Tag Archives: october npd 2008

Poor old Edge. It used to be covered in Matt Mathews’ lovely NPD analysis graphs every month, but it appears no longer: here’s the latest feature, and it’s on Gamasutra. It’s exclusive, says the site. Some people are just mercenary.

By the by. There’s graphs there about Guitar Hero sales, estimated year-to-date software sales, weekly handheld sales rates and loads more. Take a look.

Update: Gama editor Simon tells us that Matt did his first feature for Gamasutra before being recruited by Edge. So Matt’s going home, in a sense. Swings and roundabouts.

There is no greater pleasure in life than writing about sales figures when everyone else is sleeping. We don’t know why more people don’t do it. It’s baffling.

Everything from the October NPD is listed below. Nintendo will probably be pleased.

• October NPD hardware data – Wii sales soar, 360 flattens PS3
• October NPD software data – Fable II sells 790,000 for top spot
• October NPD – US games market grows 18% year-on-year
• October NPD – Microsoft sticks boot into PS3 in post-figures release
• October NPD – Nintendo statement focuses on hardware sales
• October NPD – PS3 sales up 56% YoY, says Sony
• October NPD – Wii Music sells 81K, GHWT hits 534K

Microsoft focused squarely on the fact it had sold almost twice the amount of PS3s with Xbox 360 in the US last month in its post-NPD statement last night, issuing a press released titled, “Xbox 360 outsells PS3 nearly 2:1 in October, Fable II debuts at #1″.

The company said Fable II, topping the chart in America last month, has now sold more than 1.5 million units worldwide.

Gears of War 2 and the impending release of NXE were also highlighted.

Full thing after the break.

More »

Nintendo focused on the fact its hardware platforms dominated American October sales in its post-NPS statement yesterday, saying a stunning performance last month extends “their leads as the best-selling hardware of this generation.”

Combined sales of 1.3 million units across Wii and DS bring lifetime US figures for Wii to more than 13.35 million and DS to more than 23.02 million.

“Nintendo provides consumers with the best value not only among video games, but also among most entertainment options,” said NoA marketing boss Cammie Dunaway.

“Nintendo also provides an incomparable range of experiences that everyone can enjoy, whether you’ve been playing for years or are just getting into video games.”

Full thing after the break.

More »

Despite the fact PS3 was outsold by Xbox 360 by almost 2:1 in American in October, Sony issued an upbeat statement in the wake of the figures being released, saying PS3 sales were up 56 percent year-on-year and th PlayStation brand itself generated $369 million in October.

PS3 software sales have increased almost 200 percent year-over-year, said the company, with 2.3 million units sold in October.

LittleBigPlanet and Resistance 2 were pointed at as the key drivers for November software sales.

Jack Tretton didn’t make his usual “it’s all awesome” statement, unfortunately.

Read the full thing after the break.

More »

This GameDaily piece has confirmed that Nintendo’s Wii Music sold a meagre 81,000 units in October in the US, as confirmed by NPD.

Conversely, Guitar Hero World Tour performed strongly, shifting 534,000 copies across all formats, but failed to score a top ten place.

Tonight’s NPD data confirmed that the US games industry grew 18 percent in October compared to last year, up to $1.31 billion from $1.12 billion in 2007.

“The video games industry grew an impressive 18% year-over-year in the first month of the critical fourth quarter,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

“With 10-months under its belt, the video games industry is still poised to top $22B in annual sales in 2008.”

Frazier noted, however, that handheld sales for the month had shown a decline.

“The sales results are mixed this month, however,” she added. “The console portion of the market made significant gains at 26 percent across hardware, software and accessories, while the portable side of the market stalled, declining 14 percent.

“Year-to-date the portable segment of the market is still up 7 percent.”

Hardware sales were up 5 percent compared to last year to $494.74 million, while software sales climbed a substantial 35 percent to $696.79 million against the corresponding previous period.

Peripherals were down 8 percent, however, to $120.19 million.

As expected, Fable II has taken the number one position in the US software charts for October, selling through 790,000 copies.

Will Fit is still flying in America, with nearly half a million games shifted alongside Wii hardware sales of over 800,000 units over the month.

The 360 version of Fallout 3 came third, but surely the biggest story aside from the winner is an eighth place debut for LittleBigPlanet, the game Sony execs had pegged as the biggest for PS3 this year.

Here’s your data:

1. Fable II (Microsoft, 360) – 790K
2. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) – 487K
3. Fallout 3 (Bethesda, 360) – 375K
4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) – 290K
5. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) – 282K
6. Saints Row 2 (THQ, 360) – 270K
7. SOCOM: Confrontation (Sony, PS3) – 231K
8. LittleBigPlanet (Sony, PS3) – 215K
9. NBA 2K9 (THQ, 360) – 202K
10. Dead Space (EA, 360) – 193K

Wii has shattered predictions to sell more than 800,000 units in the US on October, according to NPD figures released tonight.

As mooted by Microsoft exec Mindy Mount today, Xbox 360 has scored a heavy victory over PS3, outselling the Sony console by almost 100 percent.

Here’s the score:

• PlayStation 2 - 136K
• PlayStation 3 - 190K
• PSP – 193K
• Xbox 360 – 371K
• Wii – 803K
• Nintendo DS – 491K

Speaking at today’s annual BMO Capital Markets Interactive Entertainment Conference, Microsoft entertainment division CFO Mindy Mount insinuated that Xbox 360 is to become a 100 million-selling machine.

Mount said that by the end of this month, Microsoft predicts the console’s global installed base will reach 25 million units, surpassing that of the first Xbox.

“It’s a great milestone for us, but it’s still only a start, when you consider that history shows that more than three-fourths of a console’s sales come at a price of $199 or lower,” a price point that the company reached just a month ago.

Mount also said that tonight’s NPD figures will show a 2:1 sales ratio to PS3 in the US in October.

More on Gamasutra.