February 2013 NPD: Microsoft's response

GE: "Microsoft has sent out its monthly response to the latest NPD report."

[DaThreats]

Well if SONY announced the PS4, then of course less people going to buy the PS3 now.

Edit: Why the disagrees? Its true

[shoddy]

The ps2 was doing ok when ps3 out.
Maybe same thing this time.

Broke people like cheaper stuff.
$99 is the sweet spot.
Look at the 360.

[SDF Repellent]

DaThreats,

People bought less PS3 than the X360 for 26 straight months in the US now. Nice Spin though.

@shoddy, $99 is not the actual price, it is contracted for a 2 year payment plan so the final price will still be over $300 at the end. Another nice spin though.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Replace these numbers and NPD reports with the 720 soon for the U.S.

It's no doubt MS will aim for the U.S come next gen.

Though, there is a part of me that wishes MS respond to the rumors or next box instead.

Time will tell.

[younglj01]

I have too disagree with this statement because it could have an reverse-marketing reaction..Its rare when an company tease an future product and their old model sales..

Once MS shows NXbox then you will see less 360 sales bc people will just use that money too pre-order an new xbox.Next-gen is going too be exciting hopefully Nintendo get their heads out their asses and really push MS & Sony.Look at the quality of games with an 2 man race.Think if Nintendo would join then gaming would return too its galore days...

Maybe I'm just an hopeful gamer...

[GribbleGrunger]

I wouldn't be quite so sure about that. You could be right but you have to take into consideration the fact that BC looks unlikely. We may actually see a slight resurgence of PS3 sales because people will want to be able to take advantage of late AAA titles and PS+ offers (which are bound to be pretty good post PS4 release). Couple that with the fear the PS3 'might' be discontinued (which of course it won't) and Bob's your uncle! Then of course you have to consider a price drop.

[ALLWRONG]

Yeah... uh... because it couldn't be the fact that it has a $99 start point, and the largest library of games this gen.

[chuckyj1]

EVERYONE....knows MS will also be announcing their next-gen console as well in the very near future... and should be released within the same time frame as the PS4.

These NPD (U.S. tracked sales only) haven't been anything new. It's like 19 straight months maybe more the 360 have toped sales in the U.S.

Not just since Sony announced the PS4.

So your argument is very...very weak.

[Tito08]

@ AllWRONG- Another typical fanboy like you again with the term "The largest library of games this gen" when that's not even the case anymore, stop being such a delusional, seem to be stuck in the past, stop revisiting 2006, robotic fanboy!

[ALLWRONG]

Denial, you Sony guys sure like to live that way.

Everything I said was fact, can be proven, and has.

[Lvl_up_gamer]

Actually Allwrong is correct. The 360 does have the largest gaming library this gen.

It's just fanboys like yourself keep ignoring Kinect titles as games and XBL titles as games.

He is also right that there is no $99 360 console. There is a subsidized 360 console where you have to put a down payment of $99 with a 2 year XBL contract @15/mth which comes out to $460....hardly a $99 console.

[Tito08]

Lvl_up & Allwrong-You're two of the worst fanboys it seems to me you are the same dude, the 360 in no way has "The Largest Library" of games, well maybe it's true since shovel ware from Kinect needs to be applied you're simply adding poor excuses of games into the mix, also, I being to lots of retailers, and the amount of games for both PS3 and 360 is nearly the same, maybe 360 has some more games here and there, but not to just simply label it as the largest library since it's a far cry from both the PS1/2.. Plus there's both playstation classics, Neo Geo Station. If you say Dreamcast games, we have em too, games cancelled for 360 in Japan and went PS3 bound, have more exclusivity with Sega in Yakuza and the first VC, exclusive JRPGs, less repetition of the same IPs like MS does. And your delusional fanboy`s asses making me believe ya have the largest library, please for some reason PS3 achieved the same number or more amount of consoles than your precious 360 one year less!

BTW, $99 360 is as easy as getting a cellphone, that's how a lot of people buy iPhones like pancake, and that helps MS because people still getting the console for $99, after that it's where they'll start charging a monthly fee for $15, but the trick is the down payment. So please, you can't never prove me wrong punk-asses!

[SDF Repellent]

" Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in February (hardware, software and accessories) was the most for any console in the U.S. "

Congrat Microsoft. 26th straight months at the top is amazing considering the early debacle of RROD and coming off the original xbox that sold less than 25 million.

[Belking]

MS has done extremely well. They should be proud and excited for the next gen console's release.

[Hicken]

It's amazing, considering the RROD should have slowed sales as people became wary of unreliable hardware.

Edit.

@Dalek: Not likely. The sales rate didn't increase by any significant amount after the issue was resolved, but remained rather constant throughout the generation.

@Oh-Yeah: That's the most likely scenario.

@MikeMyers: I hear that software total thing a lot. And all I should have to say is: disc tray. The 360's disc tray- before the slim, at least- was very prone to scratching a disc if ANYTHING made the system move. This was particularly likely if you had your 360 standing up as opposed to sitting down. People had their systems standing up like they saw in commercials, but that was very bad for the stability of the system; someone walking by could cause enough of a ring around a disc for it to be unreadable. And guess what happened when they couldn't play that copy of Call of Duty or Madden or whatever again?

They bought another one.

Yep, Sony had a lawsuit from some consumers during their disc read error issue. As you said, though, it wasn't nearly as bad as RROD- and did anybody sue for that?- and Sony didn't KNOWINGLY ship a defective product. They also didn't cover their system with only a 90-day warranty... or was it only 30 days?

The point is that such a widespread issue would have made consumers more wary of ANY OTHER product on the market. Cars, computers, shoes... if it had been the PS3 or the Wii, sales would have suffered if they handled things the way Microsoft did.

They SHOULD HAVE suffered, as I said, but they didn't. And that is amazing.

[EmperorDalek]

Maybe it did and if it hadn't been for the whole RROD thing that the 360 could be approaching 90 million in units sold. We'll never know.

[Oh_Yeah]

@EmperorDalek or maybe if the 360 didn't rrod there would have been less 2nd purchases and replacements and the actual number would be something like 60 mill. :O that logic..the rrod could have inflated numbers a bit.

[MikeMyers]

Oh_Yeah,

If that's the case then Xbox 360 owners must be buying a lot of software since totals are roughly about the same as total PS3 software sales. Either way you look at it publishers are not convinced that they are dealing with repeat Xbox 360 owners like you suggest they are.

EmperorDalek,

Possibly but we'll never know now. I'm sure they turned away some potential customers out of fear of the system breaking down. It's behind them now and the slim models are no longer an issue. I just hope Microsoft learned themselves with the upcoming Xbox and I imagine they have and will not want it to happen again.

Hicken,

Sony had a lawsuit during the PS2 era over disc read errors. Not nearly as bad as the RRoD fiasco but it clearly showed they moved forward too. Microsoft's mistake was not admitting to it at first (Sony never admitted to it either and settled out of court) but they did offer a 3 year warranty for it and totally redesigned the hardware.

Belking,

Why all the disagrees? Microsoft became a fierce competitor. A far cry of what the original Xbox did. I think some people are upset they leveled the playing field and we didn't see one console dominate this generation. Which to me is a good thing. That way we are not forced to pay $600 for a game console.

SDF Repellent,

Microsoft really took the U.S. market, not sure how the next Xbox will fare worldwide but I'm sure they are going to rethink their strategy. I seriously doubt Japan will waver, they seem to be very loyal to their own brands when it comes to gaming and Microsoft did not educate themselves enough on how to tackle it properly. It will take more than a few exclusives to win them over. I thought before by buying Sega could have helped a lot more if it was even possible.

[younglj01]

"Microsoft’s console garnered a 41% market share of current-gen console sales"

Wow I didn't know MicroSoft had this % of current-gen sales...kudos I can see why Sony released or teased the PS4 so quickly, because MS is kicking their ass in the US....

[Minato-Namikaze]

Very close to a win the battle lose the war philosophy for MS.

[Dread]

Not if you look at the difference in market share between this gen and the last. MS dramaticlaly increased its market share and Sony's market share significanly decreased from the playstation 2 era.

So who is the one with the win th ebattle lose the war philosophy?

[Minato-Namikaze]

@dread. We'd have to look at the PS3 and 360 sales after they've been on the market for 12 years to see.

[CPTN MITCHELL]

And sony is kicking Ms ass in Japan and worldwide

[TongkatAli]

Good job Microsoft.

[Jek_Porkins]

I think things will be very interesting next generation, especially if MS continues its death grip on North America.

[dalibor]

Easier said than done though. Who knows what the consumers want come next generation. There might be a possibility where consoles might not sell as much as this generation. I know I will be picking up a system for sure and try to get into PC gaming perhaps.

[Sweelix]

ps3 sold 270k, pretty good :D

[tinezedw]

So the xbox only sold 30, 000 more than the ps3 in the us?

[Sweelix]

yep :)

[DiRtY]

Nope.

The 41% market share includes the Wii U.

PS3 is at 220k for this month.

[ritsuka666]

Off topic much? Relax dude, this is an article for the NPD of MS.

[IK IR Y IP T]

Im glad microsoft is doing well in america it is a american product after all lol made in america !!! But sony is king in the foreign market except europe !

[DigitalSmoke]

North aMuurrrika isn't the world people.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/m...

[JeffGUNZ]

No, but it is the biggest market in the world for video gaming.

[IQUITN4G]

Anyone here wondering who claire is?

[Minato-Namikaze]

Can the people get more than gears for an exclusive this year? Don't forget who got you here MS.

[JeffGUNZ]

What do you expect man? WIth a new console being released (all signs pointing that way) this coming fall, don't you think their studios have been working on new games for the new console? You can't always have your cake and eat it too, you have to expect a downtime between generation transitions.