70°

Game sales drop 20% in US for August

(GamesIndustry International) NPD acknowledges that the current generation is "showing its age"

The NPD Group has sent its August retail sales report for the US market, and once again it was not a pretty sight, as total industry sales dropped 20 percent to $515.6 million. Total software sales (including PC retail software) dropped 11 percent to $252.8 million while hardware sales declined a sizable 39 percent to $150.6 million. Accessories were also down seven percent to $127.3 million.

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gamesindustry.biz
YodaCracker4250d ago (Edited 4250d ago )

Despite console sales being down across the board this year, the Xbox 360 was the best-selling console for the 20th month straight and held almost 50% share of all console hardware sales. Microsoft is just dominating this gen! If they're doing this well already this year, I can't wait to see the kind of numbers they pull off this holiday season, which is when the Xbox always sees its strongest performance and seems to get a larger bump than the other consoles.

Clarence4250d ago

Just dominating the us. That's not dominating. The Wii has a 40m console lead, the ps3 came out a year later yet it had sold faster than the 360. It's like saying lance Armstrong dominated yet he was on steroids.

Anon19744249d ago (Edited 4249d ago )

Is he completely oblivious to what's going on outside of the US? First off, the US 360 figures are down almost 40% year over year in the US compared to the 306k they did in August last year, which is in keeping with the worldwide decline of 43% the 360 had seen in the first 6 months of the year compared to last year. And they certainly aren't the only ones seeing declining hardware sales.

Also, let's just ignore that it looks like the 360 is trailing the PS3 by over a million consoles worldwide ytd. And, let's not mention the fact that, as Clarence mentioned, the 360 has been outsold by everyone head 2 head ever since it had competition.

I get that some people have a console preference. I have nothing against that, but to let it completely blind you to the current realities of the videogame industry, what's the point? If you admit what MS's own sales data tells us, that the nearly 9 million lead the 360 had versus the PS3 at the end of 2006 has now been whittled down to 2 million - what have you lost? It doesn't somehow diminish my enjoyment of my 360 knowing that it's been so badly outsold, nor does it make playing my PS3 somehow more enjoyable. I just don't get why some choose to be so blindly ignorant of the sales data that's so easy to find, then come on sites like this and try to talk sales.

If you're interested enough to comment on the business of the games industry, the least you could do is take a couple of minutes and get informed about what you're talking about. Clarence obviously gets it.

http://www.microsoft.com/in...

http://www.sony.net/SonyInf...

Mustang300C20124249d ago

The problem with you too is that you think whether the PS3 eventually sales more than the 360 it will have some sort of impact. You can keep pointing out how Sony has outsold the MS this year so far. But the same thing happen in 2011 and the 360 towards the END of the year eventually overall outsold Sony worldwide. The 360 pics up around this time frame and regardless the TOTAL number shows the 360 is still ahead. Just like the TOTAL number shows the Wii ahead. Again these numbers won't change anything and it isn't just the hardware numbers. Being specific about NPD, as pointed out MS is doing better than the others and has been for the past 20 months. But yet somehow neither of you can simply speak on that. Your quick to pull up about what is happening worldwide when it clearly stats NPD.

Lvl_up_gamer4249d ago

@ Clarence and Darkride

1) Wii AND PS3 released at the same time and yet out of the 2, the Wii was the only one that managed to surpass the 360 in WW sales.

2) America IS the LARGEST gaming demographic in the WORLD thus plays heavier on sales then ANYWHERE else in the world. Developers know this, console makers know this....I don't understand why the 2 of you don't.

3) This article clearly states its NPD. Why you 2 choose to be OFFTOPIC and bring up World Wide sales in an NPD article is beyond me if nothing more than to mindlessly have to come to the defense of Sony and the PS3.

4) At the end of the day, the only sales number that matters if you choose to talk world wide, is the CURRENT total number of sales. Currently the Wii is the highest selling home console of this gen. The 360 is the highest selling HD console of this gen.

Who cares that the PS3 is closing the gap? Sony have been doing that since 2007 and it's almost 2013. Who cares if year over year the PS3 outsells the 360 world wide (except in 2011)? Bottom line is that CURRENTLY the 360 is still leading (even if by very few units) over the PS3 and is going into it's 21st month straight as the leading console in North America like what is the topic of this article.

Kamikaze1354250d ago

Too bad they never count digital sales and digital sales seem to be getting more and more popular.

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270°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

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theverge.com
darthv721d 2h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle13h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic188110h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio10h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning775h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga13h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

shinoff218312h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga11h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan6h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

romulus235h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv725h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 5h ago
purple10115h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos15h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-5h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac14h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad14h ago(Edited 14h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple10114h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos13h ago(Edited 13h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic12h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead5h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 5h ago
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140°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

thorstein1d 1h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno21h ago

And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.

jwillj2k420h ago

Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.

MrCrimson19h ago

tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.

Zenzuu20h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson19h ago

They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -

70°

The INDIE Live Expo 2024 event is to feature over 100 game titles

INDIE Live Expo, Japan’s premiere online digital showcase series , will debut never-before-seen games & content updates across more than 100 titles on May 25th.