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NPD: PS3 and 360 on equal footing News
Xbox 360
PlayStation 2
PSP
DS
PlayStation 3
Wii
News
by
Robert Purchese
August NPD figures show cheapened consoles selling well, outrageously, as Xbox 360 and PS3 finish almost neck-and-neck with 215,000 and 210,000 units sold in the US.
But Nintendo is streets ahead as DS posts winning sales of 552,000 units, and Wii comfortably leads home rivals with 277,000 units sold.
The PSP pales in comparison by selling 140,000 units, and PS2 sits at the bottom the August pile with 106,000 units sold.
Sales were stronger in August 2008, then, but all formats performed better this month than they did in July. Plus, the PS3 Slim didn't launch until 1st September, so those results wait until next month.
Madden NFL 10 predictably bossed the software chart, finishing top on 360, third on PS3 and sixth on PS2. That trio combined to sell 1.5m sales, but EA boss John Riccitiello called the result "discouraging".
Batman: Arkham Asylum performed well to take fourth on 360 and fifth on PS3, with a gap of only 10,000 sales between them.
Rounding out the bottom half of the chart out are Dissidia: Final Fantasy at seven, Wii Fit at eight, Mario Kart Wii at nine and Fossil Fighters on DS at 10.
Microsoft, the sole NPD commenter, focused on strong year-on-year sales; Xbox 360 has sold 17 per cent more from January to August this year than last.
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Poster
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M_of_the_sys
11/09/09 @ 08:11
+4
Who the hell was buying all those PS3s just before the price drop?
Edit: Same with the 360s.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 09:11
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+4
I find it amazing that the 360 and PS3 offer a lot to customers at very low places, yet the Wii just outsells them all without even breaking a sweat. Nintendo really hit a soft spot in the market there.
>Who the hell was buying all those PS3s just before the price drop? There was already a big price drop in August... just no PS3 Slim.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 09:12
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M_of_the_sys
11/09/09 @ 08:15
+2
@Dizzy
But weren't loads of people saying that the PS3's sold hardly anything because no one was buying them whilst waiting for a price drop? Was that not true then? |
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Doctor_What
11/09/09 @ 08:22
+3
PS3 sales slowed for the week between the announcement and the release of the Slim, but there were three other weeks in the month... Suggesting that withouth the announcement the PS3 might have outsold the 360.
If compared by quarters since release, the PS3 has been selling faster than the 360 since it came out. It was released a year later, but is only 7-9 months behind in terms of sales (and it's about 3m ahead of the 360 at the same point since its release). It's slowly gaining on the 360. All those stories about the PS3's sales sucking are not true - at least, they suck less than the 360's, and both suck compared to the Wii. It's going to be a very interesting Christmas! |
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+2
"But weren't loads of people saying that the PS3's sold hardly anything because no one was buying them whilst waiting for a price drop? Was that not true then? "
In Japan yes. In US they had plenty of "old" PS3s in stock and they sold quite a bit the last week after a price cut. The first 3 weeks the PS3 indeed sold like shit because people were waiting. Actually the opposite happened to what Doctor_What is saying.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 09:25
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el_pollo_diablo
11/09/09 @ 08:39
+2
There's a graph in Edge magazine this month that basically tracks the growth of sales of PS3 against the 360 since launch (as in, taking into account when they launched rather than total sales), and the two have been pretty much neck and neck since their respective launches.
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JohnnyWashnGo
11/09/09 @ 08:41
+1
I can imagine that the people buying the old PS3 were interested in the install other os option that was announced to be cut in the Slim PS3.
There are a few places using racks of PS3s as cheap linux clusters so they may have been buying the stock in order to ensure they can replace broken nodes in the future? Or people are just dumb - who knows ;) |
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-5
Sorry EG 215>210...I bet Sony is thinking,damn those 5k,it destroyed our wonderful PR dreams
"There was already a big price drop in August... just no PS3 Slim. " Wrong,retailers jumped the gun in US Price drop was on August 20,retailers started selling slim on August 25th,online also started shipping that day... |
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0
"But weren't loads of people saying that the PS3's sold hardly anything because no one was buying them whilst waiting for a price drop? Was that not true then?"
Some US retailers began selling PS3s at the lower price in late august before the official slim launch in september. Quess that's the reason for the relative high PS3 sales for august. September numbers will be very interesting to see. |
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+4
"I find it amazing that the 360 and PS3 offer a lot to customers at very low places, yet the Wii just outsells them all without even breaking a sweat."
Could not agree more. The high Wii sales also amazes me - especially with the less-than-exiting linieup. Only Wii Sports Resort have appealed to be for a long time - but that's also a great game ;) |
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donnie080208
11/09/09 @ 08:57
-3
@doctor what TOO much is made of the 360s much vauted year head start. Lets not forget that sony had a 120m install base coming into this gen and an extra 8 years in the industry. whatever way you spin it the ps3 has been a sales disappointment in its first 3 years.
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-6
@el_pollo_diablo : nothing new then. Then again my point was why ppl keep insisting on "oooh but ps3 came one year later". So? Wii came one year later, and who's fault is it they came one year later? It's not mine for sure, as mater of fact if they hadn't I probably would have bought a PS3 on release day.
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donnie080208
11/09/09 @ 09:04
0
the ps3 is about equal with the 360 in august,so for sony to catch up the 360s 8million lead, the ps3 will have to do a lot better than these figures, going at this rate it will take sony 10 years to catch the xbox , whos lead has INCREASED since the ps3 launch date. xmas and the release of the major games like forza/gt5/odst will decide who comes out top this year. although september figures will almost certainly be in ps3 favour, im not so sure the ps3 sales boom will last into xmas.imo it will be about equal between msoft and sony in the US/UK
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 10:08
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+4
@donnie080208 : True, I don't think PS3 will ever catch up to 360 in the US (total sales). But worldwide I think it's a real possibility - IF they crack the Japanese market with titles like FF13 and GT5. Wii total sales will never be surpassed by either 360 or PS3 though ;)
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 10:10
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donnie080208
11/09/09 @ 09:12
-1
@BEANO agree the 360 did not get its lead from its first year, where its sales were fairly disappointing(think it sold 3.5M in its 1st year,do the maths).so since the ps3 launched, the 360 has increased its lead by about 4 to 5 million
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 10:13
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donnie080208
11/09/09 @ 09:19
-8
also EA calling the 1.5 million MADDEN sales "discouriging" shows how many units a game has to sell in the HD era to be considered a sucess and make back their budgets. consider that only ONE sony exclusive(resistance) has even sold over a million,this fact negates the claims of sucess touted for killzone2/LBP @DOMANILIEN im talking about less than a million in the usa DUMBO
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 22:49
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+2
"True, I don't think PS3 will ever catch up to 360 in the US (total sales). But worldwide I think it's a real possibility - IF they crack the Japanese market with titles like FF13 and GT5"
Yes I think the PS3 has a good chance to catch up in about 2 years IMHO. Certainly the Slim will do very good business for Sony this year and they will probably be able to claw back 1-2 million IMHO. In the US it is a lost battle indeed. The 360 is doing great things there and only getting stronger. Of course we have no idea what Natal will do... a good marketing campaign could do some interesting things for MS by maybe cracking a bit of the casual market. Overall a more balanced console distribution is good for us all. I am quite pleased by how this gen is going... |
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dominalien
11/09/09 @ 09:28
0
consider that only ONE sony exclusive(resistance) has even sold over a million
What? |
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svd_grasshopper
11/09/09 @ 09:33
-6
the slim already outsold the 360 three-to-one in the uk, and thats it being £50 more than the elite... lets not forget there are cheaper 360 models too which arent inspiring as much sales as they should. think what the ps3 would do at £200...
they have more headroom. much more. |
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0
@Beano : I still fail to understand the "sales-from-launch" thing, as the only one who controlled that variable was Sony. Yet again, be faster/smarter, next time. Or do you think devs should have said "no, we're not making Dead Rising to 360 because, it's not fair we have to wait for Sony. Let's have a cup of cofee, and wait...".
Tough shit, they didn't wait. Neither did I. And, you often forget for almost half a year it was almost impossible to get a 360, there were 360 been sold for 1000 Euros in eBay, I had to go to the shop at 7am to get it.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 10:35
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0
"But weren't loads of people saying that the PS3's sold hardly anything because no one was buying them whilst waiting for a price drop? Was that not true then?"
They dropped off shraply here as stock as almost gone the week before the new one launched. it had be run down for weeks up to and since the price cut. "All those stories about the PS3's sales sucking are not true - at least, they suck less than the 360's, and both suck compared to the Wii. " but the ps3 is being compared to ps2 and it's nowhere near those sales levels and ,even with improved sales, is looking at a massive decrease inmarket share compared to xbox. In that sense it hasn't done as well and MS would certainly be the happier of the two (the only one to have gone forward). The wii is the real winner of course.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 10:38
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svd_grasshopper
11/09/09 @ 09:43
-2
@miiguel- sales from launch is how you mark it... you are all talking about overal sales, thats them all.
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0
"consider that only ONE sony exclusive(resistance) has even sold over a million
What? " He is right,in US the only Sony exclusive that has sold over a million is Resistance,check NPD data for details.* As for Madden,people probably realized that that EA is just pumping the same game year after year...lol *MGS4 not counted
Edited 3 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 12:07
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svd_grasshopper
11/09/09 @ 09:46
-7
then its very promising that the ps3 can do these numbers in its worst territory.
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-2
Concering the head muppet of EA being unhappy:
Also, our EAi businesses, comprised of Pogo, the new EA Social group and EA Mobile, are performing well. The Pogo Puppies social game goes live next week Can't wait! Seriously: How about releasing Madden for the PC again if you want to increase sales? Maybe consumers finally are tired of buying a glorified roster update for full price year after year! And while we are at it: Xbox 360 version graphics for FIFA 10 on the PC kthxbye! |
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-5
@miiiguel, if you count how well they have done from launch in the same time period, ie Nov 05 to may 08 for the 360 and Nov 06 to may 09 for the PS3 the 360 was over 2m units behind. Not a lot but still, if Sonys sales have been poor then so have MS in comparison in the same time frame and given the price difference.
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svd_grasshopper
11/09/09 @ 10:00
-2
the 360 has been out for a year more than the ps3... noone is saying 360 sales only count from when the ps3 was released, just that you need to consider the headstart if your comparing overal sales between the two systems.
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hammerhead666
11/09/09 @ 10:01
+1
I expected the ps3 to do better than this i must admit.. I was sure it would stomp all over the 360 in america until the initial appeal of the new slim died down.
Then the microsoft price drop was to appear again next year, a much bigger price drop this time to ensure that sony don't make up any further ground on the 360. Massive sales boost for the 360 would follow next year again with an aggressive price drop surging them even further ahead of the ps3. We'll see what happens to worldwide sales between the ps3 and 360 early next year to see whether microsoft will even need to take that further price drop. |
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metalmike25
11/09/09 @ 10:01
0
@ miiiguel
I still don't have a bloody clue what you're talking about. Someone asked earlier what point you're trying to make and i think we're all still waiting |
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-1
"just that you need to consider the headstart if your comparing overal sales between the two systems. "
And why do I need to consider the "headstart" ? Maybe I'm missing something here... is it a "l33tness" thing? :) Maybe if PS3 hadn't came out - ever- it would be a tie...
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 11:04
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svd_grasshopper
11/09/09 @ 10:08
-5
you are missing the point. dont care anymore. you must be a fool.
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-2
@miiiguel: align the respective starts of both consoles to a certain "point 0 (zero)". look at both sales curves. You'll see that - worldwide - PS3's pick-up has been higher than 360's one. I think that is a very very relevant chart to look at. It shows that up to now, despite PS3's high price, more customers have been buying Sony than MS. The head start is what it is: a head start.
Edge's chart (in months, not quarters) on-line: http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php |
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0
btw: can't believe how well I predicted sales back in 2007. Amazing really - if you ask me. :P
http://gangos.blogspot.com/ |
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-2
"It shows that up to now, despite PS3's high price, more customers have been buying Sony than MS."
So to have a "fair, l33t" comparision they had to be forced to come out at the same time, with the same price, and probably they should have the same size. Sorry, I still fail to understand why this is to be seen like an Olympic race. Decision were made, good or bad, they were made, it's called capitalism; competition. 360 came out, sold more, suffered from bad testing.. decisions were made, and dealt with. PS3 came later and with a probably a not worth for games BR and more expensive, like wise.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 11:43
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0
miiiguel: who is discussing this thinking of olympic races?! I fail to see that chapski.
speaking for me, I am discussing these numbers because of these three reasons: 1) NPD figures are about... well about numbers. making a discussion about lifetime sales, week-to-week comparisons, year-on-year growth etc extremely on-topic. There might be a race as in all business, but it certainly is not fair like an olympic one. 2) because aligning launches more clearly shows how a console is doing. I mean: I suppose you would not compare PS2 to 360, saying: look 360 is doing bad, because it is 100 million behind PS2 3) because some persons apparently fail to see that PS3 is NOT in a dire position, but doing quite okay. so no, it is not about same price, size, it is only about time. You launch a console, you see how it gets picked up in comparison to the competition by aligning launches... |
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monkeywithnoeyes
11/09/09 @ 11:05
0
by christmas it will be a different story if they fail to drop the price of that arcade. Hell they need the Elite at £150 as it is if they're to compare in value to what the ps3 offers at the same current price - regardless of your need, or want, for blueray, wifi, free online, controllers that dont need batterys or rechargable packs. These all still add extra value for your money over the Elite offering a bigger hardrive over the pro at half the price.
MS are fools for killing off the pro. You dont kill off your enterence level console with a hdd when you've just spent this year investing primarily in selling us dlc - avatar clothing, GOD, exclusive 50mill dlc expansions, movies, summer of arcade. All that took MS money to market. In what world of sense does it make to then remove your cheapest hdd console and replace it with one that doesnt come with a hdd and its customers cant take advantage of all your marketing because they cant download anything? |
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0
@donnie: @BEANO agree the 360 did not get its lead from its first year, where its sales were fairly disappointing(think it sold 3.5M in its 1st year,do the maths).so since the ps3 launched, the 360 has increased its lead by about 4 to 5 million
not entirely accurate. 360 increased its ww lead by 2.1 million. Given that it increased its lead by 9 million in the US alone, it has been losing quite substantially in both other territories... on games: there has been MGS4 (1.78m), Motorstorm (1.51), Resistance (1.41) and Uncharted (1.01) as million sellers. I do suppose a lot were bundled with the console and still count as sales though. LBP stands at .95m and KZ2 at .9m.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 12:22
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+2
"not entirely accurate. 360 increased its ww lead by 2.1 million. Given that it increased its lead by 9 million in the US alone, it has been losing quite substantially in both other territories... "
So, not only we have to consider, time of release; price; there's a new variable in town: US doesn't quite count... :D Come on...
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/09/09 @ 12:25
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