Support NeoGAF

[ioi]

Here's some nice data I have collated:

Monthly DS and PSP hardware sales in the US (NPD) and Japan (Media Create):

Date		DS Japan		DS USA		PSP Japan		PSP USA
Nov-04				480				
Dec-04		1496		746		482		
Jan-05		250		152		268		
Feb-05		105		140		175		
Mar-05		174		133		215		619
Apr-05		212		70		130		351
May-05		164		57		106		250
Jun-05		167		112		108		294
Jul-05		164		81		80		202
Aug-05		285		102		90		167
Sep-05		289		164		197		146
Oct-05		175		136		116		132
Nov-05		294		369		171		353
Dec-05		1872		1070		546		1120

Cumulative DS and PSP sales in USA and Japan:

Date		DS Japan		DS USA		PSP Japan		PSP USA
Nov-04				480				
Dec-04		1496		1226		482		
Jan-05		1746		1378		750		
Feb-05		1850		1518		925		
Mar-05		2024		1651		1139		619
Apr-05		2236		1721		1269		970
May-05		2400		1778		1374		1220
Jun-05		2567		1890		1482		1514
Jul-05		2731		1971		1563		1716
Aug-05		3016		2073		1653		1883
Sep-05		3305		2237		1850		2029
Oct-05		3480		2373		1966		2161
Nov-05		3774		2742		2137		2514
Dec-05		5646		3812		2683		3634

Monthly DS and PSP software sales in the US (NPD) and Japan (Famitsu):

Date		DS Japan		DS USA		PSP Japan		PSP USA
Nov-04				355				
Dec-04		1211		1067		551		
Jan-05		928		252		725		
Feb-05		276		302		326		
Mar-05		406		558		422		1077
Apr-05		477		215		262		831
May-05		668		203		223		621
Jun-05		440		441		145		687
Jul-05		785		288		233		535
Aug-05		969		446		235		409
Sep-05		776		536		360		496
Oct-05		757		509		324		596
Nov-05		1234		1004		242		1047
Dec-05		4015		3422		681		3462

Cumulative DS and PSP software sales in USA and Japan:

Date		DS Japan		DS USA		PSP Japan		PSP USA
Nov-04				355				
Dec-04		1211		1422		551		
Jan-05		2140		1674		1276		
Feb-05		2416		1977		1602		
Mar-05		2821		2534		2024		1077
Apr-05		3299		2750		2286		1908
May-05		3967		2952		2509		2529
Jun-05		4408		3394		2654		3216
Jul-05		5193		3682		2887		3751
Aug-05		6162		4128		3122		4160
Sep-05		6938		4663		3482		4656
Oct-05		7695		5173		3807		5253
Nov-05		8929		6177		4049		6300
Dec-05		12945		9599		4730		9762

Tie ratios for DS and PSP in USA and Japan

Date		DS Japan		DS USA		PSP Japan		PSP USA
Nov-04				0.7				
Dec-04		1.1		1.4		1.6		
Jan-05		1.4		1.7		1.8		
Feb-05		1.4		2.2		1.8		
Mar-05		1.6		4.2		1.8		1.7
Apr-05		1.7		3.1		1.8		2.4
May-05		1.8		3.6		1.8		2.5
Jun-05		1.9		3.9		1.8		2.3
Jul-05		2.0		3.6		1.8		2.6
Aug-05		2.2		4.4		1.9		2.4
Sep-05		2.3		3.3		1.9		3.4
Oct-05		2.3		3.7		1.9		4.5
Nov-05		2.4		2.7		1.9		3.0
Dec-05		2.5		3.2		1.8		3.1

Monthly DS and PSP sales (USA + Japan combined)

Date		DS	PSP
Nov-04		480		
Dec-04		2,241		482
Jan-05		402		268
Feb-05		245		175
Mar-05		307		833
Apr-05		282		481
May-05		221		356
Jun-05		279		402
Jul-05		245		282
Aug-05		387		257
Sep-05		453		343
Oct-05		311		248
Nov-05		663		524
Dec-05		2,942		1,666

Cumulative DS and PSP sales (USA + Japan combined)

Date		DS	PSP
Nov-04		480		
Dec-04		2,721		482
Jan-05		3,123		750
Feb-05		3,368		925
Mar-05		3,675		1,758
Apr-05		3,957		2,239
May-05		4,178		2,594
Jun-05		4,457		2,996
Jul-05		4,702		3,279
Aug-05		5,089		3,536
Sep-05		5,542		3,879
Oct-05		5,853		4,127
Nov-05		6,516		4,651
Dec-05		9,458		6,317

Monthly DS and PSP Software sales (USA + Japan combined)

Date		DS		PSP
Nov-04		355		
Dec-04		2,278		551
Jan-05		1,181		725
Feb-05		579		326
Mar-05		963		1,499
Apr-05		693		1,093
May-05		871		845
Jun-05		882		831
Jul-05		1,073		768
Aug-05		1,415		644
Sep-05		1,312		857
Oct-05		1,266		921
Nov-05		2,239		1,289
Dec-05		7,437		4,143

Cumulative DS and PSP Software sales (USA + Japan combined)

Date		DS		PSP
Nov-04		355		
Dec-04		2,633		551
Jan-05		3,814		1,276
Feb-05		4,392		1,602
Mar-05		5,356		3,101
Apr-05		6,048		4,194
May-05		6,920		5,039
Jun-05		7,801		5,870
Jul-05		8,875		6,638
Aug-05		10,290		7,282
Sep-05		11,602		8,139
Oct-05		12,868		9,060
Nov-05		15,106		10,348
Dec-05		22,543		14,492

Tie ratios based on Japan + USA

Date		DS		PSP
Nov-04		0.74		
Dec-04		0.97		1.14
Jan-05		1.22		1.70
Feb-05		1.30		1.73
Mar-05		1.46		1.76
Apr-05		1.53		1.87
May-05		1.66		1.94
Jun-05		1.75		1.96
Jul-05		1.89		2.02
Aug-05		2.02		2.06
Sep-05		2.09		2.10
Oct-05		2.20		2.20
Nov-05		2.32		2.23
Dec-05		2.38		2.29

All numbers in 1000s

 

[ethelred]

Awesome charts. Thanks, ioi.

 

[ivysaur12]

Sweet graphs.

The first one is the most interesting, and probably the most important for January. It's no doubt that the DS will dominate again and again in Japan, but it's quite the coin toss in America...

 

[BarneyBP]

Awesome.

 

[Sweedishrodeo]

these graphs have no Brain Training faces or pictures of Iwata glowing. -1

 

[cvxfreak]

http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=80981

Japanese tie ratios

ioi, if you're willing to make a chart for tie ratios each month I'll go ahead and give them out for each month.

 

[JavyOO7]

Sweet graphs.

The first one is the most interesting, and probably the most important for January. It's no doubt that the DS will dominate again and again in Japan, but it's quite the coin toss in America...

And in Europe. Hasn't the PSP already surpassed the DS in the UK? I would'nt doubt the rest of Europe to come shortly unless Nintendo gets their stuff to gear.

 

[ethelred]

And in Europe. Hasn't the PSP already surpassed the DS in the UK?

So says Sony.

 

[ioi]

http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=80981

Japanese tie ratios

ioi, if you're willing to make a chart for tie ratios each month I'll go ahead and give them out for each month.

Go for it.

PM me or something.

A couple of points I can draw:

1) The comment myself and others have been making about DS and PSP in the US is more obvious to see in a graph. DS hasn't been out THAT much longer when you see it like that and you can see that both DS and PSP had decent launches and have both converged to selling almost idential amounts the last 3-4 months. There has never been more of a dead heat.

2) Whatever is happening in the US looks kind of crazy compared to the insane DS numbers in Japan. Remember that Japan normally accounts for about 50% at best of US sales for most consoles and so this makes the performance even more impressive.

3) December sales alone can account from a quarter to about 45% of total sales for the year.

 

[sonycowboy]

So says Sony.

So says MCV. Only the most respected video game publication there, but whatever.

 

[PhoenixDark]

It's sad to see Nintendo go out like this.

Thanks for the memories.

 

[ioi]

So says MCV. Only the most respected video game publication there, but whatever.

Well, MCV said quoted Sony as saying they had surpassed DS LTD.

To be honest it's pretty much a dead heat again and not to dissimilar to the US.

It's sad to see Nintendo go out like this.

Thanks for the memories.

A lame attempt to troll or something?

 

[VOOK]

Yeah great charts ioi!

 

[Suikoguy]

To gain that much ground on a company that has held the market 95% for many years is quite an acomplishment.

 

[Archie]

It's sad to see Nintendo go out like this.

Thanks for the memories.

7 billion dollars and they are still doomed

 

[ioi]

To gain that much ground on a company that has held the market 95% for many years is quite an acomplishment.

lol, what?

GBA on 75m pops it's head round to say hi !

 

[ethelred]

To gain that much ground on a company that has held the market 95% for many years is quite an acomplishment.

Not really. It's not like Sony was some weak dark horse underdog here, just because it hadn't been in the handheld market -- it's still a very powerful company in the gaming industry with an extremely strong brand-name. There was never any reasonable expectation that Sony would fail to offer strong competition to Nintendo in the handheld market, or that the PSP would flat out bomb.

Sony isn't Nokia. If Nokia had stepped in and done with the N-Gage what the PSP has accomplished, then we could all clap our hands and say "Bravo, that's remarkable!" The PSP is doing very well, but not as well as most analysts expected.

 

[monkeymagic]

I think we'll see PSP and DS neck and neck throughout Europe and US this year.

DS will continue to dominate in Japan until a PSP price drop which can only help PSP but doesn't necessarily mean it will catch up in the light of less compelling software.

Hopefully it will be followed by a DS price drop so I can get a second black one

 

[LiquidMamba]

I wonder how big of an increase in HW sales there will be when Nintendo starts to release some Pokemon titles for the DS in NA/EU.

 

[ivysaur12]

With the release of Nintendo's top tier franchises this year (Metroid Prime: Hunters, Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, Tetris, Mario, ect.), I think that the DS will have the slight edge over the PSP at the end of the year. Remarkable for the PSP? Not as much as people might have hoped, but it's still somewhat of a feat, though Nintendo could only go down from 95%, right?

The DS is lost in Europe, though. There's absolutely no hope for Nintendo.

 

[ethelred]

I think we'll see PSP and DS neck and neck throughout Europe and US this year.

DS will continue to dominate in Japan until a PSP price drop which can only help PSP but doesn't necessarily mean it will catch up in the light of less compelling software.

Hopefully it will be followed by a DS price drop so I can get a second black one

Seems reasonable. I'm expecting the two to stay neck and neck for most of this year, but eventually, the ramped up game development in Japan that's happening / going to happen as a result of the insane Japanese sales is going to catch up to the North American market, and at that point, I'm expecting the DS to take a more decisive lead in America. This will probably be accompanied by the heavy hitter games like Mario, Zelda, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, Final Fantasy III, and so on.

As to the DS price drop, that'll probably happen at the same time a remodeled DS SP is released. Put the SP model on the market at the current price, and drop the price of the original model to 99$. It's a great strategy which worked very well for the GBA and I can't imagine it won't be replicated with the DS.

 

[CB3]

I wonder how big of an increase in HW sales there will be when Nintendo starts to release some Pokemon titles for the DS in NA/EU.

Shit Nintendo hasnt even taken out the Big guns yet. When Pokemon, Mario, and Zelda come out, Shits gonna hit the fan over there in japan :lol

 

[monkeymagic]

Not really. It's not like Sony was some weak dark horse underdog here, just because it hadn't been in the handheld market -- it's still a very powerful company in the gaming industry with an extremely strong brand-name. There was never any reasonable expectation that Sony would fail to offer strong competition to Nintendo in the handheld market, or that the PSP would flat out bomb.

If he's serious then he may have been drawing comparisons to the XBox vs PS2 scenario where the newcomer MS has been applauded and praised for selling 5x fewer consoles than the market leader Sony at a cost of $5 billion.

In this case we have the newcomer selling as many as the decade long market leader in 2 out of 3 regions and at almost double the cost. That is quite an accomplishment.

Regardless, I don't see Nintendo exiting the console or handheld market anytime soon and I hope they continue to dominate the handheld sector because their games are perfect for it.

 

[tedtropy]

Shit Nintendo hasnt even taken out the Big guns yet. When Pokemon, Mario, and Zelda come out, Shits gonna hit the fan over there in japan :lol

A couple of badass RPGs and, um, train simulators and the same case can be argued for the PSP.

 

[ethelred]

A couple of badass RPGs and, um, train simulators and the same case can be argued for the PSP.

What

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Well, certainly more competitive than what a PS2/Xbox/GC graph would make.

 

[Raven.]

A couple of badass RPGs and, um, train simulators and the same case can be argued for the PSP.

PRICE CUT... watch it eat the DS alive, at least in the rest of the world.

 

[Leonsito]

I think this would be interesting too:

Monthly DS and PSP sales (US + Japan Combined) Difference:

Date		DS Japan+US	PSP Japan+US	Dif.
nov-04		480				480
Dec-04		2721		482		2239
Jan-05		3123		750		2373
feb-05		3368		925		2443
mar-05		3675		1758		1917
Apr-05		3957		2239		1718
may-05		4178		2594		1584
jun-05		4457		2996		1461
jul-05		4702		3279		1423
Aug-05		5089		3536		1553
sep-05		5542		3879		1663
oct-05		5853		4127		1726
nov-05		6516		4651		1865
Dec-05		9458		6317		3141

 

[Suburban Cowboy]

glad to see those god awful PSP commercials are powering PSP sells so much




=(

 

[Earthstrike]

PRICE CUT... watch it eat the DS alive, at least in the rest of the world.

Oh wait
1. That'll cut into Sony's profits
2. Nintendo can easily counter any price drop.

 

[Oblivion]

In this case we have the newcomer selling as many as the decade long market leader in 2 out of 3 regions and at almost double the cost. That is quite an accomplishment.

People bought the PS2 continuously when it was $300. I see no reason why many of those who bought the PS2 at the same price wouldn't do so for the PSP. And I find the PSP's current sucess unsurprising in the least. As Ethelred said, unlike all the other competitors, Sony had an established name to go along with their machine.

 

[gjb-sensei]

glad to see those god awful PSP commercials are powering PSP sells so much




=(

Ugh... those PSP commercials must be targeted at absolute morons and idiots... they are so awful. They are probably the worst gaming-related commercials I've ever seen.

 

[tedtropy]

PRICE CUT... watch it eat the DS alive, at least in the rest of the world.

I want both systems to succeed. It can only mean good things for gamers. I think Nintendo's long-standing dominance, and possibly arrogance, resulted in the sub-par hardware that is the DS. Thankfully it has some astounding games to compensate. I haven't felt any great urge to spend the money necessary to get a PSP, but I'm sure certain games may change my mind with time.

 

[Brofist]

:lol guess this will turn into another DS sales circle jerk topic, this time with graphs!!!

 

[Archie]

Another day another PSP/DS battle thread. All is normal.

 

[kenta]

The PSP is clearly the winner.

I don't know how someone will come up with this assessment, but dag nabbit this is GAF and someone will try to do it

 

[ethelred]

I want both systems to succeed. It can only mean good things for gamers. I think Nintendo's long-standing dominance, and possibly arrogance, resulted in the sub-par hardware that is the DS. Thankfully it has some astounding games to compensate. I haven't felt any great urge to spend the money necessary to get a PSP, but I'm sure certain games may change my mind with time.

Weird -- I think the exact opposite. I want both systems to succeed, because I agree, it means only good things for gamers. But where we differ is that I think the competition posed by Sony resulted in Nintendo's creation of the substantially above-par hardware that is the DS. Strong competition forced the company to work harder in the handheld market than it's hard to work in a very long time, and that's resulted in the company's best effort to date. Works for me. I'm glad the PSP is doing well because of that. I'd like the fire under Nintendo's ass to stay in place.

 

[Gahiggidy]

You forgot the GBA.

 

[Oblivion]

Weird -- I think the exact opposite. I want both systems to succeed, because I agree, it means only good things for gamers. But where we differ is that I think the competition posed by Sony resulted in Nintendo's creation of the substantially above-par hardware that is the DS. Strong competition forced the company to work harder in the handheld market than it's hard to work in a very long time, and that's resulted in the company's best effort to date. Works for me. I'm glad the PSP is doing well because of that. I'd like the fire under Nintendo's ass to stay in place.

That's exactly how I feel. We can expect third party devs to create awesome, varied games, but if Nintendo still had a monopoly, their in-house efforts would have been half assed. Sony entering the ring has lit a fire in Nintendo's eyes not seen in years.

 

[thestopsign]

Nevermind. I figured it out.

 

[damisa]

The PSP is clearly the winner.

I don't know how someone will come up with this assessment, but dag nabbit this is GAF and someone will try to do it

Although I don't care about handhelds at all, I think the PSP has sold pretty well. I don't know why there always has to be a winner and loser in sales threads. Can't both systems be doing well?

 

[BudokaiMR2]

Very nice graphs. It is good to see both are doing well.

I am worried though about the PSP though. I mean the sales weren't what everyone(probably including Sony) expected.

Any one know how much of a loss they are selling them at? I am not even sure if they are selling them at a loss, but goddamn that thing has to cost a lot to make. And it is kind of Sony strategy to sell the Playstation line at a loss.

 

[Archie]

Although I don't care about handhelds at all, I think the PSP has sold pretty well. I don't know why there always has to be a winner and loser in sales threads. Can't both systems be doing well?

Not at GAF!

 

[Jewbacca]

I have a question... how well did game gear fare against the GameBoy back in the day.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Although I don't care about handhelds at all, I think the PSP has sold pretty well. I don't know why there always has to be a winner and loser in sales threads. Can't both systems be doing well?

Junior member, you have much to learn. There must be a winner and a loser in order for GAF to operate. If somehow the PSP and DS sold the exact same amount of units, GAF would be finished much like Sauron.

 

[Gahiggidy]

Although I don't care about handhelds at all, I think the PSP has sold pretty well. I don't know why there always has to be a winner and loser in sales threads. Can't both systems be doing well?

Thanks for those words of wisdom, pollyanna.

 

[Oblivion]

Can't both systems be doing well?

"You have much to learn, young gaijin."

 

[thestopsign]

Crap. I suck at this. I will stick to gaming now.

 

[Beowvlf]

I pray for the day when a seperate subcategory forum 'Sales Numbers' is created here. This obsession is just getting ridiculous, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has completely tired of and stopped following games sales for the past couple months.

Discussion on the topic is fine; it's relevant in concern to the amount of support a system may or may not receive. But topics and focus to the extent that has been going on in the last 8 weeks is borderline offtopic considering the heading of the forum is 'Gaming Discussion'.

Chuckle if you want that I'm saying this, but nevertheless, I still believe there needs to be some seperation, as I feel the release of two new consoles this year will simply exacerbate the problem tenfold.

 

[ioi]

I pray for the day when a seperate subcategory forum 'Sales Numbers' is created here. This obsession is just getting ridiculous, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has completely tired of and stopped following games sales for the past couple months.

Discussion on the topic is fine; it's relevant in concern to the amount of support a system may or may not receive. But topics and focus to the extent that has been going on in the last 8 weeks is borderline offtopic considering the heading of the forum is 'Gaming Discussion'.

Chuckle if you want that I'm saying this, but nevertheless, I still believe there needs to be some seperation, as I feel the release of two new consoles this year will simply exacerbate the problem tenfold.

What 'problem'?

Some people like discussing sales numbers and looking at trends.

If you're not one of those people then all you have to do is avoid these threads.

I don't see a problem. You don't see me going into the official Madden 06 thread and moaning because I don't like American Football.