Early returns show strong holiday video game console sales
Updated at 5:28 p.m. to include additional data and analyst perspective.
Though the retail economy suffered what appears to be one of the bleakest holiday seasons in recent memory, it looks as though the video games industry bucked that disastrous trend.
That's one conclusion that can be drawn from holiday Xbox 360 sales numbers released by Microsoft Monday, in which the company reported that its console business had the most successful holiday season in its history.
All told, Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for Xbox 360, said Microsoft boosted the Xbox's worldwide sales lead over Sony's PlayStation 3 to 8 million units, explaining that, based on internal data, the Xbox has now sold 28 million units globally, compared with the PS3's 20 million.
A big part of the success of the Xbox 360 during the holiday season likely comes from the September drop in price of the console to $199, the lowest-price next-generation console.
(Credit: Microsoft)Microsoft said its holiday data came from internal sales numbers and weekly sales data available in some regions, like Europe, as well as past years in which December console sales are typically twice that of November, which in turn are typically twice that of October.
In November, Microsoft sold 836,000 Xboxes in the United States, suggesting that if Greenberg is right, the company moved about 1.67 million of the consoles in December.
No official North American video game sales numbers are available yet for December. They are expected to be released on January 15 by industry analyst the NPD Group.
To be sure, it can be confusing comparing North American sales numbers with global figures, especially when the numbers are simultaneously based on different kinds of sources.
But there does appear to be ample evidence that the video game industry is proving more resilient to the economic crisis, if not outright recession-proof, than other industries, and data provided by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo seem to be at the heart of it.
Nintendo, for example, sold 2.04 million Wiis in November, and while reports of shortages of the console seem less prevalent than in 2007, it is likely it did extremely well during the holidays. While nonscientific, of course, if Greenberg's formula is correct, Nintendo would have sold about 4 million Wiis in December.
For its part, Sony said recently that sales of the PlayStation 3 between January 1, 2008, and November 30, 2008, were up 60 percent from the same period a year earlier, though the company has not yet released any kind of figures for December.
"We've had a solid holiday season and have delivered consistent growth throughout this year. Two thousand eight was a pivotal year for PlayStation with the best software line up in the industry, a dramatic expansion of PlayStation Network including the launches of the video delivery service and the beta of the PlayStation Home," Ian Jackson, vice president of sales for Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in a statement. "Early internal data points to an increase of more than 130 percent of PS3 hardware sales for the holiday season--since Black Friday--and we're also seeing a growth of nearly 40 percent in total PS3 hardware sales for the calendar year. We remain confident this momentum will continue into the new year."
However, the PS3 was the only one of the three next-generation consoles to see its November 2008 sales drop from a year earlier. According to NPD, sales of the PS3 fell 18.8 percent, from 466,000 to 378,000. By comparison, Wii sales skyrocketed 108 percent, from 981,000 to 2.04 million and the Xbox grew 8.6 percent, from 770,000 to 836,000.But Sony said that the November sales drop was an anomaly due to "an abnormally strong month due to a price cut (with) the introduction of the 40GB PS3."
"From a hardware perspective, I think the clear (holiday) winner is Nintendo," said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets, "and Microsoft has also benefited by cutting the (Xbox) price in September."
Sebastian added that Sony must address the challenges it faces this year, among them that the price of the PS3 is significantly higher than its competitors, as well as the fact that the console's internal Blu-ray drive has not driven the kind of sales Sony had hoped.
In the early days of the next-generation console wars, it was generally assumed that it would be a three-way race between the Xbox, the PS3 and the Wii. But because of the massive popularity of the Wii, Sony and Microsoft no longer compare their consoles' performances to that of Nintendo's.
The rationale seems to be that the Xbox and PS3 are completely different types of machines than the Wii, given the former's reliance on high-quality graphics and superior performance and the latter's focus on more casual games intended to appeal to a broad audience.
Whether that is semantics is a question neither Sony nor Microsoft seem eager to answer. In fact, both frequently make the point that Wii owners often also own either an Xbox or a PS3, if not both.
Of course, that is music to Nintendo's ears, and its growing confidence is borne out by the tremendous sales of the Wii since its launch in November 2006.
And to many, the most remarkable thing about the Wii's success is that it continues unabated.
According to Nintendo, the Wii has sold 15.4 million units since its launch, with 8.02 million of those consoles selling between January 1, 2008, and November 30, 2008. That means more than half of all Wiis bought in the U.S. were sold in 2008.
For the Xbox, the biggest strategic move to date has been the lowering of the console's entry-level offering to $199, making it the cheapest next-gen console, lower even than the $249 Wii. By comparison, the most inexpensive PS3 costs $399.
Interestingly, though, a recent study conducted by Nielsen Media Research, the clear winner among all consoles when measured by minutes played is neither the Wii, the Xbox 360 nor the PS3. In fact, the study concluded, the venerable PlayStation 2, still the most successful console of all time, continues to dominate players' time, even now.
All told, fully 30.2 percent of console minutes played were on the PS2, according to the study, more than twice the third-place Wii's 13.5 percent. The Xbox 360 came in second, with 18.3 percent, while, in fifth place, with 7.7 percent, the PS3 was embarrassed by the fourth-place finish of the original Xbox.
It's not surprising that the PS2 would come in first in such a study, given that there are more than 100 million of the consoles in players' hands.
But the runner-up finish by the Xbox was a victory of sorts for Microsoft, and a vindication of the efforts it has put into its Xbox Live service.
In fact, Greenberg said Monday that Xbox Live grew to 17 million members by the end of 2008, from 14 million at the end of October.
And the service--which offers members thousands of downloadable games, as well as movies and TV shows--also saw its revenue jump 84 percent, Greenberg said.
To Sebastian, the biggest advantages that Microsoft and Nintendo have over Sony is that the video gaming market has shown a clear preference for the more casual play that the Wii and Xbox Live offer.
"Sony has not been able to capture much of that market," Sebastian said.
Next week, NPD will release its December U.S. sales data, and it is certain that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft will all issue press releases touting the successes of their respective platforms.
But asked why it decided to release its global lifetime sales numbers Monday, rather than wait until next week, Greenberg said, "All this data is based on our own sales data. This is (information) we have available, so we'd rather share this data now, rather than sitting on (it)."
Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between. E-mail Daniel. 
If the Wii is selling so well, how is it that you're quoting 15.4 million units since 2006, but also note that worldwide the PS3 has sold 20 million? Are you ambiguously mixing worldwide sales of PS3 and Xbox 360 with US sales of the Wii, and if so, what is the measure of worldwide sales of the Wii?
No it hasn't.
If the Wii has sold 15.5 million in the US(NPD), 7 million in Japan (Famitsu/Media Create), then lest be generous and give the Wii 12 million sales in Europe, that gives you 34.5 million, no? Even if you add in Canada and Australia and make that say 2 million, you are still talking 36.5 million. Lets be even more generous and make it all 38 million from the "other" category, and you are still nowhere close to 48 million.. Still short by the 10 million your plucked from thin air.
Last I checked, Wii had a 49.4% market share of current generation hardware. MS and Sony add up to the remaining 50.6%. So, with those percentages, and the figures from this article (which are admittedly hard to follow because the author mixes US and worldwide sales indescriminately), I come up with Wii sales of 48M units.
Vgchartz is utter rubbish. NO self respecting publication takes their figures seriously.
"Last I checked, Wii had a 49.4% market share of current generation hardware"
Say who? You just pluck figures from thin air?
"So, with those percentages, and the figures from this article (which are admittedly hard to follow because the author mixes US and worldwide sales indescriminately), I come up with Wii sales of 48M units"
I just proved in my post above, by going through Wii sales country by country, using recognized nationla tracking outfits like NPD, GfK, Charttrack , Famitsu, Media Create etc, that there is simply no way , Wii sales are 48 million right now.
If you think the Wi has sold 48 million, you are gonna have to prove that, by giving is in exactly what countries those 48 million units were sold at. And don't even think of quoting me the fraudulent figures from vgchartz. It's been proved they lie all the time and make figures up.
I would not be surprised that Nintendo announces they had shipped ~46 million at the end of 2008 in their next earnings release later this month.
That makes it less than 30 million actually sold to consumers.
Even if Nintendo sold 5 million in the US in the last quarter, and another 3 million the Europe, adding in the 500, 000 it sold in Japan, plus another million for the rest of the wotld outside Europe, and you still have less than 40 million Wii's actually sold.
Untill you are able to come up with exactly where you are plucking your numbers from, and in what countries those "48 milion " or "46 million" or whatever the heck figures that you can make up from, you are just blowing hot air.
@gerrg: The Wii has sold (apparently) 4m units in December.
And the same Microsoft understimated 360 demand last year so much so that, there were severe 360 sortages from November 2007 through February 2008.
It's easy enough to get close to the 28 million 360' sold through:
Over 8 million in EMEA(Charttrack, GfK))
~1.2 Million in Canada (Estimating 140k or so Dec NPD) + ~14 Million in the US (Assuming 1.5 million Dec NPD , with NPD LTD to November at 12.5 million), making 15.2 million
~800k JP
~500k AU
That is 24.5 million sold through right there.
Add in another 2.5 million for the rest of WW including Mexico and the rest of Aisa and South America, and that leaves a possible only 1 million in the channel.
BTW, It was a troll question. You can always be relied upon to troll every single Microsoft thread with yet another foaming at the mouth comment.
And why are the console "play times" ordered #1 (PS2) #3 (Wii) #2 (Xbox 360) #5 (PS3) #4 (Xbox)?
Whats happening is that resellers, dealers or whatever you want to call them don't just order products from OEMs for free. Essentially they buy them from the OEM so what you see on store shelves is not a true reflection of actual sales because the reseller/dealer now owns the product until the consumer buys it from them.
Can a Nielsen box tell the difference between movies and games on a PS2/X360?
Yes they can, beause in the same release, they listed the top 10 most played PC games for 2008 ( # 1 World of Warcraft ), meaning their equipment is able to measure what is actually being played on a console/PC, rather than merely noting that it's turned on.
There is a BIG difference between getting numbers for PC games that require internet access and getting numbers for game consoles that don't require internet access at all. I think Zoobie has a point about how time on the console is used. I don't think a Nielson box can tell a difference. (technologically, it would be nearly impossible for a computer to tell the difference between DVD and a game.) I also question whether their survey pool skewed the data to favor non-wii consoles. If they surveyed only those who would describe themselves as gamers, then people who prefer to play casual games like those on the wii probably wouldn't have had much input.
Stop talking nonsense.
Nielsen's measures of PC game playing has nothing to do with internet access. For example, the 3rd most played game was Halo: Combat Evolved , a lot of which is played in single player mode. The Nielsen proprietry device attaches directly to the PC or video game console, and measures actual game play. It does not, repeat, not measure playing movies on DVD's.
Stop trying to make excusres just because the 360 beat the Wii in total vodeo game play time.
" I think Zoobie has a point about how time on the console is used. I don't think a Nielson box can tell a difference"
You "don't think"?. That's pretty weak isn't it? Why don't you check the Nielsen site? Easy enough to do isn't it?
You excuses are getting more pathetic by the minute. You might consider stopping and embarrasing yourself further.
And no, "Zoobie" has NO point.
"Can a Nielsen box tell the difference between movies and games on a PS2/X360?"
Of course they can.
They wouldn't say so if they couldn't. And Nielsen is the most respected outfit out there for measuring TV ratings in this country. They have been for decades. Their technology for merasuring these things have been fienly tuned for a very long time.
Neither the Wii, nor the 360, nor the PS3 even came close to selling twice as much in December 2007, as they did in November 2007.
360 PS3 Wii
Nov 2007 770,000 466,000 981,000
Dec 2007 1,260,000 798,000 1,350,000
"By comparison, Wii sales skyrocketed 108 percent, from 981,000 to 2.04 million "
Even if Wii December sales "skyrocket" (to use your word) by 108% in December from last year's sales, that still gives you 2,808,00 Wii's sold in Decmeber, not 4 million.
Neilsen only has their measuring devices in US homes. It would be more accurate to refer to 42 million PS2 US users.
- by GiggleWonk January 6, 2009 5:29 PM PST
- This is very encouraging news for the gaming industry.
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(18 Comments)Also, it's hard to remember how broke I am when I'm so busy kicking MKDC butt.