NPD Analysis

Xbox 360 Dominates the July NPD Report

Written by Paul Barbara Friday, 13 August 2010 00:29

Welcome to the July 2010 NPD data report.  July has been a fantastic month for the Xbox 360, however is it all bells and whistles for all the video game market in general?

NPD's first half of 2010 software report

Written by Paul Barbara Monday, 26 July 2010 00:37

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The NPD have released their accumulated data for the best selling software accross all platforms, for the first half of 2010.

June 2010 NPD Data

Written by Paul Barbara Friday, 16 July 2010 06:59

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Welcome gamers, today it's with great pleasure that I present the June 2010 NPD Data.

May 2010 NPD: Better late than never!

Written by Paul Barbara Monday, 05 July 2010 09:42

NPD Top 20 Software titles for April 2010

Written by Paul Barbara Monday, 17 May 2010 01:00

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This month, we have obtained the top 20 software titles from the NPD report.  Traditionally we report on the top 10 titles, but occasionally the expanded top 20 list is revealed, so without further waiting, heres the top 20 listing for April.

April 2010 NPD Report

Written by Paul Barbara Saturday, 15 May 2010 03:01

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March 2010 NPD Data

Written by Paul Barbara Friday, 16 April 2010 03:48

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Welcome to the third instalment of the NPD Report for the month ending March 2010.  Each month we take a look at those hardware and software numbers in an effort to understand which consoles and games are performing well, and those that are not performing so well.

So without further waiting, lets check those hardware sales for March 2010.

February 2010 NPD Top 20 Software Titles

Written by Paul Barbara Saturday, 13 March 2010 20:42

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February 2010 NPD Data

Written by Paul Barbara Friday, 12 March 2010 02:45

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Welcome to the second edition of the NPD Report, for February 2010.  Each month we take a look at the console sales numbers and the top 10 software charts as provided by the NPD.  So without further waiting, lets see how February performed.

January 2010 NPD Top 20 Software Titles

Written by Paul Barbara Tuesday, 16 February 2010 00:15

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January 2010 NPD Data

Written by Paul Barbara Saturday, 13 February 2010 00:58

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Welcome to the NPD Report right here at Daily Joystick.  Each month we take a look at the hardware and software sales for all consoles and draw analysis from this data.  Data is sourced from the National Purchase Diary (NPD) on a monthly basis.  Without further waiting, lets take a look at January 2010’s results.

NPD's Top 10 Xbox 360 games for 2009.

Written by Paul Barbara Tuesday, 19 January 2010 00:19

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The good folks over at the NPD have released the list of the top 10 selling titles for 2009 on the Xbox 360.  Certainly it is no secret that Xbox 360 gamers buy a lot of video games. In fact, the software attach ratio for the system is at a record 8.8 without the inclusions of any downloadable games, which is extremely impressive.

December 2009 NPD Data

Written by Paul Barbara Friday, 15 January 2010 03:29

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The latest data for the NPD for the final month of 2009, December has just been released.  Here is how it all stacked up.  

November 09 NPD Data

Written by Paul Barbara Friday, 11 December 2009 13:01

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It's now November, and we have the 11th month's data on hand.  Without further ado, here it is.

Hardware Sales - Consoles

• Wii 1,260,000 units
• Xbox 360 819,500 units
• Playstation 3 710,400 units
• Playstation 2 203,100 units

Hardware Sales - Handhelds

• Nintendo DS 1,700,000 units
• Sony PSP 293,900 units

Nintendo Wii wins 2009 NPD Hardware Sales Race!

Written by Paul Barbara Friday, 13 November 2009 01:10

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As you may have guessed from the title, Nintendo’s Wii has won the Hardware sales race for 2009.  With 10 months down, Nintendo has a 71% lead over its closed rival the Xbox 360 and a 100% lead over the Playstation 3.  Nintendo has managed to push a staggering 4,524,000 units this year alone in the USA. So with that, its clearly impossible for the competition to recover at this stage of the race.  However, what about the software race, who has won that for 2009?  Let’s take a look at the full NPD data for October 2009.

Hardware:

- Nintendo Wii 506.9k

- Nintendo DS 457.6k

- Sony PS3 320.6k

- Microsoft Xbox 360 249.7k

- Sony PSP 174.6k

- Sony PS2 117.8k

Software:

1. Unchartered 2: Among Thieves (PS3) 537k

2. Wii Fitt Plus (Wii) 441k

3. Borderlands (360) 418k

4. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) 314k

5. NBA2K10 (360) 311k

6. Halo 3 ODST (360) 271k

7. NBA2K10 (PS3) 213k

8. Forza Motorsport 3 (360) 175k

9. Kingdom Heats (DS) 169k

10. FIFA Soccer 10 (360) 156k

Firstly on the hardware front, Nintendo’s Wii took out first place with 506,900 consoles sold.  However on a Year to date basis, Nintendo’s white box of pleasure is actually down 24% on last years figures.  As at October 2008, Nintendo had sold 5,981,000 consoles compared with this years 4,524,000 consoles, a decline of 24%.

Sony is not looking much better.  Despite having a solid second month in a row thanks to the new PS3 slim and recent price cuts, its year to date sales  are a mere 2,264,000 units, which by comparison to October 2008 year to date of 2,540,000 units actually puts Sony some 11% behind on last years figures.

Microsoft on the other hand are actually performing better overall that 2008.  Currently Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has pushed 2,641,000 units for 2009, which compared to 2008’s figure of 2,459,000 is up 182,000 units or 7%!

However, with only two months remaining for 2009, it will clearly be Nintendo that will take out the number one hardware spot with a substantial leave of currently over 1.8 million console sales lead over the Xbox 360 and 2.2 million console sales lead over the PS3, there’s simply no hope for either Sony or Microsoft.

On the software side of the equation, there is a different story to be told.  Each month we analyse the top 10 sales by volume irrespective of format.  Hence the top 10 shows the games and which platforms they sold the best on.  Using the past 10 months top 10 data, the following analysis is drawn.  Sony’s PS3 held 18 places this year in the top 10 charts.  Microsoft’s Xbox 360 held an impressive 31 titles in the top 10 listing, and Nintendo claimed the top spot with 34 titles in the top 10.  However, Nintendo does need to be penalised due to the following occurrences of Wii Play which is not considered a game, but as an extra controller with a few games bundled in.  This accounted for 5 places this year, which brings Nintendo’s adjusted score down to 29.

Microsoft has consistently pushed through new and innovative titles this year with almost no title appearing more than twice in a calendar year. In terms of the games which had the number one spot each month, the highest monthly selling game for 2009 year to date was Halo 3 ODST, selling 1,520,000 units.  Its closest rival was Resident Evil 5 back in March with 938,000 units sold.  In summary Microsoft claim 5 of the 10 months in top spot.  Nintendo’s Wii followed second with 4 months in top sport, followed by Sony’s PS3 with 1 top spot place, which was actually October which saw Unchartered 2 push 537,000 units.  

It was disappointing to see titles such as Uncharted 2 push only 537,000 units.  This was supposed to be one of the best games for PS3 and a “System Seller”.  Also Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport 3 pushed only 175,000 units which is disappointing also given it’s the best racer on the Xbox 360 console to date, and even rivalled Gran Turismo 5.  However, despite the low sales figures, Microsoft still managed to dominate the top 10 charts with an impressive 5 titles in the top 10, such as Borderlands, NBA2K10, ODST, Forza 3 and FIFA Soccer 10.

In our opinion, Software sells a console, and at the end of the day, the system with the most exclusives and games wins the race.  Nintendo may have won the hardware race and all that, but the software race is won by Microsoft.  With the best line up of games, and most top 10 placements, Microsoft clearly has claimed first prize in that respect.

We look forward to Novembers NPD data with the recent release of Modern Warfare 2.  It's set to be a big month in gaming.  Stay tuned!

September 2009 NPD Data

Written by Paul Barbara Monday, 26 October 2009 00:11

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Welcome, to the latest instalment of the NPD data.  This is the 9th instalment of the NPD Data, and with only 3 months to go for 2009 its shaping up to be very interesting indeed.  With that in mind, let’s see how the consoles have faired this month in terms of hardware sales.

August 2009 NPD Data

Written by Paul Barbara Monday, 14 September 2009 04:53

Welcome, to the latest instalment of the NPD data.  This is the 8th instalment of the NPD Data, and with only 4 months to go for 2009 its shaping up to be very interesting indeed.  With that in mind, let’s see how the consoles have faired this month in terms of hardware sales.

Hardware Sales:

Wii                   277.4K

Xbox 360         215.4K

PS3                  210.0K

Software Sales:

Madden NFL 10 (X360)                      928K

Wii Sports Resort (Wii)                        754K

Madden NFL 10 (PS3)                        665K

Batman: Arkham Asylum (X360)          303K

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)            290K

Madden NFL 10 (PS2)                        160K

Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)                130K

Wii Fitt (Wii)                                        128K

Mario Kart (Wii)                                  120K

Fossil Fighters (DS)                              92K

July 2009 NPD Data

Written by Paul Barbara Saturday, 15 August 2009 07:15

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Welcome, to the latest instalment of the NPD data.  We are now past the halfway point for 2009 and are steadily approaching the holiday season.  With that in mind, let’s see how the consoles have faired this month in terms of hardware sales.

Hardware Sales:

Wii                  252.5K

Xbox 360        202.9K

PS3                  121.8K

Software Sales:

Wii Sports Resort (Wii)                      508.2K

NCAA Football 10 (X360)                 376.5K

NCAA Football 10 (PS3)                   237.4K

Wii Fitt (Wii)                                      164.3K

Mario Kart (Wii)                                 156.6K

Mario Kart (DS)                                  132.2K

Pokemon Platinum (DS)                     116.4K

Fight Night Round 4 (X360)              116.4K

New Super Mario Bros (DS)              101.8K

EA Sports Active Bundle (Wii)          96.8K

Well, there you have it, another month has passed.  2009 has no doubt been a difficult year for gaming and all consoles have experienced a large downward turn in hardware and software sales recently.  Even Nintendo’s Wii had sold a mere 252,000 units compared to last years July result of 555,000 units.  Unfortunately the economic impacts have certainly been felt by many and sales are reflective of this fact.

Wii Sports resort certainly performed well, shifting 508,000 units.  Next in line was NCAA Football 2010, which claimed the 2nd and 3rd place spots on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  The remaining titles are far from impressive with the usual Wii related titles and a slew of DS games also pushing into the top 10, due most likely to the new revised DSi.  It seems everyone needs a copy of New Super Mario Bros and Mario Kart when buying a DS or DSi, and why not, they are two of the must haves for the handheld.

Until next month!

May 2009 NPD

Written by Boosty Friday, 12 June 2009 02:03

Welcome to what will be a regular unveiling of the NPD monthly report for 2009.  Each month we will present to you the results of the National Purchase Diary (NPD) data that is collated for the video game industry.  So without further waiting, let’s get onto the results for the fifth month of 2009.

Hardware Unit Sales for May 2009

Consoles:

-         Nintendo Wii (289K)

-         Xbox 360 (175K)

-         Playstation 3 (131K)

-         Playstation 2 (117K)

Handhelds:

-         Nintendo DS (633K)

-         Sony PSP (100K)

Software Unit Sales for May 2009

1. UFC 2009 Undisputed (360) 680K

2. Wii Fit (Wii) 353K

3. EA Sports Active Bundle (Wii) 346K

4. UFC 2009 Undisputed (PS3) 334K

5. Infamous (PS3) 176K

6. Pokemon Platinum (DS) 169K

7. Mario Kart with Wheel (Wii) 158K

8. Punch Out (Wii) 157K

9. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (360) 121K

10.Wii Play with Remote (Wii) 110K

May 2009 appears to be a relatively quiet month when compared with previous months results.  All three console sales were below their 2008 May equivalents, and from a year to date perspective all three consoles are also down on the prior years results.  Most certainly as many would suggest, the economic climate is playing a large part in these results.

Despite Nintendo’s Wii taking out top place for the home console market, all three console makers Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo were down 37%, 6% and 57% respectively on May 2008’s hardware sales figures.   Certainly Microsoft is currently the best positioned in terms of sales on a year on year comparison.  In terms of year to date sales (that’s January to May combined) both Sony and Nintendo are down 21% and 5% respectively.  However Microsoft is actually up 23% on year to date sales over that of 2008.  Essentially the Xbox 360 is the only console growing in 2009!  In fact in a press release Microsoft stated its system exhibits “the most year-over-year resilience of any console” for the month.

Over on the software side, things were also a little slow.  Nintendo managed to claim (including the DS titles) some 6 places in the top 10, and both Sony and Microsoft managed 2 places each.  The number one selling title this month with 679,600 units sold was UFC 2009 Undisputed on the Xbox 360.

May was not the best month for the video game industry.  The video game industry is certainly now starting to feel the effects of the economy and recession. Will we see further price cuts by manufacturers to stimulate spending?  Maybe, let’s hope for Sony’s sake and the PS3.  The economics of a price cut does make sense and can spur additional hardware sales.  However, in my opinion also, games will further drive sales and in all honesty it’s been a little quiet this month on the software side.  However, given E3 has just passed its certainly going to be a bumper second half of the year for all our consoles.

November NPD results are in

Written by Scott Friday, 12 December 2008 00:37

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