Game Consoles-May 2008 NPD Sales Figure Analysis

By Zab
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Zab

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Game Consoles - May 2008 NPD Sales Figure Analysis

May 2008?s NPD figures are out. While not entirely surprising, but it is still somewhat of a shock that GTA IV had absolutely no effect on console sales, and April wasn?t just a statistical anomaly. The Wii is on a wiinner and it?s outselling both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 left and right. The PS3, at least, can claim to have beaten the 360, but as you will read on, the signs are not all that great for both of these console heavy hitters, not when the featherweight is running away with it like that. My prediction from last month was not correct at all, as there wasn?t a bump in hardware sales due to GTA IV. The while I was right in that the 360?s lead would narrow, it has narrowed so much that it?s now a negative. But I least I got the bit about GTA IV selling well and the 360 version selling better right, although any idiot with a keyboard could have come up with that. You can read last month?s analysis here. The figures are from NPD, a marketing research firm that releases games console sale data every month.

The figures for US sales in May are below, ranked in order of number of sales:

# Wii: 675,100 (Total: 10.2 million)

# DS: 452,600 (Total: 20.1 million)

# PSP: 182,300 (Total: 11.7 million)

# Xbox 360: 186,600 (Total: 10.3 million)

# PS3: 208,700 (Total: 4.4 million)

# PS2: 132,700 (Total: 42.2 million)

npd_may_2008.png

npd_may_2008_total.png

As mentioned above, GTA IV had almost no effect on console sales. This is a bit odd, but if you think about it, perhaps makes sense. GTA IV is the game that everybody knew was coming, and it is very likely the people who wanted the game will have purchased consoles ahead of time. If GTA IV had been the first good game on either consoles, then perhaps this would lead to bigger hardware sales as people who waited now finally have a reason to go for it. But that?s not the case, since both the 360 and to a lesser degree, the PS3, already have a pretty good range of games to attract even sandbox style game fans like myself (Crackdown, Saints Row are two examples for the 360).

Sony will be the happier of the two companies. The PS3 outselling the 360 might be a fixture for the future, but I can?t help but feel that, at least when compared to the Wii, both consoles are plateauing or decline, with the 360 declining a bit faster than the PS3. The PS3 is also more than just a games console, it is (in my opinion anyway) the best Blu-ray player on the market for now, so even if it isn?t selling as a games console, it will sell as a Blu-ray player. I have a PS3 and I don?t play games on it, but it is probably the most used piece of equipment in my home theatre at the moment..............

FULL ARTICLE

I really do have to think that Microsoft is feeling the hurt mostly from the fact that their system dies so often.

With all the stories of I'm on my 5th X360....

I wonder if it will help sony recover!?

Grand Master

Kushan

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I really do have to think that Microsoft is feeling the hurt mostly from the fact that their system dies so often.

With all the stories of I'm on my 5th X360....

I wonder if it will help sony recover!?

That was the case about a year ago. New 360s have a severely reduced chance of RRODing (of course, they're still susceptible to the usual faults that all electronic appliances can get hit with).

I think it's a pretty even race. When you look at it, the 360 has a few million more sales than the PS3, but sales between the two devices are still incredibly even, with only a couple of thousand difference every week. At the current rate, it'll take Sony years to catch up in total sales but Microsoft isn't exactly running away with it. In other words, I think it's a nearly clear-cut draw between them.

Of course, Microsoft is making a shedload more cash than Sony...

Grand Master

AlphaPrime

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Posted
Yeah but doesn't it take a couple of months to properly collate the data?

Look at the date of this article, it was posted back in June (2008/06/14) when the May data came out. We're actually up to August NPD now:

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=667178

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