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November NPD: PS4 is 'top-selling' console, Xbox One is 'fastest-selling' [Update: Nintendo boasts big numbers, too]
Total video game sales for the US in November were up 7 percent year-over-year, from $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion. Hardware jumped 58 percent to $1.3 billion – partially of course because the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One hit the market at the end of the month. "PS4 was the top-selling console for November and PlayStation was No. 1 in sales overall for home consoles," Sony writes on the PlayStation blog, via NPD. Microsoft counters on its Wire news service: "November NPD Group figures released today revealed 909,132 Xbox One units were sold in the US in the console's first nine days, making it the fastest-selling console on the market in the US. Xbox One sales averaged a volume of more than 101,000 consoles per day, significantly outpacing the nearest competitor." The Xbox One and PS4 both sold 1 million units in their first 24 hours on sale, Microsoft and Sony reported previously (and respectively). Call of Duty: Ghosts, Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and Madden NFL 25 took the top four spots in November, followed by former chart leader Grand Theft Auto 5. Of all the top 10 games, only Grand Theft Auto 5 and Disney Infinity (No. 9) didn't hit PS4 or Xbox One. See the complete breakdown below. Update: Not to be outdone, Nintendo had their own numbers to boast. Thanks to the release of Super Mario 3D World on Wii U and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds on 3DS, sales of Nintendo hardware systems in November leapt "by 100 percent over the month prior," Nintendo has announced. After selling "nearly 770,000 units of the Nintendo 3DS family" in November, the handheld has surpassed a lifetime total of units sold to almost 10.5 million. Wii U hardware sales increased "by more than 340 percent over sales in October," the company noted, but offered no sales data for the hardware. Super Mario 3D World "sold more than 215,000 combined digital and physical units in its first eight days on the market," Nintendo added.
PlayStation 4 on top in November next-gen console sales, according to NPD
Confirming what we already suspected, sales tracking firm NPD reports that the PlayStation 4 outsold the Xbox One in North America during November. As of latest numbers, the Playstation 4 is in 2.1 million homes compared to the Xbox One's 2 million -- a great start for both consoles and a paltry sales difference. Sony released a statement from SCEA head Jack Tretton, which said, "Demand continues to overwhelm supply, but we're working hard to get PS4 units into the hands of customers throughout the holiday season." The full statement is just beyond the break. Xbox One, meanwhile, was apparently November's "fastest selling console," with around 101K sold each day of availability (November 22nd through November 30th). Since the PS4 was available starting on November 15th, and the Xbox One went on sale starting November 22nd, the Xbox One caught up in sales so quickly because of higher demand. Or as NPD puts it, "When looking at sales on an average per-week basis, Xbox One led PS4." Last month's Xbox One launch was also Microsoft's most successful console launch on record, which Microsoft's assuredly enjoying. Finally, we have Nintendo reporting a 340 percent increase in Wii U hardware sales since October. The folks in Kyoto haven't put an official number out there, but NeoGaf forum users have calculated a total based off past numbers. According to the best estimates available, Nintendo moved about 220,000 units last month. It's a low number compared to the industry's newcomers, but at least the 3DS closes the gap a little: between the 3DS, the 3DS XL and the 2DS, the company sold almost 770,000 handhelds in November.
NPD: Video game spending up 17% in Q3 (thanks, GTA 5!)
The NPD Group announced today that consumers spent $3.45 billion on video game content during the third quarter (July through September) of 2013 in the United States – a 17 percent increase over the same period last year. Analyst Liam Callahan attributes the growth to the release of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5, which shipped a total of 29 million copies to retail as of last month. Americans spent $1.30 billion on brand-new, boxed retail games over the past quarter. "Trends during the third quarter were the best that we have observed since the second quarter of 2011, driven by growth across both the physical and digital sides of the video game industry," said Callahan. "The launch of Grand Theft Auto 5 helped propel the new physical sales by twenty percent and continued growth of console digital full games as well as downloadable add-on content is an indication of the renewed health of the industry." NPD added that digital game and downloadable content spending grew by 35 percent year-on-year, totaling $1.72 billion in Q3 2013. Used and rental sales reached $436 million over the last quarter.
Xbox 360 tops NPD console charts one last time before next-gen begins
How do you close out a console generation? By reclaiming your crown. According to NPD's October figures, Microsoft is back on top: The Xbox 360 is once again the best-selling home console. It's hardly surprising -- Microsoft has dominated home console sales for years, losing out to the PlayStation 3 for the first time in ages just last month. It almost wouldn't be notable, save for the fact that this month's numbers are the last NPD figures before the industry moves on. The PlayStation 4 launches at midnight tonight, and the Xbox One will be available in just a few days. You can almost see the anticipation in the numbers. Hardware sales totaled $171.7 million for the month, 8 percent less than the same period last year and over $10 million less than the previous month. Business as usual, really. Care to take stab at who will take the cake in generation eight's first NPD report? Let us know what you think in the comments.
October NPD: Xbox 360 reclaims the console throne, software sales up
Physical video game software sales in the U.S. were up 12 percent in October to $482.5 million, compared with the same period in 2012, NPD reports. This marks the third month in a row that software sales have been up year-over-year. Games leading the sales charge include Grand Theft Auto 5, which clung to its top spot, and Pokemon X and Y, which took No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Batman: Arkham Origins and Assassins' Creed 4: Black Flag both launched late in October but claimed spots 5 and 6. Peep the full list after the break. Gaming hardware sales dropped 8 percent year-over-year to $171.7 million, with the 3DS leading the pack for the sixth month straight. The Xbox 360 was the No. 1 console again in October, after the PS3 ruined its streak in September. Sales of gaming accessories rose 1 percent last month, due to an increase of more than 70 percent in the Interactive Gaming Toys department – meaning Skylanders and Disney Infinity pieces – NPD analyst Liam Callahan says. Next month will be a very different NPD, with the launch of the PS4 tomorrow and the Xbox One next week. Check out our latest PS4 launch coverage (now with Vines!) right here.
Wii U sales jump in wake of price cut, increased by 200 percent in September
It looks like Nintendo's Wii U is finally getting the shot in the arm it needs: according to the latest numbers, the console's sales jumped 200 percent last month. The company points to the Wii U's August price drop and the introduction of a limited-edition Legend of Zelda bundle for the increased interest, the former of which parrots the company's success with cutting the 3DS' original price back in 2011. Nintendo optimistically says that the sales boost only measured the first 15 days of the new price, but NPD's numbers tell a different story, reporting that "sales were up over 100% on an average per-week basis from August 2013." Neither outfit defined the base number the contested multiplier is working from, however. At least one thing's for sure: the 3DS is still selling like hotcakes, outpacing all other hardware for the month of September -- not bad, considering that it was also the first month in almost three years that the PlayStation 3 outsold the Xbox 360.
September NPD: Grand Theft Auto 5 sales boost industry [Update]
Good news, everyone! The NPD Group reports that the video game industry's performance in the physical retail sector was up by 27 percent year-over-year for the month of September: $1.07 billion this year versus $848 million last year. Predictably, the majority of that boosted income came from the industry's software segment, also known as "where all that Grand Theft Auto 5 money lives." New physical sales for console and portable software during September totaled at $754.3 million, a 52 percent increase over the $497.5 million earned during the same period last year. GTA 5 understandably tops the list of September's 10 best-selling games, followed by Madden NFL 25 and NBA 2k14. Hardware sales for the period brought in $183.2 million, which is 13 percent fewer millions than were earned in September of 2012. The Nintendo 3DS spent its fifth month as the best-selling thing in the segment, while Wii U sales increased "more than 200 percent" over August, though Nintendo abstained from providing specific numbers as to how many Wii U boxes that works out to. Meanwhile, the PlayStation 3 broke the Xbox 360's long-running streak and was the best-selling console for the period, largely thanks to the system's available Grand Theft Auto 5 bundle, according to NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan. The Accessories segment, which contains giftcards, digital currency vouchers, Skylanders/Disney Infinity figures and other various sundries, was essentially flat year-over-year, experiencing just a 2 percent increase in sales at $142.3 million. Update: Microsoft has chimed in, noting that it reached 80 million sales to retailers of Xbox 360 worldwide in September, with console sales hitting $401.2 million. Unable to say the Xbox 360 was the No. 1-selling console last month, Microsoft instead says that it remains the top console in the US in 2013. Clever phrasing, team.
NPD: 'Almost' as many kids gaming on mobiles as consoles, computers
Information broker The NPD Group's "Kids and Gaming 2013" report found that children aged 12 to 17 are spending seven hours per week on mobile gaming, up from five hours per week in 2011. The report studied the gaming habits of children aged 2 to 17. While more children still use computers and consoles for gaming, the report notes there are now "almost" as many kids playing on mobile devices as there are on the more prominent platforms. Liam Callahan, an industry analyst with The NPD Group, said in the report that "kids are engaged as less expensive tablets and an increasing amount of hand-me-down phones create greater accessibility to these platforms than before." The report's findings were gathered online from a sample of female adults, aged 21 to 60, that are part of NPD's online panel and house children between the age of 2 to 17. The report is based off the answers of 3,842 children and, in the case of younger children, answers provided by adults on their behalf. [Image credit: Flickr user 'Nearsoft']
August NPD: Madden 25, Saints Row 4, Disney Infinity lead the charge
The NPD Group has released its monthly report on sales in the physical retail sector of the video game industry for August, and due to dramatic figures on both sides of the scale, the industry as a whole remained essentially flat as far as its overall year-over-year income comparisons are concerned. Overall hardware sales were down 40 percent as compared with August of 2012, with the entire segment bringing in just $90.8 million. Nintendo's 3DS appreciated its fourth month in a row as the best-selling piece of hardware in the US, while Microsoft's Xbox 360 enjoyed yet another podium finish as the best-selling home console, selling 96,000 units. Meanwhile, year-over-year software sales were up by 23 percent: $293.4 million this August as compared to $237.9 million last year. Eight out of August's top 10 best-selling games were launched during the month, with the entire list achieving "more than double the sales" of the top 10 games of August 2012, according to NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan. The list, available in full after the break, is topped by Madden 25, Saints Row 4 and Disney Infinity, the last of which also played a major role in the Accessories segment's $136.7 million of income – a seven-percent increase over last year. "Combined with sales of Skylanders accessories, one in every three accessory sold this month was an Interactive Gaming Toy," says Callahan.
NPD: Digital spending offset physical goods decline in Q2
Information broker The NPD Group noted that for the second quarter (April-June), digital product sales made up for losses experienced at retail. "Increases in digital format spending offset nearly all the losses from the declines in physical format spending, with digital full game downloads and downloadable content spending experiencing a combined 27 percent increase (when compared to Q2'12)," said NPD analyst Liam Callahan. "Spending increases occurred across both video games and PC games in the digital format." The importance of this detail has to do with digital distribution platform holders' tendency to not share their data, meaning many analysts base their industry projections off physical retail sales, which you can imagine in the video game industry leads to some very bad information. It's led to tension with publishers and industry lobbyists. [kentoh via Shutterstock]
July NPD: NCAA Football and Minecraft lead software, 3DS still on top
The NPD Group has released its report on sales in the physical retail channel of the games industry during the month of July, with both predictable and surprising results. On the predictable side of things, all three segments (Hardware, Software and Accessories) continued their downward year-over-year decline, with total Hardware sales suffering a 34-percent decrease: $99.4 million this year as compared with $150.9 million over the same period in 2012. Despite this industry-wide decline, Nintendo's 3DS saw a 14 percent year-over-year increase in sales as it held its spot as the best-selling piece of hardware for a third month in a row. This is the first time a handheld has topped the market for such a lengthy period since the Nintendo DS' three month streak in the fall/winter of 2010, according to NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 remained the best-selling home console for the thirty-first month in a row. As per usual, the Accessories segment suffered the least amount of market fluctuation, experiencing only a three percent year-over-year loss and bringing in $133.4 million in sales. Also maintaining the status quo, this segment's stability continues to be attributed to steady sales of digital currency and subscription giftcards.
June NPD: 3DS still on top, Ouya sales 'light' [update]
The NPD Group has published its monthly report outlining the performance of the physical sector of the video games retail market, with unsurprising results with respect to both the industry's overall performance and which games sold the most between June 2 and July 6. Nintendo's 3DS remained the best-selling piece of hardware for its second month in a row with "nearly 225,000" units sold according to Nintendo, while the Xbox 360 held its spot as the best-selling home console by moving 140,000 units. The overall industry brought in $593.3 million from the sale of hardware, software and accessories (read: Skylanders toys and digital currency giftcards) at brick and mortar retail locations. This was a 15 percent year-over-year decrease from the $700.6 million the industry brought in during the same period in 2012. The hardware sales segment and its collectively accumulated $142 million suffered the most severe year-over-year loss out of the three subsections, down by 30 percent from last year's $201.5 million. June was also the first month of availability for the Ouya, the Kickstarter-funded Android microconsole that kicked off a growing craze for Kickstarter-funded Android microconsoles. "Retail sales for Ouya (not counting direct sales through ouya.tv) and were relatively light for a new console," an NPD analyst Liam Callahan said in a statement. "This may be due to the lack of a major marquee title driving consumers to seek out the console, low awareness due to Ouya being a new brand, or low inventory volume due to manufacturing constraints." The period's 10 best-selling games were lead by three different console exclusives: The Last of Us, Animal Crossing: New Leaf and the physical SKU for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. New physical sales of console and portable games in general were down 10 percent from last year, ringing up $296.1 million at the end of the period.
NPD: Chromebooks take 20 to 25 percent of sub-$300 laptop market in the US
Snapped up a Chromebook for less than three Benjamins? If so, NPD thinks you've made Page and Co.'s devices account for 20 and 25 percent of laptops sold for under $300. Stephen Baker, an NPD analyst, told Bloomberg that the research firm was initially skeptical about the cloud-tied laptops, but Google's hardware "found a niche in the marketplace." Mountain View's mobile PC foray took eight months to reach current sales numbers and NPD claims that based on price, they're the fastest-growing part of the PC industry. Bloomberg attributes the recent uptick in sales to the education market and early adopters -- increased retail availability probably doesn't hurt, either.
NPD forms 9-publisher panel to gather, report digital storefront data
The NPD Group, responsible for compiling and releasing monthly sales data of the gaming industry in North America, is attempting to address a hole in its retail-skewed data: digital point-of-sale information. NPD plans to change its methods to include these digital POS figures, and change them "quickly," Games President David McQuillan tells Games Industry. McQuillan wants to prepare for the new consoles hitting shelves this holiday. "We fully realize that the market needs the same level of information for the digital categories as exists for the physical business today: SKU-level POS," he says. "The progress on that effort up until recently has been slow and frustrating at times, but today I am very happy to share that the pace of progress has changed recently. NPD has formed a leader panel to track digital POS sales of full game and add-on content downloads." The leader panel includes nine "leading games publishers," and it will first focus on full-game downloads and DLC for PC, consoles and mobile devices. The program is in beta now, and NPD is partnering with research company EEDAR to track digital POS numbers worldwide –not only in North America as its current system does. Eventually the digital results will make their way into NPD's monthly reports, but there's no word on when that will happen. "Once we move past the beta or proof of concept phase, subscribers will have access to the full data set, which you would expect of any service," McQuillan says. "The level of information to be shared publicly has not been determined at this time." Since 2010, NPD has tracked downloads of full games and add-on content, subscriptions, mobile games and social games, but it leaves out numbers from digital stores such as Steam, Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network in its monthly reports. The importance of these marketplaces continues to grow over the years, and last month the ESA called the NPD reports a "disservice to the truth." In 2011, EA called NPD's data "a misrepresentation of the entire industry."
May NPD: 3DS steals top console spot
The Nintendo 3DS finally edged out the Xbox 360 in May 2013 as the best selling console across hardware and portables, according to the NPD's monthly report on the retail sector. In what the NPD claims was a slow month overall, the 3DS landed three different games on the top 10 (including Donkey Kong Country Returns at number three, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon at number five, and Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes at number 10), and saw a sixty percent growth in software sales overall since last May. 3DS hardware sales were only even year-over-year, but that was enough to finally supplant the Xbox 360 as the top-selling platform. The other consoles didn't fare quite so well, with Injustice: Gods Among Us keeping the top spot for video game sales. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 jumped back up into the number two spot, and Battlefield 3 reappeared at number nine. Metro: Last Light had a relatively successful showing in the number six spot, while Trion's Defiance MMO fell right off the list, after starting off at number five in April. Accessories saw a six-percent drop to $115.3 million, according to the NPD, with most of that money coming from Skylanders.
ESA prez: NPD is providing 'disservice to the truth'
Michael Gallagher, president of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the trade body that assembles the annual E3 event, said this evening that sales tracking service NPD was doing a "disservice to the truth" in its monthly reporting. "The digital side of the industry is not being adequately reported, understood or covered. I think we've seen the consequences of that over the last two years," said Gallagher, concerned that NPD's monthly retail assessments don't give a full or accurate picture of the industry. He noted the retail side of the industry has flattened, particularly at the end of this current console cycle, while digital distribution has grown. NPD's standard of consistent monthly retail reporting, which it has provided less and less detailed public data on over the years, coupled with quarterly supplementals on digital distribution, isn't giving an accurate picture of the industry's current health. "Here's the aspiration: there are other industries that do this well and they enjoy the upside and downside of truthful numbers," said Gallagher. "I think the industry is better off if there's a standardized reporting mechanism that is seen as whole, and complete and truthful." The complication in Gallagher's wish is the closed digital distribution platforms of Valve's Steam, along with the PlayStation, Wii and Xbox marketplaces. To get an accurate picture of digital distribution revenue in this industry, it would require all these platform holders to openly share their sales data. And, perhaps, that's a dream for another console generation. [kentoh via Shutterstock]
Netflix still the dominant streaming provider, according to latest NPD report
No, you can't hold the Bluths responsible for this -- not yet, anyway. The NPD Group's just released its latest figures for streaming video on demand (SVOD) in Q1 2013 and, unsurprisingly, Netflix still reigns supreme. According to the data, it's the many hours of available ad-free boob tube (read: TV) programming that's propelling SVOD viewership, so much so that it's increased by 34 percent year-over-year. Break that down amongst SVOD providers and you'll find 90 percent of that viewing pie belongs to (wait for it!)... Netflix, which actually represents a 4-percent drop from the same quarter last year. As for the general state of SVOD, the majority of eyeballs still turn to the television set for a streaming fix, with that device commanding an 80 percent share. And, yes, it's once again Netflix that garners the most use here (nearly 90 percent), but rival streaming services Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime are making gains at 10 and 2 percent, respectively. Although there does appear to be a minor chink in Reed Hastings' red armor. These latest numbers also show streaming subs branching out from a sole dependence on Netflix, with 10 percent adding Amazon Prime to the mix and 8 percent doubling down with Netflix and Hulu. Translation: they couldn't find what they wanted on Netflix. We've all been there.
April NPD: Injustice: Gods Among Us reigns supreme
Another hot, fresh loaf of financial data has been pulled out of The NPD Group's analytical oven, and its buttery goodness contains sales information for the four week period between April 4 and May 7, 2013. During that time, the physical retail sector of the games industry was down 25 percent when compared with its performance over the same four weeks in 2012, pulling in a grand total of $495.2 million. It's worth noting, however, that this figure does not include the sale of PC games. Hardware sales brought in $109.5 million, a 42 percent decrease from the $187.8 million seen last year, with the Xbox 360 once again enjoying the highest sales with 130,000 units moved. Meanwhile, the brief reprieve from year-over-year decline seen by the Accessories segment last month was short lived, as in April it by dropped 19 percent to a total of $131.4 million. Software sales (including PC games) topped out at $267.8 million, with NetherRealm Studios' Injustice: Gods Among Us taking top honors as the best-selling game for the period, the first time a fighting game has finished in first since 2011's Mortal Kombat. Dead Island: Riptide and BioShock Infinite rounded out the podium in spots two and three respectively – meanwhile MMO/Syfy series Defiance debuted in fifth. As always, scope the full list after the break.
NPD: More people spending more time gaming online
It may sound like a foregone conclusion, but the NPD Group has proven (with maths) that more people are spending more time playing video games online, at least compared to last year. The study, titled "Online Gaming 2013," poled 8,867 folks above the age of two and found that 72 percent of game-playing individuals played online – a five percent increase over 2012. The average amount of time spent gaming online per week also increased by six percent, though the NPD Group did not disclose a specific figure for that statistic. PCs had the largest majority of online users at 68 percent – meanwhile, mobile online gaming saw a year-over-year increase of 12 percent. The NPD Group did not list any reasons for the overall year-over-year increase in online gaming, but we're going to go out on a limb and guess that, by and large, it's because the world is mostly a terrible place full of awful people that should be avoided at all costs. Either that, or Steam sales.
Analyst: BioShock Infinite sold 878K in US during March
Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz estimates that BioShock Infinite moved 878,000 copies in the US last month. This figure comes from an analyst note sent out to investors as reported by GameSpot; we've contacted the NPD to confirm firsthand.BioShock Infinite was the top-selling game in the US for March, besting Tomb Raider and Gears of War: Judgment for top honors. Compared to March 2012, last month's physical retail game sales were ten percent weaker, while hardware pulled in 32 percent less revenue.
