May NPD Numbers: Game Industry Up Almost 50%

In what should come as little shock to you by now, Nintendo dominated the U.S. video game industry for another month. Pokemon led the software charts and the DS topped all hardware, followed by the Wii. Get the details...

[SmokeyMcBear]

nice psp beating ps2, 360 and ps3. Go psp Go

[BrotherSic]

PS2 beat 360 as well which shows that VG Chartz have no clue hahaha

Will hopefully be able to update the post when the figures are released but by the sounds of things it might be tomorrow.

[predator]

yeah but the 360 doubled the ps3 again, forgot to mention that?

[DrRage77]

i'm sorry, but making a comment about how the ps2 outsold the 360 is really kind of silly and dumb, considering the 360 almost DOUBLED the sales of the ps3. the 360 is supposed to be competing against the ps3 in sales, NOT the ps2....the fact that the ps2 is outselling the ps3 by about 3:1 every month is not a good sign for sony. they really need to quit saying that the playstation "brand" is selling great. umm, when the last gen ps2 is selling more than your next-gen ps3, that means those are people that will NOT be buying a ps3 anytime soon....

[BitbyDeath]

Firstly, PSP and PS2 are Sony products also , so when they look at it they see those as well not just PS3.

Secondly, this is the same situation as how the PS1 was to the PS2 when the PS2 was just kicking off. This is how they play their game so don't go o noes soney iz doomde.

This is simply just history repeating itself

[Xi]

that was for the one week, not for the entire month.

[NextGen24Gamer]

Its just so wierd that the ps3 is seeing consecutive months of 80k so soon after its launch. Over a year and a half after the 360 launch....155k is the lowest its been. Interesting numbers indeed. The Wii is now selling about what the 360 did at 300k. For the first 7 months of the 360 launch...it was a steady 300 k and stayed between 200k and 300 k until now at 155k. I know this is typically the slow time. But I wonder how the Sony execs are feeling right now. Are they worried? 2 months at under 100k and the previous months were right at 100k. A number the 360 has never seen...Hmmmmmm

[DrRage77]

don't worry,. according to sony, the playstation "brand" is still selling like hot cakes, so everything is okay in their eyes lol they want everyone to ignore the fact that every single ps2 sale is a sale taken AWAY from the ps3 for the year.

[SF49er408]

ps3 sales r still fallin n i dont see them rising till later this year. they could fall below 70k lol. i think its time th 360 drops its price so the people who are waiting for the next generation can get started already. ps3 barely beat out game boy advanced lol srry i just cant hold it in n e more. i love u ps3

[kingofps3]

I guarantee that this is the last month ever we going to see the PS3 below the 100,000 units sold mark in the US NPD data.

@Xi
Yes! I think the ps3 can very well start selling over 100k again after months of decline. More importantly, don't forget that the 360 has constantly been declining in sales month after month. The ps2 is beating it in the hardware sales and now even the PSP is pwning you guys. I admit the Wii currently owns all in the hardware section, but for how long? Have you seen the crappy games that have come out on the system recently?

@Figboy
I absolutely agree. Also, definitely after E307 there is sure to be a PS3 sale spike. Further more, if Sony wins the battle at E3 then the sales are going to be off the roof.

Edit:
I hope this time around Sony officially announces Killzone PS3 vs. Halo 3, than the fony media like they had done with Killzone VS Halo 2.

[Blasphemy]

I have been saying the same thing. I not sure it will pass 100k units a month but June is when we are going to start to see PS3 numbers go up. That is when we actually get some good games then it's nothing but good games until the end of the year. August is when we will really see the sales spike.

[Xi]

you think the ps3 will start selling above 100k again after 3 months of decline where 2 were in the 80's? I'm not to sure, even with games comming, I think microsoft and nintendo still offer competition, I don't see why the ps3 line up now is all of a sudden better...

[Figboy]

how can the PS3 line-up *NOT be better?

multi-plat titles are looking solid for the year:

The Darkness
Assassin's Creed
Unreal Tournament
Devil May Cry 4
Stranglehold (the PS3 exclusive Hard Boiled inclusion will sway quite a few people to the PS3 version)
GTAIV
etc.

and exclusives are looking rather solid as well

Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Lair
Heavenly Sword
Folklore
MGS4
Ratchet and Clank
Killzone
Little Big Planet
Home
Haze
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Warhawk
Hots Shots Golf
Singstar (big in the UK it seems)
SOCOM

i mean, is this line-up not better than the titles that are available for the console *NOW?

i don't know about you, but *I certainly think so!

it's not unreasonable to think that as these titles hit (most of them are highly anticipated, you know), the sales of the PS3 will increase.

and with buzz being that the system could experience a price cut by Christmas, well, those numbers would rise quite significantly if that price cut were to happen.

look at the PSP, ever since it went down to $170, it's been selling twice as well as it was at $200 and $250.

even with the PS3 at $600, the combination of all of these titles, and the quality exclusives, will push the Playstation fans that have been on the fence, or uncertain about what to buy, to buy the console.

also, E3 hasn't hit yet. much like the sales spike after GDC, and the Sony gamers day, i imagine that after E3, the PS3 will be looking like a more attractive proposotion to the aforementioned fence-sitters.

[dragunrising]

All in all I think it is quite pathetic that Sony fanboys are on the defense due to poor PS3 sales. Statements (non-verbatim) like: "Wait until MGS$!!!", "wait until June", "wait until a price drop"(for sales increase)all fall into the idiotic thinking catagory. It is perfectly fine to "like" a brand...but to talk about a console and/or company like its God is ridiculous. Why does it matter if Wii outsells 360 or PS3? If you like video games you should support their growth as an industry. More sales equal better games or so I would expect. Also, competition creates better games. We don't need any one console manufacturer to dominate; we need a mature entertainment industry that makes the kinds of games we want (and also doesn't make a million sequels like during the PS2 years).

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Your list is kinda small isn't it?

[blackmagic]

I also think all the talk of price cuts have people sitting on their money until they see what comes out of E3... price cuts will definitely spur some sales.

[Shake]

haze is multi!

[Figboy]

but it's only coming out for the PS3 *THIS YEAR.

X Box 360 owners will have to wait until *NEXT YEAR.

if 360 fans count games like Oblivion as exclusive, because they appeared on the 360 first, i think, as a PS3 fan, i can count Haze as a PS3 exclusive, since it hits the PS3 first.

in either case, it's looking to be a rather interesting FPS for *BOTH consoles, and it's about time the PS3 became the lead SKU on *ONE GAME.

it'll be interesting to see how that works out for the Haze team.

if the PS3 version will benefit from being the starting platform.

i think, granted the game isn't utter crap, that both versions of the game will be rather good.

oh, and the PC one too.

[_insane_cobra]

Bad times for the Xbox 360 and especially the PS3. What's even worse, there's no reason to expect the PS3 numbers for June will be any different as there are no exclusives coming out this month (according to IGN, Ninja Gaiden Sigma has been pushed to July). That might be the third consecutive month with below-100,000 sales - definitely not sending a good message to third parties.

The Xbox 360 also needs a price cut as soon as possible (accompanied by aggressive marketing) or the Wii will devour its sales. More high profile games are also needed, and especially games aimed at more casual customers. At least there's hope Microsoft predicted the slump when they lowered their shipping estimates, but they better already be doing something about it.

[BrotherSic]

Wish the numbers had been release last night when i posted the article but here is my take.

Wii - sales have drop but still great. Game sales are also good but I still see this as a 2/3 year console. I also guess the numbers dont interest me as I have no interest in buying a Wii.

360 - Despite a great software lineup and a couple of good releases (end of the month) this month showed the lowest figures ever (not certain as i am using a different laptop). The market is saturated at the current price point. As an article a couple of weeks ago pointed out, this is the time when the PS2 price fell so I am expecting E3 to announce the drop. Depending on profit levels, the drop will be between 20% - 33%

PS3 - The figures dont look too bad if you compare this years PS3 sales with this years 360 sales but if you compare both launches then the PS3 is now falling away sharply.

Overall 360 sales are disappointing but they can actually do something about it where as Sony can not drop the price and will have to hope that games will be enough to push hardware. I agree with alot of you that the PS3 has alot of games coming but so has the 360. In my opinion the 360 can match every PS3 game whilst also having a couple more 3rd party titles that will be delayed for PS3.

To a couple of users above (Figboy,Blasphemy etc) how can you be so confident that sales will rise when a few titles come out? I know that sounds stupid but the 360 has more quality titles and is struggling at its current price point. What makes you think the PS3 will fair any better?

p.s. Love NPD Day!

[Figboy]

it's not confidence, it's logic.

right now, the PS3 doesn't have many games that would make a lot of people rush out and buy it.

you know how people go mad sh*t crazy for Pokemon?

well, why wouldn't the *MILLIONS of Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy fans go out and purchase a PS3 when those titles hit?

if you follow console trends, the PS2 didn't really pick up sales until *AFTER games like GTA3 and MGS2 hit, a full *YEAR after the console launched.

during that time frame, the PS2 was being outsold by the PS1 on a regular basis, even after supply constraints were fixed (around April/May of 2001).

even the 360 experienced a serious slowdown in sales, up until Gears of War launched in November.

how many quality titles does the 360 have that *AREN'T shooters?

not everybody is into shooters, man. i know it's big and popular here in the states, but some of us like action/adventure games, and rpgs. so far, both consoles are severely lacking in that department, but the PS3 is looking to have a healthy supply of them later this year. especially the action/adventure genre.

also remember: the Playstation brand has a worldwide userbase of over 100 million people. over the course of TEN YEARS. 10 years of building up brand trust with the consumer.

how many original X Boxes sold? 25 million. over the course of 4 years.

how many 360's have sold so far? about 10 million.

so far, Microsoft has reached almost *HALF of their previous instal base.

at nearly 4 million PS3s sold so far, the PS3 hasn't reached even *A FRACTION of it's previous install base.

based off of these two factors: brand strength, and install base, which of the two consoles has the most potential for growth once it becomes more affordable to it's userbase?

i think the PS3. there are over 100 million people, with a lot of love for Sony. or at least, a familiarity with the name Playstation, which has become synonymous with gaming.

the biggest complaint about the PS3 is the price, correct?

all i see on the internet, day in and day out, are people lamenting how they'd buy a PS3, if it didn't cost so much.

despite popular belief, people *DO want a PS3. just not at it's current price.

how many of you, right *NOW, would buy a PS3 if it cost $300? quite a few, i'm sure.

it won't drop to $300 this year, but i certainly see it dropping down to $550-$500 by years end.

there are countless PS2 owners who are just lying in wait for the console to drop in price.

these are people that are Sly Cooper fans. God of War fans. Jak and Daxter fans. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus fans. Final Fantasy fans. Metal Gear Solid fans. Naughty Dog fans. Insomniac fans. Sony Santa Monica Studio fans.

they're just waiting for the game(s) that will make them say, "ok, that's it, i'm buying a PS3 right now." if the price comes down too, that's even better.

GDC and Sony's Gamer's Day, as well as the announcement of intriguing games like The Agency, are marking a turning point in the perception of Sony, and the PS3.

the arguement of whether Sony cares about gaming at all is diminishing with each new game announcement and real time demo, trailer, of the latest game they're working on.

i guess you can say i'm confident because i've been gaming for over 20 years, and i've seen the ebb and flow of it's various trends.

the PS3 is having a hard time, simply because of it's price.

if it was $300 right now, millions more people would shell out the dough for it, despite it's lack of more quality games. why? because of the cost. and they'd be more accepting of the titles that have been announced for the console that are on it's way, starting with Ninja Gaiden Sigma in 3 short weeks.

as it stands, the PS3 is $600, with a lack of more strong titles, and those 3 weeks till Sigma, and months until August and September and beyond, when games like the ones i mentioned before begin to release, feel like they're a decade away.

i'm just realistically looking at the way gaming has unfolded for the past 20 years.

software pushes consoles, which in turn pushes more software, which in turn pushes more consoles. it's an interesting cycle.

Sony's first and second party developers are leading the charge (as they should be. Nintendo never gets this much grief, when the biggest titles hitting this year star 20 year old gaming characters. at least the PS3 is introducing some interesting new IPs this year; Folklore, Lair, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, etc), which will, ideally, spur sales, and encourage more 3rd party devs to make more titles, which will spur more sales.

it's a razor-thin balance, and very risky, but i just don't see the doom and gloom for the PS3, and even the 360, that people are adamant about. it just makes no sense.

the first year of a console is always the hardest (currently, the Wii is experiencing a software drought as well, and the 360 had a software drought after it launched also), but if it survives that, well, it'll be just fine. so far, the PS3 is 7 months into it's first year.

come November 17th, 2007, if things have not improved, then we have a problem, but right now, it's too soon to be calling for last rites.

the fact of the matter is that the console is selling. which is better than nothing.

a price cut is on it's way, as well as more software. if that doesn't spur sales, then i don't know what will. the fact that Sony is even *MENTIONING that they're considering a price cut should be encouraging to those that are eager for one but can't afford to drop the $600 (or more) bones to pick one up. i think if they want to play the games i listed above (among others) bad enough, though, they'll pay the asking price of the console, whatever it may be.

[Uganda64]

It's because PS3's games have a wider appeal. Mainly for 360 we have mature shooters and games where shooting is a major focus. Very hardcore, it'll never shake its image with almost zero actual casual exclusives to its name now and in the future.

For PS3 we have a bigger 1st year lineup of diverse titles, topped off with some pretty big shooters like Socom, Haze and possibly Killzone 2.
This won't mean much unless it coincides with a price drop, which looks more and more likely whenever Sony tells us how they're "considering price drops/refinements"

[BrotherSic]

Thanks for your reply :)

Completely agree with the casual games point, the 360 needs more casual games and i think you will start to see more when the price begins to drop. A casual gamer will never pay $400 - $600 for a games console. However $200 - $300 is the price area where they will start buying. This is also the reason i do not have much hope for SingStar as its coming out in the wrong period of the PS3 life cycle (the PS3's Viva Pinata if you will).

Games wise i still don't believe that Sony can touch the MS's line up. Both sides have alot of new ips but MS has Halo 3 which is the only sure fire hit this christmas (along side GTA 4).

In terms of Brand Loyalty, we will have to wait and see. We don't know how many original Xbox owners have bought a 360 and visa verse for the PS3. I think game loyalty is a bigger plus for Sony with franchises such as Metal Gear Solid, FF, God of War, GT etc all holding a huge fanbase that will result in hardware sales. I am just not sure how much a price difference will affect this loyalty and hardware sales. Will consumers be willing to pay $200 - $300 extra for a single title?

Just on Ninja Gaiden, I loved the game on the Xbox but it will not sell well on the PS3. It will get great ratings but it will struggle to sell 300,000. Unfortunately I cant see how things will change from its sales performance on the Xbox.

If Sony do have a price cut this year, it will be later rather than sooner. MS will also see it as a huge success if Sony drops the price around November as no one wants to reduce the price at the busiest time of the year.

Overall Sony is still very much 'ifs' and 'whens'. That has to change sooner rather than later :) PS3 wont die but until something changes be it games or price, there is a definite possibility that they will finish second for the first time.

Edit:

When I speak of 'second place', I was only talking about the PS3 and 360. By the time the PS3 is at the golden $200 price point, there will be a new Wii.

[the_round_peg]

In North America, Wii is already in the second place and is likely to surpass Xbox 360 in the first place. If Microsoft does not cut the price of its core 360 model to below $250, then it will lose the first spot to Nintendo's Wii.

In that case, Microsoft and Sony will end up fighting for the second spot, (which is kinda funny if you think about it.) Sony is likely to end up in the third place in North America.

[the_round_peg]

Sony is not in the position to cut prices. It is already losing money on every PS3 unit, and Sony has a lot of short-term debts that it will need to either pay off or refinance every cycle. Sony has been refinancing its short-term debts at higher and higher interest rates every cycle for the past few years.

On the other hand, Microsoft is practically swimming in cash: Xbox 360 is just a side project, a "plaything" for Microsoft. Sony's future depends on the success of PS3. If Microsoft cuts prices for Xbox 360 to below $250 now, then Sony will be dead because Sony really does not have a lot of price flexibility.

[BrotherSic]

I completely agree that Sony is in no position for a price but they will be forced to by MS and Nintendo.

As the last generation showed, Microsoft had to the reduce the price of the xbox to be competitive. If you take a look at the link below, you will see what I am talking about.

http://www.n4g.com/industry...

If you take a look at the first graph on page one, you can see how quickly Nintendo and Microsoft drop the price of their consoles in comparison to launch. There was no way Nintendo or MS was making profit on each console after 6 months but they felt they had to reduce the price to compete. Sony will have to do a similar thing to keep up with Microsoft.

Another thing to consider is how big the PS2 price drop was, around 30%. So expect the 360 core system to be $200 after E3. Sony will have to respond.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Another month like this for the PS3 and devs might start to jump ship.

[ERommel]

People People People. How can anyone say that if the X360 outsells the PS3 2-1 that the PS3 is not gaining on the X360. X360 had 10 million units (+/-) to PS3 one million. that is a 10:1 ratio. for PS3 not to be cutting into X360 lead X360 would have to continue to outsell it at a 10:1 ratio or better. now it's 11 million to 3 million. a 3.4:1 ratio. See the x360 may outsell it but the PS3 is still cutting into X360 percentages. Not a fanboy but a person that uses common sense. I still think that based on last gen with the gamecube being all but dead that there is nowhere else for 24 mill. N fans to go except the wii and DS. The 24 mill. Xbox fans have a little life in the original system but it's just about dead and I'm a little suprised that the X360 isn't selling a bit better. Sony backers have the PS2 which I guess still sells pretty well and seems to have a little more than just a pulse. So it's not suprising that Sony people have not gone over to nex gen in full force. When the wii and the x360 sell more than their last gen systems then I think people can start to argue about market share and things of that nature.

[ps3gogetitt]

Time to drop the price, we losing in big way right now....one more month like this and you are might as well scrap the damn ps3, just sell 150k at least....AND fanboys you ps3 ones you need to start a petition for a ps3 price drop and i will sign... I know the 360 is selling not too good either but they're still selling almost twice as much as the ps3 so let's focus on getting sony to drop that price

[ps3gogetitt]

Did well and that's how sony got a lot of it's fans like myself but i didn't buy my ps2 until it dropped by $100, not even the AAA titles could've made shell that cash for a ps2, I have a career now, not in school anymore so i can afford a ps3 but there's a lot of people who can't so sony needs to do something

[PS360WII]

if I may that is.

The Wii and DS together have beaten PSP, PS2, 360, and PS3 together. Now that's pretty darn good if you ask... well anyone! Heck I didn't even count the gba's 80k to the mix either.

Will the numbers stay? Only time can answer that, but as the 360 shows us not everyone can keep up with the 200k+ a month so probably not.

[dale1]

these systems are with out question the most powerful but will they get the exclusives or will the tide turn on both these platforms
nintendo will out sell microsoft no question it does good in the states
but in japan its laughed at
nintendo at the moment is killing the competition sony has sales of the psp and ps2 to help its cause microsoft only has one platform
and if you look at the software figures even the good games are struggling to make one million in sales with the exception of a few
nintendo however have one million plus on most games
which begs the question will the devs switch to nintendo for exclusives only
nintendo is cheap to design games for, if the rewards are large short term thinking might make the devs drop exspensive design projects and go back to doing exclusives on wi, ps2 psp,ds as costs involved are no where near ps3 or xbox
well i hope not were see

[Figboy]

small list?

that's 15(FIFTEEN) games. at roughly $60 a pop.

$900.

add those cool multi-platform games i'm dying for, and that's another 6 games, also at $60 a pop.

$360

most of those games are hitting at about the same time.

do you have $900 to spend on games at one time? or $1260?

probably not.

i know i don't.

15 games is more than enough for starter games. and the 6 multi-plat games are going to make this fall really hard for me to decide which i prioritize.

after 5 years on the market, i only owned 6 Gamecube games, and 8 X Box games.

after the PS3's first year, i'll own FIFTEEN (well, more like Fourteen, as i'm not into SOCOM.

most people don't buy every game that is released, when it is released.

at least the 15 exclusive PS3 titles (that we know of), are of varying genres and types, so there's going to be at least a *FEW people that will find one, or more titles, to keep them interested.

i'm a huge Action/Adventure and RPG fan. thankfully, the PS3 has plenty of those types of titles hitting this year. at least enough to tide me over until the *NEXT batch of games hit in 2008.

i'm already putting money away for this fall's blitz of titles, because i really, *REALLY want Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Assassin's Creed, GTAIV, MGS4, Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, Heavenly Sword, and Folklore. those are at the top of my list.

the other titles are secondary, but i'm just as excited about them also.

luckily, Sigma comes out before all the others.

i'd much rather have the choice (at least at the start of a console's life-cycle), of a small number of quality titles (like the ones mentioned above), than a large number of mediocre titles.

i mean, out of the over 300 titles released for the 360, how many of them are truly, *TRULY worth owning and playing?

what, Shadowrun (if you dig online), Crackdown, Gears of War.

Dead Rising? played it; it's first year filler. hardly worth a $40-$60 purchase.

Lost Planet? same thing.

just like PS3 and Wii owners, 360 owners are waiting for more quality games also.

thankfully, all 3 console manufacturers are delivering this year.