Wii Price Drop Spurs Sales

Nintendo anticipates a big holiday season.

The September NPD numbers are now available and it's no surprise that Nintendo is once again seeing great success with its breakthrough console and wildly popular handheld. Even though the PS3 took the top spot for hardware sales, it seems as though the price drop could push Nintendo back up top at the end of the year.

Wii sales increased by 185, 468 units in September, a 67% increase over August. This can mostly be attributed to the price drop that affected the last week of NPD's reported numbers for the month. Meanwhile the DS broke 500,000 units in the month of September, trouncing the PSP by over 300,000 units. We'll have to wait until next month to find out if the newly released PSPgo evens the playing field.

Nintendo shows little signs of slowing down. Nintendo of America remarked on the data: "We anticipate increased momentum through the holidays. Consumer sampling events are now underway, and we expect to interact with over a million people before year end."

We'll keep an eye on Nintendo's rate of success as we head towards the holiday season.

NPD: Nintendo Hardware Still Top

Nintendo's systems outsold all competitors in March, but key third-party titles failed to make the cut.

It's that time of the month again. Yep -- NPD's anticipated top-selling videogame hardware and software recap, this time for March. As is usually the case, Nintendo's own two systems ranked number-one and two, Wii with 610,000 units sold and DS with 563,000 respectively. Microsoft's console managed the third spot with 330,000 more units moved. PlayStation 3 came in fourth with 218,000. PSP 168,000. And PS2 -- nearly a decade after its release -- sold to another 112,000 people.

While Nintendo held the top positions in hardware, the same could not be said of its software showing for the month. Capcom's Resident Evil 5 was the big winner with 938,000 units sold on Xbox 360, easily earning it the number-one spot. Nintendo made a killing with the DS Pokemon Platinum, managing to suck in 805,000 new gamers. Halo Wars debuted strongly for the third spot with 639,000 units. Resident Evil 5 for PS3 took fourth with 585,000. And old trusty, Wii Fit, filled out the top five with another 541,000 in sales. MLB '09: The Show proved successful with 305,000 sold. Killzone 2 added 296,000 to its roster for seventh place. Wii Play manaed another 281,000 for eigth. Mario Kart Wii another 278,000. And Major League Baseball 2K9 for Xbox 360 rounded out the top 10 with 205,000 sold.

Perhaps the biggest news is what didn't make the top 10 list. Namely, SEGA's MadWorld, which released March 11 and sold less than 205,000 copies. The company gambled that Wii owners would be willing to snap up a well-produced, mature-rated title, and thus far the results do not look promising. We've got queries into NPD for specifics, so stay tuned.

NPD: Wii and DS Destroy February

Nintendo's systems outsell all others again. And Wii Fit is officially unstoppable.

The NPD Group released February videogame sales figures on Thursday and, somewhat predictably, Nintendo's systems again stole the show. On top of that, sales of key Nintendo titles like Wii Fit proves that when it comes to shelf life, nobody can touch the company's software.

Wii sold 753,000 units for the month to take the number-one spot. DS grabbed number-two with 588,000 units sold. Xbox 360 pulled in another 391,000 gamers. PS3 another 276,000. PSP 199,000 and PS2 131,000.

The top-selling game for the month was Wii Fit with a whopping 644,000 units sold, according to NPD. For the record, Nintendo's exercise program shipped in America last May -- nearly a year ago. With February totals considered, accumulative U.S. sales of Wii Fit are now higher than those for Grand Theft Auto 4 and Halo 3 on Xbox 360. Don't forget -- Wii Fit costs $89.99, too. Whether you appreciate the software or not, it's hard to deny the success of Nintendo's strategy.

Capcom's Street Fighter IV grabbed the second and third selling spots on Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively with 446,000 and 403,000 sold. In fourth, Wii Play, with another 386,000 sold. The title and its controller pack-in has sold more than 10 million copies in America. Killzone 2 managed to suck in 323,000 players for the fifth spot. Mario Kart took sixth with 263,000 sold. Call of Duty: World at War for 360 fragged 193,000 players for seventh. The eighth top-seller went to Mario Kart DS with 145,000 units. Ninth to New Super Mario Bros. with 144,000 in sales. And Guitar Hero: World Tour for Wii rounded out the top 10 with 136,000 in additional units sold.

"Wii Play mini-games are fun and they get people playing together," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing. "Even if you believe people are buying Wii Play solely for the controller, that indicates that there are now more than 10 million people who have an extra Wii Remote controller in their homes. When added to the 12.7 million Wii Remote controllers that have sold separately, this reinforces the growing 'social gaming' trend we have been seeing where friends and family use their Wii games as a social hub – both in person and online."

NPD: Wii and DS Rule Galaxy as Father and Son

The numbers don't lie. Nintendo's hardware prints money, but so does its software.

The December sales figures are in from the NPD Group and once again Nintendo's two platforms outperformed all competitors by a wide margin. DS was the month's top-seller with 3.04 million units moved. Wii sold to another 2.15 million users. Xbox 360 1.44 million. PSP 1.02 million. PlayStation 3 726,000. And PlayStation 2, 410,000.

The top-selling games for December, as follows:

1. Wii Play w/ Wii Remote -- 1.46 million
2. Call of Duty: World at War (360) -- 1.33 million
3. Wii Fit -- 999,000
4. Mario Kart Wii -- 979,000
5. Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii) -- 850,000
6. Gears of War 2 -- 745,000
7. Left 4 Dead -- 629,000
8. Mario Kart DS -- 540,000
9. Call of Duty: World at War (PS3) -- 533,000
10. Animal Crossing: City Folk -- 497,000

Wii controlled five of the Top 10 slots for the month. Wii Play (which includes a controller) continued its reign at the top. More interestingly is the shelf life of Wii Fit, a $90 game that released last May and still sold almost a million copies in December. Also of note, Guitar Hero World Tour apparently sold 850,000 copies in December, just for Wii. It's clear that the franchise officially performs best on Nintendo's system.

Perhaps most shocking of all are the best-sellers of the year. According to NPD data, Nintendo owned the top four slots in 2008 with Wii Play (5.2 million), Mario Kart Wii (5.0 million), Wii Fit (4.53 million) and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (4.17 million). These titles outsold Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360 (3.29 million), Call of Duty 4: World at War 360 (2.75 million), Gears of War 2 (2.31 million), Grand Theft Auto IV PS3 (1.89 million), Madden NFL 09 360 (1.87 million) and finally, Mario Kart Wii (1.65 million).

By the way, Nintendo also sold 865,000 copies of Wii Music in 2008, we're sorry to report.

NPD News: November Sales Numbers

Bad economy? What bad economy?

Despite terrifying news to the contrary, it appears that the economy (at least in the land of videogames) did quite well for what is typically the biggest shopping month of the year. The industry as a whole grew ten percent over 2007, rising from 2.64 billion in sales to 2.91 billion in total sales for this November. The same goes for videogame hardware sales which were up 10 percent from 1.1 billion to 1.21 billion, as well as videogame software which is up 11 percent from 1.31 billion to 1.45 billion. Add hardware, software and accessories sales together and thus far in 2008 people have spent 22 percent more this year than last, totaling out at 16.04 billion as opposed to 13.14 billion this time last year.

But now for the section that everyone wants to know about: console sales. Here's the breakdown:

PlayStation 2 – 206K
PlayStation 3 – 378K
PSP – 421K
Xbox 360 – 836K
Wii – 2.04 Million
Nintendo DS – 1.57 Million

The biggest surprise in all those statistics is that Xbox 360 more than doubled the sales of PlayStation 3, despite both systems seeing monster titles release this past month. Of course, looking at the software breakdown reveals the reason why. Here are the top 10 selling videogames for the month of November 2008:

1. Gears of War 2 - Xbox 360
2. Call of Duty: World at War - Xbox 360
3. Wii Play w/Remote - Wii
4. Wii Fit - Wii
5. Mario Kart - Wii
6. Call of Duty: World at War - PS3
7. Guitar Hero World Tour - PS3
8. Left 4 Dead - Xbox 360
9. Resistance 2 - PS3
10. Wii Music - Wii

Wii Sales Through the Roof

Nintendo's system outsells Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PSP combined. 

Sales of Nintendo's little white console were off the charts in October, according to new data released by the NPD Group. Wii sold 803,000 units for the month, singlehandedly outselling Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PSP combined. Microsoft's console sold through 371,000 units; PS3 190,000 and PSP 193,000. PS2, meanwhile, picked up another 136,000 players. 

"The greater supply of Wii hardware at retail is evident in the sales figures for the month with the Wii enjoying its best sales month outside of last November and December," said analyst Anita Frazier. 

The games industry as a whole grew 18 percent year-over-year in October and is still poised to top $22 billion in annual sales through the end of the year, ignoring all signs of a recession. 

The top-selling Wii game in October was, again, Wii Fit, with 487,000 units sold. Mario Kart Wii sold 290,000 copies and Wii Play picked up another 282,000 converts. The top-seller for the month, however, was Fable II, with a massive 790,000 copies sold during the month. 

The top three best-selling Wii games demonstrate the unprecedentedly long shelf life that some software enjoys on Nintendo's system. Not only has Wii Play, packed with a remote, sold upward of 7.2 million copies in America, but a quick glance at Wii Fit's sales progress would show an increase in momentum as the months have passed, virtually unheard of. 

"There is no way for us to know for sure how long consumers will respond at this current level to Wii Fit," said NOA's VP of corporate affairs, Denise Kaigler. "We are certainly very pleased to see more and more consumers continuing to 'discover' Wii Fit and hearing stories about how they then talk to their friends and family about it. There is no doubt that word of mouth is helping to fuel the continued popularity of the game." 

Wii Fit has sold more than 2.8 million copies since its release in May and remains one of the few games whose sales numbers have actually increased in some months since its release. If this momentum keeps up, some analysts have projected that the $89 title could ultimately outsell games like Grand Theft Auto 4 by the end of 2009 on its way to becoming one of the best-selling so-called games this generation. 

Continued high sales of games like Wii Fit, Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii, all of which incidentally ship with some kind of attachment or peripheral, illustrate a very different business model for Nintendo, one more in common with a manufacturer of a DVD-player than a videogame machine. Whereas new videogames fall out of fashion within weeks, the back-catalog for Hollywood movies is forever flourishing -- a truth that has left more than a few videogame publishers envious. With its mass-consumerism approach, Nintendo seems to be enjoying the fruits traditionally reserved for Hollywood studios.

NPD: US game sales slip 7 percent in Sept.

Final summer month's $1.27 billion haul falls just short to Halo 3-boosted '07 sales; 360 sales up 78 percent postprice cut; Force Unleashed, Wii Fit, and Rock Band 2 top games. 

September 2007 was a banner month for the US game industry. Halo 3 mania and brisk Wii sales helped boost total US game sales--which include hardware, software, and, accessories--to a massive $1.3 billion for that month, according to figures from industry-research firm The NPD Group. 

One year later, the story is slightly different. During September 2008, the game industry didn't deliver quite the same punch as during the same period a year ago, bringing in $1.27 billion for the month. 

"This is the first true monthly decline the industry has experienced since March of 2006," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier in a statement disavowing January's slightly skewed figures. "It's important to keep in mind, however, that this month's 7 percent decline is against a month that itself was up 75 percent from the prior September." 

On the hardware front, Nintendo took home the gold and silver yet again, with the Wii placing first with 687,000 units sold and the DS second with 536,800 units sold. However, Microsoft's dramatic price reduction of the Xbox 360--the cheapest model is now just $199--paid off in the form of a 78 percent jump in sales volume. The console sold 347,200 units during September, up from just 195,000 in August. That was enough to put it past the PlayStation 3 (234,000 units) and its smaller sibling, the PSP (238,100 units). Xbox 360 sales may further increase once all three models of the 360 are bundled with games later this month. 

However, despite the high sales volume, monthly hardware revenue was actually down 9 percent year over year, going from $545.7 million in September to $498.0 million. "Hardware unit sales were flat versus last year, so the decline in dollars is due to lower prices," said Frazier. "The average retail price of hardware across all platforms declined 8 percent from last September." 

The lack of a Halo 3-level blockbuster also caused overall software revenues to decline six percent in September, sliding from $656.5 million to $616.1 million. As expected, the big software hit of the month was LucasArts' Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Three versions of the mildly praised game made it into the top 10, with a total of 1.16 million units: The 360 edition came in first with 610,000 units, followed by the PS3 version (325,000 units) and the Wii iteration (223,000 units). 

The only other top 10 newcomer was the 360 edition of Electronic Arts' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, which came in sixth place with 297,000 copies sold. However, the marginally reviewed game's publisher was well-represented in the top 10, scoring two slots for the 360 (8th, 224,000 units) and PlayStation 2 (10th, 158,000) installments of Madden NFL 09. MTV Games' Rock Band 2, which EA distributes, had a solid debut in third place with 363,000 units. The rhythm-series sequel is due out on the PS3 this month, with PS2 and Wii editions to follow in December. 

The rest of the September top 10 game chart belonged entirely to Nintendo. Wii Fit didn't sweat lukewarm reviews, coming in second with 518,000 units despite being on the market since May. One month prior, Mario Kart Wii pulled into stores, but that didn't stop it from a fourth-place finish in September with 353,000 units. Older still is Wii Play, which debuted in February 2007. Despite the fact that the package is simply a Wii Remote packed in with a rudimentary game, NPD still insists on classifying the product as software--software that had a seventh-place finish with 243,000 units sold. 

Speaking of classification foibles, NPD continues to not count PC game sales in its monthly video game figures, instead lumping them in with general software figures. However, Frazier took the step of calling out two PC games that launched in September. "Spore realized sales of 406,000 units and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning sold 274,000, which would put them both in the top 10 list of combined console, portable, and PC games sales for the month," she noted. Unfortunately, NPD does not release such a combined top 10 list to the public. 

US VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY - SEPTEMBER 2008
Software: $616.1M (-6%)
Hardware: $498.0M (-9%)
Accessories: $152.6M (-3%)
Total Games: $1.27B (-7%) 

TOP-SELLING HARDWARE - SEPTEMBER 2008
Wii--687,000
Nintendo DS--536,800
Xbox 360--347,200
PlayStation Portable--238,100
PlayStation 3--232,400
PlayStation 2--173,500 

TOP-SELLING SOFTWARE - SEPTEMBER 2008
Title / Publisher / Units*
1) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360) / LucasArts / 610,000
2) Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (WII) / Nintendo / 518,000
3) Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360) / MTV Games/Electronic Arts / 363,000
4) Mario Kart Wii w/ Wheel (WII) / Nintendo / 353,000
5) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3) / LucasArts / 325,000
6) Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (Xbox 360) / Electronic Arts / 297,000
7) Wii Play w/ Remote (WII) / Nintendo / 243,000
8) Madden NFL 09 (Xbox 360) / Electronic Arts / 224,000
9) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (WII) / LucasArts / 223,000
10) Madden NFL 09 (PS2) / Electronic Arts / 158,000 

* Figures include Collector's Editions and non-hardware bundles.