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(Anecdotal Experience) Current US HW Sales trends

S

sonycowboy

Member
I do ALOT of channel checking for HW sales and I've been a bit surprised at what I've been hearing from retailers lately. So, I thought I'd ask what your experiences the past several weeks have been.

1) $129 PS2. The price drop has done NOTHING to increase demand from what I've heard. Still selling at regular PS2 levels.

2) Xbox 360. Sold very well in early April, but now is reportedly a moderate to slow seller the past several with most stores with plenty of stock.

3) PSP. Again, the core system doesn't appear to have done much to increase demand. Strangely, many stores are reportedly not getting good shipments of the value pack and that's what customers want 5-1 over the core system.

4) DS. Selling well and Brain Training is selling A TON to new HW buyers.

5) GCN & XBox - Dead

What are you guys seeing?
 
Sonycowboy: Thanks for continuing to pass on stuff that you hear. It's appreciated. :)

That's definitely interesting news you've provided. I'm shocked that the PSP doesn't seem to be moving more so far this month. I'm also pretty surprised if the 360 really is performing more weakly, since this was the month that Microsoft was supposed to have finally got a lot more units on the market.
 
ethelred said:
Sonycowboy: Thanks for continuing to pass on stuff that you hear. It's appreciated. :)

That's definitely interesting news you've provided. I'm shocked that the PSP doesn't seem to be moving more so far this month. I'm also pretty surprised if the 360 really is performing more weakly, since this was the month that Microsoft was supposed to have finally got a lot more units on the market.
Click to expand...

I still think the 360 is going to have a HUGE month in April because of the sales it had in the first two weeks and I think it has a very good chance at being the #1 HW seller for the month.

And, again, this is my experience in a particular region, so I'd love to hear what store employees are seeing or even just what folks are seeing when they visit stores.
 
sonycowboy said:
I do ALOT of channel checking for HW sales and I've been a bit surprised at what I've been hearing from retailers lately. So, I thought I'd ask what your experiences the past several weeks have been.

1) $129 PS2. The price drop has done NOTHING to increase demand from what I've heard. Still selling at regular PS2 levels.

2) Xbox 360. Sold very well in early April, but now is reportedly a moderate to slow seller the past several with most stores with plenty of stock.

3) PSP. Again, the core system doesn't appear to have done much to increase demand. Strangely, many stores are reportedly not getting good shipments of the value pack and that's what customers want 5-1 over the core system.

4) DS. Selling well and Brain Training is selling A TON to new HW buyers.

5) GCN & XBox - Dead

What are you guys seeing?
Click to expand...

I must admit it: in Charts, you are the best.

1) If PS2's Price drop has made no effect, this is the demonstration that the price is important, but only over 200-300$.
What I mean, is that people can choose to NOT buy a machine, if this is really expensive. But If it cost 150$ or 130$, the difference is so minimal that people don't buy it less or more, in the complex.

2) Xbox 360. Good, and the new stocks are helping. But what do you mean "a moderate to slow seller......" ?

3) Stable. PSP is still selling strong, but the core pack interessed less the the value pack: why ? Because it is less expensive. But PSP is a stable-selling machine in USA, so probably we will sell something not too different from NPD's sales of March.

4) Nintendo DS sells very well: and this is the demonstration that people are interessed in new things: and Brain Training is doing the same effect that Nintendogs has done in November: it is a machine-seller. Still no numbers, but I predict good start for Brain Training (200k) and long legs. probably Nintendo DS has surpassed PSP'sales in this month, but it is better to wait, because it could be the opposite.

5) Nothing to say. It is quite obvious. It remain only to see the entities of these "Dead".

EDIT: What about the GBA ?
 
sonycowboy said:
4) DS. Selling well and Brain Training is selling A TON to new HW buyers.
Click to expand...

People doubted Nintendogs and were proven wrong.. and now the same happened with brain training.. whats next?
 
There's a rumour doing the rounds about Reggie announcing good Brain Age sales at the E3.

I wouldn't be surprised, although Amazon isn't the most accurate source, I've found it to be good at gauging rough software trends as long as you ignore Amazon specific deals (it's poor for hardware), Brain Age was the number 1 seller for a couple of weeks, currently sold out, and was in the top 3 during April.
 
Any predictions on Brain Age, sonycowboy?

edit: Also, how do you think New Super Mario Bros. will sell?
 
lancubap said:
I must admit it: in Charts, you are the best.

1) If PS2's Price drop has made no effect, this is the demonstration that the price is important, but only over 200-300$.
What I mean, is that people can choose to NOT buy a machine, if this is really expensive. But If it cost 150$ or 130$, the difference is so minimal that people don't buy it less or more, in the complex.
Click to expand...

I don't agree with this. People don't go "Oh, it's $43,22 cheaper now, gotta get me one of those" or "Only a $21 price drop? Screw that, I'm holding out for at least $25", instead they go by perceived "bargains". A $99 price point would have done a lot, not because the dropped the msrp $50, but because they hit the sweet spot with <$100. Same thing with $329 and $299, etc.
 
sonycowboy said:
I still think the 360 is going to have a HUGE month in April because of the sales it had in the first two weeks and I think it has a very good chance at being the #1 HW seller for the month.

And, again, this is my experience in a particular region, so I'd love to hear what store employees are seeing or even just what folks are seeing when they visit stores.
Click to expand...

I can't say what bearing, if any, it has on hardware sales, but in terms of what I as a consumer am seeing when I go into gaming stores:

I can say that all of the Gamestops/EBs near me have recently changed around their floorspace to devote a lot more shelving and wall space to the DS. That came as a bit of a surprise to me; maybe they're doing it because, as you say, hardware sales are doing well. Brain Age seems to be getting lots of visibility in all the stores near me, too.

The additional space devoted to the DS seems to have come from the PS2 sections in most cases. In one stores, they had GBA and DS on a rack in the middle of the store -- now the DS has a sizable portion of wall space.

Edit: Also on the topic of Brain Age -- I gave a copy of it (along with my old DS; imported a Lite) to my mother for her birthday. She absolutely loved it. She showed it to one of her friends, and that friend loved it, too. When they saw Brain Age or when I told them about it, their faces lit up. It was amazing to see, even though I had heard all the stories.

FWIW, my mother has never played a video game before; the last (and probably only) video game her friend played was Tetris on the original Game Boy. If these two represent the typical middle aged non-gaming female, the way they reacted to it, it's kind of amazing to think what kind of potential this game has on the market.
 
zou said:
I don't agree with this. People don't go "Oh, it's $43,22 cheaper now, gotta get me one of those" or "Only a $21 price drop? Screw that, I'm holding out for at least $25", instead they go by perceived "bargains". A $99 price point would have done a lot, not because the dropped the msrp $50, but because they hit the sweet spot with <$100. Same thing with $329 and $299, etc.
Click to expand...

Normally, price drops are HUGE.

However, Sony has negated that quite a bit by keeping the prices higher for longer than any system in history. It's been on sale in the US for 5 1/2 years now. And it just dropped below $149. In previous generations, you hit that price point well inside of 2-3 years.

So, the result it that many folks who would rather have bought the system at $129 or $99 just bit the bullet and bought it for $199/$179/$149.

I still think $99 can be a big boon for the PS2, but I think Sony manipulating the price points so that they can both make profit off the hardware as well as extend this generation's active lifespan to 8 years or so.
 
Purely anecdotal:

360's are still hard to find where I live. Over the past two weeks I've been to Best Buy, Target, Fred Meyer (where I snagged my system) and one of our Gamestops and they were all out. I just got a second controller at an EB, and they were out as well.

I'm in Oregon.
 
Purely anecdotal, but from my experience, both Wii and the PS3 are selling really well. I have yet to see any on store shelves and when I ask the retail workers when they'll get their next shipment, they say they don't.
 
Some predictions for April?

I would say:

PS2 - 250k (as usual)
xbox360 - 220k (I dont see it above PS2)
DS - +200k (seems like a good month)
PSP - 160k (average month)

xbox and GC, I wont bother.
 
What do we expect Mario to do for DS sales the next few months? Will it instantly convert people to the DS camp the way it is around GAF, or will people shrug it off because it's on a handheld?
 
sonycowboy said:
I do ALOT of channel checking for HW sales and I've been a bit surprised at what I've been hearing from retailers lately. So, I thought I'd ask what your experiences the past several weeks have been.

1) $129 PS2. The price drop has done NOTHING to increase demand from what I've heard. Still selling at regular PS2 levels.

2) Xbox 360. Sold very well in early April, but now is reportedly a moderate to slow seller the past several with most stores with plenty of stock.

What are you guys seeing?
Click to expand...

PS2 should have stayed where it was at or dropped to $99. Pretty much everybody called that from the moment of the announcement.

X360 - I would think X360 sales are going to taper off for a while. As we are probably past the initial launch hype window when people will spend more than they normally would just out of excitement. The X360's lifecycle is now looking a bit like the PS2's with their primary rivals consoles launching the next Christmas season after. PS3 will be going up against the first wave of "2nd gen." X360 titles. I think the big difference is Sony had MGS2 and FFX those are already really well established brands. Not to mention they got a bit lucky with GTAIII coming out at the same time and exploding. If I remember right didn't Sony kick out their first GH's titles for PS2 about that time as well?
 
AdmiralViscen said:
What do we expect Mario to do for DS sales the next few months? Will it instantly convert people to the DS camp the way it is around GAF, or will people shrug it off because it's on a handheld?
Click to expand...

If ports of the old mario games were shifitng 2m+ copies in NA, I'd say NSMB has a good chance of converting a LOT of people. It's Mario afterall, many people will naturally see it and immediately realise they need a DS to play it. :o
 
I've been hearing a few things from a group of retailers that I met for unrelated activites (this is for northern Italy though, not US, but anyway) :

xbox360 sells to xbox owners
xbox almost dead
cube dead
psp gets lots of love from pirates and as such is hot among teenagers
ds sells well and full priced software for it sells well
ps2 is still king of pirates but low priced games sell very well
 
maxmars said:
I've been hearing a few things from a group of retailers that I met for unrelated activites (this is for northern Italy though, not US, but anyway) :

xbox360 sells to xbox owners
xbox almost dead
cube dead
psp gets lots of love from pirates and as such is hot among teenagers
ds sells well and full priced software for it sells well
ps2 is still king of pirates but low priced games sell very well
Click to expand...

Really interesting. This is the first time that I see some statistic in Italy, but I see that in the complex is not too different to other eurupeans countries.
 
The anecdotal experience I've seen in the last month mirrors what you're saying COMPLETELY.

1. PS2s are overstocked.
2. 360s are plentiful all of a sudden, but in splotches. A Circuit City will have 20 behind closed doors (with no real indication that they have any, you have to ask), but Best Buy/etc. are still out.
3. PSP seems to have flatlined.
4. DS/Brain Training seem to be selling well, I've seen several in checkout lines at Target along with normal people purchases.
5. What's a GameCube?
 
sonycowboy said:
I do ALOT of channel checking for HW sales and I've been a bit surprised at what I've been hearing from retailers lately. So, I thought I'd ask what your experiences the past several weeks have been.

1) $129 PS2. The price drop has done NOTHING to increase demand from what I've heard. Still selling at regular PS2 levels.

2) Xbox 360. Sold very well in early April, but now is reportedly a moderate to slow seller the past several with most stores with plenty of stock.

3) PSP. Again, the core system doesn't appear to have done much to increase demand. Strangely, many stores are reportedly not getting good shipments of the value pack and that's what customers want 5-1 over the core system.

4) DS. Selling well and Brain Training is selling A TON to new HW buyers.

5) GCN & XBox - Dead

What are you guys seeing?
Click to expand...


Cheers Sonycowboy. I have to say all pretty predictable stuff there though.


PS2- I've been saying for a long time that price drops are going to have very little impact this late, everyone who wants a PS2 has one.
X360- Needs to get pass 2m pretty soon, looks like it has bit will slow after that.
PSP- slowing down bigtime.
DS- Brain Training as well as continued success from Metroid / Animal Crossing etc and with NSMB coming up will be doing 250k+ for the next few months minimum.
GC/XB dead- well durr.
 
I'm expecting a rise for DS hardware thanks to Brain Age and continuing sales Nintendo's titles like Metroid, Peach, Tetris and Nintendogs. In my circle of friends at university, everyone's been willing to try Brain Age out, but I haven't seen anyone get up and buy the hardware yet. Probably because most of them see me everyday. :lol
 
In Miami...

1) PS2 still sells like candy
2) No 360's in sight
3) People buying lots of PSPs
4) DS is a mixed bag. Sold out in Gamestop in Hialeah and in the other Gamestop in Miami Lakes plenty of DS's and Brain Age to be had.
 
fortified_concept said:
So his evidense is anecdotal and yours isn't? At least he collects data from a lot of sources you did from a couple of retailers at Oregon. I say wait. When will the NPD numbers show up?
Click to expand...



What?
 
fortified_concept said:
So his evidense is anecdotal and yours isn't? At least he collects data from a lot of sources you did from a couple of retailers at Oregon. I say wait. When will the NPD numbers show up?
Click to expand...


I find reading hard as well.
 
Kitsap County Area - It's West of Seattle

Went into Costco on Monday, they had a pallet full of 360's. Went back on Thursday and there was 1 left, but it looked like it was recently returned because it was sitting on the pallet of PS2 units and had a handwritten sign on it with price. I know a few of my friends have recently upgraded from their PS2 to a 360. Their 6 yr old PS2 was getting long in the tooth. Still, I have a lot more PS2 owning friends who are waiting for the PS3.

DS has a good buzz, people seem indifferent about the PSP, and I hear little talk of Xbox and even less of GC.
 
I've only noticed this in my Gamerush store, but there was a time when we had a stack of used DS systems, and couldn't keep the used PSPs in stock. Now we have 4 PSPs and no DSes.
 
JavyOO7 said:
In Miami...

1) PS2 still sells like candy
2) No 360's in sight
3) People buying lots of PSPs
4) DS is a mixed bag. Sold out in Gamestop in Hialeah and in the other Gamestop in Miami Lakes plenty of DS's and Brain Age to be had.
Click to expand...

I have seen many 360's in Miami. The EB at the Falls has a wall of them. Wal-Mart had some, Circuit City has them, Best Buy might be the only place without any.
 
my anecdotal experience is that when I ordered brain training from videogamesplus.ca it was delayed on back order. that hasn't happened for any other ds title ever. I've bought roughly 12 from them I think.
 
360 tracking

Was at TRU in Orland Park, IL earlier this week and they said they have a couple left.
Target in Lemont, IL had 3 core left.
Target in Willowbrook, IL has 2 core and 2 premium

Mostly tho I just use the XBOX tracker application. This week I have seen most of the Best Buys and Circuit City near the 60439, 60527 Zipcodes sell out and then get replenished by yesterday so none reporting out of stock today. Also check 60601 this morning and 1 Circuit City is out of stock. Of course dont know how close they were to sell out prior to them selling out.
 
360 tracking and Brain Age tracking here.

I see core systems everywhere. Premium systems are a little spotty but every store has a couple. No one wants the core though as they are piling up.

Brain Age doesn't seem to be moving much either. All the stores I've went too have a ton of copies in stock.
 
I work at a Gamestop in the midwest.

At my store, PS2 is the biggest seller. Mostly new, we sell very few used. Same with PSP. That is... when we sell one.

DS is selling like hot cakes, slightly behind the PS2, but far ahead of the PSP. The Mario Kart and Animal Crossing bundles really excite people. I'm sure a DS Lite + NSMB bundle @ $149.99 would destroy everything. We are also having a tough time keeping Brain Age and Animal Crossing in stock.

360... hmmm... We sell every premium we get before the end of the week that we get them. We have two cores (as of yesterday @ 6 PM when I left for the second time) that have been there for about two weeks. We also have 3 hard drives just sitting there. We have actually gotten weekly shipments of 360's. 3 weeks ago, we got 9 premiums, which sold within 7 days. The next week, we got two cores, which as I said are still sitting in the back. Then last week, we got 4 more premium systems. We also got a district-wide e-mail saying to expect more premiums than cores for the time being.


I seriously hope Sony announces a $399 PS3 pricepoint w/ 60gb HDD so MS just shitcans the core pack. No one wants them.
 
I've got anecdotal evidence! ANECDOTAL EVIDANCEEE!!

sonycowboy said:
I do ALOT of channel checking for HW sales and I've been a bit surprised at what I've been hearing from retailers lately. So, I thought I'd ask what your experiences the past several weeks have been.

1) $129 PS2. The price drop has done NOTHING to increase demand from what I've heard. Still selling at regular PS2 levels.
Click to expand...

Wow. That's really odd. We've been selling a lot since the price drop.

2) Xbox 360. Sold very well in early April, but now is reportedly a moderate to slow seller the past several with most stores with plenty of stock.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much true. People come and ask if we have any 360s and they say, "Huh. Okay. Thanks," never to be seen again.

3) PSP. Again, the core system doesn't appear to have done much to increase demand. Strangely, many stores are reportedly not getting good shipments of the value pack and that's what customers want 5-1 over the core system.
Click to expand...

I've been pushing the Core like hell over the value pack, but people seem to be put off by the fact that it's not a "real" price drop. In a couple cases I was able to convince that a Core would save you a bit more in the long run, and they seemed to be pretty satisfied with it.

We have a ton of used systems though, just sitting there. I know people don't like buying used, but there've been a shitload of trade-ins on the system lately. It felt like November when people were offloading their Xboxes (and we had THIRTY used systems int he back)

4) DS. Selling well and Brain Training is selling A TON to new HW buyers.
Click to expand...

Brain Training is doing moderately well. We keep getting regular shipments, and the little pamphlets seem to push most people into the direction of buying the thing, but I think the major push is the price. Also, now that we're displaying NEW Super Mario Bros. cases, and taking reservations for the Lite, a lot more people are interested in the system. It hasn't been selling very well since the Mario Kart bundle (the blue one), though.

5) GCN & XBox - Dead
Click to expand...

pretty much, Jim. We finally sold out of our Forza bundles. We have about 3 Gamecubes left, but I think we'll get a bit more with the price drop.
 
Most of the stores in my area got large numbers of 360s at the start of April, sold a ton early on, then went into steady mode and sold thru them by mid-month. They did start to get more systems toward the end of the month and they've been selling steadily. The Best Buy near me put out a table yesterday with 16 Premiums and 8 cores. Unlike what others are seeing, I saw 2 cores sold while I was there. Went back this morning and they were down to 10 Premiums and 3 cores.

Best Buy and Circuit City both have 360 systems advertised this week.
 
Something tells me that the Core system will be gone eventualy in favor of the current premium and the new premium will have a 100 GB HDD.
 
I don't think the core sku will go away. It's done. What will happen is that core sku will look a lot more attractive when it's $199 and Halo 3 is on shelves.
 
I'm a DS fan, so I'm happy with the news. :)

Tons of factors involved in the DS' sales - ACWW bundle, Mario Kart DS bundle, Nintendogs bundle (which seems to have been restocked by NoA finally), MPH, Super Princess Peach, Brain Age, Tetris DS, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing WW, Mario Kart DS, etc.
 
When the supplier of the HDD was announced, they said it could come in 20, 40 and 60 GB versions. Not sure if they can get up to 100.
 
GhaleonEB said:
When the supplier of the HDD was announced, they said it could come in 20, 40 and 60 GB versions. Not sure if they can get up to 100.
Click to expand...

I'm fine with 60 and above, really. I paid $100 for FFXI and a PS2 hard drive in 2004, so the 360 HDD really stung. :/
 
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