PS Vita’s U.S. Installed Base Inches Up To About 557,600
PS Vita sales continued to tumble in the U.S. last month, falling to about 52,000 units from about 69,400 in April (CED May 14 p7) and about 210,200 in March, its first full month available (CED April 16 p8), according to NPD data that was supplied Friday by an industry source. The system went on sale in February, but only four days of its sales were included in NPD’s data for that month, which showed that about 226,000 units were sold then (CED March 12 p4). The Vita’s estimated U.S. installed base, therefore, grew to about 557,600 through May.
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The Xbox 360, meanwhile, remained the country’s best-selling videogame system, including handhelds, for the 10th straight month. About 160,000 of them were sold in May, said Microsoft -- the only one of the three videogame hardware makers that supplied data by our deadline. But that was weaker than the 236,00 sold in April and 270,000 sold in May 2011 (CED June 15/11 p6). The 360’s U.S. installed base grew to an estimated 34.2 million. Microsoft said the 360 maintained its position as the No. 1 home console in the U.S. for the 17th month and May marked the 15th straight month in which the 360 “held more than a 40 percent share of current-generation console sales” there. Six of the month’s top 10-selling games were for the 360, it also said.
NPD stopped providing monthly hardware sales data for each platform to reporters, and Sony Computer Entertainment America again didn’t say how many systems it sold last month. But the industry source said PS3 sales fell 26 percent from the estimated 175,000 that were sold in May 2011, which translated to about 129,500 sold last month. That was also down from the 173,400 sold in April. The PS3’s U.S. installed base grew to an estimated 20.7 million. PSP sales declined year-over-year more than any other system, at 74 percent, the source said.
Nintendo of America (NOA) also didn’t say how many systems it sold last month. But the industry source said Wii sales tumbled 70 percent from the 236,000 sold in May 2011, which translated to about 70,800 Wiis sold last month. That was also down from the estimated 89,400 that NOA sold in April. The Wii’s U.S. installed base inched up to an estimated 39.5 million. Wii sales are expected to continue to tumble as the Wii U’s launch nears late this year unless there’s a significant price cut on the older console.
The 3DS was the only system with a sales increase from May 2011, a growth of 17 percent, the source said. But 3DS sales weren’t made available a year ago, so it was tough to gauge how many systems were sold last month. The source also said sales of other DS systems tumbled 49 percent from May 2011. But NPD analyst Anita Frazier said DS sales grew 35 percent from April, partly due to a May 20 price cut on the DSi and DSi XL. NOA cut the price of the DSi to $99.99 from $149.99 and the larger DSi XL to $129.99 from $169.99.
Total U.S. videogame hardware sales tumbled 39 percent from May 2011 to $138.9 million in the new physical channel, NPD said. Sales of new videogame software, hardware and accessories in the physical U.S. channel fell 28 percent to $516.5 million. New videogame software sales, excluding PC games, in the physical channel dropped 32 percent to $255.4 million. Factoring in PC games, sales in that category fell 16 percent to $335.2 million. PC game sales soared 230 percent to $80 million, which Frazier said “softened the decline in software sales overall.” A large contributor to that growth was Activision Blizzard’s Diablo III, which became the country’s No. 1 game its first month available, she said. It was the first time since July 2010 that a PC-only game was No. 1 on the U.S. chart, she said. Blizzard’s Starcraft II was the No. 1 PC game that accomplished the feat in July 2010, which she called “a testament to the power of the Blizzard brand in PC gaming."
The only bright spot in the new physical U.S. game channel outside of PC games was accessory sales, which grew 7 percent to $122.3 million. That category “continues to perform well,” driven by increased videogame card sales, which soared 74 percent from May 2011, and the “continued success” of Activision Blizzard’s Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, said Frazier.
There have been 27 percent fewer new software title releases in the U.S. so far in 2012 than a year ago, and that’s a “big part of the softness we're seeing in May sales,” Frazier said. But she said she was optimistic that sales will pick up later this year, when some of the strong titles that were shown at E3 are released.
Frazier was quick to point out that the data NPD supplied factored in only about 50-60 percent of the total amount U.S. consumers spent on the game category. When you factor in NPD’s preliminary estimate for other physical format sales including used and rentals at $155 million, and its estimate for digital format sales (full game and add-on content downloads including micro-transactions, subscriptions, mobile apps and social network games) at $420 million, she estimated that the total consumer spend on games was $1.17 billion in May.
Activision Blizzard had two other titles in the top 10 game chart: Prototype 2 for the PS3 and 360, down three from April at No. 4, and multiplatform Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, down three at No. 6. Take-Two Interactive and Ubisoft each had two titles in the top 10. Take-Two’s were Max Payne 3 for the 360, PS3 and PC, at No. 2, and multiplatform NBA 2K12, at No. 5 again. Ubisoft’s were Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier for the 360 and PS3, at No. 3, and Just Dance 3 for the Wii, 360 and PS3, down one at No. 10.