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PS3 sales up by over 80 per cent in US News
PlayStation 2
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Xbox 360
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by
Ellie Gibson
Data trackers The NPD Group have published US sales figures for September, revealing a healthy boost in sales for PS3.
Sony shifted around 491,800 consoles last month - more than double the number sold the previous month, and during the same period last year. Might just be something to do with the price cut and the release of PS3 Slim, but hey, we're no analaysts.
It's the first time PS3 has taken the top spot in the home console charts, but Sony didn't win the hardware battle overall - DS is still number one with 524,500 units sold. The Wii was in third place (462,800), followed by Xbox 360 (352,600) and PSP (190,400). The good old PS2 is hanging on in there with 146,000 machines sold, mainly by antique shops.
Due to some complicated maths regarding the September tracking period having more weeks than August, or something, month-by-month sales aren't comparable. But on a per-week sales basis, PS3 sales were up by 87 per cent, the number of Wii units sold rose by 33 per cent and Xbox 360 enjoyed a 33 per cent increase.
Overall Americans bought less hardware than they did in September 2008. Revenues were down from $499.96 million to $472.28 million, a fall of 6 per cent.
They bought more games though - in fact, software sales were up for the first time this year, rising by 5 per cent to reach $649.32 million.
Around 1.52 million copies of Halo 3: ODST were sold during launch month, making it the sixth best-selling SKU launch ever. It beat Wii Sports Resort into second place with 442,900 units sold.
So who won the battle of the band games? Well, looks like Paul and Ringo will be able to pay those final demand electricity bills after all - their fans snapped up 254,000 copies of The Beatles: Rock Band for Xbox 360.
That put the game in fifth place, ahead of Guitar Hero 5. Around 210,800 copies of the 360 version were sold, leaving it languishing at nine. There's no word yet on how the PS3 and Wii versions of each game compared.
Here's that September software top ten in full:
- Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft, 360) - 1,520,000
- Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, Wii) - 442,900
- Madden NFL 10 (EA, 360) - 289,600
- Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo, DS) - 258,100
- The Beatles: Rock Band (EA, 360) - 254,000
- Madden NFL 10 (EA, PS3) - 246,500
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (Activision, 360) - 236,000
- Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos, PS3) - 212,500
- Guitar Hero 5 (Activision, 360) - 210,800
- The Beatles: Rock Band (EA, Wii) - 208,600
For a more grown-up discussion of all this, visit GamesIndustry.biz.
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Poster
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+2
"Might just be something to do with the price cut and the release of PS3 Slim,"
No shit Sherlock :P Yeah this was more than expected to be a good month for Sony. If it wasn't it would be a huge dissaster for them and that would be just the odd case. We all know way too many ppl that wanted a Slim release other than just a pricedrop so it worked good for Sony globally. Will be interesting to see in a couple of months how the figures are and if Sony manages to stay on top in the US charts. As for MS i hadn't noticed they were getting closer ad closer in the figures with Wii, which is expected with an HD version so.. Guess Wii will have another sales boost whenever that happens. Anyhow, Im more interested for games than figures right now. Feels like an RPG or MMO lately. Sujestions? :) |
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farticusmaximus
20/10/09 @ 08:34
0
Monsterous showing by ODST there, and well deserved. It's an absolutely superb game.
"Seems to me that MS might want to speed up the relaunch of their hardware, December 2010 is a long time away... " I very much doubt they are concerned as they know this was a temporary sales spike. Christmas sales for the 360 should be pretty good with Forza, ODST and MW2 pushing hardware. |
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M_of_the_sys
20/10/09 @ 08:35
+1
PS2 still sells bloody well doesn't it?
I hope so cos I want to sell mine. |
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BartonFink
20/10/09 @ 08:35
+5
And considering their software sales I am sure they are not all that worried
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0
@Avatargr & JahB
I do not own a PS3 but if I end up getting one I'll make sure I pick it up along with Uncharted. They indeed have been the only PS3 exclusives that seem more than worth my time :) So im back into looking around. Thnx a lot though ^^ To think that Ive finished mostly everything else on PC and 360 from RPGs that Im playing all over Last Remnant. Diablo 3 would be perfect right about now to kill the free minutes at home. Damn Blizz @Les I believe the same thing more or less. I was from those finding PS3 not the money along with not as many titles as on the 360. Now the PS3 is indeed more than an interesting option. If i had time to play the games I have on my 360 I'd probably have picked up a PS3 as well now with the Slim release and price drop. Might be doing so pretty soon if it feels like it :) @ Teamallstar lol more or less. |
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Britesparc
20/10/09 @ 09:06
+1
It's actually gonna be a really interesting Christmas (from a fucking nerdy stats point of view). I had assumed that Sony had it sewn up with the Slim, but the "Super Elite" bundles, Forza, Halo, MW2, etc, will give MS a good leg-up too. Not sure how Wii will pan out - has interest peaked? Wii Fit Plus, the "price cut" and NSMB might get them (even more) sales.
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Bill Gates is Evil
20/10/09 @ 09:15
-8
With the release of the Slim and a major price cut, only selling 110,000 more units isn't really all that impressive.
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+2
donnie: "1 mth of decent sales doesnt make up for a year of decline. halo odst performance shows the massive advantage the 360 has in big name excluives , with arguably the stronger line up this xmas with gt4 halo,l4d2, etc while sony only have the mighty uncharted2 outside of japan."
all three consoles have seen decline since the beginning of this year. It is nothing more than normal. Halo ODST numbers show that: 1) 360 users like Halo There has not been a huge surge in 360 HW sales with the advent of Halo - not even with 360's price reduction (!), which to me shows that persons liking Halo already have a 360. A lot of customers have not upgraded to "current gen" - witness the, frankly, amazing sales PS2 still rakes up. When customers do, they have not only Uncharted 2, in the US they also have GOW Collection + an excellent back-catalogue - a lot at reduced price and a strong year 2010 to look forward to. edited the spellingue
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/10/09 @ 10:31
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M_of_the_sys
20/10/09 @ 09:36
+4
@No1_Dave
Perhaps he will one day become a better person like Farticus did. |
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StooMonster
20/10/09 @ 09:41
+1
One of the key points is who is buying these PS3? Is it (a) people who do not own a Wii or 360, so they are new to "next gen" consoles, in which case they are choosing PS3 over the other options; or is it (b) people who own either or both Wii and 360 who are buying PS3 in addition to existing "next gen" console?
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kinky_mong
20/10/09 @ 09:42
+5
Bowser's Inside Story being in the top 10 and Beatles Rock Band higher than Guitar Hero 5?! Taste prevails in the US! I salute my cousins across the Atlantic.
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M_of_the_sys
20/10/09 @ 09:45
+8
@StooMonster
Why is that a key point? Why does it matter who's buying them? Does it bother you that much? are you going to find these people and put a stop to it? Are you trying to find an excuse as to why the PS3 sales are above the other consoles for one month? Sony have a new model out, a price cut and have kicked up there advertising. This is what's bringing them sales for the time being. |
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+4
"Why is that a key point? Why does it matter who's buying them?"
It's a key point in that it's an indicator of future PS3 software sales. If the main category of people getting a PS3 turn out to be 360 owners, expected additional software sales are low. If they turn out to be mainly Wii converts it's a completely different story. Furthermore, it's important as an indicator of people moving over to HD gaming, and in that sense important for the future of both PS3 and 360. But let's be clear, regardless of who actually bought the PS3 slim, Sony will rather have these numbers than the sales numbers of the previous month.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/10/09 @ 11:00
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BartonFink
20/10/09 @ 10:03
0
@MeBrains if anything it's following the same trend as last year with sales up compared to last year.
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M_of_the_sys
20/10/09 @ 10:14
+1
@Les
This is something that you can't record. It could be a mixture of both. I'm sure a lot of people who don't peruse gaming websites and only go by word of mouth heard their friends were getting a PS3 slim and wanted one themselves. At the same time, I'm sure a lot of the same people just saw the advertisements in shop windows and thought "Wow, a slim PS3 at a lower price. I'll have that." There will be a mix from people embracing 'next-gen' to people who wanted the third console to complete their collection. I still think it's irrelevant as it's something you'll never have an answer to. If the percentage of people were even, what would that tell you? I see the question people are asking as "Are the majority of buyers your average Joe or actual gamers?"
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/10/09 @ 11:15
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Bigglesworth
20/10/09 @ 10:19
+5
@donnie
Yeah, 87% increase is pretty shit really, when you think about it. |
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+2
"This is something that you can't record."
True, but that doesn't make it less interesting... ;) My point was that right now, with the information available, there's not much to be concluded about the long term effect of the PS3 pricedrop on the outcome of the console wars. These numbers appear to be good for Sony but if the majority of PS3 slim buyers turn out to be people buying their first HD console, they'd be great: Sony would have convinced people so far holding off to jump the HD bandwagon. |
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M_of_the_sys
20/10/09 @ 10:28
0
"My point was that right now, with the information available, there's not much to be concluded about the long term effect of the PS3 pricedrop on the outcome of the console wars."
My sentiments exactly. |
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+1
@Les: "These numbers appear to be good for Sony but if the majority of PS3 slim buyers turn out to be people buying their first HD console, they'd be great: Sony would have convinced people so far holding off to jump the HD bandwagon."
my (mostly gut) feeling is, most are indeed people buying their first HD console. |
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freakzilla
20/10/09 @ 11:09
+1
Hardware stuff was expected but the PS3 software sales are damn scary, how can the sales be that low? EVERYONE who has both PS3 and 360 must be buying ALL their games on 360 (minus the PS3 exclusives obviously).
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svd_grasshopper
20/10/09 @ 11:21
-1
the weeks highest selling game worldwide - not just the US - was a wii game (wii fit)
the 2nd highest was fifa 10... on the ps3. with the 360 version of fifa managing 5th place.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 20/10/09 @ 12:24
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pinochet_cz
20/10/09 @ 11:53
+4
Someone from MS said something like: Our customers don't want new hardware, we have natal coming...
Wonder is if they are able to learn from mistakes or not. |
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StooMonster
20/10/09 @ 12:45
0
@M_of_the_sys. Why is this a key point? Opportunity cost for one thing.
But also, if it's (a) Nintendo and Microsoft lose a sale but in (b) they already have sale and have lost nothing. In (a) multi-platform games will be purchased for PS3, and thus Sony will get a royalty, but if (b) then multi-format game might be bought on other console and thus Sony royalty is not guaranteed. In option (a) all of "next gen" console gaming budget likely to go on PS3 whereas in (b) a share of gaming budget to go on PS3, as people might buy exclusives for other platforms. Ergo, (a) is a higher quality sale for Sony. |
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StooMonster
20/10/09 @ 12:55
0
@M_of_the_sys: Does it bother you that much?
No, just trying to do the world a favour and teach those that don't know a bit about business. are you going to find these people and put a stop to it? I have no idea what you are rambling on about. Why are you having a go at me? Can't decide if you think I'm a rampant fanboi for one side or the other. When I am not of either. Are you trying to find an excuse as to why the PS3 sales are above the other consoles for one month? No in the least, I couldn't care which console manufacturer sells more, I am a capitalist and like competition as it drives innovation and is good for customers. :) Sony have a new model out, a price cut and have kicked up there advertising. This is what's bringing them sales for the time being. Fair point, but completely irrelevant to the point I was making. |
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