PS3 Was No. 1 Home Console Last Month in U.S., NPD Says
The PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 and Wii U in the U.S. last month as the 360’s reign as the country’s top-selling home console ended after 32 straight months, according to NPD’s latest videogame sales data. How many PS3s were sold in September wasn’t clear at our deadline because NPD stopped providing that data to reporters and Sony Computer Entertainment America declined to provide it Friday. The 3DS, meanwhile, remained the top-selling videogame system for the fifth straight month when including handheld systems, said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.
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Sales of the PS3 were given a lift by strong demand for a bundle that included the Super Slim 500-GB PS3 and Take-Two Interactive’s new game sequel Grand Theft Auto V, said Callahan. That was a demonstration of how the latest Grand Theft Auto game “can shake things up” in the hardware business and the software business, he said. The game, also released for the 360, was the month’s No. 1 videogame and the “major driver” of the 52 percent sales growth in total U.S. physical videogame software sales for the month, actually Sept. 1-Oct. 5, he said.
The PS3 outsold the Wii U last month despite Nintendo’s recent price cut on that system (CED Aug 29 p4). But Wii U sales were given a lift from the price drop, as well as the new hardware bundle that includes the Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, said Callahan. Wii U sales were up more than 100 percent on an average per-week basis from August, he said. September Wii U hardware sales grew more than 200 percent over sales in August, and that was with only 15 days of data being reported at the lower price, said Nintendo of America.
Total U.S. videogame hardware sales fell 13 percent year-over-year last month, to $183.2 million, said NPD. But that was a significant improvement over the 40 percent decline seen on game hardware Aug. 4-31 (CED Sept 16 p4). Sales of Nintendo’s handheld systems are expected to be strong in October due to Nintendo’s U.S. launch of the 2DS handheld system Oct. 12 and releases of the games Pokemon X and Pokemon Y for that system and the 3DS, said Callahan. Game hardware sales are expected to get a major lift in November, when the PS4 and Xbox One launch in the U.S.
Total U.S. videogame industry sales across all products in the physical retail channel grew 27 percent to $1.1 billion, said NPD. The growth was due largely to the increase in videogame software sales to $754.3 million. Factoring in PC games, total U.S. game software sales in the physical retail channel grew 40 percent to $768.6 million, said NPD.
The dollars cited by NPD were only about 50 percent of the total money that U.S. consumers spent on games last month, said Callahan. When factoring in NPD’s preliminary estimate for other physical channel sales including used games and rentals at $196 million, and its estimate for digital game sales at $645 million, Callahan projected that U.S. consumers spent just under $1.9 billion on the sector last month. Digital game sales take into account full game and add-on content downloads including microtransactions, subscriptions, mobile apps and social network games, he said.
Take-Two’s title became the top-selling game launched in any September since NPD began tracking the industry in 1995, said Callahan. Grand Theft Auto V generated more than 50 percent of U.S. game revenue in September, and had the highest first month sales of any prior launch in the Grand Theft Auto series, he said. New game software launches in September combined for 63 percent of unit sales for the month, he said. That was a “big jump from what new software launches experienced” in September 2012, and caused average game prices to rise 18 percent from a year ago because a larger percentage of sales came from full-priced items, he said. There was also an increase of more than 50 percent for combined Xbox 360 and PS3 software unit sales, which are “now showing a positive trend year-to-date” when factoring in September, he said. Madden NFL 25 for the PS3 and 360 from Electronic Arts (EA) was the month’s No. 2 videogame, followed by Take-Two’s NBA 2K14 for the 360, PS3 and PCs, Activision Blizzard’s Diablo III for those same three platforms, and EA’s multiplatform FIFA 14, said NPD.
Total U.S. videogame accessory sales inched up 2 percent to $142.3 million last month, said NPD. That was due to strong growth in interactive gaming toys, which grew more than 180 percent as sales from the second month of Disney Infinity toys combined with toys for Activision’s Skylanders franchise contributed to the results, said Callahan. Infinity for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U and 3DS was the month’s No. 7 game, said NPD. September sales for videogame point and subscription cards also grew from 2012, making it the best September on record for those items, another sign of consumers’ growing comfort with digital content, said Callahan.
Microsoft didn’t say how many Xbox 360s were sold for the first time in many months, only that global sales reached 80 million units. Despite falling to the PS3 in September, the 360 “maintained its lead” as the No. 1 console in the U.S. for 2013, with 1.6 million sold for the year through Oct. 5, it said, citing NPD’s data. Last month was the strongest September for 360 software sales, with sales reaching $401.2 million, the most for any console in the U.S., said Microsoft, again citing NPD data.