Friday, December 08, 2006

November NPD numbers

Here's information from GameDaily on the November NPD numbers:
The NPD Group has just released its video game sales data for the month of November...
Looking at how the new Sony and Nintendo consoles fared, the Wii sold through 476K units in the U.S. while the PS3 sold 197K units. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Xbox 360 (which is in far greater supply) sold 511K units and is now at 3.8 million total in the U.S. Interestingly, the PS2 managed to outsell the Xbox 360 yet again. In fact, so did the old Game Boy. The PS2 and Game Boy sold a respective 664K and 641K units. But the real winner continues to be the Nintendo DS, which sold a whopping 918K units and has reached an install base of 8.1 million in the U.S. alone.

There's a long discussion to be had about the accuracy and usefulness of the NPD numbers, but it would be boring, so let's not have it today. Or ever.

In conjunction with the PS3/Wii hardware-related post embargo, no comment on those numbers. However, I think the 360 numbers merit mention. That seems like relatively weak sales (511k) for a console that was in ready supply and had a far stronger software lineup than either of the two new consoles.

Remember, excluding launch and supply constraints, it's a decent rule of thumb to say that a console sells as many units in November-December as it will in the other ten months combined. That can't even be close to the number Microsoft wanted for one of the best two months of the year.
[Update: someone e-mailed me and said that the NPD numbers may have a November 25 cut-off date. If so, that would mean that full-month numbers are higher, although Black Friday and its weekend would still be included.]

Does that mean a price cut for the 360 soon? Not now, certainly, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to see a $50 price cut in the March-April timeframe. That would make the 360 Core the same price as the Wii, and would further distance it from the PS3.

Full article here.

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