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December and 2007 NPD's Released: Everybody Wins!
Today the December video game NPD numbers were released and regardless of what each company says, they were good for the entire industry. With an industry total of 17.94 Billion dollars (not counting PC games or hardware), video games broke their previous sales record. This was a 46% increase over 2006's already high sales.
Microsoft spun the NPDs in their favor by saying that 45% of the money consumer's spent on video games was on the Xbox 360 and its games. Microsoft also rubbed their 3rd party sales in Sony's face: Rockband, Call of Duty 4, and Assassin's Creed all sold at least 2 copies on the Xbox 360 for each copy sold on the PS3. Overall, the Xbox 360 had 11 of the top 20 games sold in 2007, and of course, Halo 3 was sitting at the top of that list.
Nintendo gloated over the continued sell out of the Nintendo Wii and the astonishing 8.5 Million DS's they sold in 2007 (2.5 Million in December alone). Nintendo had 15 of the top 30 games of 2007, withWii Play taking second place at 4.12 Million. Mario Galaxy took second place in December sales at 1.40 Million units sold.
Sony found light at the end of the tunnel because the PlayStation "brand" sold $714 million in December, more than either Nintendo or Microsoft. Sony also pointed out that the PS3 had its best month since its launch in December, with 798K units of hardware sold. Sony was also happy to point out that upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Devil May Cry 4, Burnout Paradise, and HAZE will continue this momentum.
As for 2008, here's what I see: Sony is going to have a great year because of their exclusives, though I don't think they'll surpass the Xbox 360 just yet because Microsoft is getting the lion share of 3rd party sales (specifically Grand Theft Auto 4 on day one). Home however, could really have an impact considering how popular social networking websites have become.
Microsoft on the other hand should be able to continue sitting atop Sony by just relying on their 3rd party sales, though they'll need to prove why we should buy their consoles instead of Sony's. Being cheaper than the competition is good, but they really need some top notch 1st party titles to stay competitive. They also need to prove their online service is the best there is, considering what Sony plans to do for free and with all the trouble Live has had recently.
And Nintendo can pretty much just ignore the other two companies and continue sinking their teeth into the casual market, though it's pretty safe to say that exclusive 3rd party developers will soon abandon the Wii. Games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart will still keep them in the eye of the hardcore crowd. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm completely wrong by the end of the next year, considering how surprising this console war has been so far.
THE NPD GROUP's 2007 US GAME INDUSTRY SALES
Category / Total / Change
Video Games: $17.94 billion +43%
Video Games Hardware: $7.04 billion +54%
Console Hardware: $5.12 billion +73%
Portable Game Hardware: $1.92 billion +19%
Video Games Software: $8.64 billion +34%
Console Software: $6.64 billion +39%
Portable Game Software: $2.00 billion +18%
Video Game Accessories: $2.26 billion +52%
Hardware Sales (in units sold)
Nintendo DS: 8.50 million (17.65 million LTD)
Wii: 6.29 million (7.38 million LTD)
Xbox 360: 4.62 million (9.15 million LTD)
PlayStation 2: 3.97 million (41.12 million LTD)
PlayStation Portable: 3.82 million (10.47 million LTD)
PlayStation 3: 2.56 million (3.25 million LTD)
Game Software (in units sold)
1) Halo 3 (360, Microsoft) - 4.82 million
2) Wii Play with Wii Remote (Wii, Nintendo) - 4.12 million
3) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360, Activision) - 3.04 million
4) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2, Activision) - 2.72 million
5) Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo) - 2.52 million
6) Pokémon Diamond (DS, Nintendo) - 2.48 million
7) Madden NFL 08 (PS2, Electronic Arts) - 1.9 million
8) Guitar Hero II (PS2, Activision) - 1.89 million
9) Assassin's Creed (360, Ubisoft) - 1.87 million
10) Mario Party 8 (Wii, Nintendo) - 1.82 million
THE NPD GROUP's DECEMBER 2007 US GAME INDUSTRY SALES
Category / Total / Change
Video Games: $4.82 billion +28%
Video Games Hardware: $1.83 billion +17%
Console Hardware $1.3 billion: +21%
Portable Game Hardware: $525,700 +7%
Video Games Software: $2.37 billion +36%
Console Software $1.8 billion: +47%
Portable Game Software: $574,900 +11%
Video Game Accessories: $621,600 +37%
Hardware Sales (in units sold)
Nintendo DS: 2.47 million
Wii: 1.35 million
Xbox 360: 1.26 million
PlayStation 2: 1.1 million
PlayStation Portable: 1.06 million
PlayStation 3: 797,600
Game Software (in units sold)
1) Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat (360, Activision) - 1.47 million
2) Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo) - 1.40 million
3) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2, Activision) - 1.25 million
4) Wii Play with Wii Remote (Wii, Nintendo) - 1.08 million
5) Assassin's Creed (360, Ubisoft) - 893,700
6) Halo 3 (360, Microsoft) - 742,700
7) Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (DS, Nintendo) - 659,500
8) Madden NFL 08 (PS2, Electronic Arts) - 655,200
9) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (360, Activision) - 624,600
10) Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii, Sega) - 613,000
The Wii and XBox 360 appear to be doing great, but the PS3 is not. Only 3.3 Million PS3's sold in the US to date, and no games in the Top 10 in December or for the year? The PS3 is still too expensive. Why buy a PS3 for GTAIV when you can buy an XBox 360 and get the same experience + acheivements?
Posted by doctor_kaz at January 18, 2008 10:42 AMwhy do you think "exclusive 3rd party developers will soon abandon the Wii"
Surely with all the sales of the console the 3rd parties will want to develop more for the Wii?
Posted by Riaz at January 18, 2008 11:06 AMRiaz:
I actually think Clayton is speaking about "exclusive 3rd party developers" meaning people who develop games for just the Wii and no other platform.
Although I don't personally agree with that assessment I can see where Clayton is coming from as in Japan and somewhat in the States exclusive Wii games are getting killed. Look at No More Heroes in Japan, that game is doing TERRIBLE. So I believe that is what Clayton is speaking about.
Nintendo can get away with exclusive Wii titles based upon their characters, but 3rd party publishers will have to release multi-platform to ensure they are successful.
Posted by Gaming Steve at January 18, 2008 11:16 AMguess we'll find out in 12 months :)
Posted by Riaz at January 18, 2008 11:24 AMWow. Just wow. EA really need to come up with something if they like to be on the top again.
Spore maybe? >_>
Posted by Yokto at January 18, 2008 11:49 AMIf the third parties actually start making good games for the Wii they wouldn't have this problem. I mean people don't want to buy crappy games? Shock and awe!
Posted by PatMan33 at January 18, 2008 1:30 PMI may have gone a bit far in saying all third parties will abandon the WIi. What is more likely is exclusives titles like No More Heroes and Zak and Wiki that developers put a lot of time into won't be appearing on the Wii as often. Casual third party titles, like Carnival Games, that are cheap and quick to make, sell okay, and so do brand names like Guitar Hero and Resident Evil. It's just disapointing that the Wii was so touted as being revolutionary and innovative, that for the most part it's simply become the place to play all the new Nintendo games (though I really don't have a problem with that).
Posted by Clayton at January 18, 2008 2:37 PMThat works for me because Nintendo games are the only games I consistently like. If Sony and Microsoft offered games that I couldn't just play on my PC then I'd get one of their consoles but they don't so I haven't.
Posted by PatMan33 at January 18, 2008 3:21 PMWhat I see is that PS2 is better that PS3!
Posted by Ninteen45 at January 19, 2008 8:41 AMSeems like the PS3 and 360 are doing about the same worldwide, but I expect the 360 to keep the lead in the US, which kinda makes it look bad as the media only hypes US numbers.
I sort of agree with the 3rd party thing, many 2rd party developers have expressed how badly their doing with the Wii, basically Nintendo titles rule the console. Unless it changes, I can see them moving back to the 360 and maybe the PS3 as 3rd parties do pretty well on these.
Posted by YoppaDo at January 20, 2008 8:54 AMHmm, interesting - the ps3 as everyone sais over and over again "has a lot of potential" - honestly I'm getting sick and tired of hearing that. I don't care about potential I just want to play my games and then go back to my business.
3rd parties leaving the Wii to go develop for the ps3/360 - yes I agree, then the ps3 will again be the ps2 - 100,000+ titles by this gens death and only 12 of them being good.
Look at it this way - all those shotty games from the ps2 are now on the Wii. Zack & Wiki and No More Heroes - hmm they didn't fail because they sucked nor because of casual gamers - they failed the same way Killer 7 failed, dont mismatch anything.
People or "core" gamers abandoned nintendo a while back, coming back for only few of its titles - since the N64 the Nintendo brand has been known as kiddy, so how is the failure of no more heros shocking to a xenophobic asian population. (No More Heroes.)
Like you said we'll see - sorry for coming off harsh if I did. No... No More Heroes isn't the hilt it's the tip of the blade.
The Wii isn't the standard - its not the next step - its something else, when developers get that then we will see.
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