July Console Sales Shakedown
Sony and Microsoft respond to the Nintendo-riffic NPD numbers.
by Ryan Geddes
August 24, 2007 - July's NPD console sales figures may show Nintendo's hardware handily beating all other comers in terms of sheer U.S. units moved, but Sony and Microsoft aren't ready to bend the knee to Mario just yet.
Despite the fact that, collectively, more Nintendo Wii and DS units were purchased last month than all other current-generation gaming platforms combined, Microsoft and Sony this week announced that they are quite happy with their platforms' performance, thank you very much.
Microsoft on Friday gave a polite nod to Nintendo's numbers but said it was the Xbox 360 - not the Wii or DS - that "continues to drive the growth and success of the videogame industry," which has seen 37 percent overall year-over-year growth.
Nintendo may have surged and sold more than twice as many Wiis in June as Microsoft sold Xbox 360s, but the 360 is slowly and steadily winning the race, the company argues, grabbing half of the overall consumer spending on gaming hardware since the PlayStation 3 and Wii launched.
And for the record, Microsoft made sure to mention, the 360 is still outselling the PS3 for the ninth month in a row, despite the Sony console's recent price drop.
For its part, Sony Computer Entertainment America saw sunshine in the July NPD figures, too. On the official PlayStation blog, analyst relations manager Mariam Sughayer lead off her NPD-related post by announcing Sony is "very excited about how great July was for video games."
And Sony grabbed a slice of that magic, Sughayer said, enjoying a 61-percent increase in the number of PlayStation 3s sold in last month, thanks to a price drop announced July 9.
When will Sony be crowing about its next big month? Possibly in October, after the release of Warhawk (Aug. 28), Lair (Sept. 4), Heavenly Sword (Sept. 12) and the slimmed-down PSP, which is due to hit store shelves sometime next month.
The real news behind the latest monthly NPD numbers could be less the sales trends of indivudual platforms and more the fact that, in a traditionally slow month for videogame sales, everyone was a winner.
"July is typically one of the slower months for the video game industry, falling between June and the related Father's Day and graduation gift occasions, and before Madden month, said Anita Frazier, industry analyst with The NPD Group. "Despite the summer slowdown, the industry still realized nearly $1 billion in sales for the month, and year-to-date is up nearly 43% from the same time period in 2006. At this pace, the industry is on track to ring up $16-$18B for the year."