NPD September 2009

[Rangers]

Interesting data from the Gamasutra article linked earlier.

On the other hand, Microsoft's new model pricing strategy has done almost nothing to move its average price. Whereas the average Xbox 360 sold for $260 in August, the same hardware sold for $261 on average in September.

Under the assumption that the only two models of the Xbox 360 available during September were the $200 and $300 models, we see that approximately three Elite models were sold for each Arcade model.

Under the assumption that the only two models of the Xbox 360 available during September were the $200 and $300 models, we see that approximately three Elite models were sold for each Arcade model.

Average selling price of a 360=$261. That's pretty high. And according to them, 75% sold are Elites. Arcade is becoming less popular again apparently.

Of course, there were also $249 Pro's on clearance in September that Gamasutra isn't considering, But I think they're right those probably weren't a huge effect.

 

[zed]

The elite had a $100 pricecut last month hence why the large increase, Im sure either next month or november numbers will show the arcade outselling the elite again

amazon.com should give an indication when this will happen.

currently they stand at
#51 is COD pack (whatever that is elite I assume due to the price $399)
#154 is arcade
#1,786 is elite

also of note the psp go is below the normal psp
Who'ld guessed it (yes I know everyone)

 

[Rangers]

I dont think Amazon sales are of much use. If they were true PS3 would have been handily outselling 360 all last year.

I expect Elite to sell at least 50-50 with Arcade now if not better, the relative value has increased. When I say Elite I mean the 299 model. I think Arcade sold about 50-50 with Pro/Elite before, and if anything the shifts should be towards Elite now. Just eyeballing it if I was a consumer, the 299 model is more attractive, unless I'm really casual. Also, I dont think Arcade gets any pack in game this year, where Elite gets two.

Also the 299 Elite is in the amazon ranking, usually between 60-100 lately, you missed it. Currently #79. You looked up one of the discontinued Elite SKU's (probably the pre 2 game pack in version)

 

[Silent_Buddha]

You would need to update constantly, currencies have big volatility. MS has been screwing Norwegians for a long time trading at 10nok per dollar, when in reality its 5.

Sony is better but still screwing us.

I agree, it definitely needs more work if it's going to be the future of console gaming. Digital distribution with point cards to keep B&M retailers stocking your console so sales don't stagnate.

If we assume that sometime in the future console makers move to a pure (or mostly) digital distribution method for games, then point cards are going to be the only way to convince retailers to keep them in stock. Either that or drasticly raise the price of consoles so that retailers have a fairly large profit margin. But then if you do that, you'll be at a disadvantage against a cheaper console using point cards to entice retailers to stock the console.

Myself I perfer just a straight credit card/paypal purchase method for online sales, but can see the need for something like this. I view it as a work in progress.

Regards,
SB

 

[Richard]

I don't know if this is a local thing or not, but yesterday I saw a PS3 Slim bundle which was 250Gb HDD + Batman: The Dark Knight BR + SomeOtherBRMovieIDon'tRecall for the same price as another PS3 Slim bundle with Uncharted 2.

 

[Arwin]

I don't know if this is a local thing or not, but yesterday I saw a PS3 Slim bundle which was 250Gb HDD + Batman: The Dark Knight BR + SomeOtherBRMovieIDon'tRecall for the same price as another PS3 Slim bundle with Uncharted 2.

Could that be Wolverine and was the BD remote also included? At a price of, say, 333 euros? Because I saw that in Mediamarkt also (mentioned it in another thread)

 

[Brad Grenz]

What I thought was interesting in Gamasutra's article was the average sale price of the Wii at like $211. So while the price cut didn't happen until the last week, most of the Wiis sold were at that $199 price. The Wii sales must have been the slowest they'd ever been for most of the month.

 

[ErnstH]

Under the assumption that the only two models of the Xbox 360 available during September were the $200 and $300 models, we see that approximately three Elite models were sold for each Arcade model.

It seems to me that the Elite : Arcade ratio should be 3 : 2. The 3 : 1 ratio they mention would lead to an average price of $275 (unless I miss something).

Math:
(#sold elites * $elite + #sold arcade * $arcade) / (# sold elite + # sold arcade) = $ASP
(3*300+1*200)/4 = $275
(3*300+2*200)/5 = $260

 

[betan]

Yes if you ignore the pro, the last two digits of the average price gives you the percentage of elite to total.
If there were pros sold it's less than that.

 

[zed]

I dont think Amazon sales are of much use. If they were true PS3 would have been handily outselling 360 all last year.

Every time I looked the xbox360 was higher placed than the ps3. The only time this changed was with the ps3 price reduction/slim

Also the 299 Elite is in the amazon ranking, usually between 60-100 lately, you missed it. Currently #79. You looked up one of the discontinued Elite SKU's (probably the pre 2 game pack in version)

Sorry I didnt know the the elite now comes with 2 games bundled as standard, though it does show that the elite is still selling better than the arcade at the moment thus average oct NPD xbox360 price will most likely also be >$250

 

[Akumajou]

<quote>HALO 3: ODST 360 MICROSOFT (CORP) Sep-09 1.52M 1</quote>

My money and this is not to derail the thread but my money is that if Halo 3 ODST matches or exceeds Halo 3 "8 million plus" sales then Microsoft will have no choice but to make a new console using AMDATI's Cypress GPU, NATAL and Microsoft's Direct X 11 to make a new Halo game sequel/prequel/side story/happy meal a cash cow/pig sure bet.

Other than that nice PS3 bounce back, I hope PS3 sales keep improving as well as the games like Uncharted 2 and even old Killzone 2 but there is hardly anything to believe from consumers anymore.

 

[dobwal]

<quote>HALO 3: ODST 360 MICROSOFT (CORP) Sep-09 1.52M 1</quote>

My money and this is not to derail the thread but my money is that if Halo 3 ODST matches or exceeds Halo 3 "8 million plus" sales then Microsoft will have no choice but to make a new console using AMDATI's Cypress GPU, NATAL and Microsoft's Direct X 11 to make a new Halo game sequel/prequel/side story/happy meal a cash cow/pig sure bet.

Other than that nice PS3 bounce back, I hope PS3 sales keep improving as well as the games like Uncharted 2 and even old Killzone 2 but there is hardly anything to believe from consumers anymore.

Given that Halo3 and ODST are only comparable in sales when you look at one day of US H3 sales versus one month of ODST sales, I doubt MS is going to force to do anything.

 

[AlNom]

What does ODST sales matching or exceeding Halo3 sales have to dow ith a new console

 

[Richard]

Could that be Wolverine and was the BD remote also included? At a price of, say, 333 euros? Because I saw that in Mediamarkt also (mentioned it in another thread)

Sorry, I didn't look too closely at it. It caught my attention because at first blush I thought it was a PS3 Slim + 250Gb + Batman: Arkham Asylum bundle. It was 339 euros though IIRC.

 

[Richard]

What does ODST sales matching or exceeding Halo3 sales have to dow ith a new console

I think his point is that Bungie/MS would want to use the current engine for the superior milkin' da cow, thus same hw architecture? I don't know how that flies in the face of the supposed engine rewrite for Halo Reach or complete inadequacy of a current engine (bar CryTek) circa 2012-2013.

 

[corduroygt]

Microsoft also has those types of revenue... MS is in the royalty pool for Blu-ray, they sell encoders for Blu-ray and provide encoding services. Only on the hardware side is Sony distinguished from MS, but in this case the hardware is the PS3 which is being sold at $100 loss in 2009. I have no idea whether MS or Sony makes more revenue on Blu-ray overall; do you have any basis for thinking Sony makes more?

Simple, Sony gets the lions share of royalties per blu Ray disc while panasonic gets the lions share of royalties per player. The per disc royalty is what made toshiba millions for Dvd. MS is a minority player

 

[Carl B]

Simple, Sony gets the lions share of royalties per blu Ray disc while panasonic gets the lions share of royalties per player.

Where did you hear this from? Honestly curious.

Anyway Sony's interests in Blu-ray go beyond royalties - as it stands they have hundreds of millions/billions invested in actual BD-related capital investments and infrastructure. If a BD disc gets replicated and sold, Sony's interest at this point lies less with the fact that they receive x pennies per disc, and more with the fact that there's a very good chance that it was one of their replication lines that was actually paid to make said disc. And their hand extends vertically all the way through, from diodes, to equipment, to encoders, to the aforementioned replication services, and to consumer goods.

Which is also why Sony was fighting harder than the others in the BDA - it was more than R&D money down the drain if BD failed, it was literally an entire capital expenditures gamble that would have gone up in flames.

 

[corduroygt]

Where did you hear this from? Honestly curious.

Anyway Sony's interests in Blu-ray go beyond royalties - as it stands they have hundreds of millions/billions invested in actual BD-related capital investments and infrastructure. If a BD disc gets replicated and sold, Sony's interest at this point lies less with the fact that they receive x pennies per disc, and more with the fact that there's a very good chance that it was one of their replication lines that was actually paid to make said disc. And their hand extends vertically all the way through, from diodes, to equipment, to encoders, to the aforementioned replication services, and to consumer goods.

Which is also why Sony was fighting harder than the others in the BDA - it was more than R&D money down the drain if BD failed, it was literally an entire capital expenditures gamble that would have gone up in flames.

It's from a mod who's a AV installer in blu-ray forums. Here's his post:

Panasonic holds the most patents in the technology at this time, and it appears that the BDA will adopt Panasonics 3D Blu-ray model, so Panasonic will likely hold more patents in the technology still.

Sony holds the most patents related to the disc design structure which potentially will garner them the highest profits on the technology. Where Panasonic gets paid for every player sold, Sony gets paid for every disc produced. Per unit they get less, but overall they will get more.

At least, this is my understanding after following BD for years.

 

[Rangers]

Every time I looked the xbox360 was higher placed than the ps3. The only time this changed was with the ps3 price reduction/slim

No they weren't. 360 hardware has never been very high on Amazon. PS3 has always been much higher even in fat days.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

No they weren't. 360 hardware has never been very high on Amazon. PS3 has always been much higher even in fat days.

So what? Amazon lists are not representatitve of anything else than amazon, as since you dunno how often they update their list and how old info they base it on, a poor represenatation of that aswell