Xbox #2 in US and Europe and other market data

[AzBat]

Xbox Celebrates Successful Holiday Season, Gaining
Share and Solidifying No. 2 Position Across North
America and Europe
Thursday January 23, 9:02 am ET
December Marks Record-Breaking Month for Xbox Console and Game Sales


REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- One year ago, the
Xbox(TM) video game system was the new kid on the block. Today,
Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT - <a href=http://biz.yahoo.com/n/m/msft.html>News</a>) confirmed that Xbox was a top holiday seller
and is now firmly entrenched in the No. 2 market position in the United States
and Europe. According to the NPD Funworld TRSTS December 2002, Xbox
significantly widened the gap between the competition, established itself as
the clear No. 2 video game platform and brought the overall next-generation
market share for Xbox to 24 percent. Xbox console sales in December had a
year-over-year growth of 48 percent, which was the highest among all
next-generation platforms for the month according to the NPD data. On the
other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Xbox also won additional market share,
bringing the European share of Xbox to 19 percent (ChartTrack and GfK,
November 2002).

"We are very pleased by the holiday results. Xbox is the next-generation
video game system of choice and the clear No. 2 across the United States,
Canada and throughout Europe," said Robbie Bach, senior vice president of
Microsoft and chief Xbox officer. "With the popularity of Xbox Live, more than
300 games in development and more than 200 titles on the market, we expect to
continue to gain market share from long-time console makers."

December was the largest selling month for Xbox consoles ever, beating the
previous record month, November 2001, by 43 percent (NPD TRSTS, December
2002). Also according to the data, December was the largest month ever for
Xbox software sales, beating the previous record month, December 2001, by
80 percent. Xbox also enjoyed a nearly 4.8 attach rate, the highest for any
next-generation console after 14 months in the market. Moreover, Xbox sold the
most software of any next-generation system after 14 months in the market.
Finally, the Xbox Live(TM) service continued to be a major hit at retail in
December, selling 70 percent more Xbox Live Starter Kits in the first two
months than the PlayStation 2 network adaptor sold in its first two months.

Clearly popular with consumers, the Xbox game portfolio has been a huge
success both for Microsoft-published games as well as third-party publishing
partners. Game titles are selling best on Xbox. Of the top 20 multiplatform
titles, the Xbox versions are attaching on an average of 70 percent more than
those for PlayStation 2. In addition, third-party publishers continue to fare
much better on Xbox. Life-to-date, these partners have sold 56 percent more
units on Xbox than they have for GameCube. "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell," from
Ubi Soft, is not only the No. 1 Xbox title and No. 4 title overall in the U.S.
market, it is now the second-highest selling Xbox title ever in the United
States. "Splinter Cell" outsold GameCube's "Metroid" by 19 percent in the
first two months of sales.

"'Splinter Cell' for Xbox continues to fly off retailers' shelves across
North America and Europe," said Tony Kee, vice president of marketing, Ubi
Soft Entertainment. "It's been a phenomenal holiday for us on Xbox, and we are
eager to replicate the great success of 'Splinter Cell' with more Ubi Soft
games on Xbox."

"It was admittedly a challenging retail environment for the entire game
industry this holiday, but Xbox overdelivered in every way. It was all we
could do to keep our shelves stocked with the Xbox Live Starter Kit and copies
of games like 'Splinter Cell,' 'MechAssault(TM)' and 'Ghost Recon,'" said Dan
Dematteo, president of GameStop Inc. "What's even more exciting is that the
demand for Xbox has remained strong even after the decorations have all been
packed away."

Additional highlights from around the world include the following:
<pre> Europe
-- During the key retail month of December, Xbox outsold GameCube by
100 percent in the United Kingdom. (Source: ChartTrack, December 2002)
-- Xbox has passed the million-console mark in the United Kingdom, France
and Germany. (Source: ChartTrack, GfK; December 2002)
-- European gamers showed their support for Xbox in huge numbers, with
near-sellout sales during the console's first European Christmas
season. The "Sega Christmas Pack From Xbox," a limited edition Xbox
Christmas offer that included 120 euros' (80 pounds sterling) worth of
free triple-A games from Sega, also proved a winner with gamers across
Europe. Many stores sold out of stock before Christmas.
-- The Xbox Live Consumer Beta and Test Drive programs have been a great
success, and momentum continues to build for the European retail launch
of Xbox Live, which is on track for March 14, 2003.

Japan
-- After a very successful beta test, Xbox Live launched on Jan. 16 in
Japan. Beta users, partners and several famous game creators comprised
the guests at the Xbox Live launch party in Tokyo. Early response to
Xbox Live in Japan has been enthusiastic, and many gamers are excited
to play "Phantasy Star Online" on the Xbox Live service.

Canada
-- Xbox achieved significant momentum over the critical holiday period in
Canada, selling faster than ever before. According to ACNielsen market
data for November 2002, Xbox captured more than 32 percent of the
Canadian next-generation console market -- its best month since
launching in Canada in November 2001.

Australia
-- Xbox market share grew dramatically in Australia in the key months of
November and December to nearly 40 percent and 35 percent respectively.
Xbox market share growth was mostly at the expense of PlayStation 2,
which dropped from just over 70 percent to 60 percent.
(Source: Inform, November and December 2002)
-- During those same two months, GameCube's market share plunged to just
over 5 percent, and that trend is continuing in 2003.
(Source: Inform, November and December 2002)

Asia
-- Xbox can now be found in more than 500 selected retail outlets
throughout Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea. The excitement of
the recent Xbox launches in Asia has been fueled by the launch of the
"Dead or Alive 3" (DOA3) offer to usher in the Chinese New Year
beginning next month as well as the online preorder campaign for the
localized version of "Halo(TM)" for Korean gamers that started last
week.

</pre>

 

[AzBat]

Sorry, for posting this in a new thread, but I wanted to post this to see what other people think about these new figures.

Doesn't look too bad if you ask me. I'll comment more on individual points made in the press release later.

Tommy McClain

 

[Magnum PI]

ouch ! THAT is PR !

what i find surprising that they state several times that xbox is the 2nd system of choice in europe and things like that... but they never say that there were more xbox sold than GC in europe..

i find some statements particularely ambiguous..

so i wouldn't be suprised they found some way they can say they are second in europe, but they do NOT have the 2nd installed base.

if it is too much misleading i guess we should see a reaction from nintendo somwhere in the future..

 

[oli2]

if it is too much misleading i guess we should see a reaction from nintendo somwhere in the future..

Perfectly agree with that !

Xbox has passed the million-console mark in the United Kingdom, France
and Germany. (Source: ChartTrack, GfK; December 2002)

Ok, dunno in UK or Germany, but here is what you can find on a french site :

"Selon LSA, leader français de la presse destinée à la grande distribution, les chiffres, notamment en France, sont éloquents et sans appel possible :
- Playstation 2 : 2 millions.
- Game Boy Advance : 1.1 millions.
- GameCube : 0.345 millions.
- Xbox : 0.220 millions.
(données LSA du 17/01/2003)"

(Sorry in french in the text )

These numbers are supposed to be those at end of december 2002 in France ...

 

[Johnny Awesome]

For the fourth time for Oli and Magnum who can't read:

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030116/tech_microsoft_xbox_1.html

Of the total sold to date, 5.4 million units were sold in North America, 1.8 million were sold in Europe and about 850,000 were sold in the Asia-Pacific region, with just less than half of those in Japan.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

You Cubeheads are just making fools of yourselves. Xbox is #2. Deal with it and move on.

 

[oli2]

You Cubeheads are just making fools of yourselves. Xbox is #2. Deal with it and move on.

Yes ....

For the pleasure of the discussion, let's admit you're right, so .... what !? :|

 

[Heretic]

You xbots crack me up

Howling victory in the fight for Sony table scraps

GC and xbox are neck n neck for last place

MS should quit pretending they're out to make a profit and just start giving away xboxs

 

[AzBat]

You xbots crack me up

Howling victory in the fight for Sony table scraps

GC and xbox are neck n neck for last place

MS should quit pretending they're out to make a profit and just start giving away xboxs

Isn't this an odd feeling. Me being called a fanboi? For those that know me, do you ever remember me being accused of being a fanboi? I didn't think so.

For your information I was not howling victory for the Xbox. I just found the data intesting. I mean I did do market research work in the graphics and console industry for 4 years.

"Thank you, drive through" - Beavis

Tommy McClain

 

[Magnum PI]

For the fourth time for Oli and Magnum who can't read:

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030116/tech_microsoft_xbox_1.html

Of the total sold to date, 5.4 million units were sold in North America, 1.8 million were sold in Europe and about 850,000 were sold in the Asia-Pacific region, with just less than half of those in Japan.

yes i can read it and i can say these figures bogus because it claims half of 850 000 = 425000 in japan why is *way* overstated (+ 36 %).. reality is more like 312000..

anyway if microsoft were so sure of having the 2nd installed base in europe, they would clearly have stated that in the PR posted in this thread. and they would have given the figures for the xbox and the GC in europe.

i can read that too:
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=searchNews&amp;storyID=2004903

Ben Keen, executive director of market research firm ScreenDigest, forecast Tuesday that Xbox sold 1.4 million consoles in Europe last year, while PlayStation 2 sales are expected to come in at around six million.

 

[Glonk]

yes i can read it and i can say these figures bogus because it claims half of 850 000 = 425000 in japan why is *way* overstated (+ 36 %).. reality is more like 312000..

I don't get why this is so difficult.
The specific wording in the article is by Reuters, by the way. They're the ones who said "LESS than half".

And you also seem to be forgetting that these aren't specifically sold-to-consumer numbers...

i can read that too:
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=searchNews&storyID=2004903

So a firm named ScreenDigest estimates of consumer-base is somehow comparable to official numbers by MS?

 

[Magnum PI]

yes i can read it and i can say these figures bogus because it claims half of 850 000 = 425000 in japan why is *way* overstated (+ 36 %).. reality is more like 312000..

I don't get why this is so difficult.
The specific wording in the article is by Reuters, by the way. They're the ones who said "LESS than half".

*JUST* LESS than half.. you mean
you mean 312000 is *JUST* LESS than 425000 ?

not for me..

So a firm named ScreenDigest estimates of consumer-base is somehow comparable to official numbers by MS?

not only it is comparable, but i would likely more trust a firm named ScreenDigest than a firm with such an history of lies and disinformation as MS.

 

[Glonk]

*JUST* LESS than half.. you mean
you mean 312000 is *JUST* LESS than 425000 ?

not for me..

Again, I don't understand why this is a problem.
The 312000 number is from MediaCreate and the like, which not only doesn't cover 100% of the market, but counts sold-to-consumer numbers -- which are not what MS released!

AND the "*JUST* left than" wording comes from some Reuters drone, so in his eyes 412,000 is just less than half perhaps? Who knows.

It all makes perfect sense to me, I have no idea why you're being so obtuse about it.

Somewhere around 375,000-400,000 units on retailer shelves makes sense to me?

not only it is comparable, but i would likely more trust a firm named ScreenDigest than a firm with such an history of lies and disinformation as MS.

Nintendo's the one that compared their official sold to retailer numbers with ScreenDigest's conservative "forecast"...give me a break.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

The Cubeheads are making fools of themselves. Xbox is #2. Deal with it.

Why is it so hard to accept?

 

[Heretic]

Isn't this an odd feeling. Me being called a fanboi? For those that know me, do you ever remember me being accused of being a fanboi? I didn't think so.

For your information I was not howling victory for the Xbox. I just found the data intesting. I mean I did do market research work in the graphics and console industry for 4 years.

"Thank you, drive through" - Beavis

Tommy McClain

xbot=fanoi?

Okay...

Starting a thread declaring xbox #2 using mostly MS PR to back it up is close enough for me.

FYI, what prompted me to respond at all was Johnny @'s comment directed at the supposed Cubeheads. There, does that help to sooth your sense of self as an unbiased market observer?

 

[bukima]

PR releases like these are an exercise in making yourself look good, without actually lying...

If you read carefully, you'll see that MS talk about capturing market share in november and/or december.

So when they state that they have claimed 40% market share, it simply means they sold 40% of the consoles sold during that month. They are not talking about total installed userbase.

The total marketshare wont zoom up and down as rapidly as that...

So, basically, in november and december, Xbox has far outsold GC, whilst still being far outsold by PS2.

As for total userbase, it really is pretty neck and neck - so depending on whose numbers you use, Xbox and GC can switch places.

 

[AzBat]

xbot=fanoi?

Well, I said fanboi. That's the only thing I could discern from your use of it.

Starting a thread declaring xbox #2 using mostly MS PR to back it up is close enough for me.

Ah, so I should have added a question mark to the end of the subject? Would that have helped?

FYI, what prompted me to respond at all was Johnny @'s comment directed at the supposed Cubeheads. There, does that help to sooth your sense of self as an unbiased market observer?

Yeah, a little bit.

Unfortunately, I'm going to post a message that has some comments about the figures. This could again cause you and others to paint me as biased, but I'll try my hardest to make sure it won't look that way.

Tommy McClain

 

[AzBat]

All,

I'm going to respond to the press release figures sentence by sentence starting with the first paragraph. I'll post separate messages for each of the other paragraphs. This will end up being pretty long. So I won't finish it in one sitting. I'll probably won't finish it till Monday.

Here goes...

Today, Microsoft Corp. confirmed that Xbox was a top holiday seller
and is now firmly entrenched in the No. 2 market position in the United States
and Europe.

Okay, so they're using market data from December and possibly November to prove they're #2 in the U.S. and Europe. Funny that say "North America" in the title of the press release, but here they say the U.S. If I remember correctly North America includes Canada and Mexico, correct? If that's the case does the market data include these other countries? Honestly, I don't know.

According to the NPD Funworld TRSTS December 2002, Xbox
significantly widened the gap between the competition, established itself as
the clear No. 2 video game platform and brought the overall next-generation
market share for Xbox to 24 percent.

OK, now based on the latest figures from NPD they now say they have 24% of the next-generation console market. Anybody know what the total market is? Microsoft doesn't actually state in this press release how many units they have actually sold since day 1, but I do know that it's 8 million according to the Reuters story and other sources. That would put the worldwide market at just over 33 million. Is that about right?

Xbox console sales in December had a
year-over-year growth of 48 percent, which was the highest among all
next-generation platforms for the month according to the NPD data.

What they're saying they have sold 48% more units since December 2001. Evidently according to the NPD data the PS2 and GameCube haven't had that kind of increase since last year. However, it doesn't exactly say how many were sold. So lets use hypothetical numbers. Say they sold 100,000 units up till the end of December 2001. Then by their definition, they have sold 148,000 since then. So this figure doesn't really mean that much, at least to me.

On the
other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Xbox also won additional market share,
bringing the European share of Xbox to 19 percent (ChartTrack and GfK,
November 2002).

OK, now using another source, they say they have 19% of the European market. Hmm. That seems low if they're #2 there. Microsoft again doesn't mention in the press release exactly how many were sold in Europe. All they say is over 1 million in UK, France and Germany. From data in the Reuters story and other sources we know that they sold 1.8 million. That means there is about 9.4 million next-generation consoles in Europe. If we take the 33 million figure I calculated earlier this means that the North America, Asia and other markets make up about 23.6 million units. We'll be using this figure later on.

I'll continue with the rest of my comments in additional messages. This should be enough to generate more comments by others.

Tommy McClain

 

[Heretic]

Yes AzBat! A question mark on the title would have helped my image of your leanings (not that it should matter to you). I did use xbot thinking it less offensive. As in 'so what if someone sees a bright future for xbox?'. Anyway, as to the real topic-

I'll leave to others to juggle the #s with you for now. Lets look at this one bit of MS crowing;

Xbox console sales in December had a
year-over-year growth of 48 percent,

Just how impressed should we be with that % growth knowing that in Dec of 2001 xbox had only launched in NA, when PS2 had been available world wide for almost a year and GC had only it's weakest market Europe left to release in. While the 48% stat may not be an outright lie, it's a undeniable example of playing fast and loose with the truth.

 

[nonamer]

Today, Microsoft Corp. confirmed that Xbox was a top holiday seller
and is now firmly entrenched in the No. 2 market position in the United States
and Europe.

Okay, so they're using market data from December and possibly November to prove they're #2 in the U.S. and Europe. Funny that say "North America" in the title of the press release, but here they say the U.S. If I remember correctly North America includes Canada and Mexico, correct? If that's the case does the market data include these other countries? Honestly, I don't know.

It's highly unlikely that Canada and Mexico can majorly affect Xbox standings in NA since the U.S. market is so much bigger than both of these.

According to the NPD Funworld TRSTS December 2002, Xbox
significantly widened the gap between the competition, established itself as
the clear No. 2 video game platform and brought the overall next-generation
market share for Xbox to 24 percent.

OK, now based on the latest figures from NPD they now say they have 24% of the next-generation console market. Anybody know what the total market is? Microsoft doesn't actually state in this press release how many units they have actually sold since day 1, but I do know that it's 8 million according to the Reuters story and other sources. That would put the worldwide market at just over 33 million. Is that about right?

The NPD Funworld TRSTS numbers, AFAIK, tracks the number of systems sold to consumers, and it covers only NA, so that's 33 million systems in the NA only, which makes sense (gives about 21-23M PS2, 5-6 XB, 4-5 GC).

Xbox console sales in December had a
year-over-year growth of 48 percent, which was the highest among all
next-generation platforms for the month according to the NPD data.

What they're saying they have sold 48% more units since December 2001. Evidently according to the NPD data the PS2 and GameCube haven't had that kind of increase since last year. However, it doesn't exactly say how many were sold. So lets use hypothetical numbers. Say they sold 100,000 units up till the end of December 2001. Then by their definition, they have sold 148,000 since then. So this figure doesn't really mean that much, at least to me.

They mean the increase in December sales in 2002 from December 2001. So if they sold 100k in 12/2001, then they sold 148k in 12/2002.

On the
other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Xbox also won additional market share,
bringing the European share of Xbox to 19 percent (ChartTrack and GfK,
November 2002).

OK, now using another source, they say they have 19% of the European market. Hmm. That seems low if they're #2 there. Microsoft again doesn't mention in the press release exactly how many were sold in Europe. All they say is over 1 million in UK, France and Germany. From data in the Reuters story and other sources we know that they sold 1.8 million. That means there is about 9.4 million next-generation consoles in Europe. If we take the 33 million figure I calculated earlier this means that the North America, Asia and other markets make up about 23.6 million units. We'll be using this figure later on.

Don't confuse the NPD numbers with the Europe numbers (see above). You're right on the other points, but it didn't make any distinction from monthly, yearly, or overall sales for the 19% figure.