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NPD Sales Results for February 2012 [Up 3: Kingdoms Of Amalur, Syndicate, Asura]

A trend based on 2 years without a price drop. If it gets to the end of the year and that's still the case... then sure, I think you're probably going to be right, but given Microsoft has come out and specifically said that they expect this year to be even better, I really doubt they're going to let that happen.
 

Pociask

Member
Considering last gen, both Nintendo and Microsoft are both winners, as the PS2 absolutely dominated, and now its main competitors are ending up sort of tied for first.

Nintendo has dropped some hints it may not discontinue the Wii - it could continue getting sales as the low-end alternative to the Wii U. Maybe a Wii Family Fun Pack, with Wii Sports, NSMB Wii, and Mario Kart Wii bundled in the box with one remote for 99 dollars. Want more remotes? Buy the (compatible with Wii U) Motion Plus Remotes.

Of course, this would go against Nintendo's history.
 

Miles X

Member
That option is on the table for all the console manufacturers.

Except we've seen what a $50 cut does for the Wii, it was still down 2.5m year over year. Even if it gets another $50 cut this year it has little to no SW to push sales. PS3's $50 has helped somewhat stabalise sales but it still hovered in the 4 - 4.5m range for the 3rd year in a row. Whereas the 360, with no price cut manages to break the 7m barrier.

It's the number 1 console so obviously in demand, and Kinect bundle isn't mass market price yet. Right now it's easy to see a 360 price cut would have the biggest impact in the U.S, think it goes without saying. Look at BF last year, $149 360's (not en mass either) and it shifted 800,000 in 24 hours
 

Miles X

Member
Considering last gen, both Nintendo and Microsoft are both winners, as the PS2 absolutely dominated, and now its main competitors are ending up sort of tied for first.

Nintendo has dropped some hints it may not discontinue the Wii - it could continue getting sales as the low-end alternative to the Wii U. Maybe a Wii Family Fun Pack, with Wii Sports, NSMB Wii, and Mario Kart Wii bundled in the box with one remote for 99 dollars. Want more remotes? Buy the (compatible with Wii U) Motion Plus Remotes.

Of course, this would go against Nintendo's history.

The market dictates how long a console survives, sure Nintendo can keep shipping them to the US but if the people don't want them then they're going to sell in very small numbers. Given how they've supported the Wii the last 2 years, how do you think they're going to treat it post WiiU?! Can they treat it any worse than they already are?
 

Kazerei

Banned
A trend based on 2 years without a price drop. If it gets to the end of the year and that's still the case... then sure, I think you're probably going to be right, but given Microsoft has come out and specifically said that they expect this year to be even better, I really doubt they're going to let that happen.
It was a marketing guy who said that. I don't think you should take it too seriously...

In that case, I guess the trend of 360 outselling Wii more this year than last is apparant, just by Jan + Feb?

Trends can change, especially when you cut the price.
The sales diff in Jan/Feb 2011 wasn't that big, so it seems to have increased by alot. But if we go by the -25% and -50% trends, yeah I can see the 360 outselling Wii by another 3 million this year. That still leaves another 2.5 million difference which I don't see closing because of continued drops in hardware sales. Just a thought.

Given the average selling price of the 360, I'm not sure it'll get a big price cut this year. Maybe if the PS3 drops by $50, the 360 will follow with the same drop. Wii desperately needs a price cut though. But that is another discussion...
 

Hero

Member
Good points but there are still too many unknowns. All the systems are due for a price drop and a 99 dollar Wii could boost sales.

Halo 4 won't have any impact on hardware sales. If anyone was even remotely interested in Halo, they would've gotten an Xbox 360 for Halo 3, ODST or Reach.

At any rate, I don't really see the point of touting Xbox 360 matching Wii sales considering it had a year hard start and the Wii successor is going to be out this year. Assuming the Xbox 360 successor comes out in 2013 that will essentially give the 360 two full years of sales over the Wii and to match its sales at the end of the generational life cycle isn't really impressive since it won't matter other than a bullet point on a power point slide.
 
Have people already forgotten how much the PS2 sold after the 360 and PS3 came out? 360 is going to sell for years and years as the cheapest way for people in the US to play Madden/COD/NBA/Kinect stuff.

The chances the 360 outsells the Wii in the US are around 95% right now with that last 5% being due to some kind of scandal breaking out that abruptly stops 360 sales.
 

Miles X

Member
Have people already forgotten how much the PS2 sold after the 360 and PS3 came out? 360 is going to sell for years and years as the cheapest way for people in the US to play Madden/COD/NBA/Kinect stuff.

The chances the 360 outsells the Wii in the US are around 95% right now with that last 5% being due to some kind of scandal breaking out that abruptly stops 360 sales.

Indeed, PS2 has sold around 15.4m since the X360 released. The 360 is also selling better than the PS2 was at this point in its life.
 

Massa

Member
Have people already forgotten how much the PS2 sold after the 360 and PS3 came out? 360 is going to sell for years and years as the cheapest way for people in the US to play Madden/COD/NBA/Kinect stuff.

The chances the 360 outsells the Wii in the US are around 95% right now with that last 5% being due to some kind of scandal breaking out that abruptly stops 360 sales.

It wasn't until 2008 that the PS2 was outsold by the 360 or PS3.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
top-10-3ds-games-ltd.png


Considering Revelations did around 100k ( a bit lower ), as it can be seen from hints by various posters when combined, this means that the lowest limit for 3DS First Year top 10 is 100k. Sonic Generations is interesting, since it debuted with just around 20k in its first days in November.

1. Super Mario 3D Land - 1.850.000
2. Mario Kart 7 - 1.450.000
3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - 900.000
4. Pokèmon Rumble Blast
5. Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition - at least 260.000 ( a post from Chris1964 talked about 400k done by the game in USA+JP...last December )
 

Petrae

Member
The entire industry is on a downtrend. There's no way last year's numbers will be sustained. And next year will be worse as the industry transitions to next gen.

I agree with this.

With Wii all but dead (and I have little faith that a price drop to $100 helps for longer than 1-2 months) and the unlikely (but possible) scenario that Microsoft comes close to matching last year's sales, I don't see how 2012 matches 2011, let alone exceeds it. I don't expect much from 2013, either.

I think that we're in a period of correction after video games were embraced by so many people this past generation. Those people are moving on to other forms of entertainment; possibly Facebook or social games, maybe passing time on their tablets or phones. As the industry trends back to its core base, revenue will be less if only because there aren't as many consumers in this group to spend money.

Correction does not mean crash. We're simply seeing another market shift. There will still be plenty of opportunity for the industry to make money, even if there are fewer consumers who are interested.
 

Petrae

Member
The 360 price drop is soooooo overdue. Three and a half years since the last drop. Amazing they held it for so long.

With average unit sales rising, there's been no point to Microsoft even considering a price cut. Now that YOY numbers are negative (and significantly so of late), the option needs to be considered.

I have my doubts that it's more than a temporary fix, even with the promise of Halo 4. 360 sales were huge last year, and I think that saturation will begin to affect sales. Replacement console sales are still possible, along with some more late arrivals, but I feel that the peak has been reached.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
lol at Nintendogs bombing so bad.

I don't remember if NPD counts Nintendogs in its various SKUs.

However, since we're here, from Nintendo.com

3DS Top 10 - February 2012 ( NPD datas, but Nintendo doesn't count Mario bundles, apparently )

Mario Kart 7
Super Mario 3D Land
Resident Evil® Revelations
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Skylanders Spyro's Adventure
Tales of the Abyss 3D
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Pokémon Rumble Blast
Sonic Generations
Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D

Wii Top 10 - February 2012

Just Dance 3
Zumba Fitness 2
Super Mario Galaxy
Wii Sports
Skylanders Spyro's Adventure
Zumba Fitness
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Mario Kart Wii
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Michael Jackson The Experience

Wii Top 10 - { March 2011 - February 2012 }

Just Dance 3
Just Dance 2
Zumba Fitness
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Mario Kart Wii
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Skylanders Spyro's Adventure
Michael Jackson The Experience
Zumba Fitness 2
Super Mario Galaxy

DS Top 10 - February 2012

New Super Mario Bros.
Mario Kart DS
Super Mario 64 DS
Pokémon White Version
Pokémon Black Version
Monster High Ghoul Spirit
Cars 2: The Video Game
Barbie Jet, Set & Style
Plants vs Zombies
LEGO Battles: Ninjago

DS Top 10 - { March 2011 - February 2012 }

Pokémon White Version
Pokémon Black Version
New Super Mario Bros.
Mario Kart DS
Plants vs Zombies
Cars 2: The Video Game
LEGO Star Wars III: The Battle For Bricks Just Got Bigger!
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-land Mayhem!
LEGO Battles: Ninjago
Kirby Mass Attack
 

watership

Member
Have people already forgotten how much the PS2 sold after the 360 and PS3 came out? 360 is going to sell for years and years as the cheapest way for people in the US to play Madden/COD/NBA/Kinect stuff.

The chances the 360 outsells the Wii in the US are around 95% right now with that last 5% being due to some kind of scandal breaking out that abruptly stops 360 sales.

Will it really outsell the Wii in US tho? PS2 kept selling but it was the best selling console ever. It had so much software and the Xbox just ended. The PS3 also sold slowly, so many didn't upgrade right away. Won't most Xbros just move over to the new console? I can see it selling at $129 or $149 but not at very high levels.
 
Will it really outsell the Wii in US tho? PS2 kept selling but it was the best selling console ever. It had so much software and the Xbox just ended. The PS3 also sold slowly, so many didn't upgrade right away. Won't most Xbros just move over to the new console? I can see it selling at $129 or $149 but not at very high levels.

Why would current 360 owners be the people who would be buying 360's?
 

donny2112

Member
You keep saying 'no' to this idea without any actual argument.

It's as pathetic as people rooting for more GameCube sales in 2006, so it could pass the Xbox after 360 came out. It made no difference then, and it'll make no difference now. The generation's over. The race is done. When one of the participants in the race ditches their old failing car to jump in a new shiny one, and the other participant eventually passes the old failing car sometime later, declaring victory just makes people stare at you funny. ;)
 

jvm

Gamasutra.
A while ago I found Rentrak has actually been putting those weekly charts at least since 2010, and sales estimates at least since 2009. But at the time I didn't find any info on when they started doing sales on top of rentals.
Very interesting. Thanks, Road. I will try to update the article.
 
It's as pathetic as people rooting for more GameCube sales in 2006, so it could pass the Xbox after 360 came out. It made no difference then, and it'll make no difference now. The generation's over. The race is done. When one of the participants in the race ditches their old failing car to jump in a new shiny one, and the other participant eventually passes the old failing car sometime later, declaring victory just makes people stare at you funny. ;)
Especially when it's nebulous that either hardware is going to be supported long enough to see it happen.
 
It's as pathetic as people rooting for more GameCube sales in 2006, so it could pass the Xbox after 360 came out. It made no difference then, and it'll make no difference now. The generation's over. The race is done. When one of the participants in the race ditches their old failing car to jump in a new shiny one, and the other participant eventually passes the old failing car sometime later, declaring victory just makes people stare at you funny. ;)

Isn't that how the SNES eventually overtook the Sega Genesis in the US?
 

Cipherr

Member
Not sure why people are arbitrarily cutting off the race when the next gen console launches. There's little doubt when all is said and done 360 will sell more hardware in the USA than Wii and PS3. I call that winning a generation.

I would call that winning a territory, not winning a generation, aren't you forgetting something there friend? I understand discussing NA numbers in a NA based sales thread, but you break that barrier when you declare it the winner of an entire gen. When making that distinction, you don't get to pretend the rest of the planet does not exist.
 

Kangi

Member
I would call that winning a territory, not winning a generation, aren't you forgetting something there friend? I understand discussing NA numbers in a NA based sales thread, but you break that barrier when you declare it the winner of an entire gen. When making that distinction, you don't get to pretend the rest of the planet does not exist.

U.S.A. = the world, didn't you know that?
 
I thought the first to 10 million wins thing was supposed to be in reference to global sales anyway.

Ergo, the presumed channel stuffing in the fourth calendar quarter of 2006.
 

Loxley

Member
Considering that Amalur is literally the only new IP amongst that top ten list of juggernauts and big-name franchises (and an RPG no less), I'd say those numbers are pretty damn good given the circumstances.
 

Miles X

Member
It's as pathetic as people rooting for more GameCube sales in 2006, so it could pass the Xbox after 360 came out. It made no difference then, and it'll make no difference now. The generation's over. The race is done. When one of the participants in the race ditches their old failing car to jump in a new shiny one, and the other participant eventually passes the old failing car sometime later, declaring victory just makes people stare at you funny. ;)

Not sure how it's classed as 'pathetic' it's an interesting race to watch, and clearly selling the most has never meant anything, look at which consoles got the least support this gen ... if the X360 ends up selling more SW (which is will) and HW then it'll be the 'winner' in the US.
 

jvm

Gamasutra.
Two things I forgot to point out:
  • Wal-mart data is not yet included. I believe NPD will be perfectly clear when it is integrated.
  • The listing of platforms in the top 10 chart is now confirmed to be ranked by unit sales. I know it's been a question in the past, but I confirmed it with NPD. (I'd asked several times before, but this time I got an answer!)
 
Under the same rationale of ignoring sales post-launch of a new hardware generation...

Who "won" the 4th generation of home consoles..?

[*]The listing of platforms in the top 10 chart is now confirmed to be ranked by unit sales. I know it's been a question in the past, but I confirmed it with NPD. (I'd asked several times before, but this time I got an answer!)
[/list]

I'm not sure why they were so cagey about it. It was really the most logical thing to conclude from how they were listed.
 

donny2112

Member
Not sure how it's classed as 'pathetic' it's an interesting race to watch,

With one of the participants having moved on? "I passed up the point my opponent was at when he left the race last year, so that means I win!" *Meanwhile everyone is watching the race that's been going on for a while on the next track with one participant*
 

BKK

Member
It's as pathetic as people rooting for more GameCube sales in 2006, so it could pass the Xbox after 360 came out. It made no difference then, and it'll make no difference now. The generation's over. The race is done. When one of the participants in the race ditches their old failing car to jump in a new shiny one, and the other participant eventually passes the old failing car sometime later, declaring victory just makes people stare at you funny. ;)

So this gen started when Sony said, and finishes when Nintendo says, I guess we should also discount X360 sales from before PS3 release too. What if Microsoft ditched X360 and released X720 after being first to 10 million? Would they be regarded as this generation's "winner"?
 
With one of the participants having moved on? "I passed up the point my opponent was at when he left the race last year, so that means I win!" *Meanwhile everyone is watching the race that's been going on for a while on the next track with one participant*
A one-participant race, isn't really a race at all. :/

And the Wii isn't leaving the current race.
 
With one of the participants having moved on? "I passed up the point my opponent was at when he left the race last year, so that means I win!" *Meanwhile everyone is watching the race that's been going on for a while on the next track with one participant*

That's quite the edit from what you had there previously. I see the prospect of the 360 passing the Wii in the US has really hit a nerve.
 

onipex

Member
Not sure how it's classed as 'pathetic' it's an interesting race to watch, and clearly selling the most has never meant anything, look at which consoles got the least support this gen ... if the X360 ends up selling more SW (which is will) and HW then it'll be the 'winner' in the US.

No, it will still be the second place console because it will not pass the Wii before the Wii U is released.
 
No, it will still be the second place console because it will not pass the Wii before the Wii U is released.
Someone should probably inform the companies that any sales made after the next generation starts don't count. They're going to be pissed...

On a sincere note. I've never heard such garbage. The Wii and 360 will be in competition for as long as either of them is on sale. To release the successor because you can't sell your old model any more isn't considered the end of things.
 

donny2112

Member
So this gen started when Sony said, and finishes when Nintendo says, I guess we should also discount X360 sales from before PS3 release too.

You are very, very confused. No one is suggesting what you wrote. Last generation ceased being the interesting "race" once 360 was out. Whether GCN or Xbox sold more last generation after the 360 was already out was meaningless. If 360 passes up Wii a year after Wii U comes out to start a new generation, it will likewise not be the interesting race to watch, so those proclaiming "victory" at that point would be pretty pathetic.

What if Microsoft ditched X360 and released X720 after being first to 10 million? Would they be regarded as this generation's "winner"?

We'd all call them "pathetic." :p

They'd be making up an artificial race with completely ridiculous endpoints just to keep from being passed up by the supersonic Wii. That's not the case here. Nintendo isn't releasing Wii U because they want to hurry up and end the race before they can be passed up. They're releasing Wii U because they're well overdue for a new console. Microsoft is, too, but unlike Nintendo with Wii, Microsoft has only in the last few years actually been making a profit on 360, and they want their financial wounds to heal a little more before diving back in.

If you want to celebrate if/when 360 passes up Wii long after Wii U (and maybe even 720) are on the market, go ahead. Won't change that it's a ridiculous reason to be celebrating.

Edit:
That's quite the edit from what you had there previously. I see the prospect of the 360 passing the Wii in the US has really hit a nerve.

Lack of industry support hit a nerve in 2007. No point retreading that belabored point, which is what the pre-edited post was. Better to stay on the original subject. :)

And the Wii isn't leaving the current race.

Nintendo would have, though. That's kind of important. *shrugs*
 

szaromir

Banned
They're releasing Wii U because they're well overdue for a new console. Microsoft is, too, but unlike Nintendo with Wii, Microsoft has only in the last few years actually been making a profit on 360, and they want their financial wounds to heal a little more before diving back in.

What financial wounds? They pay out dividents to shareholders each quarter because they don't know what to do with the money they earn.
 
Trust me, FEB sales were included in the 225k number for Vita.

As for why she said 4 days on sale, that's just because that's the official release date for Vita. She doesn't sit down and follow every last detail of the gaming industry like we do here on GAF. She reads the data from a report and puts out a PR. When she looks up the official release date for Vita, it shows that it was on sale for 4 days. Just like if Target or WalMart or whoever decides to release a game a few days before the street date - the NPD statement won't mention it. They really don't care. But the sales get counted.
Seriously, this is a non-issue.
Aren't limited edition bundles specifically not counted inthe NPDs??
 
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