UK Sales Added! EA Rules Top 3! / Game Industry Sales Numbers in Japan!

[Zen Davis]

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4482&Itemid=2

WMS has estimated December sales of 1.3 million Wii hardware units and 600,000 PS3 hardware units (200,000 PS3 hardware units were sold in November). The analyst says Xbox 360 sold 1.2 million units in December. December U.S. retail software sales should be up by 15% year on year according to analyst Wedbush Morgan Securities. In his monthly pre-NPD note, Michael Pachter forecast sales of $1.8 billion, up 15% compared to last year's $1.6 billion figure.

The estimate reflects $927.5 million in sales contribution from new platforms (PS3, Wii, 360, PSP and DS), representing year-over-year growth of $600 million, or 183%. WMS expects current generation software sales of $947.5 million, reflecting a year-over-year decrease of $361 million (-28%).

Sales growth over the last six months has averaged 16%, and WMS is reckoning on 25% monthly software sales growth in January and February.

The forecasts reflect a slight decline for PS2 software sales (-3%), but a much more considerable decline for GameCube software (-67%) and for Xbox software
(-63%).

WMS says the tie ratio for Wii and PS3 leveled out at 2.5 in December, following a poor start for PS3 in November. The U.S. hardware installed base currently stands at 18 million next generation consoles (including handhelds) as of the end of November 2006 (up from 8 million at year end 2005).
UK SALES:

1 FIFA 07 (X360, PS2, PSP, XB, DS, GBA, GC, PC)
2 NEED FOR SPEED: CARBON (X360, XB, PS2, PSP, DS, GBA, GC)
3 THE SIMS 2: PETS (PC, PS2, GC, DS, GBA, PSP)
4 PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 6 PS2, X360, PC)
5 CALL OF DUTY 3 (X360, XB, PC)
6 LEGO STAR WARS II (PS2, X360, GC, XB, PC, PSP, DS, GBA)
7 NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. (DS)
8 GEARS OF WAR (X360)
9 WWE SMACKDOWN VS RAW 2007 (X360, PS2)
10 GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY STORIES (PSP)
11 TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS (X360, PSP, PC)
12 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2007 (PC, X360, PSP)
13 TONY HAWK'S PROJECT 8 (X360, XB, PS2)
14 BUZZ! JUNIOR: JUNGLE PARTY (PS2)
15 HAPPY FEET (PS2, DS, GBA, PC)
16 TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL: DOUBLE AGENT (X360, PSP, PC)
17 ANIMAL CROSSING: WILD WORLD (DS)
18 BRATZ: FOREVER DIAMONDZ (PS2, GC, DS, GBA)
19 ERAGON (X360, XB, PS2, PSP, PC, DS, GBA)
20 WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE: PARTY ED. (PS2)


JAPAN NUMBERS:

1. NDS - Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker - Square Enix - 266,827 (860,820) - 2nd week
2. Wii - Wii Sports - Nintendo - 166,011 (732,719) - 6th week
3. Wii - Wii Play - Nintendo - 141,702 (664,512) - 6th week
4. NDS - New Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo - 128,211 (3,986,506) - 33rd week
5. NDS - General Knowledge Training DS - Nintendo - 109,752 (1,063,093) - 11th week
6. NDS - Brain Training 2 - Nintendo - 99,320 (3,805,787) - 55th week
7. NDS - Animal Crossing: Wild World - Nintendo - 94,917 (3,843,832) - 60th week
8. NDS - Pokemon Diamond - Nintendo - 94,370 (2,479,819) - 14th week
9. NDS - Kirby Squeak Squad - Nintendo - 93,522 (836,588) - 10th week
10. NDS - Pokemon Pearl - Nintendo - 78,398 (2,054,443) - 14th week

Total top 10 sales: 1,273,030 (up 90,884 from last week)
Last week's sales: 1,182,146

More:

11. NDS - Mario Kart DS - Nintendo - 57th week
12. NDS - Jump Ultimate Stars - Nintendo - 7th week
13. Wii - Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 - Namco Bandai - NEW
14. Wii - Wario Ware: Smooth Moves - Nintendo - 6th week
15. NDS - Brain Training - Nintendo - 87th week
16. PSP - Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops - Konami - 3rd week
17. Wii - Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo - 6th week
18. NDS - Love and Berry - Nintendo - 7th week
19. PS2 - Yakuza 2 - Sega - 5th week
20. NDS - Kanji Test - Rocket Company
21. NDS - Tamagotchi 2 - Namco Bandai
22. NDS - DS Menu Collection - Nintendo
23. NDS - English Training - Nintendo
24. Wii - Pokemon Battle Revolution - Nintendo
25. PSP - Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology - Namco Bandai
26. PS2 - Seiken Densetsu 4 (Dawn of Mana - Square Enix
27. PS2 - Yakuza - The Best - Sega
28. PS2 - Momotaro Dentetsu - Hudson
29. NDS - Magic Taizen - Nintendo
30. NDS - Tetris DS - Nintendo

CREDITED JAPANESE NUMBERS TO: MSI MAGUS

Hardware:
Console Week Weekly Total
DS 174,750 (-66%) 14,239,250
Wii 141,250 (-51%) 1,040,250
PSP 79,500 (-44%) 4,760,750
PS3 61,250 (-20%) 446,750
Total 606,750

[Friend of Sonic]

Wow, another month of domination for various games on Nintendo's systems. Although, I have to wonder about the sales figures for the Wii Pokemon game-- I knew there's not a lot of Wii's in Japan yet, but they still seem a bit low.

[The Crotch]

2.) Pokémon Diamond & Pearl (NDS,Pokémon Company)

Huh? Pokémon Company? I thought Game Freak handled the franchise?

[j.elles]

I heard Pokemon crossed 5 million recently in sales so I'm nut sure if those are final numbers.

They should be up sometime tonight of tommorow though at the latest.

[Michaellvortega]

I wonder if the Japan and NA markets are so different that company X can dominate in NA while company Y dominates Japan? Is worldwide videogame domination over?

[terribledeli]

Huh? Pokémon Company? I thought Game Freak handled the franchise?

They do. Pokemon Co. is just the licensing and marketing front for all Pokemon products.

[Dr Mario Kart]

I wonder if the Japan and NA markets are so different that company X can dominate in NA while company Y dominates Japan? Is worldwide videogame domination over?
Depends what NA Wii penetration is :P

[Michaellvortega]

Depends what NA Wii penetration is :P

I meant in a overall look. NA people don't go apeshit over the same stuff the JP area dose. Over there they don't go apeshit over Madden 0X and Gta X like people in the NA. Can pokemon sell those numbers here anymore?

[j.elles]

Have you seen Pokemon sales of Ranger and Dungean whatever. Those are spinoffs and they broke a million in two weeks.

And the last Pokemon game Emerald sold 2.5 million here in America while it sold under 2 in Japan.

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl could outsell the 5 million Japan numbers here in America. Craziness.

And except for RPG's I find the sales of games are usually about equal. Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, etc... Sports games are usually regional so they don't count. Thats why Soccer games don't sell well here. No one really follows Soccer like Football over here.

And the reason why American games don't sell well over there has to do with Localization. I've lisened to some Japanese talk about how badly they're translated. They said if you thought Engrish and the NES/SNES translations were bad the current English to Japanese translations make them look good.
Once or twice they don't even translate anything and just release the game with reworked menu's in Japenese and leave the game with no subtitles. Thats the reason if you ask me.

[Kaijufan]

Nintendo shareholders are going to be very happy.

[SpazX]

I meant in a overall look. NA people don't go apeshit over the same stuff the JP area dose. Over there they don't go apeshit over Madden 0X and Gta X like people in the NA. Can pokemon sell those numbers here anymore?

I'm sure pokemon can sell those numbers here, but those numbers wouldn't be as significant in NA as in Japan since the population is higher. Pokemon is still big with kids here AFAIK and there are probably plenty of people that played pokemon when they were kids that still play it now.

[daroga]

More than Pokemon, I'm surprised to see New Super Mario Bros. still dominating over there. If I recall, it's even appeared on top lists from Amazon here recently. That game has some legs!

[Kaijufan]

More than Pokemon, I'm surprised to see New Super Mario Bros. still dominating over there. If I recall, it's even appeared on top lists from Amazon here recently. That game has some legs!
The great sales of NSMB make me really happy since more 2.5D DS games like NSMB2 and Metroid are almost 100% guaranteed.

[SpazX]

The great sales of NSMB make me really happy since more 2.5D DS games like NSMB2 and Metroid are almost 100% guaranteed.

Damn I would love a 2D Metroid with 3D models like that. It has so much potential for awesomeness.

[Zen Davis]

Wi-fi has given Pokemond Diamond a whole new appeal. That's the basic reason it's selling as well as it is in Japan.

[Backlash]

lol at Common Sense Training. Best video game name in recent memory :)

[Kuros]

lol at Common Sense Training. Best video game name in recent memory :)

About 90% of the population in the US should buy it.

[botticus]

About 90% of the population in the US should buy it.I was thinking of posting something along those lines.

[Zen Davis]

NPD added.

[Ikohn4ever]

surprised Zelda isnt doing so hot over there

[Michaellvortega]

Just noticed the thread title now, World War II beats 360? OP is a nub. Ban the guy.

[Friend of Sonic]

Just noticed the thread title now, World War II beats 360? OP is a nub. Ban the guy.
I don't know if you were being sarcastic, but WII stands for Wii by some misinformed internet people.

[spoo]

Just noticed the thread title now, World War II beats 360? OP is a nub. Ban the guy.
:lol:

But all humor aside the TT is missleading as in the NPD numbers aren't out yet and the 360 will sell more then the Wii from the NPD.

Edit: Switched Wii and 360 #-o

[furyk]

Just noticed the thread title now, World War II beats 360? OP is a nub. Ban the guy.

World War II = WWII. Missing one there chief.

I find it amazing the Wii outsold the 360 in December though. It sort of puts a damper on all of the "yay Microsoft" talk. I'm happy it's a Nintendo system winning, but honestly, I'm more happy that it's the cheapest system winning. Perhaps in the future, the big three will take this into consideration with the 720, PS4, and the Nintendo Hairy Snatch.

[Michaellvortega]

World War II = WWII. Missing one there chief.

I find it amazing the Wii outsold the 360 in December though. It sort of puts a damper on all of the "yay Microsoft" talk. I'm happy it's a Nintendo system winning, but honestly, I'm more happy that it's the cheapest system winning. Perhaps in the future, the big three will take this into consideration with the 720, PS4, and the Nintendo Hairy Snatch.

It was a joke, and yes there is no REAL NPD numbers till the 12th of January, so all the people who spank it to console war numbers will have to wait till then. Meanwhile me and all the real gamers will be enjoying games on multiple consoles not giving a fuck about units sold.

[RedvsBlue]

It was a joke, and yes there is no REAL NPD numbers till the 12th of January, so all the people who spank it to console war numbers will have to wait till then. Meanwhile me and all the real gamers will be enjoying games on multiple consoles not giving a fuck about units sold.

Wait a sec, you mean you can own more than one console? SHIT! I thought all these arguments over which console is best actually meant something...

[botticus]

It was a joke, and yes there is no REAL NPD numbers till the 12th of January, so all the people who spank it to console war numbers will have to wait till then. Meanwhile me and all the real gamers will be enjoying games on multiple consoles not giving a fuck about units sold.I don't care about which console outsells another by 100k units over whatever month, but let's just say if the 360 only sold 1000 units a month, you wouldn't be playing on an Xbox 720 in a few years. So you should at least be interested in the numbers. As all the "fair and balanced" people on CAG always say, competition is good. And competition is better when the playing field is relatively even.

[daroga]

I'm more happy that it's the cheapest system winning. Agreed. If nothing else, perhaps this will encourage each of the companies to squeeze everything they can out of their current systems before moving on (to when they can manufacture the "next gen" cheaper and not lose $300 on a console that sells for $600). The Xbox, GC, and PS2 all had a lot more life in them than they were granted. It seems like you get one or two games on a system that really push it to the limit, and then we jump ship. Why can't we have a year, two, or three where every game pushes the system to the limit in varying ways and styles?

While Microsoft's abandonment of the first Xbox doesn't surprise me a whole lot, I'm still kinda appalled at the way Nintendo totally bailed on the Cube. I understand why they did it, but it doesn't mean I like it. :P

[Wet Ninja]

surprised Zelda isnt doing so hot over there

In Japan, Wii Sports didn't come with the Wii, so a lot of people probably bought that instead. If I had to choose between buying Wii Sports and Zelda at launch, I'd probably pick Wii Sports, simply because it has multiplayer (fortunately, I did get both). Also, Wii Play was available at launch, so a lot of people probably bought it to get an extra Wiimote. By the time they bought Wii Sports and Wii Play, they may have spent their budget for the Wii and games. I'm just guessing, though.

[Dr Mario Kart]

The loser is always looking to jump start the next generation asap. Maybe if all 3 players get really healthy, even marketshares that they could actually keep the generation going a little longer.

[Zen Davis]

OP is a nub. Ban the guy. Because the Wii hasn't been outpacing the 360 since its launch? [/sarcasm]

[Rasen]

While Microsoft's abandonment of the first Xbox doesn't surprise me a whole lot, I'm still kinda appalled at the way Nintendo totally bailed on the Cube. I understand why they did it, but it doesn't mean I like it. :P

If memory serves, the GC hasn't been doing too well, so there's little reason to continue to support it. Besides, I wouldn't say they "totally bailed," since the Wii is completely backwards compatible. (Whereas I'm still waiting for MS to make DOAX playable on the 360)

[daroga]

If memory serves, the GC hasn't been doing too well, so there's little reason to continue to support it. Besides, I wouldn't say they "totally bailed," since the Wii is completely backwards compatible. (Whereas I'm still waiting for MS to make DOAX playable on the 360)Fair enough, but some software support from Nintendo in the last year aside from Zelda would've helped the Cube actually fair better and maybe have some legs. I will be interested to see if the Wii ends up spurring on GC software to still be in stores marked "COMPATIBLE WITH WII!" or if they just dump the games onto Wii discs. The former makes more sense to me, as it would get them a broader audience, but there's always something attractive about "New and shiny"

[Zen Davis]

Fair enough, but some software support from Nintendo in the last year aside from Zelda would've helped the Cube actually fair better and maybe have some legs. I will be interested to see if the Wii ends up spurring on GC software to still be in stores marked "COMPATIBLE WITH WII!" or if they just dump the games onto Wii discs. The former makes more sense to me, as it would get them a broader audience, but there's always something attractive about "New and shiny" You're pretty much right. Nintendo sacrificed the Gamecube in order to achieve an all out Nintendo console embargo in order to force consumers' attention to shift to the Wii. This kind of sacrifice was only reinforced by the decisions to move Super Paper Mario and Zelda to the Wii. At the same time, granted, the Gamecube was pretty much dead in the water. No matter what Nintendo tried to do with the Gamecube, people just weren't buying. Price drops, pack-ins, and great games weren't moving systems and for like the first time in like 50 years, Nintendo had actually lost money as a company. Nevertheless, I think that the could have handled the situation more gracefully then trying to tell people, yeah, Zelda is coming to the Gamecube - no it won't be going to the Wii - and then switching their positions because secretly they were working on the Wii version for over a year.

[shipwreck]

Why does the title say NPD numbers when all I see are WMS analyst predictions? Oh wait, I can fix that.

[Zen Davis]

UK Sales added.

[spoo]

NPD Numbers:

December 2006
DS = 1.6 million
PS2 = 1.4 million
360 = 1.1 million
PSP = 953,200
GBA = 850,700
Wii = 604,200
PS3 = 490,700

Img taken from gamedaily
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5640/npddec2006chartcm4.gif

[furyk]

NPD Numbers:

December 2006
DS = 1.6 million
PS2 = 1.4 million
360 = 1.1 million
PSP = 953,200
GBA = 850,700
Wii = 604,200
PS3 = 490,700

Wow, nearly a million PSPs sold. Awesome. Lords of Dogtown must be the trick for moving systems.

[botticus]

Wii and PS3 are much lower than I would have thought... Nintendo barely broke a million for the first month-plus, and Sony apparently has 300k PS3s sitting on shelves right now.

[Zen Davis]

NPD doesn't court Wal-mart does it?

[furyk]

Nope, NPD doesn't count Wal Mart.

[botticus]

They estimate Walmart.

[MSI Magus]

Well to sadly bring a little bad news into the topic but give it with a ray of sunshine. Iv heard some people in the industry like the guests at game over(gametrailer.com show)this week guess we will see a new Nintendo system faster then normally because of the graphical limitations of the Wii. It does make sense too. Nintendo will probally own the next 2 years hardcore, however as the PS3 and Xbox 360 prices fall its going to have a harder and harder time. The 360 and PS3 are going to look absoultly amazing and the Wii is going to over time look more and more outdated. Nintendo can drop price too which will help, they can probally even take the system down to $100 in another 2 years or so if they truely wanted to. But it wouldnt be suprising at all to instead see them to try and compete at around $175 and then after 3 years maybe 4 release a new system.

Im not sure how I personally feel about this. On one hand it will be so soon that it will piss me off, especially if Sony and MS follow suit...but I doubt that will happan since they will still be trying to turn profit on their expensive systems which will just be realizing their full potential. On the other hand it will put Nintendo on a seperate release cycle from Sony and MS which would be a very good thing. It would mean Nintendo truely would stand out from their competitors and they could create a new game/industry for themselves.

So again I know alot of people are hoping this is going to mean a long generation before we see new consoles....but I cant see it happaning nor does it seem to be what others expect to happan. It might be possible for Sony and MS which would be nice. But I dont think nintendo can stretch their Wii that far(heheh im sorry I had to!).

[Zen Davis]

Well to sadly bring a little bad news into the topic but give it with a ray of sunshine. Iv heard some people in the industry like the guests at game over(gametrailer.com show)this week guess we will see a new Nintendo system faster then normally because of the graphical limitations of the Wii. It does make sense too. Nintendo will probally own the next 2 years hardcore, however as the PS3 and Xbox 360 prices fall its going to have a harder and harder time. The 360 and PS3 are going to look absoultly amazing and the Wii is going to over time look more and more outdated. Nintendo can drop price too which will help, they can probally even take the system down to $100 in another 2 years or so if they truely wanted to. But it wouldnt be suprising at all to instead see them to try and compete at around $175 and then after 3 years maybe 4 release a new system.

Im not sure how I personally feel about this. On one hand it will be so soon that it will piss me off, especially if Sony and MS follow suit...but I doubt that will happan since they will still be trying to turn profit on their expensive systems which will just be realizing their full potential. On the other hand it will put Nintendo on a seperate release cycle from Sony and MS which would be a very good thing. It would mean Nintendo truely would stand out from their competitors and they could create a new game/industry for themselves.

So again I know alot of people are hoping this is going to mean a long generation before we see new consoles....but I cant see it happaning nor does it seem to be what others expect to happan. It might be possible for Sony and MS which would be nice. But I dont think nintendo can stretch their Wii that far(heheh im sorry I had to!).

HD Wii?

[MSI Magus]

HD Wii?

HD yes, but also graphics on par with the PS3 and Xbox maybe even above them. Probally some other upgrades as well like a more acurate controller that can pull out some extra tricks.

[Graystone]

The Sims should never be counted they're going to sell 90 million copies no matter what.