Tag Archives: December npd

NPD December 2011 report has shown US industry sales at $3.99 billion, a 21% year-over-year decline.

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Industry analyst Michael Pachter has stated that during the month of December, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 bundles with Kinect outsold Sony’s PS3 Move bundles 5:1.

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Gama has gotten hold of some NPD software sales data showing that Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet sold 611k units whilst Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 4 crept past the million mark: 1.076m to be precise.

Resistance 2 sold 598k whilst Tomb Raider Underworld only sold 246,000 copies on three platforms – no wonder Eidos lowered its fiscal expectations.

Lots more through the link.

By Mike Bowden

It won the single formats and it’s narrowly won the multis. Yes, the game that gives you the extra Wii-Mote plus a Duck Hunt clone and a few other mini games, reigned supreme in the US last year.

The combined console sales of Madden NFL were just 300k copies shy of the top spot with GTA IV in third place.

The top five are:

1. Wii Play – 5.28m
2. Madden NFL ‘09 – 5.25m
3. Grand Theft Auto IV – 5.22m
4. Mario Kart w/ Wheel – 5.00m
5. Call of Duty: World at War – 4.63m

By Mike Bowden

According to Canadian news site CBC, December’s NPD figures showed Canadians spent a record $2.09 billion on consoles last year.

Nintendo Wii dominated 44.1 percent of the market compared with Xbox 360′s 25.5 percent and PlayStation 3′s 21.7 percent.

“We believe the Wii has really hit a great price point in the market,” said Matthew Tattle, account manager at NPD, to CBC News.

“It’s really expanded the user base. It’s gone beyond the traditional gamer market.”

The top selling game was EAs Rockband which saw off the challenge of Rockstar’s GTA IV. Mariokart Wii and Wii Fit came in third and fourth respectively.

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Commenting on December’s NPD figures and looking at the months ahead, Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter has told videogaming247 that he now believes that Sony may not be able to cut the price of PlayStation 3 as early as April.

However, when Sony finally does reduce the cost, he believes the console will go toe to toe with 360 in terms of sales.

“Sony may not be able to cut as early as April, but I think that a price cut is coming in 2009,” said Pachter to VG247 earlier today.

“PS3 should sell 60 – 75% of the level that the 360 sells for the first part of the year, and when they cut price, the figure should come close to even.

“This is purely attributable to the price difference, with the 360 available for as low as half the price, but with the PS3 offering additional features built-in (bigger hard drive, Wi-Fi and a Blu-ray player),” added Pachter.

When we asked him if he anticipated Nintendo Wii to have as much success as last year, he replied:

“The Wii will likely continue to outsell both combined for the early part of the year, but over the full year, my guess is that Wii sales are flat at best, and that both PS3 and 360 see a year-over-year increase, as I still expect both to cut price some time during the year,” he conluded.

For total coverage of December’s NPD figures, go here.

By Mike Bowden

We’ve done it again.

Not only have we brought you every conceivable piece of important information from last night’s annual and monthly NPD report, we’re also going to put all the new in one extremely convenient place.

This one.

So, as with our CES 09 coverage, after the break you can read or indeed re-read everything December’s NPD numbers had to offer.

By Mike Bowden

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Following December’s NPD results, Microsoft has revealed that the Xbox 360 has now sold 28 million units worldwide which the company says puts it ahead of the PlayStation 3 by 8 million units.

“Our goal for 2008 was to reach new audiences by bringing ground-breaking games and entertainment to Xbox 360,” said Don Mattrick, Microsoft’s senior VP.

“Looking forward, new waves of innovation will extend our position as the global leader in interactive entertainment.”

For all our NPD news, go here.

Thanks, GI.

By Mike Bowden

EEDAR issued a statement post NPD statement proclaiming that although Wii figures didn’t hit the expected 3 million mark, it doesn’t mean to say that demand for Nintendo’s family console is slowing down.

“These Wii figures are not any indication that is demand slowing down,” said the PR mail.

“The Nintendo Wii is going through supply just as quick as they have before and these numbers merely reflect the large disparity between supply and demand. We still believe the Nintendo Wii would have sold north of 4 million units have supply and demand been in equilibrium.”

Full statement after the break.

For all our NPD news, go here.

By Mike Bowden

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Edge has published what can only be described as a veritable graph-orama.

There are fat graphs, thin graphs, multicoloured graphs: it’s all about the graphs.

Hit the link for NPD 2008 in graph format.

By Mike Bowden

Sony has issued a statement focusing on all aspects of its business, saying that last night’s NPD figures showed “continued momentum” for the PlayStation brand with 3.6 million units sold for the year.

“PS3 also generated one of its strongest months in software unit sales in the U.S., with almost 6 million units sold in December. For the calendar year, PS3 software unit sales increased 116%,” says the statement.

SCEA Senior VP of marketing and PSN, Peter Dille added:

“The PlayStation brand has had a solid calendar year with total PS3 hardware sales up 40% and total PS3 software sales up 115%.”

“We remain confident in our momentum into 2009 as we continue to deliver to our consumers the best entertainment content and technology out there,” he said. “And we delivered on that promise this past year with one of the best software line-ups in the industry, a dramatically expanded PlayStation Network with the launch of the video delivery service and the beta of PlayStation Home, as well as extended hardware offerings with the PSP 3000 and Uncharted 160GB PS3 bundle.

“We also hit a remarkable milestone for the PlayStation 2 platform in North America with 50 million units sold. It’s truly an amazing testament to the power and legacy of our brand.”

Full statement after the break.

For all our NPD news, go here.

By Mike Bowden

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In the wake December’s NPD results, NoA exec VP of sales and marketing, Cammie Dunaway has said that the company’s yearly Wii sales of 10.17m – a feat matched by no other company in US history – is down to the fact that Nintendo expanded the “definition of what a video game can be.”

“Our type of entertainment has now moved to the point where there is no longer a question that if you offer consumers an expanded definition of what a video game can be, and deliver that idea with quality and affordability in mind, millions of new people will start playing video games,” said Dunaway

“Concepts like Wii Fit, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band never would have seemed feasible just a few years ago, and now they’re driving growth for our the entire industry.”

Nintendo enjoyed an unbelievable year with DS being the first unit ever to break the 3 million barrier and the company practically cleaned up both the 2008 software charts and seeing Wii Play top the December software list with another four titles in the top ten.

By Mike Bowden

In response to last night’s NPD results, Microsoft has issued a statement whereby the company says December 2008 was “the biggest month for Xbox 360 in history.”

The firm also added that that sales were up 38 percent on the previous month, and offered that it outperformed PS3 2:1 for the third month in a row.

Microsoft also boasted that “Xbox 360 has generated more life-to-date dollars at retail for third-party publishers than the PS3 and Wii combined.”

For all our NPD news, go here.

Full statement after the break.

By Mike Bowden

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December’s NPD figures show that PlayStation 3 sales have risen 90 percent from November 2008 and total sales for the year are up 40 percent compared with 2007.

However, although the console has seen steady growth throughout the year, combined sales for the holiday season (November and December) are down from 1.26 million in 2007, to 1.1 million in 2008.

In contrast, Xbox 360 holiday season sales have seen a ten percent increase, with 2.03 million consoles sold in Nov/Dec 2007, compared with 2.27 million in 2008.

As with all things sales performance wise however, Nintendo has almost doubled its holiday season sales when compared last year, with 2.33 units sold for Nov/Dec 07, compared with 4.19 million Wiis in 2008.

By Mike Bowden

According to the NPD annual software charts for 2008, Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV 360 outsold GTA IV PS3 by nearly 2:1.

The open world action title sold 3.29 million copies on 360 and just 1.89 million on Sony’s console where GTA games have traditionally resided. In fact, last year’s release was the first simultaneous multiplatform release for the franchise.

GTA IV 360 could see a resurgence in sales as platform exclusive DLC, Lost and Damned, becomes available later on this year.

All of videogaming247′s December NPD coverage can be found here.

By Mike Bowden

NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier has said in light of the latest NPD hardware numbers, Nintendo DS has broken a record by being the first console in history to break 3 million unit sales in one month.

“The NDS captures the top-spot for hardware sales this month, marking the first time that any hardware system has sold in excess of 3 million units in any single month,” said Frazier.

More records were broken as The NPD Group revealed that the industry as a whole saw a 19 percent increase on 2007, which in itself is an industry first.

“While industry growth has not continued at the blistering pace we saw during the second and third quarters, December’s 9% increase over last December brings the year in 19% ahead of last year, and sets a new record for total industry sales,” Frazier continued.

However, that wasn’t all. December 2008 was the first month in which total industry revenue topped $5 billion dollars.

“This month marks the first time that industry revenue has topped $5B in any single month. In 1997, annual revenues were $5.1B, and now a single month has realized that level of sales,” Anita Frazier concluded.

Cigars all round.

By Mike Bowden

According to the latest NPD figures, Nintendo has the top four best selling titles of 2008, with Wii Play heading the charts with 5.28 million copies sold for the year.

Just behind is Mario Kart Wii with 5 millions units, then Wii Fit with 4.53 million and finally SSBB with 4.17 million copies sold through 2008.

The 360 has four titles in the top ten whilst only GTA IV represents PlayStation 3 in total software sales for the console, for the year.

Full list below:

1. WII PLAY W/ REMOTE – NINTENDO OF AMERICA – 5.28 million
2. WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL – NINTENDO OF AMERICA – 5.00 million
3. WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD – NINTENDO OF AMERICA – 4.53 million
4. WII SUPER SMASH BROS: BRAWL – NINTENDO OF AMERICA – 4.17 million
5. 360 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV – TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE – 3.29 million
6. 360 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR – ACTIVISION BLIZZARD – 2.75 million
7. 360 GEARS OF WAR 2 – MICROSOFT – 2.31 million
8. PS3 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV – TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE – 1.89 million
9. 360 MADDEN NFL 09 – ELECTRONIC ARTS – 1.87 million
10. NDS MARIO KART – NINTENDO OF AMERICA – 1.65 million

You can find the NPD December 2008 software and hardware sales through their respective links.

The NPD software results are here Wii Play and has pipped Call of Duty World at War 360 to the number one spot in the final US sales figures for 2008.

The full list is as follows:

1. WII PLAY W/ REMOTE – NINTENDO OF AMERICA – 1.46 million
2. 360 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR – ACTIVISION BLIZZARD – 1.33 million
3. WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD – NINTENDO OF AMERICA – 999K
4. WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL – NINTENDO OF AMERICA – 979K
5. WII GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR – ACTIVISION BLIZZARD – 850K
6. 360 GEARS OF WAR 2 – MICROSOFT – 745K
7. 360 LEFT 4 DEAD – ELECTRONIC ARTS – 629K
8. NDS MARIO KART – NINTENDO OF AMERICA – 540K
9. PS3 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR – ACTIVISION BLIZZARD – 533K
10. WII ANIMAL CROSSING: CITY FOLK – NINTENDO OF AMERICA – 497K

Click here for total software sales for 2008 whilst NPD hardware numbers are here.

By Mike Bowden

The December 2008 NPD hardware results are in and as the analysts predicted Nintendo had a great month, but it was in fact DS and not Wii that sold over 3 million units.

However, as anticipated, 360 has outsold PS3 by a ratio of 2:1.

The results are as follows:

• Nintendo DS 3.04 million
• Wii 2.15 million
• Xbox 360 1.44 million
• PlayStation Portable 1.02 million
• PlayStation 3 726K
• PlayStation 2 410K

Software sales for December 08 can be found here whereas software sales for the whole year can be found here.

By Mike Bowden