NPD: Wii reclaims lead in US sales, but console gaming market shrinks by a fifth
By Vladislav Savov 
posted Nov 13th 2009 11:23AM
posted Nov 13th 2009 11:23AM
The NPD has released its US video game industry figures for October, which reveal that total monthly revenue from hardware, software and accessories among all manufacturers fell to $1.07 billion, constituting a 19 percent drop from what the American gamer spent over the same period last year. After being toppled from its chart-leading ways in September by a price cut-boosted PS3, the Wii has regained its sales throne by chopping $50 off its own entry fee, making itself buoyant in the US, if not the world. The PS3's own sales have suffered a slump after the September euphoria, while the 360 is still wearing the dunce cap in third place. Microsoft's response has been to keep banging that drum about being the only console to show year-to-date growth, but when you're selling less than half as many consoles as Nintendo, you have to grasp at whatever straws are nearby. Speaking of Nintendo, its DS sales so far this year have continued at such a rate as to threaten its own 2008 hardware sales record -- set by the Wii -- with ten million units sold. So there you have it: Sony fails to maintain its September lead, Nintendo keeps churning, and Microsoft keeps hoping for better times ahead. Full list of figures after the break. US gaming hardware sales in October (source: NPD)
Nintendo Wii - 506,900
Nintendo DS - 457.600
PlayStation 3 - 320,600
Xbox 360 - 249,700
PlayStation Portable - 174,600
PlayStation 2 - 117,800
so after seeing that pic it has dawned on me... if you can catch H1N1... can you also catch R2D2???
The stormtroopers couldn't.
wow. what a lame joke.
Saved by a hilarious obsol!
heh, touché........
R2D2 is a controller whore.
...
Can i haz?
Let's talk about hardware sales AFTER the pre-holiday season. Then, numbers would be interesting.
Looking forward to read comments from fanboys on both sides being down-voted.
Well, to be fair, they said "from the same period last year"
But yeah... "oh noes! console sales down by 20% in a huge recession when everybody who wants a console already owns one and nothing new is coming out!"
I feel like microsoft doesn't give a crap about q3-4 of 2009 hardware sales anyway. They're probably focusing more on a big hardware push with natal in 2010 especially since the competition really haven't announced plans for any significant upgrades.
http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=All&cons2=PS3®2=All&cons3=X360®3=All&start=39019&end=40125
Just a blip.
I think the craziest figures are those for the PS2. I remember when it came out...in 2001. And it is still going strong.
2000*
that's true, i didn't even think about that... who the hell is still buying THAT many ps2's? They weren't able to get their hands on one over the past 9 years and finally saved up the change for one now? haha
Isn't Jason supposed to be popping up in the pictures today? Forgive me if this discussion has already taken place elsewhere.
You haven't found him yet in the R2D2 pic?
where is he?
Right are they for one console or many?
Can you run them at the same time if not what is the point?
Actually, I think everyone is mostly done with plastic instruments. The major growth the video games industry saw was mostly from Music games with plastic bundles. I personally am done buying any more of these games. And I think the market has been saturated; Hence the drop in revenue.
I have my PS3, so I'm not buying another. :) BUT I haven't bought a game for ages. They are just too expensive for my frugal brain. I have bought a couple $9.99 games from the PS3 store. That I can handle. I guess I'm just not a true gamer.
It's not that you're not a gamer, but that you're a regular person who actually has a life and isn't willing to spend loads of cash for somtehing to 'use' a 'couple of times' until you get bored of it, and you can't even try before buying, so it's kind of a blind buy...
Consoles sole purpose it's to 'steal' money from consumers. By controling the hardware, they ensure fidelity from the consumers and have green light to go nuts on the prices. Buying a console is saying that you're willing to be ripped of.
@ pnomadewolf: with such a negative view of games and gamers, why even bother with such a BS comment?
No try before you buy? Nonsense. Most games get demos. Some before release, some shortly after release. There are often gameplay videos online well before release (I'm discounting 'trailers'). Rental is a cheap option if you don't plan on keeping the game for online play. There's always trading in something if you were disappointed with it, and recouping some of your money, or holding off until it hits the bargain bins in the first place.
If someone buys a $50+ game sight unseen as an impulse buy only to hate it, the only person to blame is the ill-informed customer.
I'm waiting for Wii 2
And by Wii 2 you mean Wii 3GS
Actually, I think he's saying he wants to play with his Wii Wii.
I may be a fan of Nintendo, but I wish the Wii sales would take a dive, just so they can respond by releasing some better tech. A backwards compatible Wii HD would be nice. But I don't see it happening as long as they continue to outsell everyone with technology that is probably far cheaper to produce. They must be making a bundle. I think at launch they were making $6 profit on each Wii console (I could be wrong), but I wonder what they are making now? Console is cheaper, but the production costs must've fallen too.
Now would be a good time to release the 720. Just saying.
MS needs to turn 360 into a gaming OS. That would cut the cost in entry fee, and the potential market would be HUGE.
Well, isn't it kind of a "duh" thing? These systems have been out for several years. The more people that have them in a gaming demographic, the less people there are who don't have one, thus you don't sell as many.
R2D2 rocks
Obviously Nintendo is doing a great job of making sales happen with both the DS and Wii platform, but I have to worry that they're shooting themselves in the foot. It's the general consensus that their game catalog is less compelling, and Sony and Microsoft are giving their systems similar gimmicks to that of the Wii... I wonder if people who bought a Wii this time around will be less likely to want to buy Nintendo's next console.
And then I remember that a lot of people buying the Wii are like my sister who don't really care about a more sophisticated gaming experience than squashing mutant rabbits....
you have to take into account more then just hardware sales. These companies usually dont even make money off the consoles. You have to look at profit, and game attach rate etc. If sony is selling more systems because people are buying them for the blu ray players and only buy one game, that doesnt help sony at all. last time i heard xbox 360s attach rate was like 7 games per console.
When you say "these companies" you mean Microsoft and Sony, right? The Wii always carried a profit from the beginning while Microsoft and Sony took a hit up to $300 per console....
Well it's to be expected. The sales slowly get less and less over the period of time the console has been out for. As soon as a new console comes out, BAM!
What is with people always complaining about a company's "CONTROL" over their products. Um, did u spend millions of doillars in R&D? Did you put any money into advertising said product? did you contribute anything in any way shape or form that gives you the right to have a say in how a company distributes, maintains, or otherwise does with their products? um NO. The only say you have as a CONSUMER is the right to say yes i will buy this, or no i wont. that really the only message you need to send. If you buy the product it usually means they did something right. If the product doesnt sell then theres a reason for that as well. I think these whole "Im a PC and Windows 7 was my idea" ads are really frying peoples brains.
Being that I'm not a real gamer either (so forgive if my comment is misplaced), the report doesn't impress. Consoles, at this point, are a waste of money better spent on things that do more and control less. I lost interest after my original xBox was replaced by the 360 a year after I finally decided to throw down the scratch to buy it, then an "oh yeah, and don't expect to be able to play any of the new, cooler games on your old box" for my trouble. Nah, I'd rather get a droid than drop $150 on a Wii. In this day and age, less people are willing to spend so much money on something so limiting as a console with an entry fee comperable to that of a new laptop that they can do more with. So what, the 360 can stream in netflix watch it now...... If you've got a new win7 machine and a zune HD, what do you really need with an xbox 360? I think that is the question a lot of people are asking themselves these days.
That's my [non-gamer] opinion, anyway. (for what it's worth)
As someone who has all 3 (win7 PC, zune hd, xbox 360) i use the xbox for some casual gaming, a netflix portal, zune 1080p streaming (in preview) and as my wmc extender as my pc has the cable hooked up and i record all my tv on it and watch the live tv through the xbox. I have the zune hd dock too, but that fits into the puzzle more as a way to bring HD content outside the living room. I used to complain about the xbox HD size but since it can access my pc moviess and music library at all times, its not a big a deal anymore.
Not surprising. Sony has screwed up the PS3 in multiple ways:
1) Their most recent hardware releases are not backwards compatible with the PS2 titles. Are they stupid? The PS2 has a large catalog of games, and seeing how those consoles are selling, people obviously still like to play them. I personally didn't want a PS3 when I heard they weren't backwards compatible. In fact, I got on eBay to buy an old 60GB just so I could have that functionality.
2) With the release of firmware v3.0.1, they started to break their own hardware. It has come to light that this MANDATORY upgrade is causing overheating problems in a lot of their hardware. Much of this is the older hardware (60GB, 80GB, etc), but some of the Slims are affected by this, too. Furthermore, Sony is refusing to admit there is even a problem, and they are charging people to fix a problem they created themselves.
No wonder they are losing market share. They will continue to do so if they keep pissing their consumers off.
Also, it doesn't look like the Go even made the list. No shocker there either!
Mandatory? I'm still running 3.0.
Losing market share? Can you provide a link to the statistics you are using please?
Some of the overheating issues actually started with the 3.0 upgrade. However, yes, 3.0.1 is mandatory for some of the more recent releases. I have seen where people were forced to do this upgrade for Uncharted 2, InFamous, etc. Then their machines can no longer read BR discs or games. Here is a forum that is tracking these issues if you want more information:
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3updates&thread.id=125603
I didn't provide statistics. I just restated what was shown in the article. Their sales spiked, but they're declining again. I know plenty of people who won't buy a PS3 because it's not backwards compatible any more. The holidays might show another increase, but I guess we'll see.
@John ... did you just say the 3 leading consoles are win7 PC, zune hd, xbox 360?
@japkin ... hasn't there been a couple of firmware updates on 360 that bricked some units? At least one of them almost went to civil litigation.
Can't stand the Xbox 360 fanboi communism. Console is so overrated and everyone and there mom has got to have one by now. PS3 will still sell because it has built in blu-ray along with Bluetooth and many features among that, and which make it into a Home theater system (Which is how I converted mine) Good luck Microsoft.. I wanna see what ya got up your sleeve now to keep your market up.
Considering NPD is also a German neo nazi party that title really painted a weird image.