NPD January 2012 Sales Results

[CaptainZombie]

Total sales (for hardware + software + accessories) dropped 34% year over year.

Sales are below 2004 levels.



Hardware:

Xbox 360: 270K (-29%) - 49% Console Hardware Sales Share

This means the Wii and PS3 sold 281K combined, which would be a massive drop from last year. For comparison, the Wii was at 319K and the PS3 at 267K, which comes out to 586K combined. This would put them at an aggregate 52% drop year over year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sony PR: Following a strong December at retail, PlayStation continued the momentum in January through multi-retailer promotions such as 'Play Days' where we saw a 2x lift over forecast in peripheral sales and solid results for the PlayStation 3. February will be a landmark month for PlayStation and the gaming industry with the launch of PlayStation Vita on February 22. Pre-order sales for PS Vita and the launch lineup of 25 titles continue to accelerate as more consumers seek the ultimate in handheld gameplay. --Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications at SCEA Originally Posted by MS PR: Last week it was revealed that Xbox 360 became the number-one selling console worldwide in 2011,* closing out the biggest year in Xbox history and delivering on the bold prediction made by IEB President Don Mattrick at E3 in 2011. Kicking off 2012, Xbox 360 continues to lead the console market, turning in another month as the best-selling console in the U.S. Historically, after several years in the console lifecycle there is a softening of demand, but Xbox 360 continues to defy that convention. Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend the lifecycle of the console by re-imagining entertainment and delivering new technologies like Kinect for Xbox 360, a new Xbox dashboard, and new entertainment content partners in 2011. January 2012 U.S. NPD highlights: · Xbox 360 sold more than 270,000 units in January, maintaining the number-one console spot in the U.S. This marks the thirteenth straight month Xbox 360 was the top-selling console in the U.S. (Source: NPD Group, January 2012) · Holding 49 percent share of current-generation console sales, total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in January (hardware, software and accessories) reached $301 million, the most for any console in the U.S. This marks the eleventh consecutive month Xbox 360 has held more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share. (Source: NPD Group, January 2012) · During the month of January, Xbox 360 held five of the top 10 U.S. console game titles including: “Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” “Battlefield 3,” “NBA 2K12” and “Just Dance 3.” (Source: NPD Group, January 2012) In 2012, Xbox 360 will again launch blockbuster games, including additions to the famed “Halo” and “Fable” franchises. The more than 50 Xbox LIVE entertainment partners will continue to expand with many more launching this year. Xbox 360 will also launch entirely new ways to interact with favorite television shows with groundbreaking experiences like “Kinect Sesame Street TV” and “Nat Geo TV,” forever changing the way people interact with entertainment. *(Source: Publicly disclosed financial data from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft)

[CaptainZombie]

Reading around, developers are concerned we could be seeing a repeat of the 1982 videogames crash all over again. Next generation needs to come soon, but even then, are people even ready for new hardware?

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by CaptainZombie

Reading around, developers are concerned we could be seeing a repeat of the 1982 videogames crash all over again. Next generation needs to come soon, but even then, are people even ready for new hardware?

I really think we may heading there and
I can't say I'd be disappointed if a crash and reboot in a few years happened.

[mestevo]

Quote: Originally Posted by CaptainZombie

Reading around, developers are concerned we could be seeing a repeat of the 1982 videogames crash all over again. Next generation needs to come soon, but even then, are people even ready for new hardware?

I don't see a reason to be concerned about something so drastic.

Yellowstone would have to erupt for the US video game market to drop to 3% of it's current revenue within 2 years. And even then, that might not be enough.

It was a baby industry then and there was plenty wrong with it, things are different now.

[Skyboxer]

It wouldn't bother me one bit if there was a crash but yeah the industry is a lot different than 82 and you're right it would need to be something major to have the same "crash" affect.