It's that time of the month again, when I plow through the NPD numbers and try to make sense of each of the big three's press releases.
Sony's PlayStation 3 continues to have a good run, though they just barely lost the lead they had over the Xbox 360 for the past two months. The March NPD shows sales of 257,000 PS3s vs 262,000 Xbox 360s. Sony attributes this continued success to strong software sales. In March, over 1.9 million units of software were sold, putting them up almost 140% over last year's numbers. I'd guess this is only the start for them.
Likewise, the PSP continues to kick ass, outselling both the Xbox 360 and PS3 with about 297,000 units sold in March. Sony says that Crisis Core and God of War were the two best-selling portable games in March.
Microsoft's only system reclaimed that number 2 spot from Sony, and they attribute that to improved stock supply. They say that they plan to have fully stocked stores before the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. In March, both Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Army of Two rocked software sales chart, showing that Xbox 360 is the king of multiplayer action. I think gamers will keep that in mind when they pick up GTA IV.
Oh, Nintendo. Of all of the press releases, theirs is the shortest. It basically says "we won." You won't be surprised to hear that the Wii and DS were the number 1 and 2 selling systems in March, with numbers of about 720k and 700k respectively. You also won't be surprised to hear that Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the best selling game of March. Moving on -- nothing new to see here.
Prediction time:
As for the near future, I don't expect Nintendo to lose much of their lead. They still have Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit up their sleeves. Of course, Sony has Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and GTA IV coming up, and MGS 4 is also looming. And speaking of GTA IV, Microsoft is probably going to see near-record numbers when that is released. I think that both April and March are pretty open, but I don't see Nintendo losing their lead any time soon either. Who are you giving it to in April?
PS3 Sales Up Nearly 100% Year-Over-Year; PS3 Momentum ContinuesTotal PlayStation Hardware Unit Sales Top 770,794
PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) continued the strong momentum with 257,120 units sold in March. (according to NPD March 2008 sales data). This represents a year-over-year sales growth of over 98%. More than 1.9 million software units were sold for PS3 in March, representing a year-over-year growth of 139.2%.
- The Season of Monster Titles Has Begun: The April releases of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Grand Theft Auto IV kick off the waterfall of blockbusters coming to PS3 this year, including the exclusive titles Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2 and SOCOM: Confrontation to name a few. These mega hits combined with enthusiasm for Blu-ray promise to further drive PS3 sales throughout 2008.
- PLAYSTATION®Network Continues to Thrive: In North America, there are over than 3.7 million registered PLAYSTATION Network accounts and more than 67 million pieces of content have been downloaded from PLAYSTATION Store to date.
PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) continued to boast strong sales with 297,011 PSP hardware units sold in March, up 22.1% over the previous month and representing a sales increase of 65% growth year-over-year. Sales were fueled by the of recent exclusive blockbuster releases of God of War: Chains of Olympus and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, the two best-selling handheld games in the month of March.
PlayStation®2 (PS2) also had an excellent month in March with hardware unit sales reaching 216,485 units. The PLAYSTATION exclusive hit title MLB® 08 THE SHOW™ debuted as the top-selling title for PS2 in March.
PD Reports Nintendo Finished March with Top Game, Top Hardware
In March, Nintendo again defined industry momentum in both home and portable video games sales, according to the independent NPD Group, which monitors retail activity in the video game industry. More than 720,000 Wii™ systems sold in March, representing the highest monthly sales total outside of holiday months (November or December) to date, while Nintendo DS™ also sold through nearly 700,000 systems.
Nintendo also finished with the top-selling U.S. game of March. Super Smash Bros.® Brawl, which launched March 9, came in at No. 1 with 2.7 million units sold.
"Nintendo systems represented 58 percent of all video game hardware sold in March in the United States," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "We expect our momentum to continue with big upcoming game launches like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit."
Other March U.S. statistics, according to NPD, include:
- Three Wii games finished in the top 10, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl at No. 1, Wii Play™ at No. 4, and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock at No. 7.
- Nintendo DS has now sold more than 19 million units in the United States alone since it launched in November 2004.
Contest:
11:37 AM on 04.18.2008
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that confused me a little, are you saying they need to look out?
Ummm... I hate to bring this up, but, uh, you know.
But soon ill start racing to get it! n Vs yall online :P
On NPD sales, Sony will continue strong, allot strong this entire year. Xbox will keep its momentum as well, Wii as well. What Dale means by MGS4, is that it will be a world wide release on the same day, I can bet you it will break game seller of the year.
Its really funny though that back during the PS2's day most people said that great sales for it where replacements, amazing how time changes.
And Wii dominating, I just don't know why, talk about one of the great mysteries.
04/18/2008 11:56
I know a few PS3 owners who have 1 game for their Blue Ray player.
and also we have a good console to play it ... you don't lolll
Nintendo is going with flash, style, trying completely new things and expanding the market into older, younger and casual areas.
Sony and MS....just bumped up their processing speed and graphics capability and are putting out a continuous stream of titles that have 3s, 4s, and 5s after their name.
Really, it was a risk that is paying off..not mysterious at all unless you are one of the 'hardcore gamers' who assumes everybody has to be complete idiots if they don't like the same things you do....
Mario Party 8
Super mario galaxy (like what mario 11)
Metroid like 5 or 6
Zelda 7
Super Smash Bros (think it's at 3...I don't play it or follow it)
Mario Kart 4 or something
...etc
Please try again
I don't think they count XBLA games toward attach rate, but even if they do I'm pretty sure that it is safe to say that PSN doesn't sell more PSN games than XBLA does.
And someone can disprove them, Sony. If Sony did have a higher attach rate they would have called Microsoft on their press releases, the fact that they haven't proves they don't. Anecdotally I own both systems, currently I own 4 PS3 games and probably 20-30 360 game (disposable income ftw) and I think that would be the trend (possibly to a lesser extent) with most people that own both consoles.
Sure wish third-parties would get off their asses and start making good games for it, though. "We can't compete with Nintendo, wah wah!"
I heard you need two so they don't get lonely, so I picked up four of em!
I think the low price point is was gets people to buy them. I know 2 ladies at work who have never EVER played or owned another system and they went out and bought the Wii and one of them doesn't even have kids.....
Best Software will likely be Wii Fit. (You know I'm right.)
Those are a little misleading, Zelda has been redefined once (to the point it set the standard for 3D adventure games), Mario has been redefined in a similar way three times, Metroid once, Smash Bros and Mario Kart are hardly milked. The numbers are getting up there for Nintendo franchises, but over how long a period? 20 years? Every major Sony and Microsoft franchise has seen a faster release rate than most Nintendo franchises. 3 Smash Bros over almost a decade is close to a half life release schedule (counting the episodes). Nintendo is no different than many other game companies, releasing a new IPs once in a while but thriving off of franchises. I don't know why Nintendo is the only company to hear about this, because Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest certainly have seen more iterations than most all Nintendo Franchises. Perhaps people don't realize this because Nintendo is singled out on thier own console, while the 360 and PS3 get the franchise treatment from several different companies. I would love to see Nintendo try to put a greater effort into advancing their franchises, especially Zelda, but I also want to see some more constructive criticism on God of War, which has been accused in each sequel of tampering very little with the gameplay and is on track to release a fourth game in six years, which is much faster than Smash Bros, Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, and Metroid. I'd just like some objectivity. Game quality isn't the issue here, Nintendo's games are as highly regarded as any. It's odd they don't get more credit for likely being the single company that's made the most advancements in game design over their lifetime.
Kiss my ass M$. You're supply channel is fine, and has been fine since 2006. They really need to quit with the "we are supply constrained" ordeal because, if I'm not mistaken, sales have DECREASED since January, when they said the original supply problems "supposedly" started. Get off your high horse.
I like how when the NPD numbers came in, and they only won by 5k, after losing out by a total of about 35k the past two months, Aaron Greenberg came out and started talking shit, just because they beat the PS3 by a little (within margin of erro btw), although no one heard anything from him, or M$, in the two months prior with relation to "having better games" or "appealing to the core gamer". I guess if he said that during those times, he would look like a total dumbass, because even with "better games" the 360 was getting outsold.
Oh wait...it IS getting outsold. I think the guys at M$ fail to realize that US =/= the entire world
True, as some games are milked for all they've got but if people are eating out of your hands for more games they will keep bringing them out.
GOW is a good example as I believe we could have survived without the PSP one till 3 hit us and I haven't even played the 2nd one yet.....Final Fantasy is another that will never end until we stop buying the games, simple as that.
Aside from Mario Kart Wii, I think its pretty sad that when you compare the Wii's lineup to the PS3 and 360 ones it really doesn't match up at all. Alas, uninformed gamers and fanboys will continue to lap this shit up so I'll give first place to *sigh* the Wii again. I'd give second place to MS next month. I think Sony still has a long way to go towards gaining an actual lead though we might see this switch up with MGS4 for a bit.
Not a big mystery. It's a good system. It has good games. It's just a mystery to folks who read gaming blogs (a small percentage of gamers, in reality) because all they read in the comments of their blogs is negativity about the Wii. Why? Because it's number one and people always hate on the number one. It adds at least 20 cool points to your cool point total to hate on the number one. That and people still can't believe that innovation won over horsepower, smarts over strength.
But eh, that's the least of my worries. I'm still trying to decide if I'm getting a 360 or a PS3 - or if I'm gonna say to hell with both of them. Right now it seems like I have to choose between bad hardware or bad game support. And I keep waiting and waiting to see if either problem will ever improve.
@necrozen: I'm in the same boat... =( My cousin's 360 hasn't Red Ringed yet, but then I look online and see the astonishing numbers and that stops me from even thinking about a 360, and to just stay with my PS2 and Wii.
You know, I'm thinking about just grabbing a PS2 and putting the rest of the cash I would have spent on a PS3 or 360 into Goozex and getting a bunch of games for it plus the DS and Wii. I owned a PS2 for a little while, but I never had many games for it, so there is a lot for me to explore while I wait for sony and M$ to get their shit together. I already have a blu-ray player, so not even that will push me into it. I just refuse to get taken by these folks.
Sony and MS....just bumped up their processing speed and graphics capability and are putting out a continuous stream of titles that have 3s, 4s, and 5s after their name."[/i]
You're not honestly trying to suggest Zelda: Twilight Princes, Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, Super Smash Bros. Brawl or Mario Kart Wii are more than just refined upgrades in a long line of refined upgrades, are you? And aside ports of PS2 games from 3rd parties, what is there of quality? Nintendo is the biggest offender of your arguing point, except they don't tag their sequels with numerical designations. And please don't use the controller argument, it's a half functioning mouse that usual just requests you flail your arms to make something work.
The reality of the Wii is this, Nintendo made a mass-market machine which many people want for different reasons. Some want it for Virtual Console, others for the new generation of staple franchises, some for being able to swing the remote to "mimic" playing tennis (though I don't know why someone wouldn't just play tennis) and yet others just want it because it's a new Nintendo machine (crazy dedicated followers). There is no mystery, the Wii is not a superior or more innovative machine. It's cheap and appeals to a greater breadth of users.
I can tell you first-hand that the best thing about not having experienced the GC or PS2 last generation is that your backlog is so big you never go through a drought--there's always something to play.
=D
now I've got all consoles of this generation :-)
:-)
Bzzz. You fail.
Someone needs to look up the word "innovative" in the dictionary.
Screw framerates or screen resolution, the Wii is the most fun I've had gaming in a long time. So enjoy your brainless punk GTA XXVIII game ("With high-def blood splatter!"). While your neighbor, his neighbor, and your mom are all buying Wiis.
Nintendo owns this generation. Deal with it, haters.