Attach-Rate
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100 comments at least: Console attach rates
Gamasutra Ah, attach rates. We know how much you love them. Gamasutra has compiled a fascinating and pleasingly colorful set of graphs highlighting the latest known tie ratios, both for first- and third-party titles, of the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. As the article notes, tie ratio can used to gauge the "health" of a system, with a higher number indicating more games being sold for every system escaping its retail self.Comparing each system within their first 23 months on sale, the Xbox 360 had the highest third-party software tie ratio at 5.2, followed by the PS3 with 4.4 and the Wii with 3.1. The Xbox 360 has since gone on to establish a combined first- and third-party ratio of 8.1 after 35 months on the market. Interestingly, the Wii's ratio has remained quite consistent throughout 2008 -- certainly a positive result in the face of continued success in the hardware arena. Remember, a high attach ratio may sometimes indicate diminishing hardware sales, with consumers spending more on software as a system matures.
Wii's decent software tie ratio highlighted by SCIENCE
It's that time again, readers -- time to roll our sleeves up and get elbow-deep in some graphs. Woo! These examples are from the graph experts at Gamasutra, and smash a myth that has hung around the Wii too long for our liking: that the console has a rubbish tie ratio (the number of games sold per console). Indeed, the PS3 is marginally behind Nintendo's platform in this respect. Not bad for a console that, unlike the PS3, comes with a free game to get started! A second graph at Gamasutra confirms that the Wii's tie ratio has very slightly improved during 2008.One Wii myth this data does reinforce is that Nintendo totally dominates the Wii software scene; again, it's a familiar complaint, but there's obviously some credibility to it.
NPD releases home console attach rate ratios: PS3 not so hot
Uh-oh! It's a stint of bad news for the PS3-lovin' populace. NPD's latest batch of arbitrary data we trust so dearly has listed the current standing of home consoles in reference to their software attach rate. Guess who's at the bottom of the list? Well, technically the PSP, but the PS3 is if we're counting consoles and not handhelds. The breakdown goes like this: Xbox 360: software sales ratio: 7.5 Wii: software sales ratio: 5.3 PS3: software sales ratio: 4.6 This can be chocked up to a number of reasons, which we'll allow you to speculate in our comments section. The PSP was slightly behind the PS3 with 4.2 just in case you were wondering. Install base? Sheer number of games? Price of the console? Versatility of the console? Reliability? Who knows, but despite saying the PS3 is at "the bottom" sort of discounts the fact that on average, people have 4-5 games as soon as they buy their system. That's great!
NPD's latest software tie ratios for consoles
With Nintendo announcing its global software tie ratio (attach rate) this morning, we were curious to know what the current software sales ratio was in the States for current-gen consoles. We contacted NPD, which gave us its latest figures. The data represents the amount of software sold per console divided by the number of consoles sold in the US. Xbox 360: software sales ratio: 7.5 Wii: software sales ratio: 5.3 PS3: software sales ratio: 4.6 Just for kicks, we asked about the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, which have the ratios of 4.7 and 4.2 respectively. The data shows a significant change since the last time we checked in half a year ago. The Xbox 360 has maintained its solid lead, but the Wii has rallied from 3.4 to 5.3. As always, we do have to take "software" top-seller Wii Play skewing the data into account, but Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Guitar Hero III also helped. The PS3 has ticked up one game from 3.5 to 4.6. The real takeaway from this data is that console owners are growing their software library no matter which console they own.
Poking holes in the New York Times's claims
Refuting perceived negative statements against your console of choice is usually a very petty, fanboy kind of thing to do, but the New York Times' recent coverage of the Wii's terrible attach rate deserves it. The article has some problems that make the Wii seem to be in a worse situation than it is, though we don't know whether it's an intentional angle or a bit of haphazard reporting. John Scalzo of the Video Game Librarian blog identified some of the issues. Scalzo identifies the paper's dependence on numbers from VGChartz (a "a team of analysts who study video-game sales"), their claim that Smash Bros. sales have tanked, and their spurious analysis of Guitar Hero III sales as noticeable problems with the coverage. The last is especially startling: the NYT claims that "Guitar Hero, for example, sold 2.2 million copies for the Wii, but 2.8 million copies for the Xbox 360 and almost 5 million for two versions of the PlayStation," bringing in the PS2 to make its point. "The only way the author could get the numbers he was looking for," Scalzo said, "was to combine the sales of Guitar Hero III on the PS2 and PS3 to push it past the Wii."Hit the break for some of our own thoughts on the article.
360 attach rate now 7 games per console
The Wii may consistently take the console sales crown, but there is no denying that the Xbox 360 sells the most software. As if to drive this point home, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell recently told CNBC that the Xbox 360's life-to-date attach rate now rests at seven games sold per Xbox 360 Console. As Eurogamer points out, the latest attach rate is significantly higher than the 5.3 attach rate reported last January. Further illustrating just how momentous this feat is, Liddell pointed out that 360 owners are now spending more money on games than an Xbox 360 itself. It's an important point to make, especially for third party publishers. After all, companies want their games where the money is.[Via Eurogamer]
Microsoft: 17.7 million Xbox 360s and 8.1 million copies of Halo 3 sold worldwide
Microsoft sent out a little email of jubilation this evening touting sales figures for the Xbox 360 and a few of its published titles. Microsoft states it has sold 17.7 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide and although the NPD numbers aren't out yet for December, the Xbox 360 sales should be higher than the 770K sold in November. Not including the data from December, Microsoft says it currently has a hardware to software ratio of 6.9; that's a .3 increase since we last checked all the consoles in October.Speaking of software, "teh Haloz" was sold 8.1 million copies since launching Sept. 25 and it appears the statistic that around 50% of Xbox 360 owners have Halo 3 is not just a US number, but a global figure. In a great sign for fans of dramatic space operas, Mass Effect sold 1.6 million units since introducing us to interstellar pleasure Nov. 20 -- keep those Hanar tentacles crossed for a sequel announcement this year. The full NPD numbers will hit the streets on Jan. 17 to give us the full details of this very merry consumermas.
Wii Warm Up: Attachment
One of the lesser-discussed topics that came up during Reggie's little tête-à-tête with various members of the press was the Wii's attach rate, which he compared to that of the PS2 at a similar point in that system's lifespan. Well, we figured it was our place to test that, so we have to ask: how many games have you bought? What about people you know? We're curious about the numbers, and not just this year, but since the system debuted last year.
European HD DVD Group talks attach rate numbers
We focus on the U.S. market, but the European HD DVD Group just issued some numbers that caught our attention. Yes indeed -- more fuel for the format war, just in time to stoke the fires again. The European faction of team red didn't talk unit sales, but is proudly touting attach rate numbers, and with good reason. After doing the math across six countries and accounting for both standalone and console-based players, HD DVD enjoyed an attach rate of 3.8 vs. Blu-ray's figure of 0.6. Ouch. Spain posted the highest HD DVD attach rate (5.7 compared to 0.4 for Blu-ray). Now, one number doesn't tell the whole story any more than one region will dictate the entire format war; but it's an interesting number still. When you consider that HD DVD releases are less restricted by distribution rights in Europe than here in the U.S., the European playing field is closer to the "let the consumer decide" model we'd really like to see. Expect a Blu-ray response in 5... 4...
HD DVD backers see big 2007 ahead
The North American HD DVD Promotional Group took advantage of its press event to spread the good news about HD DVD, noting that over 300 additional HD DVD titles should be arriving in 2007. As of January 5th, the group estimates there were more than 175,000 HD DVD players sold in America, with an annualized attach rate of 28 movies per player. The group projects sales will reach 2.5 million players by the end of this year and more than $600 million worth of movie revenues. HD DVD buyers can look forward to more HDi enhanced titles, now featuring internet features that were demoed at the event, as well as more players hitting the market from manufacturers like Lite-On, Alco, Alpine, Meridian and Onkyo. Look for the trend of combo releases to continue, as the format's backers see it as a viable way of introducing current DVD owners to the format and building a library prior to upgrading. With Sony already hitting 1 million PS3s shipped and HD via IPTV picking up steam HD DVD surely has its work cut out for it in 2007 but with a slew of reference quality releases and enhanced hardware offerings they expect to hit all their goals.
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Wii gets nearly double PS3's attach rate in Japan
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Wii_gets_nearly_double_PS3_s_attach_rate_in_Japan'; Nintendo's of Japan's rosy Wii launch looked even rosier today as Media Create unveiled preliminary sales figures giving the machine a 1.8 attach rate, trouncing the PS3's "I'm only buying it to sell on Yahoo auctions" 0.98 attach rate. While this may seem low compared to the States, it's a lot better than the Japanese Cube's 1.2 launch attach rate and the Japanese DS's paltry 0.89. The top ten games and hardware sales were: Wii hardware: 350,358 Wii Sports: 176,167 Wii Play: 174,297 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: 139,011 Odoru Made in Wario: 63,954 Swing Golf Pangya: 12,908 Ennichi no Tatsujin: 10,763 Red Steel: 9,392 SD Gundam SCAD Hammers: 9,226 Tamagotchi Pika Pika Daitouryou: 8,042 Elebits: 5,791 As rosy as these sales figures are for Nintendo, they're a bit of a kick in the teeth to third-parties, whose offerings achieved sales that can only be described as comparatively weak. Third-parties have always struggled to compete with Nintendo's acclaimed first- and second-party development teams and, according to these preliminary numbers, it seems that this trend will continue on the Wii. It'll be interesting, and important, to see how third-party titles fare on the Wii in the upcoming months.
High attach rate equals bad news for 360?
The 360's high attach rate has been a big boasting point for Microsoft for some time now. After all, it's only natural to claim success when everyone who buys your console also buys an average of 5 games. It all sounds rosy, but according to the Susquehanna Financial Group, the 360's high attach rate may be indicative of its ultimate failure. "How the hell does that make sense?" you ask, and with good reason. The Susquehanna Financial Group believes that the high attach rate could indicate that the 360 attracts more "hardcore" gamers and fewer "casual" gamers. Again, this sounds like a good thing, because hardcore gamers buy more games. However, if the 360 isn't attracting casual gamers (who far outnumber hardcore gamers), then its overall installed base will never grow. From a publisher's perspective, it's always better to have more potential customers. As the analysts at SIG put it, "a console with an attach rate of 8 and an installed base of 50 million is superior to a console with an attach rate of 12 with an installed base of 20 [million]." In other words, attach rates are less meaningful if the installed base isn't large enough to back it up.Still, it may be a little early to declare that the 360 is the next Dreamcast, a failed machine with a dedicated following. The 360 is still young, and many people have been waiting for the Wii and PS3 to arrive before they made their decision. If anything, the new console war is only just beginning.[Via Joystiq]
Is the Xbox 360's high attach rate bad?
The Xbox 360 has been riding high on a wave of good news. From boosts in stock performance to Sony's stumbles, it would appear all is happy in Microsoft Land. However, for every Candyland we find there's bound to be some tooth decay. Susquehanna Financial Group has calculated that the Xbox 360's attach rate is currently a 5.2 (meaning there are 5.2 games circulating for every Xbox 360 console sold). While the number may seem impressive up-front, the high attach rate could ultimately predict the 360's failure. The idea is that casual gamers don't buy a lot of games, but there are many more of them; a high attach rate indicates a hardcore crowd. According to SIG, "an attach rate of 8 and an installed base of 50 million is superior to a console with an attach rate of 12 with an installed base of 20 [million]." A high attach rate is a good thing early in a console's life -- publishers know they can pull a profit early on -- however, as time goes by, those same publishers will find that competing for those 5.2 units sold will become difficult when the install base doesn't grow. If the Xbox 360 still has a high attach rate, it is not outside the realm of possibility that it will be an enthusiast machine, not a mass-marketable product (SIG thinks the PS3 may be worse). However, if the console is selling for a major loss, a high attach rate may not be a bad idea.
360 games rock the sales charts
Microsoft released some updated retail sales numbers yesterday, and the results are good. First, the big M reiterated its goal of shipping 10 million Xbox 360 consoles by the end of Holiday '06, and 13-15 million by the end of the fiscal year in June '07. As for the numbers, the 360 has maintained a very high accessory attach rate at 2.9 accessories per console (apparently a record). Of course, this is somewhat misleading as Microsoft has made accessory purchases somewhat essential (battery chargers, play n' charge, memory card, etc.). It would be interesting to see what the attach rate is for optional accessories like faceplates.Software attach rates are also becoming larger, with an average of 4.6 games sold per console. Most of our readers will know that 4.6 is a very high attach rate for games. Also mentioned in the announcement, the 360 has four of the top ten games sold in the US this month, including: Chromehounds, NCAA Football 2007, Prey, and LOTR: BFME II. Don't be shocked if Madden '07 and Dead Rising make that list as well.Very encouraging numbers for Microsoft, indeed. Now if they could just get some momentum going in Japan ...
