memory card not being optional and battery life are a turn off).

And "visionaries" say it's game over for handhelds... Sorry but no.

http://blog.flurry.com/bid/77424/Is-it-Game-Over-for-Nintendo-DS-and-Sony-PSP

 

[DuckThor Evil]

And "visionaries" say it's game over for handhelds... Sorry but no.

It's not either game over or great success. Handhelds have more competition today and and tomorrow. It will have an impact.

Really strong month for the 360. I expected that PS3 would have been closer.