December 2013 NPD


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December NPD Group figures released today revealed Xbox One was the number one selling console in the market in the U.S., selling 908,000 units in December. Additionally, Xbox 360 continued to see strong momentum with 643,000 units sold in December, putting it in the number three spot overall, and lead for last generation hardware. Together, Xbox One and Xbox 360 held 46 percent of the hardware market share in the U.S. and showed a 10 percent year over year growth from December 2012.

?We?re grateful for the excitement and support of our fans ? many purchasing their next Xbox console and many joining the Xbox family for the first time,? said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of marketing, strategy and business for Xbox. ?Our journey is just starting, with more innovation, games and entertainment coming in 2014 and far beyond.?

December 2013 NPD highlights include:

?Total combined retail spend on the Xbox platform (Xbox One and Xbox 360) in December reached $1.39 billion, 50 percent of the combined software, hardware and accessories spend in the U.S. (Source: NPD Group, December 2013).

?During the month of December, Xbox One held six of the top 10 spots on the new generation console game title list: ?Battlefield 4,? ?Forza Motorsport 5,? ?Dead Rising 3,? ?Ryse: Son of Rome,? ?Madden NFL 25? and ?Call of Duty: Ghosts? (Source: NPD Group, December 2013).

Fans continue to show their excitement for new generation Xbox One games, with U.S. consumers purchasing an average of 2.9 games* per console since launch.

As Mehdi mentioned last week in a thank you letter to fans, 2013 was an incredible year for gamers, entertainment fans, our industry and Xbox. You can read his full letter here.

For more information on Xbox One and Xbox 360, please visit Xbox Wire for the latest news.

*retail and digital (internal Microsoft data)

http://news.xbox.com/2014/01/xbox-one-december-npd

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Xbox owns the US market, I don't see that changing anytime soon and I would never want it to either. Congrats to MS for a nice rollout of the Xbox One and the continued success of the 360!

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Good numbers for them.

I would say there is a chance they keep up a good pace of sales thanks to the games coming out over the course of this year.

The question is when/if the higher price starts to make an impact and if we see console sales drop off significantly after the initial sales boom we are seeing.

The X1 still has many regions to launch in, so who knows what will happen there.

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Good numbers for them.

I would say there is a chance they keep up a good pace of sales thanks to the games coming out over the course of this year.

The question is when/if the higher price starts to make an impact and if we see console sales drop off significantly after the initial sales boom we are seeing.

The X1 still has many regions to launch in, so who knows what will happen there.

 

I admit, if I didn't have to pay $500 for a One I wouldn't have (the price you pay for early entry :D).  With that being said,  I think Microsoft starting out in the 'Black' for this, gives them a LOT of wiggle room down the road.  If they are making $0 - $12 per unit sold, and this can hold up for the first 12-16 months, I believe Microsoft could drop $50 off the One and it not really hurt them.  Part and manufacturing should take a decent drop in price considering these aren't "custom chips" and all.

 

And anyone buying a One, I'm gonna guess here, is definitely buying Xbox Live as well.. So that can still offset being to far in the red as well

 

A Xbox One, at least one game, and a Live pass, is just about all profit (I think)

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America #$*()%#% Yeah! :D (Even through they are made in China!)

 

 

The One was made in China?.... :|

 

My 360, I think it says made in Mexico... :huh:

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They're going strong in the 13 markets they've released in but they'll have to expand to more markets soon to keep up on a global scale.  I expect a small drop overall for everyone on January but with the XB1 still in the top spot in the US.  They should expand to more markets in February though, at least the original 8 they cut back on for the launch IMO. And if they really want to make a splash with titanfall in March then a small price cut would be big, $50 for example, doesn't sound like much but it'd be something to boost sales again if they start to drop much.

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They're going strong in the 13 markets they've released in but they'll have to expand to more markets soon to keep up on a global scale.  I expect a small drop overall for everyone on January but with the XB1 still in the top spot in the US.  They should expand to more markets in February though, at least the original 8 they cut back on for the launch IMO. And if they really want to make a splash with titanfall in March then a small price cut would be big, $50 for example, doesn't sound like much but it'd be something to boost sales again if they start to drop much.

If they don't want an official price drop, they could bundle Titanfall with the console for 'free', making the console $50 cheaper in the process.

I am very interested to see when MS launches in other territories. I agree that I think they need to roll out as soon as possible. They need to give an update on this at least.

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If they don't want an official price drop, they could bundle Titanfall with the console for 'free', making the console $50 cheaper in the process.

I am very interested to see when MS launches in other territories. I agree that I think they need to roll out as soon as possible. They need to give an update on this at least.

I expect a titanfall bundle for sure at least but I think that by march they could drop the price by $50 to make it an even better deal and give them another sales spike.  I'm also surprised they haven't released in more markets this month.  I'd be shocked if they don't expand in Feb for sure and they'll have to, even with strong sales the difference in markets on the global level will mean Sony will keep it's overall lead. 

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Does anyone know how it works if I buy a european Xbox One from Norway. I know the games are multiplatform and such. But according to some comments I've seen, they claim I won't be able to buy games online or addons online with a Norwegian credit card and/or account with a European box. 

 

some say you can just pretend the card isn't Norwegian by setting the card location as a random adress somewhere else, but does that mean I'll have to use use a new XBL account with a new location to... If so I'll jut skip "importing" and wait for official launch, whenever that is. 

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Does anyone know how it works if I buy a european Xbox One from Norway. I know the games are multiplatform and such. But according to some comments I've seen, they claim I won't be able to buy games online or addons online with a Norwegian credit card and/or account with a European box. 

 

some say you can just pretend the card isn't Norwegian by setting the card location as a random adress somewhere else, but does that mean I'll have to use use a new XBL account with a new location to... If so I'll jut skip "importing" and wait for official launch, whenever that is. 

If the account location doesn't match the credit cards location then you can't buy stuff with that card, that's how it's been with the 360. It shouldn't have anything to do with where the xb1 was bought but the account you use itself. 

 

What they could mean is that you can't buy anything with a account/credit card that's located in a country that hasn't officially launched the Xbox One yet.

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If the account location doesn't match the credit cards location then you can't buy stuff with that card, that's how it's been with the 360. It shouldn't have anything to do with where the xb1 was bought but the account you use itself. 

 

What they could mean is that you can't buy anything with a account/credit card that's located in a country that hasn't officially launched the Xbox One yet.

Exactly, MS gave some guidance on this a while back.

Basically, if your in a country without official support and you import the console, you will also need to use a payment source that also originates in the country you bought the X1 from.

So that means if you import a console, you will also want to buy XBL cash cards from the same place, that way you can pay with the cards without any issue.

Once the X1 does release in your region, you can switch over to payments sources in your own country.

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Honestly, if I were you, I wouldn't go through a generation with that kind of headache. Sure you'd get into routine of buying abroad, but it's unnecessary.

 

Patience pays off.

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I would'nt but if it only affects payment and I can use my Norwegian card once it launches I'm ok. 

 

some claimed that you could just input any US area code and use your Norwegian card and it'd work as well. If I need to change the location of my account though, not worth it. 

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From what I know your console locale shouldn't matter but it's all about your account locale.  I know that the pre-paid cards you can buy are basically "EU region" cards, that's how it's been for me. What that means is that they cover the whole EU and are not specific to one EU country and not another.  So, you do get live in Norway right? So as long as you can add money into your live account you should be able to buy stuff for the XB1.

 

MS did make a official post about importing a console and how it'd work, worth a search to find and read it. I also think they made changing your locale easy now.

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Xbox owns the US market, I don't see that changing anytime soon and I would never want it to either. Congrats to MS for a nice rollout of the Xbox One and the continued success of the 360!

 

The PS4 has sold more units in the US at this stage, but it was also released in the US a week earlier than the Xbox One.

 

The One was made in China?.... :|

 

My 360, I think it says made in Mexico... :huh:

 

Yes, Xbox One is made in China. PS4 is made in Japan and China.

 

Does anyone know how it works if I buy a european Xbox One from Norway. I know the games are multiplatform and such. But according to some comments I've seen, they claim I won't be able to buy games online or addons online with a Norwegian credit card and/or account with a European box. 

 

some say you can just pretend the card isn't Norwegian by setting the card location as a random adress somewhere else, but does that mean I'll have to use use a new XBL account with a new location to... If so I'll jut skip "importing" and wait for official launch, whenever that is. 

 

Credit Cards don't have locality information, nor have I ever bought something online with a credit card where it has asked me for location the credit card was issued.

You can buy games via the store from an imported console into Norway, its all to do with your Live or PS (PS Users) account.  You can even buy games if you travel overseas with a Norway set account but you will be buying from the Norway (EU) store.

 

The issues with imported consoles is with the blu-ray player, blu-ray disks are region locked and if you import from the US you can only watch blu-ray movies which are US region locked or region-free (pirated blu-rays).

Another thing which might be an issue is the PAL vs NTSC, depending on where you buy it from it may not be fully compatible with your audio / visual setup (tv, amplifiers, etc).

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The PS4 has sold more units in the US at this stage, but it was also released in the US a week earlier than the Xbox One.

 

 

Yes, Xbox One is made in China. PS4 is made in Japan and China.

 

 

Credit Cards don't have locality information, nor have I ever bought something online with a credit card where it has asked me for location the credit card was issued.

You can buy games via the store from an imported console into Norway, its all to do with your Live or PS (PS Users) account.  You can even buy games if you travel overseas with a Norway set account but you will be buying from the Norway (EU) store.

 

The issues with imported consoles is with the blu-ray player, blu-ray disks are region locked and if you import from the US you can only watch blu-ray movies which are US region locked or region-free (pirated blu-rays).

Another thing which might be an issue is the PAL vs NTSC, depending on where you buy it from it may not be fully compatible with your audio / visual setup (tv, amplifiers, etc).

 

 

No actually credits cards have location info on them. thoguh some of them less so than others, hence why on some cards you can just input a area code from a launch country when you fill in your credit card details. apparently from what I'm reading they don't care about the location of your Live account, unless the content specifically restricted form that region, but that's something else, but you have to pay with a credit card from a country it's launched in. or rather your credit card details need to say you are, and on some cards, there's some routines that will inform them if the area code/country is wrong. 

 

Hence why using American Live accounts in the past to get restricted content even with a VPN wasn't quite as straight forward, you also needed to buy prepaid cards form the US to fill up your account. 

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The PS4 has sold more units in the US at this stage, but it was also released in the US a week earlier than the Xbox One.

He was talking about the X1 and 360 combined I think.

As far as the X1 specifically, looks like Sony sold more in November, while MS sold more in December. As far as total units to date, do we know that figure. We know its 3mil+ for the X1 worldwide and we know 4.2mil for the ps4 worldwide, but I don't think we have region break downs.

Once we know the exact number of ps4s sold in Dec, then we will know for sure.

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He was talking about the X1 and 360 combined I think.

As far as the X1 specifically, looks like Sony sold more in November, while MS sold more in December. As far as total units to date, do we know that figure. We know its 3mil+ for the X1 worldwide and we know 4.2mil for the ps4 worldwide, but I don't think we have region break downs.

Once we know the exact number of ps4s sold in Dec, then we will know for sure.

Sony's already elected not to give out that number, and it's solely up to them to do it, so I wouldn't expect to know. It's somewhere between 650k and 900k though :p

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Sony's PR is pretty lame not giving out numbers, they are what they are, silly twisting headlines arent going to confuse anyone.

Anyway congrats MS, the biggest fought battle will continue to be the states, pretty obvious now why Sony went all America ###### yeah with the PS4 launch.

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