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[Mooreberg]

That would actually be awesome and hilarious.

Terrible month for PS3 and 360

I'm half kidding but it is crazy that they are cranking out so many good games lately and walling people out with the hardware price. I know they can never compete head to head with 360 in terms of trying to overtake it on sales of big third party releases, but they could at least do more to help their own titles sell. End of the month release dates, not a lot of long term marketing, and only half hearted bundling instead of actually making the hardware more attractive to people. Seems like a lot of wasted effort.

 

[chubigans]

and whose name every single person who owns a PS3 or has considered buying one has heard hundreds of times.

Not at all actually. The majority of consumers is completely out of touch with upcoming games unless it's an established blockbuster.

You're mistaking PS3 owners with 360 owners, who are more hardcore and have more knowledge of upcoming games with the Xbox Live effect we talked about last NPD (the way of online gaming and chatting about new games in a social community aspect). The 360 is amazing at educating people about upcoming games; the PS3 is not.

 

[AndresON777]

Don't think they can afford it yet.

Micro$oft?

 

[squatingyeti]

Wait, 60? Last I heard was 42 million. >_>

The article from the Netherlands (somewhere over there) stated 40M Euros. They didn't clarify if that included marketing budget, but either way. The game is just recouping the costs.

 

[gofreak]

I'm half kidding but it is crazy that they are cranking out so many good games lately and walling people out with the hardware price. I know they can never compete head to head with 360 in terms of trying to overtake it on sales of big third party releases, but they could at least do more to help their own titles sell.

Capcom shipped more units on PS3 last year than 360, so never say never They project to ship even more over 360 again this year.

That's probably not the general case though, admittedly. It couldn't be with the userbase difference the way it is right now.

Anyways, I digress..

 

[Windu]

Looks like the economy finally caught up with the Gaming Industry.

 

[FrankT]

Sony need cut the price much more not $50 will help. I think they may kind in stuck but will see. New SKU or massive price cut only way?

Microsoft, hmm I hope it won't dropping too much because they have already cut the price not long ago. I have no idea they will do it again soon but $199 to $299 didn't do any closer to Wii. So another price cut look like won't work. They need something on those markets. Maybe wait for E3?

MS is just going to ride out summer and then turn the heat up like they always do right before the holiday season. They have a lot of room to breath still on their best selling SKU. Bring down the price on that as well as do more holiday Arcade bundles with possibly a slight price drop of $20 or so. If they could somehow get the premium down to $200 before the holiday season it would be pure gold, but I believe that is a ways off. They are still up a good bit for the year on HW so they have some room to work with before going into the key shopping season.

 

[Chumly]

The article from the Netherlands (somewhere over there) stated 40M Euros. They didn't clarify if that included marketing budget, but either way. The game is just recouping the costs.

Yep

I didnt think it included marketing costs at the time. I guess you could argue they didnt really add that much to the cost with marketing though.

 

[Ashodin]

MS price cut to $100 arcade and $200 pro. The system's 3.5 years old. At this point last gen, MS was about to unveil the 360 and the Xbox was $180. Come on Microsoft, get on it.

The PS3 needs to be $300 and the Wii needs to be $200 at least.

Slow and sloppy wins the race? Bad mantra this gen.

 

[chubigans]

I think Microsoft would be smart in getting rid of the Arcade unit, eliminating the Elites (which they're already doing) and dropping the $300 system to $250.

A single-sku $250 Xbox would do amazin'.

 

[AniHawk]

Don't think they can afford it yet.

Microsoft can afford it.

 

[paparazzo]

Wow, sucky month all around, except for the DS of course.

 

[w3stfa11]

What are April 2007 numbers?

In the analysis of the original post, the April 2009 numbers were said to be above that of April 2007, and that April 2009 was still the second best April of all time. However, is that because of the great sales of the DS this month, or a combination of something else? So, what are the April 2007 numbers for just the consoles, and how do those number compare to this month?

Fixed. Apr 2009 is above Apr 2007, not Apr 2008.

Here are April 2007 numbers. $838.6 million vs ~1 billion for April 2009.

1. DS: 471,000
2. Wii: 360,000
3. PlayStation 2: 194,000
4. PlayStation Portable: 183,000
5. Xbox 360: 174,000
6. Game Boy Advance: 84,000
7. PlayStation 3: 82,000
8. GameCube: 13,000

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/NPD_April_2007
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=25104

 

[Kenka]

What ? a NPD thread out of the blue ?

 

[donny2112]

A single-sku $250 Xbox would do amazin'.

With motion controls!

 

[DiddyBop]

not surprised at those sales, the economy right now has slowed my game purchasing to a crawl. last game i bought was SF4 on release day.

 

[AniHawk]

6. Game Boy Advance: 84,000
7. PlayStation 3: 82,000

Good times.

 

[Minsc]

Weekly NPD sales in relation to last month / April of last year (april = 4 weeks, march = 5 weeks):

       |  04/09 |   03/09 | % Change |   04/08 | % Change (compared to 04/09)
PS2    |    43K |     22K |      95% |     31K |      39% 
PS3    |    32K |     44K |      27% |     47K |      32% 
PSP    |    29K |     34K |      15% |     48K |      40% 
NDS    |   260K |    112K |     132% |    104K |     150% 
360    |    44K |     66K |      33% |     47K |       6% 
Wii    |    85K |    120K |      29% |    179K |      53%

Red signifies a decrease, black increase.

April looks a more positive month than march did from these %s, more things are up. PS2 and DS particularly. NDS having a huge 150% increase over this month last year. The Wii is down an incredible 53% from April last year.

 

[Darklord]

MS price cut to $100 arcade and $200 pro. The system's 3.5 years old. At this point last gen, MS was about to unveil the 360 and the Xbox was $180. Come on Microsoft, get on it.

The PS3 needs to be $300 and the Wii needs to be $200 at least.

Why would MS do that? It's much cheaper than the PS3, cheaper than the Wii and still going well plus has at least two years left I'd say. The original Xbox was last and barely broke 20m in total, the 360 is at 30m already.

 

[_Angelus_]

Those PS3 sales are godamn ugly. And they still haven't made profits with the machine. A price drop might actually make things even worse for them if these numbers continue.

 

[JoJo13]

Ouch @ only a 48k difference in sales between the PS3 and 360 with the PS3 costing $400 and the 360 only costing $199. Microsoft can't move much on price given how mainstream their pricing already is, either. It'll be interesting to see the sales of the two platforms when the PS3 receives its rumored price drop and hardware revision. At that point you'll likely see PS3 sales roughly equal to, or above, what the 360 is selling until Microsoft drops the price again.

Really low in general for both the HD consoles. I was expecting low sales, but not quite this low. But, it makes sense - there weren't any big releases in April, and it was 4 weeks.

I guess that puts the argument to rest that GTA4 did nothing to boost hardware sales. It clearly did.

 

[DeadGzuz]

So this makes 6 straight months the PS3 is down year on year dating back to November. This month it's by like 50K.

Last April.

One year is following a price break the other is not, the opposite is true for the 360. Context is good.

 

[gregor7777]

Those GBA/PS3 battles were epic.

 

[iceatcs]

Microsoft can afford it.

I hope so. Need overlap Wii for bit.

 

[VALIS]

I wonder be offering all that much advice on the 360 and Wii at this point. This is the first "below expectations" month for the two of them in quite a while. 360 since the price drop (and it's only down 6% YoY) and Wii, I can't remember the last month it didn't perform about as expected. Sometime in 2007.

 

[FrankT]

I think Microsoft would be smart in getting rid of the Arcade unit, eliminating the Elites (which they're already doing) and dropping the $300 system to $250.

A single-sku $250 Xbox would do amazin'.

No way those $200 arcades gave MS their best quarter yet last holiday season. They need to keep the consumer friendly price, and not to mention they get everyone eventually on those accessories.

 

[xs_mini_neo]

I know the PS2 library is amazing and whatnot, but why buy a PS2 now? I can't get into my head how that console manages to stay up there every month.

It's nothing new. A couple of other consoles did the same in the past.

I was hoping it would break the top ten I thought Beyonce could have made it happen.

Maybe she made it unhappen instead.

 

[Ashodin]

I think Microsoft would be smart in getting rid of the Arcade unit, eliminating the Elites (which they're already doing) and dropping the $300 system to $250.

A single-sku $250 Xbox would do amazin'.

Confusion on the part of Microsoft is a lot of what makes people hesitant to buy.

Working in retail, I've had a lot of customers just plain dumbfounded on which Xbox 360 to pick. Then I shuffle them over to the Wii...

 

[Haunted]

I was missing the GBA vs PS3 .gifs. :/

What ? a NPD thread out of the blue ?

On a thursday even?!




And the 42 million initially came from a Surfer Girl rumour iirc. I read an article talking about a similar amount (I think it was in Dutch?), but I can't remember where.

 

[billy.sea]

Any new games released in April other than Godfather?

 

[donny2112]

The Wii is down an incredible 53% from April last year.

What's incredible about it is that it is down 53% and still outselling the PS3+360 combined.

 

[AndresON777]

I think Microsoft would be smart in getting rid of the Arcade unit, eliminating the Elites (which they're already doing) and dropping the $300 system to $250.

A single-sku $250 Xbox would do amazin'.

Not really. If your 2005 360 keeps breaking it's easier and more convenient to buy a 200 dollar arcade model. I mean you've already invested all this money into software and peripherals what's a cool $200?

 

[Cday]

THE GODFATHER II 360 155K
THE GODFATHER II PS3 91K

Wow, over 200K people actually bought this piece of shit...

RESIDENT EVIL 5* 360 122K

 

[Sadist]

Any new games released in April other than Godfather?

Riddick, ExciteBots, Rythem Heaven.

 

[Karma]

before 360 got the 199 drop and PS3 dropped to 400, PS3 was selling fine...just sayin.

As was said earlier, the average 360 sale price is $290 not $199.

 

[Mooreberg]

Capcom shipped more units on PS3 last year than 360, so never say never They project to ship even more over 360 again this year.

That's probably not the general case though, admittedly. It couldn't be with the userbase difference the way it is right now.

Anyways, I digress..

That's pretty interesting, although I sort of meant in terms of individual big titles rather than entire publishers. GTA IV, RE5, Call of Duty games... there is always a pretty a big gap in Microsoft's favor, no doubt due to hardware pricing. I think the closest has probably been stuff like SF IV (a Capcom game no less, so your info makes sense).

But I'd still like to see them do more for their own development teams. Resistance Retribution was a really good game that I saw pretty much no push for. There are more than enough PSPs out there for something like that to succeed, but the people aware of it are probably in the bit torrent crowd. They should focus on pushing the products people can afford in a recession. No amount of bundling or justifying the value is gonna turn it around for PS3, because people just aren't going to spend that kind of money.

 

[Haunted]

What's incredible about it is that it is down 53% and still outselling the PS3+360 combined.

But to be fair, that's half due to the strength of the Wii, and half due to the weakness of the HD consoles.


All in all a weak month for everyone (compared to the record-breaking last year). PS2 and DS would've suffered similarly if not for the price drop/hardware revision respectively.

 

[AndresON777]

No way those $200 arcades gave MS their best quarter yet last holiday season. They need to keep the consumer friendly price, and not to mention they get everyone eventually on those accessories.

:lol

 

[Darklord]

Those PS3 sales are godamn ugly. And they still haven't made profits with the machine. A price drop might actually make things even worse for them if these numbers continue.

They need the price drop to GET better numbers. It's just too much next to the Wii and 360 and in a recession.

 

[AniHawk]

Why would MS do that?

Because I will it.

 

[billy.sea]

Riddick, ExciteBots, Rythem Heaven.

Guess it's expected. All of those are pretty niche.

 

[Minsc]

What's incredible about it is that it is down 53% and still outselling the PS3+360 combined.

Yea, when you put it that way, it does sound pretty impressive. Old habits die hard eh?

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

why not poor 360 owners it went down the most ?

low sales all around though.

Are you for real?

The 360 had a drop, but its drop didn't represent the 5th consecutive month of low YoY returns for the console.

360's number is bad. the PS3s is TERRIBLE.

 

[FrankT]

:lol

You know it's true. Had to buy a few for my nephew at Christmas.

Are you for real?

The 360 had a drop, but its drop didn't represent the 5th consecutive month of YoY returns for the console.

360's number is bad. the PS3s is TERRIBLE.

6th, Nov-April

 

[donny2112]

But to be fair, that's half due to the strength of the Wii, and half due to the weakness of the HD consoles.

True. How's this? What's incredible about it is that it is down 53% and still had a better April than PS2 ever had.

 

[Ashodin]

True. How's this? What's incredible about it is that it is down 53% and still had a better April than PS2 ever had.

Just goes to show that the effect I thought would carry over holds true - DS is nintendo's real system, and the Wii is just dragging names to keep itself going. Wii Fit continues to move systems, of course, as does the many peripherals. (fancy that!)

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

You know it's true. Had to buy a few for my nephew at Christmas.



6th, Nov-April

Was it November that it started? Wow. Time flies.

 

[Zhuk]

PS3 has had another disastrous month, 6th month of YoY decrease in a row, they really need to do something soon otherwise its game over in North America.

 

[EagleEyes]

Ouch @ only a 48k difference in sales between the PS3 and 360 with the PS3 costing $400 and the 360 only costing $199. Microsoft can't move much on price given how mainstream their pricing already is, either. It'll be interesting to see the sales of the two platforms when the PS3 receives its rumored price drop and hardware revision. At that point you'll likely see PS3 sales roughly equal to, or above, what the 360 is selling until Microsoft drops the price again.

Really low in general for both the HD consoles. I was expecting low sales, but not quite this low. But, it makes sense - there weren't any big releases in April, and it was 4 weeks.

I guess that puts the argument to rest that GTA4 did nothing to boost hardware sales. It clearly did.

When one sells roughly 125k and the other 175k, 48k is actually quite a difference. Numbers in context my friend.

 

[Gaborn]

They need the price drop to GET better numbers. It's just too much next to the Wii and 360 and in a recession.

NEED is a strong word. I'd say "moving more units faster would require a price drop." I think the interesting question is, economically, does their business model suggest doing so would give them any hope of turning a profit? If it's unrealistic to turn a profit by cutting the price then I think they STILL have to wait it out even if their sales keep decreasing. They just can't afford to eat the cost of a price drop right now if they're not going to get a decent return in sales.