3DS Was Best-Selling Game System in U.S. in December, NPD Says
The Xbox One’s U.S. sales beat the PS4’s during December, as the systems switched places on the hardware sales chart in their second month of availability, according to NPD’s latest monthly sales data. But the PS4’s “two-month total makes it the best selling console during the two-month launch window,” said NPD analyst Liam Callahan. The 3DS, however, was the top-selling videogame system last month (actually Dec. 1-Jan. 4) and for all of 2013 when factoring in handheld systems, he said.
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About 908,000 Xbox Ones were sold in the U.S. in December, said Microsoft, citing NPD’s data. That combined with the more than 909,100 Xbox Ones that Microsoft said were sold in November (CED Dec 16 p3) meant a total of about 1.8 million Xbox Ones were sold in the U.S. by Jan. 4. The Xbox One led hardware sales for all of 2013 in the U.S. on a dollar basis even though it didn’t ship until Nov. 22, helped by its $499.99 price, said Callahan. It was also the No. 1 hardware system in the U.S. last month in terms of revenue, he told us Friday.
Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) didn’t say how many units of its hardware systems were sold in the U.S. last month, and NPD stopped providing that data to reporters a while ago. The PS4 was the month’s No. 3 game system in the U.S., behind the 3DS and Xbox One, said Callahan. SCEA “sold every PS4 available at retail” in the U.S. last month and the console was “out of stock in December due to overwhelming consumer demand,” spokesman Dan Race said Friday.
The Xbox 360 followed the PS4 in sales last month, said Microsoft, again citing NPD’s data. The 360 “continued to see strong momentum with 643,000 units sold” in December, said Microsoft. The Xbox One and Xbox 360 combined had a 46 percent console market share in the U.S. last month, growing 10 percent from December 2012, it said.
The Wii U’s December U.S. sales grew from a year earlier and its performance was the console’s strongest showing for a single month yet, said Callahan. More than 480,000 Wii U consoles were sold in the U.S. last month, said Nintendo of America, citing NPD data.
Total U.S. videogame hardware sales grew 28 percent year-over-year to $1.4 billion, said NPD. The growth came largely from “continued strong sales” of the Xbox One and PS4, which combined boosted console hardware sales more than 50 percent from December 2012, said Callahan. For the year, U.S. videogame hardware sales increased 5 percent to $4.3 billion, said NPD.
Total U.S. videogame industry sales across all products in the physical retail channel inched up 2 percent year-over-year in December to $3.3 billion, said NPD. It was the fifth straight month in which combined physical sales of videogame hardware, software and accessories grew year-over-year, said Callahan. For the year, however, sales slipped 2 percent to $13 billion, said NPD.
Total U.S. videogame accessory sales in the physical channel grew 4 percent year-over-year in December to $631 million, said NPD. Gamepads, videogame point and subscription cards, and interactive gaming toys all had “double-digit dollar growth” over December 2012, “fueling” the growth, said Callahan. They were also the top three accessory categories in 2013 based on revenue, helping to increase 2013 accessory sales 3 percent for the year to $2.6 billion, said NPD. December was “the best month ever” for videogame point and subscription cards, in units and dollars, said Callahan. “Despite competition” from Disney Infinity, December was also the best month to date for sales of Activision’s Skylanders interactive gaming toys on a dollar basis, he said. For the year, interactive gaming toy sales soared 70 percent from 2012, he said.
Despite the hardware and accessory growth, U.S. videogame software sales fell 17 percent year-over-year in the new physical channel to $1.28 billion in December, said NPD. Factoring in PC games, U.S. game software sales fell 17 percent to $1.31 billion. “Part of the reason” for the decline was the “poor performance” last month of games released in November, said Callahan. There was a 27 percent dollar decline for sales of November 2013 game releases in December, compared with November 2012 game releases in December 2012, he said. Also, due to the success of Ubisoft’s December 2012 hit Far Cry 3, sales of December 2013 game launches tumbled 85 percent from games launching a year earlier, he said. For the year, U.S. videogame software sales grew 9 percent to $6.1 billion, but declined 11 percent to $6.3 billion when adding in PC games, 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 $249 million, and its estimate for digital game sales at $815 million, Callahan projected that U.S. consumers spent just under $2.4 billion combined on games 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. NPD’s final assessment of U.S. consumer spending in these areas outside of new physical retail sales will be reported in February, he said.
December’s best-selling videogame in the U.S. was Activision’s Call of Duty: Ghosts, said NPD. For the fifth straight year, the standard 360 version of Call of Duty was December’s best-selling videogame SKU, said Callahan. Like all the other titles in the top five, Ghosts was released on multiple platforms. No game in the top 10 was exclusive to a single platform and the only title in the top 10 that was released on fewer than four platforms was Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto V for the PS3 and 360, at No. 7. Battlefield 4 from Electronic Arts (EA) was No. 2, followed by Ubisoft’s multiplatform Just Dance 2014 at No. 3, EA’s Madden NFL 25 at No. 4 and Take-Two’s NBA 2K14 at No. 5. EA’s FIFA 14 was No. 9 and Activision’s Skylanders: Swap Force was No. 10, underscoring a strong month for those two publishers.
The year’s best-selling videogame was Grand Theft Auto V, followed by Ghosts, Madden and Battlefield 4, said NPD. After four months of sales, the latest Grand Theft Auto game is “within striking distance of surpassing” Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as the best-selling game within the game series, said Callahan. That, combined with strong demand for its BioShock Infinite and the “continued popularity” of the NBA 2K franchise, allowed Take-Two to become the top videogame software publisher for 2013, he said. Its shares closed 2.2 percent higher Friday at $17.05, while EA shares closed 11.9 percent higher at $24.10. But Activision Blizzard shares closed 2.1 percent lower at $16.96.