Official March NPD - There are no words. Almost $1B in SW sales

[starship]

I´ve just subtracted March LTD numbers from February LTD numbers. ^^ PS3 numbers are official.

Did we have official Feb. LTD numbers or you based it on Next-gen.biz article by jvm?

[Opiate]

Ugh, sorry about the confusion, folks: I really didn't know what to do there. I knew the information was valuable and discussion worthy, but I also knew the site offering the information was banned (even if, again, their source was the NPD itself).

I was trying to be tasteful and post the information without posting the site, but all that really did is cause 1/2 a page of people trying to figure out where I got it from. A messy business, this site banning stuff.

[Captain Smoker]

Did we have official Feb. LTD numbers or you based it on Next-gen.biz article by jvm?

Next-Gen.biz - article

[DayShallCome]

As usual, interesting stuff. Wii software continues to impress - its userbase is growing so fast that a low(er) tie ratio isn't necessarily indicative of the overall software landscape.

[charlequin]

Ugh, sorry about the confusion, folks: I really didn't know what to do there. I knew the information was valuable and discussion worthy, but I also knew the site offering the information was banned (even if, again, their source was the NPD itself). I was trying to be tasteful and post the information without posting the site, but all that really did is cause 1/2 a page of people trying to figure out where I got it from. A messy business, this site banning stuff.

Just for future reference, the SOP on these things is to indicate which banned site you're referring to using a snarky and demeaning pseudonym so no one has to guess but someone who hasn't heard of it won't know the right URL to load up.

[Leondexter]

As usual, interesting stuff. Wii software continues to impress - its userbase is growing so fast that a low(er) tie ratio isn't necessarily indicative of the overall software landscape.

Yes. Every time I hear that Wii software is selling well, or selling better than 360 software, I think "of course, there are more Wiis". Then I remember that isn't true in the US yet. I wasn't really surprised in December -- I bought into the Christmas/family time/stronger market for Wii reasoning. But for it to continue doing that well is impressive, and contradicts that theory, and also the "they'll just play Wii Sports" one. People with a Wii want games.

Having said all that, the next month (maybe two) should put the 360 back in the lead thanks to GTA IV.

[JoshuaJSlone]

Wii software continues to impress - its userbase is growing so fast

That reminds me, I hadn't updated this yet.

System: Average weeks owned (Average purchase date)

X360: 56.1 (March 10, 2007)
Wii: 33.1 (August 18, 2007)
PS3: 33.0 (August 18, 2007)

Wii was the clear "youngest" through December, but PS3's greater performance relative to its previous sales in January/February put it in that position.

[starship]

Next-Gen.biz - article

That article was just some geusstimating and unfortunately had quite big errors.

[ShinAmano]

So will April be the month that PS3 + 360 > Wii in terms of hardware?

[Vinci]

So will April be the month that PS3 + 360 > Wii in terms of hardware?

If 700k-ish is the Wii's high mark? I don't see why they wouldn't.

[kswiston]

So will April be the month that PS3 + 360 > Wii in terms of hardware?

PS3 + 360 have almost always topped Wii in hardware in each month. Last month was Wii's first big win in that department (I predict May to be their second win).

[szaromir]

PS3 + 360 have almost always topped Wii in hardware in each month. Last month was Wii's first big win in that department (I predict May to be their second win).

Was it always true? Even during that period when PS3 had only 80k sales a month?

[Shiggy]

PS3 + 360 have almost always topped Wii in hardware in each month. Last month was Wii's first big win in that department (I predict May to be their second win).

This statement is absolutely incorrect.

[Karma]

So, with userbases of 9.9m/8.8m/4.05m 360/Wii/PS3: 360 - 74.25 million games sold in the US total (29 months) Wii - 46.64 million games sold in the US total (17 months) PS3 - 18.63 million games sold in the US total (17 months)

360 - 2,560,344 average per month
Wii - 2,743,529 average per month
PS3 - 1,095,822 average per month

[LittleJohnny]

People making fun of the 360 only edging out the PS3 by 5,000 units should remember that the 360 has been outselling the PS3 for practically every month post launch. So if you look at things from a broad perspective, the PS3 had only a couple of months where it outsold the 360 and is back in 3rd place. If this trend continues, how is the PS3 supposed to catch up with the 360 in the US?

[pr0cs]

If this trend continues, how is the PS3 supposed to catch up with the 360 in the US?

[PataHikari]

This statement is absolutely incorrect. [IMG]http://images.redial.net/NPD-NEXTGEN-LEAD-0308.jpg[/ IMG]

First off, it's not "next gen" in any way, the 360 and PS3 are in the same generation as the Wii.

Second off, that number is only going to go down farther and farther until the Wii tops them both.

Third off, I like the way that the only way people can say something "bad" about Wii sales is "Yeah, well, it hasn't outsold both competitors combined yet!"

[Shiggy]

First off, it's not "next gen" in any way, the 360 and PS3 are in the same generation as the Wii.

I did not make that graph, but the information was needed in order to show that his statement was incorrect.

[Vinci]

I like the way that the only way people can say something "bad" about Wii sales is "Yeah, well, it hasn't outsold both competitors combined yet!"

Though I agree with you, I'm not sure what else you'd expect them to say. They don't like the Wii, they don't want it to succeed. The only method for maintaining exclusives on the other system and keeping them from going to the Wii is if the two HD machines are able to maintain some sort of margin on the thing or if they're financially successful despite it.

[PataHikari]

Though I agree with you, I'm not sure what else you'd expect them to say. They don't like the Wii, they don't want it to succeed. The only method for maintaining exclusives on the other system and keeping them from going to the Wii is if the two HD machines are able to maintain some sort of margin on the thing or if they're financially successful despite it.

Yeah, and look, according to the graph the number is going down.

I expect it to keep on going down.

The PS2 sold more then the Gamecube and Xbox combined.

And thus the Wii shall sell more then the PS3 and 360 combined.

[JJConrad]

And numbers for March: Wii: 6.623.883 360: 4.949.670 PS3: 1.900.000 Wii wins four months in a row [with Wii Play].

The margin of error for that type of an estimate can be incredibly huge. You're dealing with rounded numbers in/on both sides of the expression. Mistakes can quickly compound.

Microsoft gave the revenue total for third party games for the 360 last month. You can estimate in their first party games (which should relatively small impact on the total) and then divide that by an estimated average price per game (which shouldn't stray to far from $60) to also get an approximate monthly total. Moderate estimates place the 360 total at about 4 million units for March... it would take an extremely low average price (or extremely high first party sales) to hit 4.95 million.

[Vinci]

And thus the Wii shall sell more then the PS3 and 360 combined.

It doesn't matter in regards to the focus of that chart though, which is games going exclusively to the Wii, when the 360 still sells any remotely high-profile game to stupid levels.

[Leondexter]

The margin of error for that type of an estimate can be incredibly huge. You're dealing with rounded numbers in/on both sides of the expression. Mistakes can quickly compound. Microsoft gave the revenue total for third party games for the 360 last month. You can estimate in their first party games (which should relatively small impact on the total) and then divide that by an estimated average price per game (which shouldn't stray to far from $60) to also get an approximate monthly total. Moderate estimates place the 360 total at about 4 million units for March... it would take an extremely low average price (or extremely high first party sales) to hit 4.95 million.

He's dealing with two rounded numbers, and you correct him with two estimated guesses?

[Innotech]

People making fun of the 360 only edging out the PS3 by 5,000 units should remember that the 360 has been outselling the PS3 for practically every month post launch. So if you look at things from a broad perspective, the PS3 had only a couple of months where it outsold the 360 and is back in 3rd place. If this trend continues, how is the PS3 supposed to catch up with the 360 in the US?

the only way this is even feasible, is if the Ps3 continues to sell long after 360 has been replaced with its successor. It is impossible any other waygoing by current sales trends. Even if Ps3 leads by a bit every month the difference is so huge that it will take several years to catch up, and thats just assuming xbox360 were to stop selling today.

[Shin Johnpv]

360 - 2,560,344 average per month Wii - 2,743,529 average per month PS3 - 1,095,822 average per month

So Wii is averaging the same crazy software sales of 360, just most of its software isn't doing it in the top 10.

[Vinci]

So Wii is averaging the same crazy software sales of 360, just most of its software isn't doing it in the top 10.

Also, with 1 million less units in activity.

[JodyAnthony]

$135,000,000 was spent on smash bros brawl.

god damn.

[Gwanatu T]

$135,000,000 was spent on smash bros brawl. god damn.

Insane numbers. Nintendo isn't even done with that title yet, it should probably triple in LTD sales by the end of this generation. It's amazing to see how much money companies make off of the big games.

[donny2112]

Yeah, and look, according to the graph the number is going down.

+ Japan => it goes down even faster
+ PAL/Other => it likely isn't going down as fast, but it's still likely going down.

He's dealing with two rounded numbers, and you correct him with two estimated guesses?

For what it's worth, Captain Smoker's numbers are pretty much what I have for last month, as well. The PS3 number is straight from Sony's press release.

So Wii is averaging the same crazy software sales of 360, just most of its software isn't doing it in the top 10.

360 is very top heavy, when it comes to its sales each month. The few times that we got full software $ for the month, the 360 had the highest percentage of the money in the Top 10. Therefore, the Top 10 is not representative of the overall strength of 360's software sales.