Video game industry thread: late August is done, go to the new one

cloudeagle

Hi! Welcome to the sales thread. Here we talk about how games have sold, marketing, PR comments, analysis of analysts and all kinds of other business-related stuff. Occasionally we make poop jokes.

Here's a summary of what you missed since last time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMSHvgaUWc8

Data care of NPD Group

Reporting period: 7/4/10 - 7/31/10

PlayStation 3 214.5K
PSP 84.0K
Xbox 360 443.5K
Wii 253.9K
Nintendo DS 398.4K

Xagarath

A new game copying the Dungeon Keeper template is a good thing. It's been far shorter of imitators than X-Com.

cloudeagle

Incidentally, while visiting Graceland today I saw TWO grandmothers using Nintendo DS XLs to take pictures of Elvis' jumpsuits.

Santa Claustrophobia

I remember when I posted a new thread before the old one reached 100 pages and people flipped the fuck out.

You're in Graceland? Graceland? Memphis, Tennessee?

Sterica

I wonder how high SCII will get from just one week.

lowlylowlycook

Data care of NPD Group

Reporting period: 7/4/10 - 7/31/10


PlayStation 3 214.5K
PSP 84.0K
Xbox 360 443.5K
Wii 253.9K
Nintendo DS 398.4K


NCAA FOOTBALL 11 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS Jul-10 368.0K
NCAA FOOTBALL 11 PS3 ELECTRONIC ARTS Jul-10 298.8K
CRACKDOWN 2 360 MICROSOFT Jul-10 208.8K
SUPER MARIO GALAXY 2 WII NINTENDO May-10 193.0K
LEGO HARRY POTTER: YEARS 1-4 NDS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE Jun-10 141.7K
RED DEAD REDEMPTION 360 TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE May-10
LEGO HARRY POTTER: YEARS 1-4 WII WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE Jun-10
DRAGON QUEST IX: SENTINELS OF THE STARRY SKIES NDS NINTENDO Jul-10
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII WII NINTENDO Nov-09
CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2* 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD Nov-09

(*includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)

---

Analysis from NPD's Anita Frazier wrote:

Originally Posted by Anita Frazier:
Overall

"While video game retail sales show a very slight decline versus last July, we have to consider the success of Starcraft II this month, which helped the PC games category to realize a 103% increase in dollars over last July. PC Games and video game industry sales combined for an increase of 4% in revenues as compared to July'09."

Hardware

"The PS3 and the Xbox 360 platforms both saw significant increases over July'09. In fact, Xbox 360 was the top-selling hardware platform for the month, driven by sales of the new slim format SKU. It's the first time since September '07 (Halo 3 launch) that the 360 was the top-selling hardware platform."

Software

"The top selling video game for the month, combining platforms, was NCAA Football 11 at 692K units. Achieving even better results this month was Starcraft II (PC), which sold 721K units at retail in July."

"LEGO Harry Potter was the second best-selling game for the month with 401K units across all platforms. It bested its intro month sales in June of 355K, although it must be noted it released late in June. In just over a month at retail, it has already sold enough to put it just outside of the top 20 games year-to-date."

Accessories

"The Xbox 360 1600 point card was the best-selling accessory SKU for the fifth consecutive month. The general success of the Points and Subscriptions cards category within Accessories points to the activity that is happening in the industry outside the traditional retail channel."

lowlylowlycook

Those are really high 360 sales.

Santa Claustrophobia

lowlylowlycook wrote: »

Those are really high 360 sales.

Probably a typo. Kinect can't be that big of a deal. Right?

Gennenalyse Rueben

I'm very happy to see DQIX made it onto the top ten.

Brainiac 8

Wow, that's some crazy numbers for the 360.

Also Dragon Quest charted, so that's good news.

slash000

Yeah I'm extremely pleased that DQ charted. That's excellent.

Also, it's good to see MS Points cards selling. That means people are buying stuff on the Marketplace! Which is good.

Sterica

Kinect can't possibly be the reason for those numbers. That is crazy.

Brainiac 8

Ouch PSP....Sony just needs to finally put it out of its misery.

Rakai

The slim was released in the middle of the previous NPD month. People love buying new models.

lowlylowlycook

After getting a second glance, the PS3 and Wii are also pretty fucking close in sales.

Hmmmm.

Cameron_Talley

Perhaps people with broken 360s suddenly decided to buy new ones?

ArcSyn

lowlylowlycook wrote: »

After getting a second glance, the PS3 and Wii are also pretty fucking close in sales.

Hmmmm.

Oh no!

cloudeagle

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

I remember when I posted a new thread before the old one reached 100 pages and people flipped the fuck out.

You're in Graceland? Graceland? Memphis, Tennessee?

Yep. The missus and I are taking a mini-vacation. We're about to head out for some barbecue.

Good to see DQ chart, looks like the combined might of Nintendo and Seth Green paid off. And yeah, them's some head-scratching console numbers if true.

So what came out in July that was noteworthy and didn't chart?

Cade

Wow those 360 slims really did sell very well didn't they.

Might be some people felt they were safer then the old ones that did the RROD and all so they bought them up, I hope it wasn't the Kinect that helped spur things but then that's obviously not for me but another part of the gaming audience.

cloudeagle

Cade wrote: »

Wow those 360 slims really did sell very well didn't they.

Might be some people felt they were safer then the old ones that did the RROD and all so they bought them up, I hope it wasn't the Kinect that helped spur things but then that's obviously not for me but another part of the gaming audience.

Despite the French acrobats people still don't know Kinect exists in general. It must be the redesign... people love them some slim models. Didn't the PS3 get a decent boost for a few months from its slim?

Hedgethorn

Those are some awful, awful software sales.

But those are fantastic 360 sales for mid-summer, even considering the new model and the fire sale.

Edit: Last year's numbers, shamelessly stolen from GAF:

NPD July '09

NDS - 538,900
WII - 252,500
360 - 202,900
PSP - 122,800
PS3 - 121,800
PS2 - 108,000

01. [WII] WII SPORTS RESORT W/ WII MOTION PLUS (NINTENDO) - 508,200
02. [360] NCAA FOOTBALL 10 (ELECTRONIC ARTS) - 376,500
03. [PS3] NCAA FOOTBALL 10 (ELECTRONIC ARTS) - 237,400
04. [WII] WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD* (NINTENDO) - 164,300
05. [WII] MARIO KART W/ WHEEL (NINTENDO) - 156,600
06. [NDS] MARIO KART DS (NINTENDO) - 132,200
07. [NDS] POKEMON PLATINUM VERSION (NINTENDO) - 116,400
08. [360] FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4 (ELECTRONIC ARTS) - 116,400
09. [NDS] NEW SUPER MARIO BROS (NINTENDO) - 101,800
10. [WII] EA SPORTS ACTIVE BUNDLE (ELECTRONIC ARTS) - 96,800

So the Wii actually sold better this July than last, when WSR was still new. PS3 is much better than last year, but the PSP fell off a cliff (which we all knew).

Cade

cloudeagle wrote: »

Cade wrote: »

Wow those 360 slims really did sell very well didn't they.

Might be some people felt they were safer then the old ones that did the RROD and all so they bought them up, I hope it wasn't the Kinect that helped spur things but then that's obviously not for me but another part of the gaming audience.

Despite the French acrobats people still don't know Kinect exists in general. It must be the redesign... people love them some slim models. Didn't the PS3 get a decent boost for a few months from its slim?

It got a boost for the first month, maybe two and it was selling higher no doubt but it didn't do anything amazing either.

Seems like the 360 redesign is having much more success unless someone can pull up some numbers to compare for each in their first few months of the redesigned consoles on sale to prove otherwise.

plufim

84K for PSP. Ouch

Musan

plufim wrote: »

84K for PSP. Ouch

Well, I bought one. It was on Craigslist though, gotta get Tactics Ogre when it comes out.

Couscous

Crap. I missed the new sales info.

Couscous

The 360 sales are obviously due to the redesign. People don't buy consoles months before the reason they will buy it comes out.

Cade

Too bad PC games are kept on a separate list, Starcraft II sold 721 K copies for the time it was out during that time. It really should be represented with the other games.

Couscous

plufim wrote: »

84K for PSP. Ouch

Things Sony could do at this point:
A. Continue to support it despite the fact it is pretty much dead outside of Japan
B. Pretend to continue to support it while gradually killing it off
C. Pretend to continue to support it before replacing it with the PSP2 sometime next year
D. Pretend to continue to support it before replacing it with that rumored Sony Android phone.
E. Pretend to continue to support it before replacing it with the PSP2 and that rumore Sony Android phone.

Based on Sony doing the stupidest thing that doesn't require them to be mentally incompetent, E should be the choice.

plufim

F. Continue to support it and release that Sony Android phone as a PSPGo2

There, an even dumber choice

HyperAquaBlast

So I don't really pay attention to these numbers but how is selling 84k of handheld people really don't care about in this period bad? Thats a pretty good amount for a 5 year old system and its poor reception.

Cade

HyperAquaBlast wrote: »

So I don't really pay attention to these numbers but how is selling 84k of handheld people really don't care about in this period bad? Thats a pretty good amount for a 5 year old system and its poor reception.

It really is bad and when you consider it's software sells are horrible and most people buy the thing and then pirate games for it then you got to wonder what's the point other then to just keep it out there until they try again with the next handheld.

Poor Marcus, he was not prepared.

Opty

Yeah, the 360 sales are easily explained: The Slim got people who already owned a console to get a new one, it represented an extreme value add in that it had $100+ worth of peripheral added in for free (Wi-fi) so people who were on the fence finally fell off it, and finally all of the old systems' prices were slashed so a ton of the old ones got bought up as well (and there were additional deals that dropped the Arcade's price even more so those got bought up even more furiously).

Couscous

http://www.nintendoeverything.com/47165/

Nintendo sold more than 650,000 video game systems in July – more than any other company – according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks sales of video game products in the United States. The Nintendo DS™ family of systems sold nearly 400,000 in July, and Nintendo’s Wii™ console marked its 45th consecutive month of more than 250,000 units sold with July sales of nearly 254,000. These tallies bring the 2010 U.S. sales totals through the end of July for Nintendo DS to more than 3.4 million and Wii to more than 2.71 million.

Lol.

Five of the top 10 best-selling games of July play on Nintendo systems. These include Super Mario Galaxy™ 2 for Wii at No. 4 with more than 192,000 sold, LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 1-4 for Nintendo DS at No. 5 with nearly 142,000 sold, LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 1-4 for Wii at No. 7 with more than 133,000 sold, DRAGON QUEST IX®: Sentinels of the Starry Skies™ for Nintendo DS at No. 8 with more than 132,000 sold and New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii at No. 9 with more than 128,000 sold.

Cade

Well, we finally can say Nintendo stole something from Sony by playing the "family" card.

Samm1ch

Cade wrote: »

HyperAquaBlast wrote: »

So I don't really pay attention to these numbers but how is selling 84k of handheld people really don't care about in this period bad? Thats a pretty good amount for a 5 year old system and its poor reception.

It really is bad and when you consider it's software sells are horrible and most people buy the thing and then pirate games for it then you got to wonder what's the point other then to just keep it out there until they try again with the next handheld.

Poor Marcus, he was not prepared.

One might even say he was not e.

Opty

Couscous wrote: »

http://www.nintendoeverything.com/47165/

Nintendo sold more than 650,000 video game systems in July – more than any other company – according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks sales of video game products in the United States. The Nintendo DS™ family of systems sold nearly 400,000 in July, and Nintendo’s Wii™ console marked its 45th consecutive month of more than 250,000 units sold with July sales of nearly 254,000. These tallies bring the 2010 U.S. sales totals through the end of July for Nintendo DS to more than 3.4 million and Wii to more than 2.71 million.

Lol.

Five of the top 10 best-selling games of July play on Nintendo systems. These include Super Mario Galaxy™ 2 for Wii at No. 4 with more than 192,000 sold, LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 1-4 for Nintendo DS at No. 5 with nearly 142,000 sold, LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 1-4 for Wii at No. 7 with more than 133,000 sold, DRAGON QUEST IX®: Sentinels of the Starry Skies™ for Nintendo DS at No. 8 with more than 132,000 sold and New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii at No. 9 with more than 128,000 sold.

Wait a second, I just realized that has the sales numbers for the top 10: I thought they were only doing top 5 from now on?

Edit: Oh nevermind, I get it, that's why you bolded them, because they were leaked through that post.

Spoit

Thread's moving pretty slow for new NPDs.

Couscous

http://kotaku.com/5611523/id-unleashes-rage-on-the-iphone

id Unleashes Impressive Rage On The iPhone During his keynote speech at QuakeCon 2010, id Software's John Carmack demonstrated Rage on the iPhone, running at 60 frames-per-second and able to "kill anything done on the Xbox or PlayStation 2."

Carmack's demonstration, using the id Tech 5 engine, could possibly be the most impressive tech we've seen on the iPhone. Running on the iPhone 4 but easily run on the 3GS, the visuals indeed rivaled anything from the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox, and might even be able to give a few current-gen titles a run for their money.

The first Rage game for the iPhone will be a small "show-off" sort of title, with a larger game due out next year to coincide with the big game's release.

...Is there a reason these people dislike the Wii but have a hard on for the iPhone?

Carmarck is also such a nerd. Just listen to him in that video.

Bartholamue

I'm surprised that Dragon Quest IX is getting that kind of number here. I thought people hated that kind of game.

Cade

Nintendo did push it big time, you see the stand ups in all the stores and there were the Seth Green commercials too.

HyperAquaBlast

Cade wrote: »

HyperAquaBlast wrote: »

So I don't really pay attention to these numbers but how is selling 84k of handheld people really don't care about in this period bad? Thats a pretty good amount for a 5 year old system and its poor reception.

It really is bad and when you consider it's software sells are horrible and most people buy the thing and then pirate games for it then you got to wonder what's the point other then to just keep it out there until they try again with the next handheld.

Poor Marcus, he was not prepared.

But the product is still being bought up by 84,000 people in one month. 84,000 people went and bought this thing that should be dead by now. That is 84,000 people who decided to get it now after over 5 years since release after any novelty has worn off and previous amounts have been sold.

How much money is being lost here? How much is this hurting SONY? Are consumers being fucked over? How is 84,000 a small number at this point in time? Isn't this fine till the next iteration comes out? Seriously I would like to know because you guys and your number games confuse me and I kinda want to join in.