September NPD. jesus.

[Apossum]

via neogaf:


HW Sales
PlayStation 2 215K
PlayStation 3 119.4K
PlayStation Portable 284.5K
Xbox 360 527.8K
Wii 501K
Nintendo DS 495.8K
Game Boy Advance 75K

SW Sales
360 HALO 3* MICROSOFT (CORP) 1 3.3 million
360 HALO 3* MICROSOFT (CORP) 1 3.3 million
360 HALO 3* MICROSOFT (CORP) 1 3.3 million?
360 HALO 3* MICROSOFT (CORP) 1 3.3 million?!?!
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA 2 282K
NDS LEGEND OF ZELDA: PHANTOM HOURGLASS NINTENDO OF AMERICA 3 224K
PS2 MADDEN NFL 08 ELECTRONIC ARTS 4 205K
360 SKATE ELECTRONIC ARTS 5 175K
360 MADDEN NFL 08 ELECTRONIC ARTS 6 173K
WII METROID PRIME 3: CORRUPTION NINTENDO OF AMERICA 7 167K
360 BIOSHOCK TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP) 8 150K
NDS BRAIN AGE 2: MORE TRAINING IN MINUTES A NINTENDO OF AMERICA 9 141K
PS3 HEAVENLY SWORD SONY (CORP) 10 139K


Other #'s

Dollar Sales
Sep-06 Sep-07 YTD Sept 06 YTD Sept 07

Total Video Games $778.7 million $1.36 billion 74% $6.38 billion $9.37 billion 47%

Video Games Hardware
Console Hardware $145.5 million $418.6 million 188% $1.24 billion $2.69 billion 118%
Portable Game Hardware $98.4 million $126.25 million 28% $789 million $958.4 million 22%

Video Games Software
Console Software $335.8 million $550.5 million 64% $2.65 billion $3.35 billion 26%
Portable Game Software $109.6 million $103.1 million -6% $897.6 million $1.1 billion 23%

Video Game Accessories $89.5 million $157 million 76% $805.8 million $1.26 billion 57%

[Puffa469]

The 360 beat the Wii with Halo power! lol


Nintendo systems combined to move over a million hardware units. No wonder their stock valuation rivals even Toyota now in Japan.

[botticus]

I'd like to note I was #10 on the GAF hardware predictions, only off by 180k!

Crazy month, good for Microsoft and Nintendo, not so good for PS3.

[Puffa469]

Crazy month, good for Microsoft and Nintendo, not so good for PS3.

Shhhhh! TMK might hear you.

[schuerm26]

Wow. 5:1 for the 360 and the Wii over the PS3. Ouch.

[Apossum]

The 360 beat the Wii with Halo power! lol


Nintendo systems combined to move over a million hardware units. No wonder their stock valuation rivals even Toyota now in Japan.


I can't believe they only moved 27k more than the wii...with their wild card for the gen.

[jer7583]

Reminder that Halo 3 was only out for 12 days on this NPD. 12 days. 3.3 Million.

I can only imagine what the rest of the holiday will bring. 5 million halo 3 sales by the end of the year, I'm guessing. The halo games have traditionally had good legs and sold along with the system pretty consistently so I think it'll stay up there for at least into the next year.

Nintendo finally realized someone else was selling consoles for a month. It's not good that they just barely edged out Wii on such an uneven software month, though. Nothing very notable came out for Wii, and the 360 had it's biggest title the platform will likely ever see.

It's a good thing Sony announced the price drops for October, because PS3 was getting dangerously close to sub-100k again, like most of the rest of the year. It'll get them some good PR when they make 250k next month and say they had a 150% increase or whatever, then it'll drop again. Even PS2 sales are slowing down a little. PSP continues to do really well, though.

[botticus]

Reminder that Halo 3 was only out for 6 days on this NPD. 6 days. 3.3 Million.

I can only imagine what the rest of the holiday will bring. 5 million halo 3 sales by the end of the year, I'm guessing. The halo games have traditionally had good legs and sold along with the system pretty consistently so I think it'll stay up there for at least into the next year.

Nintendo finally realized someone else was selling consoles for a month. It's not good that they just barely edged out Wii on such an uneven software month, though. Nothing very notable came out for Wii, and the 360 had it's biggest title the platform will likely ever see.

It's a good thing Sony announced the price drops for October, because PS3 was getting dangerously close to sub-100k again, like most of the rest of the year. It'll get them some good PR when they make 250k next month and say they had a 150% increase or whatever, then it'll drop again. Even PS2 sales are slowing down a little. PSP continues to do really well, though.Halo was actually out for 12 days (reporting period went through the 6th). Really doesn't change anything though.

I wouldn't be suprised if the PS3 is sub-100k next month (same weekly rate, only a 4 week period). Yeah, as of today the 80GB is down to $500, but they weren't selling like gangbusters at $500 two months ago, and you'll likely have the price drop uptick counteracted by people waiting the extra couple weeks for the 40GB.

[geko29]

It's a good thing Sony announced the price drops for October, because PS3 was getting dangerously close to sub-100k again, like most of the rest of the year. It'll get them some good PR when they make 250k next month and say they had a 150% increase or whatever, then it'll drop again.
It effectively is sub-100k. The September reporting period was 5 weeks (through October 6th), which makes the weekly average just under 24k. If the period had been 4 weeks and ended on September 29th, that's 95.5k. December is the next 5-week period (ends January 5th), I believe.

[jer7583]

I forgot about the 5 week thing. Yeah, that's bad for 5 weeks.

[The Crotch]

So what's Corruption at total here? Not good?

[evilmax17]

So what's Corruption at total here? Not good?
Little under a half-mil. I'd say that it could break a million during the holidays.

[The Crotch]

That's more or less what I - we - expected, I think. Definitely disappointing. It's my favourite Wii game a million times over. Hope you're right about the Christmas bump.

[botticus]

Little under a half-mil. I'd say that it could break a million during the holidays.Domestically or WW? Considering it isn't yet out anywhere else in the world, it should hit a million worldwide. But the US, I don't see it happening very quickly.

[zionoverfire]

Wow, 3.3 million copies of Halo 3 sold? That's insane.

Bad month for the PS3, Heavenly Sword did alright considering the lack of PS3 sales but this doesn't bode well for the PS3 this holiday season.

[PyroGamer]

How many did Halo 2 sell in its first two weeks?

EDIT: Halo 3 sold $170 mill in its first day, Halo 2 sold $125 mill. Considering the $10 raise in videogame prices, Halo 3 only really SOLD ITEMS WORTH $20 mill more than Halo 2 ($60/$50 = 1.2, $125 x 1.2 = $150, $170 - $150 = $20).

I don't understand why everybody is so "ZOMG AMAZED", honestly, didn't we all expect these numbers?

[botticus]

How many did Halo 2 sell in its first two weeks?

EDIT: Halo 3 sold $170 mill in its first day, Halo 2 sold $125 mill. Considering the $10 raise in videogame prices, Halo 3 only really SOLD ITEMS WORTH $20 mill more than Halo 2 ($60/$50 = 1.2, $125 x 1.2 = $150, $170 - $150 = $20).

I don't understand why everybody is so "ZOMG AMAZED", honestly, didn't we all expect these numbers?There were more Xbox owners at the time Halo 2 launched (I think). And I think your numbers are still too high, since there were also $70 and $130 SKUs for Halo 3.

According to NPD, Halo 2 actually sold 3.3 million units as well. Wow. But that was November, and Halo 2 came out earlier in the month. So Halo 3 was more impressive up front.

[ArthurDigbySellers]

I wonder how much Microsoft will really make on Halo 3 once all of the advertising dollars are taken into account. That game had such a huge marketing blitz that I can't even imagine how much money was spent.

That being said, it shows that all that hype does help sell games and systems. It also makes me wonder what the hell Nintendo is spending those $200 million advertising dollars on. They sure as hell didn't spend it on Metroid Prime 3 and they definitely aren't spending it on Battalion Wars 2.

If Super Mario Galaxy gets the same treatment...well, it will still sell like gangbusters, but think of how much MORE it could sell if it was promoted even half as effectively as Halo 3, or Bioshock, or Gears...

[Vinny]

Little under a half-mil. I'd say that it could break a million during the holidays.

That's it? After all this time?

Well, this'll probably lead Nintendo to ignore gamers more and release more mini-game crap.

[PyroGamer]

I wonder how much Microsoft will really make on Halo 3 once all of the advertising dollars are taken into account.What will they make off of Halo 3? They've made the Xbox 360 the undisputed king of videogame consoles for a while to come, that's what they've made.

Microsoft was right to pour all the support they could into Halo 3, and it's working out for them terrifically.

[botticus]

That's it? After all this time?

Well, this'll probably lead Nintendo to ignore gamers more and release more mini-game crap.It's only been a month-plus. For reference, a non-Halo first person game hyped as game of the year (BioShock) is around 700k or so in a week's more time. Considering the userbase difference (I think Wii is about 2/3 of the 360 right now), I'd call its performance "decent."

[Apossum]

What will they make off of Halo 3? They've made the Xbox 360 the undisputed king of videogame consoles for a while to come, that's what they've made.

Microsoft was right to pour all the support they could into Halo 3, and it's working out for them terrifically.



wat. what are your criteria that make the 360 as the "undisputed king"?

halo 3 only gave them a 27k lead for this month. NOTHING is going to push them ahead of the wii again for a long while (Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros, and Mario Kart ensure this.)

I know, it's sad but the Wii is king right now. Last gen is the new next gen /troll

[daroga]

What will they make off of Halo 3? They've made the Xbox 360 the undisputed king of videogame consoles for a while to come, that's what they've made.

Microsoft was right to pour all the support they could into Halo 3, and it's working out for them terrifically.Nintendo would probably dispute that claim. And they haven't even had their "Halo 3" hit yet.

[Apossum]

I wonder if Mario Galaxy will beat Halo 3's record (in units sold..since there's only one version of the game coming out.) Nintendo has the install base and momentum to do it. If they advertise the hell out of the game, it could happen.

[daroga]

I wonder if Mario Galaxy will beat Halo 3's record (in units sold..since there's only one version of the game coming out.) Nintendo has the install base and momentum to do it. If they advertise the hell out of the game, it could happen.I wouldn't hold my breath on that. Perhaps a life-time sales, but I don't think inital sales will come close to touching Halo 3.

My point mainly was that Galaxy is Nintendo's megaton title of the year.

[Apossum]

I wouldn't hold my breath on that. Perhaps a life-time sales, but I don't think inital sales will come close to touching Halo 3.

My point mainly was that Galaxy is Nintendo's megaton title of the year.


I really think if Nintendo did a Halo 3-style ad campaign, they could do it.

but Nintendo is cool like that--they'll let the game quietly release with the normal amount of tv ads and let it sell like hotcakes on its own merit and title alone.

[PyroGamer]

wat. what are your criteria that make the 360 as the "undisputed king"?

halo 3 only gave them a 27k lead for this month. NOTHING is going to push them ahead of the wii again for a long while (Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros, and Mario Kart ensure this.)

I know, it's sad but the Wii is king right now. Last gen is the new next gen /troll
Sorry for the confusion: I didn't mean that litterally, I wasn't stating that Xbox 360 is the undisputed kind, I was just saying that's what they stand to make off of Halo 3, and that's why they were pouring so much money into it. Not just as a title to sell units and make money, but as a title to push the Xbox 360 over the edge.


I love my Wii. But the Wii isn't even played by a huge percentage of the people who own it. Videogame sales for the Wii are abysmal. Sure Nintendo is making money, but they're not making it by selling games.

There's no doubt in my mind SMG and Smash Bros will be awesome titles. Super Mario Galaxy is the reason I bought my Wii. But the very idea that Wii is "king of videogame consoles" because of THREE MARIO TITLES is laughable at best.


Xbox 360 had 72% of all video-game sales in September and you're talking about Xbox 360 being "behind the Wii"? No offense, but that's abysmally poor logic.

[daroga]

There's no doubt in my mind SMG and Smash Bros will be awesome titles. Super Mario Galaxy is the reason I bought my Wii. But the very idea that Wii is "king of videogame consoles" because of THREE MARIO TITLES is laughable at best.But the 360 being king because of one Halo game isn't laughable?

[PyroGamer]

But the 360 being king because of one Halo game isn't laughable?

Xbox 360 is king because of this:

Halo 3 (all three SKUs - Xbox 360) – 3.3 million
Skate (Xbox 360) – 175K
Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360) – 173K
BioShock (Xbox 360) – 150K

And their 5.3 software attach rate.


It's called Videogames not videoconsoling. To me, it's all about the games, and so far Xbox 360 is ahead by leaps and bounds in game sales, game quantity, and game quality.

I wonder if Mario Galaxy will beat Halo 3's record
I think you're extremely divorced from reality if you're even imagining that.

Halo 3 pre-orders: 4,000,000
SMG pre-orders: 400,000

For what it's worth: I definitely think SMG will be a far superior game to Halo 3.

[lordxixor101]

First off, being a 360 owner (and really liking the system), I'm happy to see the hardware moving for the month. I could care less whether it beats the Wii (still waiting to see one on the shelf, I've never seen a system out for a year where I haven't seen one for sale outside of a bundle, even once).

Still, I don't think that Galaxy is going to break Halo's records here in the US. Maybe Japan (I don't have any feel for the popular culture there), but here Halo was something that everyone stopped and took notice of. It really was on par with the big movie release of the year.

In time, sure Galaxy might outsell it (I'll doubt it, but we will see). Galaxy might be a better game. Still, I don't see it pushing systems or units like Halo 3 did.

[daroga]

Xbox 360 is king because of this:

Halo 3 (all three SKUs - Xbox 360) – 3.3 million
Skate (Xbox 360) – 175K
Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360) – 173K
BioShock (Xbox 360) – 150K

And their 5.3 software attach rate.


It's called Videogames not videoconsoling. To me, it's all about the games, and so far Xbox 360 is ahead by leaps and bounds in game sales, game quantity, and game quality.I disagree with very little in what you said. But what does that have to do with Halo 3's expense account?

[botticus]

Xbox 360 had 72% of all video-game sales in September and you're talking about Xbox 360 being "behind the Wii"? No offense, but that's abysmally poor logic.At least use a better month for that argument, than when their 3.3 million unit juggernaut releases.

If Galaxy turns out as well as it looks to be and is hyped to be, it wouldn't be unimaginable for it to outsell Halo 3 worldwide lifetime, but we'll have to wait and see. Smash might be a better bet though.

We should really stop saying non-360 software is selling terribly though. Just as the fact that the Wii is killing everything else in hardware sales doesn't mean everything else is selling poorly, just because the 360 has a monstrous attach rate doesn't mean the Wii and PS3 are terrible - just not as good relatively speaking [this is assuming that the last numbers I saw where 360 was around 6, PS3 and Wii - not counting Wii Sports - were around 3 are still accurate].

I hate to be the guy bringing it up (fanboy!), but Reggie was pretty spot on - assuming the 300k bump in hardware sales (it's actually less, but different reporting periods, price drop effects, etc make it difficult to hit exactly) represents the people who bought a console for Halo, 90% of people who bought Halo already had the console. Microsoft might want to focus on expanding their userbase with their 1st party offerings, since it seems third parties are serving the existing base well enough.

[PyroGamer]

I disagree with very little in what you said. But what does that have to do with Halo 3's expense account?
See that "3.3 million" units sold up there? THAT'S what it has to do with Halo 3's marketing budget.

I think we should also realize what advertising Halo 3 means. Advertising Halo 3 is essentially the same thing as advertising the Xbox 360. All that money that they poured into Halo 3 marketing could as easily be categorized as Xbox 360 advertising.

When you think "Halo 3", you think "Xbox 360". When everyone's talking about "Halo 3", everyone is talking about the 360. Halo 3 is inseperable from the Xbox 360. It is their spearhead, their flagship.

Understand I'm not saying it's their ONLY title, they obviously don't depend on it because they did pretty damn well without it. But Halo 3 is that spearhead that allows Microsoft to penetrate into the market and build their success with even more games.

Of course, Microsoft is attacking in all directions. Their family-friendly push with the Arcade bundle, for instance. But Halo 3 even pushes that arcade bundle: because EVERYONE is talking about Halo 3, and in a roundabout manner, the 360, even a mother who wouldn't let their child play Halo 3 has heard of the Xbox 360.

[daroga]

The question still stands that's been avoided, how many sales does it take for Halo 3 to turn a profit? 1 million? 3.3 million? 5 million?

[PyroGamer]

The question still stands that's been avoided, how many sales does it take for Halo 3 to turn a profit? 1 million? 3.3 million? 5 million?
But the question wasn't phrased that way. The question made it seem as if profit was the only important issue, and that because Halo 3 might have possibly not turned in a profit due to its advertising budget that somehow lessened the impact and importance of its success. The question also made it seem like marketing for Halo 3 was spent soley to make Halo 3 turn in a profit.

I'd say Halo 3 has the budget of a blockbuster film, and so far its selling better than Spiderman. So yeah, I'd say it's... hmmm... probably turned in a profit. :roll:

[botticus]

The question still stands that's been avoided, how many sales does it take for Halo 3 to turn a profit? 1 million? 3.3 million? 5 million?One would assume it is officially profitable. The marketing budget was $10 million. Launch day brought them their $175 million or whatever it was. Figure approximately 10% off the top for retailer profits, so $155 or so. Unless the game cost over $100 million to make, distribute, etc, they were doing okay as of launch day. But honestly... I don't know how much impact Mountain Dew advertising and the like helped. What would it have sold without the $10 million marketing? 2 million? 2.5 million? It's not as if people haven't known about Halo 3 for years.

[PyroGamer]

I hate to be the guy bringing it up (fanboy!), but Reggie was pretty spot on - assuming the 300k bump in hardware sales (it's actually less, but different reporting periods, price drop effects, etc make it difficult to hit exactly) represents the people who bought a console for Halo, 90% of people who bought Halo already had the console. Microsoft might want to focus on expanding their userbase with their 1st party offerings, since it seems third parties are serving the existing base well enough.
I have nothing to compare statistics with. That reasoning seems spotty at best.

It seems to me if 10% of people who bought Halo 3 bought their 360 in the two weeks leading up to Halo 3's release, that's fucking insanely good.

One would assume it is officially profitable.The very suggestion that Halo 3 was anyting but ludicrously profitable casts severe doubts on someone's grasp of reality. We all know Halo 3 made Microsoft riddiculous amounts of money. The marketing budget was $10 million.Wow! That's a lot less than I expected.

And I'd expect the budget for development was around $40 million.Launch day brought them their $175 million or whatever it was. Figure approximately 10% off the top for retailer profits, so $155 or so. Unless the game cost over $100 million to make, distribute, etc, they were doing okay as of launch day.Well factoring in that advertising budget I'd say they made around $100 million in profits in the first 24 hours of the game's release. Seeing as the first month of sales only accounts for like 1/3rd of the previous Halo's total sales, Halo 3 is poised to be the most lucrative investment in videogaming history.
But honestly... I don't know how much impact Mountain Dew advertising and the like helped. What would it have sold without the $10 million marketing? 2 million? 2.5 million? It's not as if people haven't known about Halo 3 for years.See, this is what I'm saying: Mountain Dew advertising wasn't just for Halo 3, for the sake of Halo 3. People talking about Halo 3, people drinking Halo 3 branded soda... this is all about MICROSOFT and the XBOX 360's success. Halo 3 and the 360 have a symbiotic relationship. What MS pours into advertising Halo 3 is what MS pours into furthering the Xbox 360.

[botticus]

See, this is what I'm saying: Mountain Dew advertising wasn't just for Halo 3, for the sake of Halo 3. People talking about Halo 3, people drinking Halo 3 branded soda... this is all about MICROSOFT and the XBOX 360's success. Halo 3 and the 360 have a symbiotic relationship. What MS pours into advertising Halo 3 is what MS pours into furthering the Xbox 360.I guess that's where you lost me. $10 million in marketing to push an extra 300k games/systems last month? Yikes. Unless the $10 million was for a very long ad campaign. I assume it was just for the launch day stuff with the Mountain Dew and other nonsense.

Unless you think that the fact they advertised Halo with Mountain Dew in September is going to stick with people into the holidays and beyond. "Oh shit, I remember when I drank Halo 3 Mountain Dew a few months ago! I should buy the console!"

[ArthurDigbySellers]

But the question wasn't phrased that way. The question made it seem as if profit was the only important issue, and that because Halo 3 might have possibly not turned in a profit due to its advertising budget that somehow lessened the impact and importance of its success. The question also made it seem like marketing for Halo 3 was spent soley to make Halo 3 turn in a profit.

I'd say Halo 3 has the budget of a blockbuster film, and so far its selling better than Spiderman. So yeah, I'd say it's... hmmm... probably turned in a profit. :roll:
I love when people use the movie analogy. It doesn't work. Even if Halo 3 did cost as much as Spider-Man 3 to create, it also costs consumers an average of $70 to purchase it. Comparing that to the cost of a movie theater ticket is apples to oranges.


I honestly didn't expect my question to cause this much discussion. I was just wondering how much advertising money Microsoft spent. $10 million sure seems like a small amount for the amount of commercials, web ads, product tie-ins, etc., that Halo 3 had before launch.

My main point was comparing it to the lack of advertising that Nintendo is doing with their triple-A games. Maybe I should have used Bioshock as a better example of another 360 game which had a ton of advertising (at least online) and hype. Halo is a phenomenon in and of itself and would have sold millions without advertising.

I do competely agree with you that ads for Halo 3 might as well be ads for the Xbox 360 and this is where I think Nintendo is making a huge mistake. It remains to be seen how they will advertise for SMG, but if I was them, I would get the hype train going at full steam pretty soon since SMG is basically advertising the Wii.

I get the feeling from Perrin Kaplan's comments about the advertising for MP3 that Nintendo just doesn't feel it is necessary to market these games. They know that the hardcore audience is up to speed on these games and that they will purchase them without seeing ads. They probably also feel like they don't really need to advertise the Wii since it is getting so much free advertisement and publicity as it is.

I just find it interesting since I have no idea what Nintendo is doing with the $200 million they put aside for advertising.

[botticus]

I just find it interesting since I have no idea what Nintendo is doing with the $200 million they put aside for advertising.Wii ads and casual DS games. I've seen more ads for the Wii (occasionally tied in with a game), Brain Age 1/2 and Flash Focus than anything else. They're attempting to sell the system, letting the games sell themselves. We'll see how that ends up working for them in the long-term.

[Strell]

I just find it interesting since I have no idea what Nintendo is doing with the $200 million they put aside for advertising.

Moving to San Francisco and New York, and dropping the hosebags that can't figure this shit out to begin with.

That's what.

[PyroGamer]

I love when people use the movie analogy. It doesn't work. Even if Halo 3 did cost as much as Spider-Man 3 to create, it also costs consumers an average of $70 to purchase it. Comparing that to the cost of a movie theater ticket is apples to oranges.
I'm comparing total dollars to total dollars, which is entirely reasonable.

$1 = $1, in case you didn't know. The US doesn't have special seperate currency for movie tickets and videogames as of yet.

$10 million sure seems like a small amount for the amount of commercials, web ads, product tie-ins, etc., that Halo 3 had before launch.I was suprised too. Though even with my gut-instinct of more like $30 million, it still would have turned in huge profits (plus, like I said, that money isn't just going towards turning in a profit for Halo 3).My main point was comparing it to the lack of advertising that Nintendo is doing with their triple-A games. Maybe I should have used Bioshock as a better example of another 360 game which had a ton of advertising (at least online) and hype. Halo is a phenomenon in and of itself and would have sold millions without advertising.

I do competely agree with you that ads for Halo 3 might as well be ads for the Xbox 360 and this is where I think Nintendo is making a huge mistake. It remains to be seen how they will advertise for SMG, but if I was them, I would get the hype train going at full steam pretty soon since SMG is basically advertising the Wii.You raise some fantastic points. I was distracted by what seemed to me a suggestion that Halo 3 didn't turn in huge profits, now that I see what you were really getting at I completely agree with you.

I've seen many ads for The Wii, but they've all been for the system itself. I think a truly effective Wii add is one for a particular game, not one with quirky japanese people waving around their arms like parapelegics.

Bioshock is another title Microsoft has proved their advertising techniques work on. That game was destined to be a sleeper hit, but Microsoft worked their magic and it's still, a month later, a big top seller (even in the stiff pre-holiday competition).

[Snake2715]

Xbox 360 is king because of this:

Halo 3 (all three SKUs - Xbox 360) – 3.3 million
...

Halo 3 pre-orders: 4,000,000




you probably dont know but what the hell happened to the other 700,000 people who reserved the game? They decided not to pick it up?

[PyroGamer]

you probably dont know but what the hell happened to the other 700,000 people who reserved the game? They decided not to pick it up?
I pulled that number from the web (and the 400k number too), but the funny thing is that it's probably fairly accurate. Gamestop makes a killing off of unclaimed pre-orders. Also, preorders mean absolutely nothing. Gamestop doesn't actually reserve you a copy at all, all they do is take your money and hand you a piece of paper. Back when I pre-ordered Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory they even refused to give me back my money when they didn't have a copy for me (ended up talking to their manager and getting my cash back).

Actually, I'd be one of those 700,000 people. I pre-ordered my copy at Gamestop back when I bought Halo 2, and I still haven't bothered to go into Gamestop and get my $5 back (ended up buying my copy from a CAG here).

I still think the ratio is a fair estimate, though. Halo 3 had 10 times as many pre-orders at this stage in the game, so I expect it will have much more sales come release.

[daroga]

I pulled that number from the web (and the 400k number too), but the funny thing is that it's probably fairly accurate. Gamestop makes a killing off of unclaimed pre-orders. Also, preorders mean absolutely nothing. Gamestop doesn't actually reserve you a copy at all, all they do is take your money and hand you a piece of paper. Back when I pre-ordered Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory they even refused to give me back my money when they didn't have a copy for me (ended up talking to their manager and getting my cash back).I would love to know the real stats in how much they make a year in unclaimed $5 deposits. It'd probably be sickening.

[InuFaye]

I would love to know the real stats in how much they make a year in unclaimed $5 deposits. It'd probably be sickening.

Would you like to preorder an additon to our bottom line?

What did best buy say they had in unclaimed gift cards? Like600 million last year? Id imagine somthing similar.

[Snake2715]

Yeah I forget what I have preordered and where. I had Zelda (before it went to wii) at a few places. I am pretty anal though and tracked down my $5 at the locations and got my credit or moved it to something else.

[Kaijufan]

The fact that Xbox 360 could only just barely outsell the Wii the month that Halo 3 came out doesn't bode well for the 360 being the number one console worldwide.

[Redeema]

Well, I can't speak for Nintendo, but it seems as though they've got one basic ad series for all Wii games. The DS games are the only variants. I'm guessing that's what happens when you sign on to work with an ad agency? As for this $200 million, they've got ads in key spots, at least that's my best guess. You can't just advertise during every episode of Cavemen, you've got to spend the extra cash and get spots during hit shows, which in turn costs more, but reaches a larger audience.

The Halo number is impressive, no doubt, but like someone mentioned before they need to expand the userbase. That's the one thing they're not doing at all. They've got an impressive attach rate in terms of games and whatnot, but if they're not reaching the demographics outside of the hardcore gamer in the long term they're not doing themselves any favors.

The Wii, however, is doing everything to expand the audience and that's why you can't find one "in the wild" almost a year later. I would be interested in seeing total sales of Wii Play because that thing has been in the top ten every month since launch. Maybe Wii games aren't getting bought, or maybe they're 11-50 after that list ends. I don't know.

The PlayStation 3 isn't doing anything right in my opinion. FOUR SKU's in less than a year? Come on, Sony. Get it right. Keep it going and you'll be a loser by this time next year. If it hasn't happened yet, and the Xbox 360 with Halo 3 is any indication one game alone isn't going to even up the console race.

[ryanbph]

I don't know how much impact Mountain Dew advertising and the like helped. What would it have sold without the $10 million marketing? 2 million? 2.5 million? It's not as if people haven't known about Halo 3 for years.


I don't know the answer, but did msft pay mountain dew to promote master chief, or did mountain dew pay msft to promote there soda...lets be honest, halo 3 was selling with or without the ads on montain dew. Would that flavor of mountain dew sell w/o master chiefs face on it. My money is on not anywhere near where they did sell it at. Like I said I don't know if I am correct, but I would imagine mountain dew had to pay a licensing for the look of master chief on that soda bottle. Best case scenerio, no money exchanged hands, msft gave them master chief, and mountain dew did some ads for that soda.

Kotaku has an interesting read about sony begging 3rd parties not to leave them..http://kotaku.com/gaming/console-wars/sony-pleading-to-keep-third-parties-on-ps3-313148.php

[Kendal]

The fact that Xbox 360 could only just barely outsell the Wii the month that Halo 3 came out doesn't bode well for the 360 being the number one console worldwide.

Halo 3 was only out for 6 days. October is the month that we will see if it can keep the pace.

[botticus]

Halo 3 was only out for 6 days. October is the month that we will see if it can keep the pace.12 days.

Redeema, I missed it at some point, but apparently Microsoft's PR regarding the NPD indicated that they outsold Wii software 4:1 for September (and 8:1 for PS3). While that's impressive, it leads me to think that in a month where they don't have a 3.3 million unit seller, the ratio is much, much closer.

Edit: Actually, even less impressive. The revenue ratio was what I listed above, and 360 titles, even discounting $130 SKUs are 12% higher off the top.

Edit 2: Wow, it'd be really helpful to see numbers farther down in the list. PS3 Skate only sold 30k. :shock:

[help1]

I can't believe they only moved 27k more than the wii...with their wild card for the gen.

Most Halo fans had 360's anyway after GOW and such came out. Wait for this holiday season, sales will go up (but not over take the Wii.)

[SteveMcQ]

The drought in PS3 sales is only temporary and the flood will come starting with the release of the AAA title, Ratchet and Clank. Plus the release of the 40GB in a few weeks will further spur sales as the mass consumer market will see the system as the best Blu-Ray player on the market money can buy. Sony will further garner more sales from their PS2 line as people pick it up for its backwards compatibility and the great backlog of games if they have missed those. It's gonna be a great Christmas season for PS3 with Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank.

Halo 3 is a nice game, but it caters to the mass crowd, who will quickly forget about it when they see Resistance's 40-player lag free online matches, not to mention Warhawk. Oh, and Sony has KillZone which will bring in huge sales when that come out. But as far as record sales, the hype that MGS4 will pick up, I think will make it a bigger seller in the end than Halo 3.

I imagine that's what TMK would say, only even more spirited.

[help1]

you probably dont know but what the hell happened to the other 700,000 people who reserved the game? They decided not to pick it up?

The 4 million stat was BS. It only reached 1 million.

[botticus]

The drought in PS3 sales is only temporary and the flood will come starting with the release of the AAA title, Ratchet and Clank. Plus the release of the 40GB in a few weeks will further spur sales as the mass consumer market will see the system as the best Blu-Ray player on the market money can buy. Sony will further garner more sales from their PS2 line as people pick it up for its backwards compatibility and the great backlog of games if they have missed those. It's gonna be a great Christmas season for PS3 with Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank.

Halo 3 is a nice game, but it caters to the mass crowd, who will quickly forget about it when they see Resistance's 40-player lag free online matches, not to mention Warhawk. Oh, and Sony has KillZone which will bring in huge sales when that come out. But as far as record sales, the hype that MGS4 will pick up, I think will make it a bigger seller in the end than Halo 3.

I imagine that's what TMK would say, only even more spirited.Thank God for that spoiler.

[The Crotch]

Thank God for that spoiler.Fucking hell - thank god for your post. I missed the spoiler the first time around.

It was unpleasant and awkward.

[zionoverfire]

Back when I pre-ordered Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory they even refused to give me back my money when they didn't have a copy.

Yeah it's also really great when you preorder something and they don't even get it launch day. What's the fucking point of preordering when they don't even get it in until Wednesday and Best Buy is loaded with copies?

[-Never4ever-]

How many did Halo 2 sell in its first two weeks?

EDIT: Halo 3 sold $170 mill in its first day, Halo 2 sold $125 mill. Considering the $10 raise in videogame prices, Halo 3 only really SOLD ITEMS WORTH $20 mill more than Halo 2 ($60/$50 = 1.2, $125 x 1.2 = $150, $170 - $150 = $20).

I don't understand why everybody is so "ZOMG AMAZED", honestly, didn't we all expect these numbers?

With all the constant bitching on the web about the Halo series as the whole, it could be hard to gauge.

The drought in PS3 sales is only temporary and the flood will come starting with the release of the AAA title, Ratchet and Clank. Plus the release of the 40GB in a few weeks will further spur sales as the mass consumer market will see the system as the best Blu-Ray player on the market money can buy. Sony will further garner more sales from their PS2 line as people pick it up for its backwards compatibility and the great backlog of games if they have missed those. It's gonna be a great Christmas season for PS3 with Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank.

Halo 3 is a nice game, but it caters to the mass crowd, who will quickly forget about it when they see Resistance's 40-player lag free online matches, not to mention Warhawk. Oh, and Sony has KillZone which will bring in huge sales when that come out. But as far as record sales, the hype that MGS4 will pick up, I think will make it a bigger seller in the end than Halo 3.

I imagine that's what TMK would say, only even more spirited.

:rofl: that was so dead on, I thought DMK hijacked your account for a second there.

He is conspicuously absent, I hope he didn't kill himself over the wake of some much bad news and press over Sony & the PS3 lately . . .

[The Crotch]

...

Doctor Mana Kart?

[PyroGamer]

Edit 2: Wow, it'd be really helpful to see numbers farther down in the list. PS3 Skate only sold 30k. :shock:
Wow. Release a game on the 360 and you'll get six times as many sales as on the PS3.

[Kendal]

12 days.

September has 37 days? Or do they count the first 6 days of October in there? I am cuntfused.

[PyroGamer]

Or do they count the first 6 days of October in there?
Yes. (if I understand properly)

[botticus]

September has 37 days? Or do they count the first 6 days of October in there? I am cuntfused.The NPD doesn't work on calendar months, they're X number of weeks. This period was 5 weeks. I assume they do that so the whole of September (that wasn't included in the August period) is included in the September reporting period. If September had been a 4 week period, they would have cut it off at the 29th.

[Kendal]

So, Oct numbers will include the first 3 days of November?

[geko29]

September has 37 days? Or do they count the first 6 days of October in there? I am cuntfused. NPD works in whole weeks, Sunday through Saturday. Every week that BEGINS in the month being tracked is included. So September's first week began on the 2nd, and its last week began on the 30th. October's first week begins on the 7th, and its last begins on the 28th.

November starts on the 4th, December starts on the 2nd.
So, Oct numbers will include the first 3 days of November?
Exactly right. :)

[REL1203]

It effectively is sub-100k. The September reporting period was 5 weeks (through October 6th), which makes the weekly average just under 24k. If the period had been 4 weeks and ended on September 29th, that's 95.5k. December is the next 5-week period (ends January 5th), I believe.

Are you a fellow NPD employee?

[Teh Nitwit]

Wow. Release a game on the 360 and you'll get six times as many sales as on the PS3.

It's not like that. All it says is that the PS3 owners don't care much for skateboarding. Skate simply didn't fit PS3 demographic in the same way that the movie 300 did (which is why it sold much better on BD than HDDVD).

Edited to add: Actually, demographic may have nothing to do with it, since there are simply many more 360's than PS3s. Never mind.

[mykevermin]

It's not liek that. All it says is that the PS3 owners don't care much for skateboarding. Skate simply didn't fit PS3 demographic in the same way that the movie 300 did (which is why it sold much better on BD than HDDVD).

Oh, horsefeathers.

If anything, it says that a staggered release of a multiplatform title substantially benefits the platform for which it is released first, and will perform poorly on the platform for which it is released later. There are far more examples of this (Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six: Vegas probably outsold the PS3 versions in similar ratios) than there are exceptions (RE:4 Wii).

[Teh Nitwit]

Oh, horsefeathers.

If anything, it says that a staggered release of a multiplatform title substantially benefits the platform for which it is released first, and will perform poorly on the platform for which it is released later. There are far more examples of this (Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six: Vegas probably outsold the PS3 versions in similar ratios) than there are exceptions (RE:4 Wii).

You're right and I admit that I was totally wrong in my previous post.

I'll just point out something else, that noone has mentioned (probably because it's obvious and doesn't need mentioning). It's that the # of 360's sold does not correspond to the # of new 360 owners. Many 360s are bought as replacements, so the # of 360 owners is smaller than the # suggested by these reports.

[geko29]

Are you a fellow NPD employee?
No, I've just been following the numbers long enough to figure out most of the ins and outs. I'll take your question as a compliment and verification that I've got most of it right. :)

[PyroGamer]

Never mind.
Will do.


But seriously, I'm aware that skate. for X360 was out 10 days longer than the PS3 port. It's simply a slightly more emphasized example of a simple fact that runs true across the board: 360 games sell much better than PS3 games.

[REL1203]

No, I've just been following the numbers long enough to figure out most of the ins and outs. I'll take your question as a compliment and verification that I've got most of it right. :)

You just have alot of info about the way our numbers come out that most people dont... It is a compliment, and it was a 5 week month..Not so great for Sony

[Magus8472]

I take it Microsoft Game Studios is finally in the black again?

[Dr Mario Kart]

I take it Microsoft Game Studios is finally in the black again?
You mean for one quarter? Maybe. Depends when the billion dollars in repairs came into play.

But because I like this chart so much:

Through June 30, 2007:

FY* Sony** Nintendo Microsoft
1998 974,000,000 629,000,000
1999 1,130,000,000 645,000,000
2000 730,000,000 421,000,000
2001 -409,000,000 726,000,000
2002 623,000,000 800,000,000 -750,000,000
2003 939,000,000 560,000,000 -1,191,000,000
2004 650,000,000 316,000,000 -1,215,000,000
2005 404,000,000 777,000,000 -485,000,000
2006 75,000,00 894,000,000 -1,262,000,000
2007 -1,969,000,000 1,489,000,000 -1,892,000,000
2008 -237,000,000 680,000,000
Totals 2,910,000,000 7,937,000,000 -6,795,000,000
Microsoft – Entertainment and Devices Division (Home and Entertainment) through 4th Q FY 2007 ended June 30 2007
Sony – Game division through 1st Q FY 2007 ended June 30 2007
Nintendo – Overall through 1st Q FY 2008 ended June 30 2007. Average exchange rate: 1 US $ = 118 yen

[daroga]

You're right and I admit that I was totally wrong in my previous post.

I'll just point out something else, that noone has mentioned (probably because it's obvious and doesn't need mentioning). It's that the # of 360's sold does not correspond to the # of new 360 owners. Many 360s are bought as replacements, so the # of 360 owners is smaller than the # suggested by these reports.Perhaps, although not a lot of people's 360s have died out of warranty at this point, especially with the red ring warranty extension.

I'd guess, though, that a quite a few older 360s are being replaced with ones with newer chipsets/ports.

I'm always curious to know how many GBAs, DS Lites, PS2s, etc. were bought as replacements for broken ones or as replacements because the newer iterations were nicer than the old.

[PyroGamer]

You mean for one quarter? Maybe. Depends when the billion dollars in repairs came into play.
That would be taken care of by the Entertainment and Devices Devision, not MGS...

[ryanbph]

You're right and I admit that I was totally wrong in my previous post.

I'll just point out something else, that noone has mentioned (probably because it's obvious and doesn't need mentioning). It's that the # of 360's sold does not correspond to the # of new 360 owners. Many 360s are bought as replacements, so the # of 360 owners is smaller than the # suggested by these reports.

you mean like the inflated ps2 numbers...as my ps2 broke on me at least 8 times. Sony didn't always fix them, and I had to buy at least 5 ps2. :joystick:

Considering the warranty is still in effect, those that bought another 360 either didn't know any better or they didn't want to wait a month to get there system back and will have 2 systems as backup. I can't imagine that the majority of the sales come from those customers.