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Sony, Nintendo flaunt Thanksgiving sales News
PlayStation 3 Wii News by Robert Purchese
Nintendo and Sony are pleased as punch with Thanksgiving-week US sales for DS, Wii and PlayStation 3, while Microsoft has issued no figures despite claims of success.
Between 22nd November and 28th November, 550,000 Wiis were sold in North America. Those numbers may not be as impressive as last year's 800,000, but are still over and above what Nintendo managed to shift during the entire month of October.
Meanwhile, the DS shifted over one million units in the US last week, surpassing the GBA record set during Thanksgiving 2002. That means Nintendo sold roughly 150 handhelds every minute or 2.5 units every second or sodding loads basically.
Elsewhere (actually, probably in the same places), Sony sold 440,000 PlayStation 3s. "In today's economy, consumers are drawn to items that offer the most value for their money, making the PS3 an ideal choice for those who want a comprehensive gaming and entertainment system all in one package," said corporate megaphone Patrick Seybold, who reckons "this holiday season is going to be defined by PlayStation". Move over, Jesus!
Elsewhere elsewhere, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg tweeted that Thanksgiving-week sales were the "biggest" of the year, and more than "2x" the previous week's. And that's all we've heard from the Xbox 360 maker so far.
Both Nintendo and Sony have reduced the price of their flagship consoles in recent months - the Wii dropped by $50 in October to $199 and Sony launched the PS3 Slim at $299.
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Poster
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20charactersmax
01/12/09 @ 09:19
+12
Microsoft numbers are no doubt bad, else they would've trumpeted them on all channels.
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+10
"In today's economy, consumers are drawn to items that offer the most value for their money, making the PS3 an ideal choice for those who want a comprehensive gaming and entertainment system all in one package,"
Erm, the wii & DS outsold you so you admit that they have a better value to money ratio? |
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makeamazing
01/12/09 @ 09:28
+4
See this is why Donnie shouldnt have been banned! I would love him to comment on Sony disaster!!
On a serious note, @Xerx3s, give Sony a break, they have had a pretty bad time in the last few years, you cant blame them for getting excited that they have finally started to sell big numbers... there previous BF sales in 08 and 07 were terrible. Ms need a slim and a price cut. Though the problem with the slim is will they be able to do their own external hard disks, i am sure they can find a way.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 01/12/09 @ 09:30
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YobRenoops
01/12/09 @ 09:32
+11
You can imply Microsofts are ~230k or so as they've been doing ~100k per week since August. I've added a 30 to that for a little "flair"
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flaming.carrot
01/12/09 @ 09:37
-2
According to VGChartz there were around 325,000 XBox 360 sales, not too bad really.
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+7
"On a serious note, @Xerx3s, give Sony a break, they have had a pretty bad time in the last few years, you cant blame them for getting excited that they have finally started to sell big numbers..."
Too true, they have done a fantastic job. PR muppets on the other hand can go fuck off and wank some shareholders.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 01/12/09 @ 09:38
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electrolite
01/12/09 @ 09:51
+2
Good numbers by Sony. America seemd to be where they were struggling the most. Nintendo's numbers don't exactly suggest a decline in Wii sales in the US either (Nintendo seem to be worrying about Japan)
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ShinMegami08
01/12/09 @ 09:52
+4
550000 wiis and 450000 ps3? very impressive.
i also think the 360 numbers are more like 250000. vgchartz usually overestimates the xbox demand. sony must be very proud to beat microsoft in their home turf usa. who would have thought that a year ago? |
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+10
If just doubled the previous week? i'd guess it bombed and was at least half the ps3.
what do they expect though? over there sony had a bundle which included the likes of kz2 and Infamous for the same price as an Elite with Lego Batman. Sony are cleverly stating "it does everything" and people are going to see that the 360 is asking the same price with no Blu Ray player. They've kept it cheaper everywhere else but taken advantage of their home market (did they honestly think they had a brand advantage over the monster that is Playstation?). Until theyhave a 150 dollar Arcade and 200 dollar Elite they will now slow down badly and Sony will start to catch them up. They have obviously lost this Xmas.. will they wait until the spring for it? One positive for them. every unit made profit where every unitmade a loss for Sony so maybe they put the "black" in black Friday as their priority in the same wy Sony did last year.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 01/12/09 @ 09:57
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youhavenomail
01/12/09 @ 09:54
+9
"sony must be very proud to beat microsoft in their home turf usa. who would have thought that a year ago?"
I was always under the impression we were all expecting it two years ago. |
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+9
"sony must be very proud to beat microsoft in their home turf usa. who would have thought that a year ago? "
pretty much anyone who realised it was just too expensive but knew that, given the massive dominance of the PS2, it only needed the right price to take off? the brand is powerful .. the bigger surprise is that the Xbox ever got near it in market share after last gen.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 01/12/09 @ 09:56
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+2
Its no surprise that the PS3 is beating the 360, in the US the Elite and the 120gig PS3 are the same price which is ridiculous when you consider you get blu ray and wifi built in with the PS3.
IMO MS are bound to release a "slim" model in 2010 to go alongside Natal, which will see them pull ahead again, they probably dont want to cut the price this year becauise they intend to bundle Natal in future. |
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+1
"IMO MS are bound to release a "slim" model in 2010 to go alongside Natal, which will see them pull ahead again, they probably dont want to cut the price this year becauise they intend to bundle Natal in future. "
Well obviously. The big question is: Will they wait a full year and release it in the autumn, giving sony a year of very good sales.
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most recently on 01/12/09 @ 10:19
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drewman5150
01/12/09 @ 10:28
+6
I think in the run up to Christmas, EG should reinstate Donnie's account, c'mon it's the season of goodwill!
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+6
Personally I'm not so sure about there ever being a 360 'slim'. The bare fact is they completely failed to correctly design the heat dissipation right in original 360 and it took them (what?) four revisions before they actually figured it out? Given that, you'd have to out of your mind to buy the first revision of the same hardware in a smaller case with by definition less space to get the air round to cool the thing down.
There may well be a case redesign to go with Natal but I doubt it will be that much smaller/lighter/quieter than the current revision. Or at least, if it is, I won't be buying one until they've been in widespread use for at least six months. |
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+5
The 360 did not have a cut in the US, it remained the same price but you got a bigger harddrive.
Infact in the UK the price went up, you used to be able to by the 360 premium with a 60gig harddrive for £169 now its £199 for a 120gig model meaning if you want the full featured model you have to pay more than you did before! |
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0
M$ should be promoting Last.fm and the other new features on the console.
Last.fm and Sky in particular are marvellous - as is the potential of the video store now that it can scale streaming up to your bandwidth OR offer downloads. Shame it's still only a 24hr rental period, though. Get promoting! |
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EvilBob_leeds
01/12/09 @ 11:26
+2
Donnie's not gone anywhere keeps, he's just using the MESSIAH999 account these days. Although in fairness he does seem to have dialled his rants back a bit.
MS shot their bolt early in the US, for reasons best known to themselves. A few weeks ago they ran a deal in Walmart where you got $100 in gift tokens if you bought a $200 arcade. Then they wielded the ban hammer on chipped Xboxes. The two combined look to have been good for at least a 80,000 bump in the weeks leading up to this one. Well done Sony and I'm pleasantly surprised with the legs the Wii continues to have! |
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+3
The PS3 has always been the best value out of the three but until recently it's been the highest price making it inaccessible to those on a budget. With the built in Wi-Fi and free online play you "save" the costs of outfitting your 360 with the overpriced Wi-Fi dongle and LIVE Gold subscription. In the UK a regular slim costs 250 quid and the elite 200, for the price difference you can get either 1 years online play or the Wi-Fi upgrade but not both. The smart consumer knows a good deal when he sees one and right now, for their price the PS3 wins hands down over 360. The Wii, its lower price makes it more accessible but in my opinion it is more of a toy than a games console, it's a laugh to mess around with but it doesn't see a tenth of the use of my PS3 or PC.
What we're seeing here is the PS3 finally becoming affordable by those who last year were on the sort of budget that would have left them with a choice of 360 or Wii but not PS3, now that all three options are on the table and are all affordable to the general consumer we're seeing what people are actually choosing rather than what they're being left with, and that is likely why MS has neglected to trumpet their own figures. |
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+4
I'm assuming (because there seems to be a lot of assumption here) that a lot of the PS3 sales are to people who already own a Xbox. I added a PS3 almongside my 360 when they introduced the Slim, I'm assuming I'm not alone in that?
Still 325,000 XBox 360 sales (according to flaming.carrot and VGChartz), 440,000 PS3 sales and 550,000 Wii sales are a good sign. :) |
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0
Nintendo destroyed everything as usual,but those numbers are only estimates,will see what November NPD has to say.
"You can imply Microsofts are ~230k or so as they've been doing ~100k per week since August. I've added a 30 to that for a little "flair"" You can do that if you are totally clueless how sales work,weekly sales in August can't be compared to November,the second biggest month(in sales).Not to mention that Wii is the only home console that has about 100k per week in slow months(everything else except November and December). Also Black Friday aka "Corporate tax on idiots" never cease to amaze me,you have bunch of idiots waiting even 20+ hours in line to buy some crap that they would never normally buy,under the excuse to save money,but in fact they spend much more and go in deep red with their credit cards...simply amazing |
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+4
des, there's a little thing called christmas in less than a month, its when half the world goes out and buys crap they did nt normally want, there's nothing wrong with people waiting until there are better deals on that "crap" though is there!? strong sales for wii again but ps3 seems to be getting good momentum, consistantly now outselling wii in japan and getting close in the us monthly, dont seem to hear much about europe but playstation is traditionally strong here isnt it?
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+4
makeamazing: donnie reincarnated into Messiah999 - probably an allusion to the comparison to Jesus he made, coupled with an inverted 666 because of being frustrated with having been banned. Nevertheless, it actually is good he's back under a different name. At least people don't rate his posts down automatically, because of the blue text preceding it.
PS3 indeed seems to hold up which is not unexpectedly so. It is above its main competitor by a large margin in its home country. It almost matches the installed base in Europe and it is on-par with its competitor in the states for the last few months. edit: rephrased the US part after looking back at the numbers.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 01/12/09 @ 12:32
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0
In Europe Xbox is unfortunately cheaper than PS3 which may hinder PS3 sales. At least it seems so from Amazon.co.uk bestseller list. In Czech republic where I live PS3 is outselling Xbox 360 nicely even with Xbox being quite cheaper (like 30 % cheaper). But its all incomplete numbers and may be misleading so we will have to wait for official retail numbers to make the call
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+2
well most things i read say europe is staunchly playstation except in the uk where 360 seems to have a lead, not that it really matters but it'd be nice to get some european figures just to get a more complete picture, purely for interest. the important thing is that there are strong user bases for all consoles and none will be going away anytime soon, great for owners of any of them really!
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-1
"The 360 had a price cut as well eurogamer! "£
not in a meaningful way.. they just scrapped the pro and made the Elite that price. far too costly. "Still 325,000 XBox 360 sales (according to flaming.carrot and VGChartz), 440,000 PS3 sales and 550,000 Wii sales are a good sign. :) " I guess, not exacty dead at retail then.. I guess for them the fact that 325,000 unit sof profit against the losss per unit of Sony is important. No doubt they'll stimulate it again in the spring with a price cut cause if it can sell that well at this price then cheaper and later Natal will do it lots of business.
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most recently on 01/12/09 @ 13:08
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GamesConnoisseur
01/12/09 @ 13:38
+1
MS sold least but pretty reasonable numbers, meaningless to consider price cut now as 'lost' the holidays battle, everyone in it for the long term and their gap over PS3 narrows but still sizeable.
The next real battle between all 3 consoles is the wand/natal attempts to steal a share of wiimote magic next year. That what they are all preparing for and with other news of Ubi announcing titles. We ll see how these will influence things, though suspect Wii would lose some of it's shine as being the only one doing it differently and competion is always healthy! |
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-2
@flaming.carrot
Where did yo get those numbers from vgchartz? Accodring to them they also say what MS answered them so far " double last November's same week. According to their charts last november's black Friday same week, they sold 390k units which would make it 780k this time around. I highly doupt it though. Sony on the other hand has many reasons why so much better. About 200% better actually. They had dissastrous sales over the past 2 years in the same period and now they are finally catching up for, like i said, good reasons so far. Wii, im glad its notr duying. How many ppl are left that are console owners and dont have one..? lol every time i see their total sale figures Im just too amazed. |
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makeamazing
01/12/09 @ 16:27
+1
@davisorle You need to read more carefully, it was LAST weeks sales (e.g the last week of November sales), not BF sales from last year. :D
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Machiavellian
01/12/09 @ 17:56
-1
To be honest, in the US, MS started their big sales a week ahead of Black Friday with the Walmart 199 Arcade with a 100 Dollar gift card deal not to mention the Call of Duty MW2 bundle. Last week I believe MS sold over 150 consoles so they probably sold a bit over 300 on black Friday. On black Friday, Best Buy had the best deal with 6 games for the Elite.
Looking at MS strategy so far, I believe the key for MS is to continue deals up to Christmas than just concentrating on deals for only one day. It appears MS is giving their big retailers different types of bundled deals in order to keep a nice flow of sales going for the rest of the holiday buying season which may not net them great sales on Black Friday but probably will continue to net them above average sales until Christmas. |
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makeamazing
01/12/09 @ 18:27
+2
It appears MS is giving their big retailers different types of bundled deals in order to keep a nice flow of sales going for the rest of the holiday buying season which may not net them great sales on Black Friday but probably will continue to net them above average sales until Christmas.
Doesnt look like that is actually working as well as the other two console manufacturer methods though. |
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+3
"However way you cut it, sony have seriously dropped the ball this gen for people to be even getting excited about marginally outselling MS this year, after over 3 years on the market with the ps2s sucessor is a serious downgrade of expectations."
?! PS3 expectations were downgraded by reality ever since its release. Its improved performance after the recent price drop is finally a reason to adjust expectations upwards a bit again. And relative to the competition, it's the only one showing an improvement this year versus 2008, suggesting that its target market isn't as saturated as that of 360 and Wii. That must be comforting information for Sony and its investors... |
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BartonFink
01/12/09 @ 21:27
0
smelly may have hit the nail on the head there.
Learning some Sony lessons you might say. |
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Machiavellian
01/12/09 @ 21:32
+2
Doesnt look like that is actually working as well as the other two console manufacturer methods though.
We will not know until the end of the holiday period will we. Even thought Black Friday accounts for a lot of sales in November, December still is the biggest month for holiday shopping. Having deals all the way up to and after Christmas might actually be the smarter move then only being able to have your big deals on one day. NPD numbers will be out the middle of this month and that should be a decent indicator. Not until January will we know if MS strategy was sound or not. It seems MS can pull the trigger anytime they want on price drops since they really did not have a discount with the elite so dropping 50 to 100 bones during the Christmas rush appears to be no problem for them. |
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