But then it's the 20th, they don't want go to the mall again, and "it's only $50".
Maybe BF/early december buyers are price-sensitive, and late rushers are just plain desperate?
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NPD Sales Results for November 2015 [Up3: Combined Hardware For PS4 + XB1 + Wii U]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
But then it's the 20th, they don't want go to the mall again, and "it's only $50".
Maybe BF/early december buyers are price-sensitive, and late rushers are just plain desperate?
It definitely is only $50 but again -- we are talking about the attractive $299 price here too ("Power of 9"). PS4 going back up to $350 will make it look even more expensive next to the $299 Xbox One.
Maybe BF/early december buyers are a bit more price-sensitive, and late rushers are a bit more desperate?
"Fixed" with my opinion.
Ok so, using the TOP 20 home only.
Gonna say PS4 at #9, and XB1 at #11 on par with PS2 in 2006.
spatenfloot
Member
When the price changes, they don't restart the rankings. It got that high at the $299 price.
And the point with that post is...? What are you trying to prove?
But Amazon returned the price to 350 a few hours ago. I thought that PS4 will drop a few places then on that chart.
That you "shouldn't brush it off"? You said that in reply to the PS4 going from $400 to $350... yet, an increase from (the very attractive) $299 to $350 is nothing?
Just read the previous post.
Chobel
Member
Assuming there is a lower demand because of the price increase, its effect it will take some time before we noticed in the charts.
Plus PS4 is still $300 in Amazon, what you're seeing now is a third party seller (Sony?).
Not sure what's going on with Amazon's stock situation, but Sony has been very good about making sure we're well stocked with the bundles.
And fuck, gents and ladies, Star Wars + Christmas fever... Those bundles have moved. Very, very healthy December. They made sure to keep our inventory topped up since the start of the promotion for the SW bundle in particular, that's the real driving force of this. NDC was the BF weekend, and Star Wars is the star of this particular show.
Since MS started their matching of the price, it picked back up for them, but they don't really have anything with the same kind of 'celebrity' status behind a bundle at the moment, so it's not really the same kind of momentum, but it's still selling really well. Should still be a really sold XB1 month from the Best Buy perspective.
I'm very, very curious to see how things are in the Walmart/Gamestop side of things though.
And fuck, gents and ladies, Star Wars + Christmas fever... Those bundles have moved. Very, very healthy December. They made sure to keep our inventory topped up since the start of the promotion for the SW bundle in particular, that's the real driving force of this. NDC was the BF weekend, and Star Wars is the star of this particular show.
Since MS started their matching of the price, it picked back up for them, but they don't really have anything with the same kind of 'celebrity' status behind a bundle at the moment, so it's not really the same kind of momentum, but it's still selling really well. Should still be a really sold XB1 month from the Best Buy perspective.
I'm very, very curious to see how things are in the Walmart/Gamestop side of things though.
GribbleGrunger
Dreams in Digital
Thanks for the insight. It's always welcome.
slavesnyder
Member
+1
It's always nice to hear of your impressions.
The Mad Draklor
Member
As always, your assessments are much appreciated, Abdiel. Hopefully, Cornbread will give his assessment, too.
Thank you for your assessment from actual point of sales. Can you confirm if the price will go back to $349 from tomorrow ?
spatenfloot
Member
It is more of a weighted average and take some time to move.
slavesnyder
Member
Abdiel, could you please tell us if Battlefront also sold well as software (because of the movie) or if this high interest is only for the bundle consoles.
serversurfer
Member
Yeah, a product that has been out of stock for days can still top the hourlies if it was selling strongly enough while it was available. It's kinda weird, and we don't know how it works, so we usually just ignore it. Weeklies and monthlies are where it's at.
It's scheduled to, as far as I've been informed - but these things can change very quickly if they send out an updated memo, etc.
Sunday morning means price tag changes, so I'll know for certain tomorrow morning when I arrive and pick up my stack of tags for swaps in my section.
The game is still selling pretty well, there's still parents snagging copies for kids after seeing the movie, and such, though the fact that we haven't had any specials for the game alone doesn't do much to push software sales, you know?
The only special we're running on Battlefront right now is where if you buy the game, and a Star Wars Steelbook Blu Ray, you get a $15 gift card, as far as I'm aware.
And that kind of deal is kind of like "Hey, look, it's... a thing!" It doesn't really move the needle much.
DriftingSpirit
Member
Thank you, Abs!
Haha
Onion News:Top-Selling Christmas Gifts Of 2015
Onion News:Top-Selling Christmas Gifts Of 2015
http://www.theonion.com/graphic/top-selling-christmas-gifts-2015-52069
parents dont know the difference, my grandma used to call everything a nintento.
Obliterator
Member
So I feel like I underestimated the December / Movie effect on BF.
Daym
Daym
I'm not clear on exactly where your status/role in the world of retail lies, but you tend to have insight on the larger market perspective than just the one chain's sales like I do for Best Buy, is what you're seeing is very aggressive performance like what my impressions stated earlier?
Neuromancer
Member
Great to hear that both systems appear to be selling to people. Please keep us posted if anything changes.
Obliterator
Member
Just read your post. Your viewpoint on Battlefront looks spot on. Things blowing up from what I've heard
(nod)
Sounds like a healthy December for the two systems, and at least from our end, I'll give the PS4 the edge, even if they end their promotion today, because the sheer momentum difference was so big...
And if the drop off is big enough in the first day or two leading to Christmas, I wouldn't be surprised if Sony extended the promo up to the 24th, just as a "Aren't we awesome?"
Sony seems to be in a place this year where they hold all the cards and they've been exceptionally strategic about the timing and placement. Even with some of the awesome deals that MS has thrown down to improve the value adds leveraged with the XB1, it doesn't create a new momentum image, it doesn't generate a new upswell. Sony has had these practically laser guided deals one after another that have had specific effects and will linger, from what we can see. I imagine that for MS, it is at least encouraging that they've managed to maintain a consistent buying base for the holiday season and not just be completely eclipsed, because while they didn't pull what they did last year, they remained in a great position for their numbers.
Dash_Riprock
Member
Thanks Abdiel!
Looks like Sony is gonna slaughter MS this month. Predicting a 350k+ difference.
Looks like Sony is gonna slaughter MS this month. Predicting a 350k+ difference.
serversurfer
Member
So the Bone is down YOY@BB? Is that what I'm hearing? What were last December's results again?
The gap probably won't be that big if the price goes back up to $350 tomorrow.
The people who will buy between Monday and Thursday aren't the planners who scour for the best price, but rather the procrastinators and desperate who need what's hot / their kids want for Xmas. Hence why I think Sony is betting on Star Wars Battlefront and COD Blops3 bundles, and also counting on the $50 price hike not being a deal breaker during those 4 days.
Bit callous I admit... Will have to see if it is confirmed (seems logical to me in theory).
Tomorrow will be ... Interesting.
Welfare
Member
Abdiel, would you say the Xbox One's performance is better than last year? I think it was you that said the Xbox One started to fall off around the middle of December last year, so if a comparison can be made, that would be appreciated.
Xbox One did 1.3m last December.
Xbox One did 1.3m last December.
serversurfer
Member
That was another thing I was wondering about. Abdiel sorta seemed to be referring to the month in the past tense. I know Final Saturday Before is the biggest day of the month, but has the vast majority of the shopping been done at that point? What fraction of the month's sales will come after that? Is most shopping done early enough to call the month at this point?
<3
Last year was full fire sale status for an extended period of time, with special offers on top from Black Friday and scattered throughout for the XB1... But I don't recall off the top of my head if it seems to be selling *slower*. The PS4 by comparison to last year is definitely doing far better, but the XB1 just doesn't seem to be selling as well as the PS4 for that comparison. I'll try and see if I can go back that far for inventory comparisons, but it might be hard to get an exact metric for my personal access reports. Also hard to get time to do that kind of digging, but I'll try and check.
As above - I'm not really saying it is doing worse than last year, just not as well as the PS4 is doing right now, and the PS4 is killing it. It could be like November, just as incredible of a month, and the only reason it doesn't seem quite as 'stellar' is because it looks worse in comparison to the chief competitor actually standing up tall for the holiday sales.
The last week before Christmas is very hit or miss. It's desperation mode for a lot of folks, where people are grabbing last ditch items and gifts, which is why this last weekend is such a big deal, though the weekdays themselves are usually not quite as good (still busier than entire weeks of sales in the off seasons, but that's not the point).
So with regards to the past tense, that's because to most of my management discussions, we have most of our primary money for the month already locked in. There's two more major days to really look forward to, which are the two days after Christmas, when people try to immediately cash in on gift cards and such.
Gift cards are powerful motivators, seeing a chunk of the cost of an item waived, or assembling several cards from various people to buy of single items... it's always chaos. But at the same time, a lot of those gift cards go towards very varied products.
Brad Grenz
Member
The last Saturday before Christmas (IE: today) is traditionally the biggest sales day of the year. It might be a bit chippy, but there's less incentive to offer deals for last minute shoppers over the next week.
serversurfer
Member
So, there'll be a little spurt after Christmas as people spend their gift cards, but apart from that, it's basically just stragglers at this point?
I thought with some luck, Sony might be able to get the gap just over 1m before going into 2016 but if I'm into interpreting Abdiel and Obli's posts correctly, we might be looking at a 1.35m gap - absolutely terrific results from an otherwise complacent company.
That's my loose interpretation anyway.
That's my loose interpretation anyway.
Amazon Hourly Chart
#11 XB1 Gears Bundle
#12 PS4 Star Wars Standard Bundle
#48 PS4 Black Ops 3 Standard Bundle
#64 XB1 Three Game Bundle
#82 PS4 Nathan Drake Bundle
So Sony PS4 rein at the top is ending as the price of the bundle goes back to $350.
#11 XB1 Gears Bundle
#12 PS4 Star Wars Standard Bundle
#48 PS4 Black Ops 3 Standard Bundle
#64 XB1 Three Game Bundle
#82 PS4 Nathan Drake Bundle
So Sony PS4 rein at the top is ending as the price of the bundle goes back to $350.
Sony preferring profit over market share yet again
panda-zebra
Member
As Kyle Orland once said...
slavesnyder
Member
eh doesnt mean much tbh. When PS4 still tops the overall sales. This is only sales from amazon right? meh. Good on xbox I guess for gaining a little momentum. Compeition is healthy but it doesnt do so much as make a dent in ps4 sales.
Ravage_Hydra
Member
tattooed_dwarf
Member
SSome reactions to what Abdiel said are bit weird. With his pretty vague (but nevertheless most welcome) post, people extrapolated that Xbone is down YOY and that gap is bigger than November. I feel some see what they want see in these insiders posts. Though I'm convinced that Sony takes the cake on December NPD too, Star wars is too big to allow them to be second.
And PS. Noobie, no hourly charts please.
And PS. Noobie, no hourly charts please.
DeadOnions
Member
Yeah, I imagine a similar ratio to November. I doubt MS is down YOY though.
I don't think there's much concern in terms of misreading, the two that specifically asked about it are both active salesGAF folks and look for trend data, which is why I clarified more specifically that I'd have to see if I could check for actual weekly/daily numbers from last year if I have the time today/this week. Server may be more distinctly opposed to MS in terms of policies, but he always wants actual data to back up any trends or discussions he's looking at, and Welfare is not one to throw shit around for no reason.
Noobie, hourly charts are great for comparison of a particular hour, and that's about it. Amazon also apparently ended their sale price a day early, on the biggest shopping day of the year (according to the data), which seems really weird to me.
That's why I would feel that unless something drastic changes, I'd expect to see December largely won for the PS4, even with another 10 days left. Because Christmas Eve proper is not a great day for us, usually, other than panic mode customers, and most of the employees don't have their heart in it anyway (We're fucking exhausted! Haha), and after Christmas comes the quick burst of sales from gift cards and such, then it drops pretty hard, and New Years Eve is often very quiet, people don't go all out for watching the ball drop, haha.
Lol oh please.