Anita-Frazier
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NPD estimates $3.40B in game sales in Q1 2012
Market research firm NPD Group has released a handful of details about the video game industry's most recent spending habits, showing a sharp decline. Compared to last year's Q1 2011 estimation of $5.9 billion, total consumer spend in the first quarter of 2012 was down to $3.40 billion. With rapidly declining sales, things may continue to get worse before they recover.The 'Q1 2012 Games Market Dynamics: U.S.' report reveals that while spend on new physical software was on the decline versus last year – with Q1 2012 achieving an estimated $1.5 billion spent on new video and PC game software tracked by the NPD Group – total spend on other forms of physical software, such as used games and rentals, only saw a minimal drop."The declines in the physical market for new physical software are well documented," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said, noting that "broader view of the industry" showed other forms of physical spend, specifically the used game and rental market, "declined by just five percent and digital format content sales grew by 10 percent as compared to Q1 2011." The one-two punch of used games and rentals reached an estimated $525 million in Q1 2012, the report says."While the growth in digital format sales does not yet offset the declines in physical format sales, clearly the changes occurring within the industry are reflected in the trends we are seeing in the research," Frazier added.
NPD: Seven reasons to expect industry growth in 2011
DICE 2011 attendees gathered today to hear NPD analyst Anita Frazier present an optimistic snapshot of consumer trends in the future, offering a tidy set of good fortunes that were, unfortunately, not hidden in crunchy little cookies (with just a hint of citrus). There was no crystal ball in sight, either, just a reasonable forecast for coming sunshine on what have been somewhat dark days for the industry as of late. Topping Frazier's list of "reasons why Gaming will grow in 2011" (over 2010) is an improved economy, in which consumers will be looking to spend. Much of the rest of the list is filled out with her expectations for just what consumers will be spending on, including smartphone gaming, digital products (DLC and social games, specifically) and motion-controlled games (with the greater adoption of motion technology). Frazier also expects increased internet connectivity and speeds to generate more impulse buying, and she indicates advergaming as a key non-consumer revenue source for industry growth this year. Frazier's most bullish expectation, however, is how "extremely excited" she is about the Nintendo 3DS, which she proclaims is "an amazing example of how technology is really going to drive an amazing, immersive consumer experience." And print money, she figures.
NPD: Final Fantasy XIII sold almost twice as many copies on PS3
Let's go back a couple of years, to E3 2008. At the Microsoft Press Conference, the company drops the news that Square Enix has agreed to release Final Fantasy XIII simultaneously on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. There is much cheering and/or weeping and gnashing of teeth, depending on which side of the console wars you are on. Two years later, in April of 2010: Final Fantasy XIII is released on both consoles simultaneously. And the most recent NPD report says that while the Xbox 360 version sold a respectable 493,000 copies, the PS3 version sold 828,000 copies -- almost twice as many. We'll let you guys sort that one out for yourselves. Do remember where the consoles were at in both places -- back in 2008, the Xbox 360 had an early lead on big software (LittleBigPlanet was Sony's biggest game of the show), and these days, PS3 sales are doing much better. But we will say that, according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, this is Final Fantasy's biggest launch ever, and that XIII has topped the first-month sales of XII by 48%. That's a lot of l'Cie.
DICE 2009: NPD says six million new gamers came to play last year
The poor brains housed inside the skulls of the 2009 DICE Summit attendees were recently ravaged by an onslaught of gaming industry statistics -- though, really, if they willingly joined the audience of a speech being delivered by NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier, they probably knew what they were getting themselves into. Here were some of the highlights: According to the group's calculations, 58 percent of Americans ages 13 and up play video games, console-based online gaming increased by two percent over the past year and retail sales of PC games have declined by 50 percent over the past seven years.However, here's the statistic that probably permeated the discussions of attendees as they left the conference hall: According to the NPD, last year saw nearly six million new gamers pick up their first controllers, a figure which lends itself to a retail market that is "very dominated by young people." The group's findings put digits to a familiar trend -- "the audience for some hardcore games is not as large as it is for more casual or family-friendly games," Frazier succinctly surmised. Seriously? We hadn't noticed.
