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NPD Sales Results for January 2009

lowrider007

Licorice-flavoured booze?
Segata Sanshiro said:
Since when did I talk about the PS3? I'm merely pointing out the fallacy in using "proportionately it's fine" as a defence.

Proportionately the software sales are fine.
 
lowrider007 said:
Proportionately the software sales are fine.

Even if this were true...has there ever been a month, even when their userbases were below 7 million, that the 360 or Wii didn't have a game sell more than 113k?
 
lowrider007 said:
Considering that there is only 7m PS3's in NA is it any wonder why there aren't many games appearing in the top 20 ?

You guys are expecting the PS3 to compete in software sales with consoles that have over double the user-base, software sales are not a problem for Sony atm, selling more consoles in NA is, the charts would be a different story right now if there was 14m PS3 in NA.

"No PS3 we do not expect you to compete. We expect you to DIE."
 

Joe211

Member
DeaconKnowledge said:
Uh, I think there is only 1 poster in here who is expecting that, hence the direction the thread has taken.



No, no no no no that is the LAST thing Sony should do.

The PS2 is the only Sony console Sony has left that is siphoning sales from the Wii and 360, cutting it off would be catastrophic.

wow just wow some people here are delusional so you also think PS3 is on its way out?
You guys can't be taken seriously with such statement.

Segata Sanshiro said:
That certainly made everyone feel better about bad software sales on the Dreamcast and Saturn. Yessir, the companies just looked at their software sales and said "Well hey chaps, proportionately speaking, that's quite excellent! Let's sink more money on this badboy!"

Now that's bullshit Sony is making money with the sales of its hardware and software so stop the stupid comparison
 
Joe211 said:
Now that's bullshit Sony is making money with the sales of its hardware and software so stop the stupid comparison
Since when did I talk about the PS3? I'm merely pointing out the fallacy in using "proportionately it's fine" as a defence.

But hey, you want to go here - prove to me that Sony is making money off the PS3 hardware. Go ahead, prove it. Because I guess the losses they've been posting are from the Yen campfire they're having in the middle of the mailroom, right?
 
Joe211 said:
wow just wow some people here are delusional so you also think PS3 is on its way out?
You guys can't be taken seriously with such statement.



Now that's bullshit Sony is making money with the sales of its hardware and software so stop the stupid comparison

Hey Joe. Did you know that since the PS3 launch Sony's gaming division has lost more money than they made in the time between the PS2 launch and the PS3 launch? That's right, all the profit from the PS2 has been lost.

Oh, did you know that Sony's gaming division did worse financially over the Holidays than they did last year, guaranteeing them another lose for the year?
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Burai said:
Wow, you put Sony's usual NPD damage control into the shade with that!

Wii Music is a lost cause. Seriously. People saw it, laughed at it and moved on. There's no spark, there's no word of mouth, there's no slow burn. It's done.

Just because Touch Generations and Wii _____ games tend to have legs, doesn't mean that you can attribute a complete and total bomb to having "a different sort of legs".

I think you're the lost cause here, learn your facts before starting with this kind of shit, really.
 

Pachael

Member
Segata Sanshiro said:
Now do that for all the rest of the games and you too can be as successful as you-know-who.

Put a few nice charts together and overload everyone with genius analysis and you'll be golden too!
 
TChirath said:
Ironic. :lol

This makes me miss Hoffman. I need someone with a higher IQ and logic to defend my PS3 :( These toons are making PS3 fans look bad.
We could just ban the lot of 'em. Beats letting SalesAge threads get monopolized by irrational baiting without the comedic element of the Hoffman alias.

The other option would be to simply ignore them. 'Cause they just crave attention anyhow. Evidently the PS3 can't compete in the fun department with a good 'ole fashioned forum troll.
 
Joe211 said:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=350548&highlight=salesage

omg Sony's gaming division is making profit!

So Lebron, Junior TChirath, Sadist, lowlylowlycook stop wasting my time with useless answers.

:lol

Compare and contrast:
Private Hoffman said:
They've made a profit before in certain quarters. Sucks that they're getting hit so hard with the exchange rate, otherwise they'd be seeing much better results.

Basically, you can think of it as a PS3 price drop that Sony incurred without that ever carrying over to the consumers. Just a shitty situation, really.
 
People have wondered what sort of positive light Sony could shine on these numbers. I think I have an idea.

Fake said:
January Sales Show Next-Generation Transition Increasing

FOSTER CITY, Calif., February 15, 2009- Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) is proud to report that increasingly sales of the PlayStation®2 (PS2™) computer entertainment system are transitioning to the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system in the United States.

According to the NPD Group, in January 2006 the PS3 sold 19% fewer units than the PS2. By January 2007 PS3 was selling 2% more units than the PS3. In January 2008 the PLAYSTATION®3 sold 101% more units than PlayStation®2. That's more than twice as many as the most successful computer entertainment system ever.

About Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. continues to redefine the entertainment lifestyle with its PlayStation® and PS one® game console, the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system, the ground-breaking PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system and its online and network services the PLAYSTATION®Network and PLAYSTATION®Store.

Recognized as the undisputed industry leader, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. markets the PlayStation family of products and develops, publishes, markets, and distributes software for the PS one, PlayStation 2, PSP and PS3 for the North American market. Based in Foster City, Calif. Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. serves as headquarters for all North American operations and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

donny2112 said:
I think that avatar is much easier to read. :)
I took your previous advice into account, but the one I think you were commenting on remains. It's just now there are three "There are more Wiis..." images for it to randomly choose from. :)
 

markatisu

Member
Wow so Sonys response will be something along the lines of PS2 owners are moving to PS3, despite the studies that show more PS2 owners are moving to Wii and 360
 

lowrider007

Licorice-flavoured booze?
Segata Sanshiro said:
Since when did I talk about the PS3? I'm merely pointing out the fallacy in using "proportionately it's fine" as a defence.


Let me explain something, I was not using it as a defence, I was merely stating that statistically speaking based on how many PS3 users there are in NA the sales are fine, I think you took me saying 'fine' as the PS3 is in a good position because software sales in NA are proportionately fine, I didn't mean that, good proportionate sales alone are not enough when you have a low user-base as your making less/no profit, which is why I was saying that Sony needs to raise their user-base in NA (hopefully in the form of a large price drop) so more users will hopefully translate into more software sales.

There are still millions upon millions of consoles users that haven't even purchased a next gen console yet, and considering how cheap the 360 is I'm surprised the sales haven't been higher tbh.
 

llonesmiz

Member
markatisu said:
Wow so Sonys response will be something along the lines of PS2 owners are moving to PS3, despite the studies that show more PS2 owners are moving to Wii and 360

Psychotext said:
Ouch. There really was very little they could do with the spin.

That was JJS's idea about how Sony could spin these results, not Sony's spin.
 

Luckyman

Banned
Gaborn said:
Still, I'd say moving the plurality of their higher profile projects to the Wii makes a lot of sense right now.

From what they are announcing i don't see them moving anything. Two new BF games last week, none for the market leader.
 

markatisu

Member
llonesmiz said:
That was JJS's idea about how Sony could spin these results, not Sony's spin.

I know, but I was saying given JJS's sales age experience it is probably not too far off from what they could spin (since they still have yet to do anything which is highly unusual)

They usually do one of 2 things with their spin

1. Playstation Family outsold competition
2. Playstation 3 had more growth Year over Year then Xbox 360 or Wii

This month both those claims pretty much fail as it would look retarded to say that 3 systems beating the Xbox 360 is an achievement, and all 3 PS systems had a decline over last year at this time
 

Cipherr

Member
lowrider007 said:
software sales are not a problem for Sony atm,


Nah, I would say this instead

lowrider007 said:
software sales and hardware sales are a problem for Sony atm,


The software is a problem. A pretty damn big one, just because its not as catastrophic as the hardware situation doesn't mean its not a problem at all.
 

lowrider007

Licorice-flavoured booze?
Puncture said:
Nah, I would say this instead




The software is a problem. A pretty damn big one, just because its not as catastrophic as the hardware situation doesn't mean its not a problem at all.

Well I believe if Sony can widen the PS3's user-base in NA then the software sales will improve, the problem is atm people are expecting the PS3 to sell as much software as the 360 when is has less than half the user-base, you can bring out triple 'a' title after triple 'a' title in NA but with only 7m users your just not going to hit what is now considered triple 'a' sales compared with the other systems.

I really don't think people can say that the PS3 "haz noe gameZzZ!!1!!!" any more, the games are there, and more are on there way, but it doesn't mean shit if your dropping these amazing games into such a small pool of users, the games are not going to get the sales they deserve, Sony need to get aggressive on the price of the system, they don't have any other options left, I think it's a gamble they need to take.
 
lowlylowlycook said:
Hey Joe. Did you know that since the PS3 launch Sony's gaming division has lost more money than they made in the time between the PS2 launch and the PS3 launch? That's right, all the profit from the PS2 has been lost.

Oh, did you know that Sony's gaming division did worse financially over the Holidays than they did last year, guaranteeing them another lose for the year?
I keep getting you confused with lowrider007. :lol

TChirath said:
Ironic. :lol

This makes me miss Hoffman. I need someone with a higher IQ and logic to defend my PS3 :( These toons are making PS3 fans look bad.
Relying on Hoffman as a PS3 savior ain't gonna get you very far.
 

markatisu

Member
lowrider007 said:
I really don't think people can say that the PS3 "haz noe gameZzZ!!1!!!" any more, the games are there, and more are on there way, but it doesn't mean shit if your dropping these amazing games into such a small pool of users, the games are not going to get the sales they deserve, Sony need to get aggressive on the price of the system, they don't have any other options left, I think it's a gamble they need to take.

So when a game like MGS4, CoD4, CoD WaW, Assasins Creed, and GTAIV sell more than 1mil it should excuse the entire rest of the lineup from succeeding because the userbase is small

I do not think most people expect every game to be a massive success, but when you cannot even place 2 games consistently in the Top 30 that shows signs of a problem regardless of userbase
 

Narcosis

Member
lowrider007 said:
Sony need to get aggressive on the price of the system, they don't have any other options left, I think it's a gamble they need to take.

In relation to the other consoles yes, Sony needs to drop the price. Their cheapest SKU is $100 over what I consider a reasonable launch price for a new platform and the PS3 is in it's 3rd year. (I think it's a guarantee the PS2 to PS3 transition has forever set an example to the industry what is and what isn't a good pricing and cost strategy on a gaming platform)

But Sony as a whole can't afford the price drop. Company wide exchange rates are hurting them badly and some of their previously consistent performing divisions are in the red while others that need to be axed (Ericson division for example) act as a huge money siphon.

Sure, if the PS3 recieved a massive price drop I think the 2nd place console war would get very interesting. One need only see the knee jerk reaction of "MS is dooooomed!!" coming from NPD threads for the first 2/3 of last year when it was starting to sell less than PS3 to see that. But unless the world economic crisis and Sony as a whole see a resolution to the financial problems, and the yen to dollar disparity goes back to normal, Playstation will have to settle for profitability over competitiveness and settle for lower sales unit-wise.
 
lowrider007 said:
Well I believe if Sony can widen the PS3's user-base in NA then the software sales will improve, the problem is atm people are expecting the PS3 to sell as much software as the 360 when is has less than half the user-base, you can bring out triple 'a' title after triple 'a' title in NA but with only 7m users your just not going to hit what is now considered triple 'a' sales compared with the other systems.

I really don't think people can say that the PS3 "haz noe gameZzZ!!1!!!" any more
, the games are there, and more are on there way, but it doesn't mean shit if your dropping these amazing games into such a small pool of users, the games are not going to get the sales they deserve, Sony need to get aggressive on the price of the system, they don't have any other options left, I think it's a gamble they need to take.
Once again the PS3 fanboys claim this, when no one else has. It's no wonder the PS3 gets trolled like no tomorrow, you guys bring it upon yourself.
 

Jack B

Member
lowrider007 said:
...considering how cheap the 360 is I'm surprised the sales haven't been higher tbh.

What I want to know is it's if so obvious, that the 360 should be out selling the PS3, because of price, then why didn't the PS3 fanboys realize that when the iSuppli reports originally came out?

We all knew the PS3 was $300 more expensive to produce and no matter what it was always going to cost more to manufacturer. Each drop in PS3 cost would be at least matched by the 360.

PS3 fanboys had blinders on. In fact, so did SONY. I remember we were told to get a 2nd job to pay for a PS3. It was a ridiculous comment then and still funnier today.

Slowly, but surely reality is setting in, although we still have people like Joe123, who think a price drop will solve all problems. Yeah, so they'll lose even more money on each PS3. Ever wonder why SONY is hesitant to drop the price? It's more complicated than simple minded fanboys solutions like, "just drop the price"...

Honestly, I wonder if some people will ever figure this out. SONY's arrogance killed them. SONY fanboy's thought the high price wouldn't matter. Welcome to the real world.

This is how you go from 70% market share to 20%. It's a disaster of mammoth proportions. While getting my MBA we had to review a ton of case studies. I can't imagine one more interesting than this one.

SONY made so many misjudgement's it's mind boggling. The only thing that's kept them from total console meltdown is the Microsot RROD problem and PS2 profits. Well, the PS2 profits are just about done now. Financially, it's a new world for SONY and it's not going to be pretty from here on out.
 

farnham

Banned
Jack B said:
What I want to know is it's if so obvious, that the 360 should be out selling the PS3, because of price, then why didn't the PS3 fanboys realize that when the iSuppli reports originally came out?

We all knew the PS3 was $300 more expensive to produce and no matter what it was always going to cost more to manufacturer. Each drop in PS3 cost would be at least matched by the 360.

PS3 fanboys had blinders on. In fact, so did SONY. I remember we were told to get a 2nd job to pay for a PS3. It was a ridiculous comment then and still funnier today.

Slowly, but surely reality is setting in, although we still have people like Joe123, who think a price drop will solve all problems. Yeah, so they'll lose even more money on each PS3. Ever wonder why SONY is hesitant to drop the price? It's more complicated than simple minded fanboys solutions like, "just drop the price"...

Honestly, I wonder if some people will ever figure this out. SONY's arrogance killed them. SONY fanboy's thought the high price wouldn't matter. Welcome to the real world.

This is how you go from 70% market share to 20%. It's a disaster of mammoth proportions. While getting my MBA we had to review a ton of case studies. I can't imagine one more interesting than this one.

SONY made so many misjudgement's it's mind boggling. The only thing that's kept them from total console meltdown is the Microsot RROD problem and PS2 profits. Well, the PS2 profits are just about done now. Financially, it's a new world for SONY and it's not going to be pretty from here on out.

shit that comment was so arrogant ... :lol :lol
 
lowrider007 said:
Well I believe if Sony can widen the PS3's user-base in NA then the software sales will improve, the problem is atm people are expecting the PS3 to sell as much software as the 360 when is has less than half the user-base, you can bring out triple 'a' title after triple 'a' title in NA but with only 7m users your just not going to hit what is now considered triple 'a' sales compared with the other systems.

I really don't think people can say that the PS3 "haz noe gameZzZ!!1!!!" any more, the games are there, and more are on there way, but it doesn't mean shit if your dropping these amazing games into such a small pool of users, the games are not going to get the sales they deserve, Sony need to get aggressive on the price of the system, they don't have any other options left, I think it's a gamble they need to take.
I don't disagree, really. Except for the last bit. I don't think Sony should really bother taking the risk on being aggressive with their pricing right now. Just cost reduce the system, drop the price where you can, try to carve out some profit however small on the userbase, and plan plan plan for the next gen.

Given the current economic situation, being aggressive with the PS3's price just to gain marketshare for whatever handful of years are left in this gen would be akin to slashing one's wrists to write a grocery list.
 
Jack B said:
We all knew the PS3 was $300 more expensive to produce and no matter what it was always going to cost more to manufacturer. Each drop in PS3 cost would be at least matched by the 360.

I'd like to find a sentence by Peter Moore during this generation early days: he explained that with the original Xbox they learnt a painful lession, having created an hardware impossibile to reduce in production costs due to the integrated HDD and components royalties. He said that Xbox 360 was designed to remove this issue, and that he believed they even managed to switch sides with Sony, being PS3 costs very difficult to cut down. It seems he was spot on.
 

Chumly

Member
Joe211 said:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=350548&highlight=salesage

omg Sony's gaming division is making profit!

So Lebron, Junior TChirath, Sadist, lowlylowlycook stop wasting my time with useless answers.
Think of this for a sec......

1. Sony makes a profit on PS2 hardware
2. Sony makes a profit on PS2 software
3. Sony makes a profit on PSP hardware
4. Sony makes a profit on PSP software
5. Sony makes a profit on PS3 third party software

They managed to make a whopping 4.5 million dollars off of all of these. That means they are losing a fucking shit ton of money off of PS3 hardware and their own developed PS3 software. So I guess you are right that they BARELY managed to off set the huge losses of the PS3 for the quarter.
 

Mrbob

Member
I hope Sony isn't in some sort of bubble speaking 10 year cycle every day, convincing themselves they don't need to move the PS3 price down now because they really do.

Slow burn is nice, but it isn't so nice when 3rd parties want to sell games on your platform. It is now 2009, sony needs to kick it in gear in arpril to the tune of a 100 dollar price drop on the 80gb ps3. It needs to get down to $299 so it can start shifting more units ($299 with two controlles and LBP included is what it should be). The PS3 is a great piece of hardware, and the bottom line is sony needs to start getting it into more peoples homes.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Mrbob said:
I hope Sony isn't in some sort of bubble speaking 10 year cycle every day, convincing themselves they don't need to move the PS3 price down now because they really do.

Slow burn is nice, but it isn't so nice when 3rd parties want to sell games on your platform. It is now 2009, sony needs to kick it in gear in arpril to the tune of a 100 dollar price drop on the 80gb ps3. It needs to get down to $299 so it can start shifting more units ($299 with two controlles and LBP included is what it should be). The PS3 is a great piece of hardware, and the bottom line is sony needs to start getting it into more peoples homes.


Sony needs to make money, first of all. I'm sure they will drop the price when at all feasible, but Sony as a whole just needs to make money.
 
Leondexter said:
Fair enough. I'm sure it's safe to say that many publishers are disappointed in their PS3 game sales, at least up to a certain point. Many games were being worked on under the assumption that the PS3 would sell like the PS2. But we're getting to the point, now, where they should know what they're getting into and whether it's worth it for them.

And there are always games, of course, (lots of them) that will never put up numbers like that, not even launching in Q4 instead of Q1. Take Valkyria Chronicles, for example. If it had sold 100k its first month, SEGA and GAF would've both declared it a holiday.

Well anyone who thought that Valkyria Chronicles would perform so well may be a bit deluded. Niche titles rarely break that number. Persona 4 is currently all the hoop-la all over the gaming community and it didn't even break the top 10 mark on the top PS2 software sales.

Saying this I agree with what you've said. Again I'm not expecting the PS3 to light charts on fire but when titles are selling this badly it's not that good.


lowrider007 said:
Considering that there is only 7m PS3's in NA is it any wonder why there aren't many games appearing in the top 20 ?

You guys are expecting the PS3 to compete in software sales with consoles that have over double the user-base, software sales are not a problem for Sony atm, selling more consoles in NA is, the charts would be a different story right now if there was 14m PS3 in NA.

Then please be so kindly to explain why the 360 and Wii had no problems competing in the top 20 (hell top 10 even) when they were at that level of userbase as well as having no problem having their games pull over 113k? As well as the PS3 achieving more then 1 title in the top 20 as a norm some months ago? Also explain how the PS3 is selling under their proportional userbase compared to the 360?

schuelma said:
Sony needs to make money, first of all. I'm sure they will drop the price when at all feasible, but Sony as a whole just needs to make money.

Agreed. A price drop is risky. Sure it MAY put them in the game to compete, but there is also the other chance that it will have the console sell a lot for the first month or two then have the sales drop back down thus, having SONY in a far worse position then before.

The drop to $99 didn't save the Gamecube.
 
For comparison, these were the NPD software numbers for Jan 2007, two years ago. I don't know how great was the USA install base for Xbox 360, but I believe it was under 7 millions.

1. 360 LOST PLANET: EXTREME CONDITION 329k
2. PS2 GUITAR HERO 2 W/GUITAR 224k
3. 360 GEARS OF WAR 212k
4. WII WARIOWARE: SMOOTH MOVES 201k
5. WII LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS 189k
6. PS2 MADDEN NFL 07 156k
7. GCN LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS 144k
8. PS3 RESISTANCE: FALL OF MAN 144k
9. 360 TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS 135k
10. NDS NEW SUPER MARIO BROS 125k
 
Spider_Jerusalem said:
For comparison, these were the NPD software numbers for Jan 2007, two years ago. I don't know how great was the USA install base for Xbox 360, but I believe it was under 7 millions.

1. 360 LOST PLANET: EXTREME CONDITION 329k
2. PS2 GUITAR HERO 2 W/GUITAR 224k
3. 360 GEARS OF WAR 212k
4. WII WARIOWARE: SMOOTH MOVES 201k
5. WII LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS 189k
6. PS2 MADDEN NFL 07 156k
7. GCN LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS 144k
8. PS3 RESISTANCE: FALL OF MAN 144k
9. 360 TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS 135k
10. NDS NEW SUPER MARIO BROS 125k
Taking a look back on 2008, the PS3 regularly only gets 1 or 2 games charted in NPD, even when we get top 20s. The only exception being October where it achieved 7 games charting.
 

markatisu

Member
BishopLamont said:
Taking a look back on 2008, the PS3 regularly only gets 1 or 2 games charted in NPD, even when we get top 20s. The only exception being October where it achieved 7 games charting.

And I would be willing to bet that at least 1 of those 2 is almost always a multiplatform game it shares with the 360
 
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