US April Sales

Dante · May 15, 2008

US April sales are out.

Software Sales:

Top 10 VG Titles - April'08 Units*

360 GTA IV 1.85mm

Wii Mario Kart w/ wheel 1.12mm

PS3 GTA IV 1.00mm

Wii Play 360K

Wii Super Smash Bros. Brawl 326K

PS3 Gran Turismo 5: Prologue 224K

DS Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness 202K

DS Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time 202K

Wii Guitar Hero III 152K

360 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 141K

*includes bundles, collector's editions, GOTY editions

Hardware Sales:

Wii 714.2K
Nintendo DS 414.8K
PSP 192.7K
Xbox 360 188.0K
PlayStation 3 187.1K
PlayStation 2 124.4K

LTDs:

Wii:

Wii Play: 5.470.757

SSBB: 3.026.000

GHIII: 2.136.100

360:

CODIV: 4.040.504

Helmsly · May 15, 2008

Wii 714.2K
Nintendo DS 414.8K

Oh my...

....

LazyBoy · May 16, 2008

Hey Dante, what are the current worldwide figures for No More Heroes?

Shino · May 16, 2008

Hey Dante, what are the current worldwide figures for No More Heroes?

Its a sad story, 290k units.

LazyBoy · May 16, 2008

Its a sad story, 290k units.

That hurts me.

Zelda_Rulez · May 16, 2008

PS3 and Xbox360 hardware sales are surprisingly low considering GTAIV's release. Nintendo dominating as usual.

Dante · May 16, 2008

April 08:

360 TOM CLANCY RAINBOW SIX VEGAS 2: ~105K

PSP GOD OF WAR CHAINS OLYMPUS: ~65K

NDS THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU: ~45K

NDS NINJA GAIDEN DRAGON SWORD ~25K

-----

Rough LTDs:

360 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE: ~4.0 million

360 TOM CLANCY RAINBOW SIX VEGAS: ~855K

WII SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAW: ~3.0 million

WII GUITAR HERO III: ~2.15 million

PSP GOD OF WAR CHAINS OLYMPUS: ~400K

-----

Hardware LTD:

PS2: ~42.0 million

NDS: ~19.5 million

PSP: ~11.5 million

360: ~10.1 million

Wii: ~9.5 million

PS3: ~4.2 million

-----

WII PLAY W/REMOTE - WTF:

February 07 - 371K

March 07 - 273K

April 07 - 249K

May 07 - 227K

June 07 - 293K

July 07 - 278K

August 07 - 257K

September 07 - 282K

October 07 - 240K

November 07 - 564K

December 07 - 1.1 million

January 08 - 298K

February 08 - 290K

March 08 - 410K

April 08 - 360K

LTD: ~5.5 million

Dante · May 19, 2008

Next Gens Analysis.

The interesting bits;

GTA4

One could also ask: What percentage of people who owned a PS2 when each GTA game launched actually purchased that game during its first month on the market? The answers are: 6% for GTA3, 12% for Vice City, and 8% for San Andreas.

For GTA4, we would ask what percentage of people who owned a PS3 or Xbox 360 also purchased the game during its first month on the market? The answer is very impressive: 20% of system owners bought the game. That is, 1 out of every 5 owners of a PS3 or Xbox 360 also has a copy of GTA4. If GTA4 sales remain strong during the next couple of months, we can expect that attach rate to rise.

By looking just at hardware sales and known software sales figures from the top 10, we can establish a minimum that consumers spent on the Wii in April 2008: $280 million. We estimate that at least $100 million more can be attributed to the Wii (from third party software and accessories), putting it close to $400 million, or nearly 1/3 of all videogame dollars spent during the month of April. Add in sales of Nintendo DS hardware (over $50 million) and Pokemon software (over $14 million) along with all other Nintendo DS software and Nintendo could easily have sold in excess of $500 million, nearing a majority of the videogame market for the month. (For the record, we have requested figures directly in the past, but the NPD Group does not supply this data to the press.)

As the graph above reveals, the industry is breaking the records set just a year ago. Already the first four months of 2008 have surpassed the first five months of 2007. Looking further back, more revenue was generated in the first four months of 2008 than was generated in the first eight months of 2005.

Sales

Matt Matthews offers up in-depth analysis of this month's NPD stats. Here you'll find new perspective on the launch of GTA IV, in a historical framework. Also, detailed insight into the strange twists and turns in the hardware race. If you only read one feature this month, make sure it's this one...

Expectations ran high Thursday as the NPD Group released its figures for April 2008 videogame sales. Both Sony and Microsoft representatives had spoken publicly about increases in hardware sales alongside the release of Grand Theft Auto 4. The actual figures were shockingly low: neither the Xbox 360 nor the PlayStation 3 had sold more than 190,000 units during the April period.

Even more amazing, the Nintendo Wii had sold in excess of 700,000 systems for the month. As we tour the April 2008 numbers for hardware and software, we'll cover the overall console race, possible price drops, historical perspective on the launch figures for Grand Theft Auto 4, and try to estimate how much of the market value we can attribute to each of the big three – Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony.

The Microsoft Outlook

While Microsoft indicated it saw an increase in Xbox 360 sales alongside the launch of GTA4, sales for the month were lower than many expected. Some analysts have indicated that the expected bump in hardware sales will appear in the May sales figures. Regardless, the pressure is now on Microsoft to drop its prices.

Looking back, Microsoft chose to maintain the launch pricing of the Xbox 360 from November 2005 until August 2007. Apparently this resistance to price cutting helped push the Xbox project into the black, as had been previously promised. However, given the jump in sales after the price drop, Microsoft may have held its own platform back and lost significant ground to the Nintendo Wii in the meantime.

Microsoft probably should have cut the price of the Xbox 360 in February of this year. With a surefire product like GTA4 imminent, such a price cut would have spurred sales and set the stage for a very strong April. Remember that by the time Vice City launched on the PS2, that console was selling for only $200. However, if we take Microsoft's claim of hardware shortages earlier this year at face value, then it is entirely possible that an earlier price drop would simply have exacerbated its uncomfortable position. That is, it would have been in the embarrassing situation of dropping prices while not being able to offer the system to consumers.

Microsoft still has a strong software portfolio, and both Madden NFL 09 and Gears of War 2 should sell very well in the second half of the year. Provided its supply issues have been worked out, Microsoft should drop its hardware prices by $50 across the board. In doing so, it will undercut the Nintendo Wii while also putting downward pressure on the PlayStation 3.

The Sony Outlook

Just last week Sony executives appeared to signal that a price drop was not in the cards for the PlayStation 3. In particular, Nobuyuki Oneda (Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer) said that Sony expected to ship around 10 million PS3 systems in the coming year (a very modest year-on-year increase) and that they did not think they would need to adjust prices to reach that shipment target. The motive here is profitability, perhaps at the expense of marketshare.

A look at the monthly sales figures for the PS3, however, reveals that when the rate drops low enough Sony is forced to make adjustments. Sony first adjusted in July 2007, after system sales had dropped for several months straight. After a short bump, PS3 sales began to decline again going into the Holiday 2007 period, and Sony reduced the top price of its system to $500 and introduced its $400 model. Now system sales are declining again, and if they continue through May, a summer price drop seems Sony's only option.

It does have the alternative of adding value to the PS3, and for once this doesn't mean packing a game in with the system. Sony has announced that it will begin to introduce a video service in the near future, perhaps as early as this summer. If the PlayStation 3 can position itself as a video-on-demand player with quality content, an inexpensive Blu-Ray player, as well as a machine that plays Grand Theft Auto 4, then Sony could well have a winning combination. This adjustment, however, will not attract consumers who simply do not (or cannot) spend $400 on an entertainment device, regardless of the features.

If the PSP and PlayStation 2 were still providing a strong foundation for Sony, then the PS3 might still have time to find its footing. However, April marks two months of decreasing weekly sales rates for all three of its hardware platforms. It is unclear how much longer Sony can rely on impressive sounding “PlayStation brand” sales figures after each month's NPD figures are released.

The Nintendo Outlook

What to say about Nintendo that we haven't already said? Wii hardware sales have increased in tandem with increasing supply and Nintendo games are regularly taking several spots in the top 10 software chart. As noted last month, they are supplying their own big games on a regular basis and setting the standard for how to make successful software. The only thing they could do in addition to their current strategy is help more third parties break into the top 10.

The only question we have at this point is whether we will continue to see monthly declines in Nintendo DS hardware sales. Would Nintendo be more likely at this point to refresh the Nintendo DS hardware as it did in mid-2006, drop the price of the existing system, or look toward a new handheld?

With such robust hardware and software sales, it will be interesting to watch how well-received Wii Fit is during May. Expect a lot of discussion to be generated should Wii Fit make the top 10 software chart in May.

Marketshare Estimates: Nintendo on Top

Recently we have been interested in what share of the market can be attributed to each of the big three (Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony). In January and February of this year, Microsoft's press releases gave monthly consumer spending data on the Xbox 360 (including software and accessories), as well as cumulative LTD consumer spending on the Xbox 360. In March and April, however, only the LTD figures appeared in Microsoft's press materials. Here is a possible explanation for the missing monthly spend figures: consumers are now spending more per month on the Nintendo Wii than they are on the Xbox 360.

By looking just at hardware sales and known software sales figures from the top 10, we can establish a minimum that consumers spent on the Wii in April 2008: $280 million. We estimate that at least $100 million more can be attributed to the Wii (from third party software and accessories), putting it close to $400 million, or nearly 1/3 of all videogame dollars spent during the month of April. Add in sales of Nintendo DS hardware (over $50 million) and Pokemon software (over $14 million) along with all other Nintendo DS software and Nintendo could easily have sold in excess of $500 million, nearing a majority of the videogame market for the month. (For the record, we have requested figures directly in the past, but the NPD Group does not supply this data to the press.)

We can get at the Nintendo figure another way: subtracting Microsoft's and Sony's marketshares from the total value of the market in April. According to Sony's press release last week, the “PlayStation brand” accounted for $387 million of sales for the month. Moreover, Microsoft's press releases have indicated that consumers had spent $9.4 billion on the Xbox 360 through the end of March and $9.7 billion on the Xbox 360 through the end of April. So the maximum value of the Xbox 360 market in April was $390 million. The remainder is over $450 million, and that should all belong to Nintendo.

Either way, it appears that Nintendo accounted for around $450 to $500 million of the videogame industry's revenue in April 2008. We will try to keep track of these figures in future months to see how these figures change.

Zero · May 19, 2008

It looks like the Wii is printing money now (not that it hadn't been already)

I'm surprised that Wii Play is still selling so much and that Mario Kart sold more than the PS3 GTA4 in april. I thought the hardware sales would have increased by a lot but, obviously not.

And that chart in the first post is brillant.

Dante · May 21, 2008

First 18 months Software:

Wii: 50.000.000

PS2: 42.000.000

360: 30.000.000

XBX: 28.000.000

PS3: 20.000.000

First 18 months Hardware:

Wii: 9.500.000

PS2: 8.500.000

360: 5.200.000

PS3: 4.200.000

Tie Ratio:

360: 5,77

Wii: 5,26

PS2: 4,94

PS3: 4,76

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