November NPD
The monthly NPD report is always a varied lot. The “big 3″ spin the numbers to their advantage (even though it’s obvious they are blowing smoke), terms like “attach rate” are thrown out at will, and grown men argue like children on internet forums around the net. For those of us on the sane side of the aisle, the NPD Group’s monthly retail report gives valuable insight into the trends of the market as a whole.
If you’re not familiar with the monthly NPD’s, they are released around the middle of the month by the NPD Group. The NPD Group is the leading global provider of consumer and retail market research information for a wide range of industries. OK, that last line was lifted from their official website, but you get the drift. In the case of the gaming industry, they work directly with certain retailers to get the sales data they need. However, that’s where the NPD reports falter a bit. Take note that NPD numbers do NOT include all major retailers in the nation! One notable exception? Wal-Mart.
Even still, the numbers are considered the most accurate available, and provide an easy at-a-glance comparison that console fanboys love so much (assuming you’re loyalty lies with a machine or game at the top of the list).
So on to the list, shall we? These are sales numbers for November, in units sold:
- Wii: 2.04m
- DS: 1.57m
- Xbox 360: 836K
- PSP: 421K
- PS3: 378K
- PS2: 206K
The Wii is still selling at record breaking pace. Assuming it can sell around 400k units in the month of December (anybody think it can’t?), it will break the yearly US sales record for a console, ousting the venerable PS2. The DS also continues to sell amazingly well for a handheld, and continues the steam of sales present since the launch of the redesigned DS Lite.
The XBOX 360 rides into the holiday with the lowest priced console at $199, and sales show it. While many consider the $199 360 to be “gimped”, I feel it’s a viable alternative to more expensive options. Why can’t the consumer have a choice and not have the internet nerds berate them for it? You don’t need the hard drive in order to play games, and I think a lot of consumers appreciate that option.
The Sony family rounds out the bottom of our list. The PSP is still selling a decent amount of units despite the lack of recent quality games for the system. The PS3 is down year-over-year in sales, which is not a good sign. The price of the system is it’s biggest downfall. While Sony utilized the blu-ray drive in the PS3 to win the high-def format war, it’s simultaneously killing it in the console war due to price. The PS2 falls in last place, but really, it’s still selling over 200k units a month 8 years after release! Nobody would argue with those numbers.
Next up is software sales. Once again, numbers are in units sold.
- Gears of War 2 - Xbox 360 – 1.56 million
- Call of Duty: World at War - Xbox 360 – 1.41 million
- Wii Play w/ remote - Wii – 796K
- Wii Fit - Wii – 697K
- Mario Kart - Wii – 637K
- Call of Duty: World at War - PS3 – 597K
- Guitar Hero: World Tour - Wii – 475K
- Left 4 Dead - Xbox 360 – 410K
- Resistance 2 - PS3 – 385K
- Wii Music - Wii – 297K
While it’s easy to spot Gears 2 on top of the list, you can’t discount the combined sales of both versions of Call of Duty: World at War, which would put it in first at 2 million units sold. Wii Play falls in #3, but this is one of my biggest sore spots about the NPD numbers every month. Wii Play is 80% hardware, 20% software. It comes with a controller, which is a $40 value…the Wii Play package is $50. So you’re basically buying a controller with a collection of (bad) minigames, not the other way around. Wii Play has no place on this list in my opinion.
Other notables include the low sales figure for Resistance 2 on the PS3, and the lack of any PS3 or 360 Guitar Hero: World Tour listings. It would seem that gamers outside of the Wii system are just about tired of the music genre as it stands. The appearance of GH:WT for the Wii on the list is simply more evidence that the Wii is bending the demographics more than any console to date.
Very well writeen and interesting read. I’ve never really read into stuff like this so it was informative to me. I agree with you on the cheaper 360. I think that’s a heck of a deal. Some folks have no interest in a big hard drive and even if it comes to that, pardon me if I’m wrong, but can’t they just buy one later if they decide they need one?