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Uma bela análise das vendas de novembro nos EUA pela Next-Gen. Não vou fazer nada de cross aqui, mas vale a pena ler. Se descambar, peço aos moderadores que coloquem no tópico de cross.
Continua...
What November's Numbers Mean
November US videogame industry sales were a staggering $2.63 billion. But what do all these big sales numbers mean in the big picture? Next-Gen goes in-depth in our monthly NPD feature.
With the NPD Group's report of November 2007 videogame industry sales, the Nintendo Wii finally revealed its potential, entering the previously exclusive domain of the venerable PlayStation 2. Moreover, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed made the top 10 software chart with both its PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, and so demonstrated how cross-platform development can drive a successful new property to record sales. Sony's PlayStation 3 sales were finally up, presumably on the back of the new $400 model, and below we will try to put the increased sales in perspctive. Also, we'll look at software sales in depth and show that the Xbox 360 may well be Guitar Hero III's weakest platform.
Record Console Sales for the Big Three
Consumers were clearly ready to buy new consoles in November, with all current generation consoles selling at record paces. In this graph showing the weekly sales rates for the Sony PlayStation 3, the Microsoft Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii the holiday sales effect is clearly visible.
The Xbox 360 still sold very well at a rate of 192,500 systems per week – a rate second only to its its peak of 226,000 systems per week in December 2006. Yet, even that record pace from last Holiday season was outdone by the Wii which managed 245,000 systems per week even under the supply constraints that Nintendo is still reportedly working to eliminate. The PlayStation 3 showed signs of life with sales averaging 116,500 systems per week.
As expected, holiday shopping has pushed sales higher. Historically November sales are around 2.5 times what they are in October and it is instructive to apply that rule of thumb here.
Had PlayStation 3 sales performed according to this rule, the October rate would have led one to expect 75,600 systems per week in November. Clearly, Sony bested that rate by over 40,000 systems per week, most likely on the strength of its $400 model introduced on 2 November 2007. Even so, Sony is under pressure to further close the gap between its sales rate and that of the competition.
For its part Microsoft's November sales were a factor of 2.1 times larger than October sales. Even so, Microsoft sales were up a robust 50% from the same period in 2006 and the Xbox 360 widened its lead over the PlayStation 3. With a strong slate of software and prices that put it squarely between its competitors, consumers are clearly finding it to be an attractive system.
The Wii didn't even come close to the historical holiday sales ramp: its November sales were only 1.9 times its October sales. That only serves to enhance Nintendo's achievement, since in absolute terms the Wii outsold the Xbox 360 by over 200,000 systems and the PlayStation 3 by over half a million systems.
Before examining handhelds, let us take stock of how the platforms are performing overall. As a first illustration, we compare the first November-through-November period of the Xbox 360 (2005 to 2006) with the first November-through-November period for the Wii and the PlayStation 3 (2006 to 2007).
For a first-year console, the Wii has done exceptionally well, especially compared to its competitors, selling 2.5 million more systems in this period than the Xbox 360 and 3.5 million more systems than the PlayStation 3.
Previous iterations of this article have shown the growth of the installed hardware bases with the launch dates aligned. For a different perspective on the current console competition the graph below shows how the systems have sold over time starting with the Xbox 360 launch in November 2005 and putting the launch of the Wii and the PlayStation 3 at November 2006 on the same axis/timeline.
With the entire life of the Xbox 360 visible, this graph shows just how quickly the Wii is catching up to the Xbox 360. When the Wii launched, Microsoft had around a 3 million system advantage. Today that advantage stands at under 2 million systems – and that's with Nintendo's unfortunate supply problems.
Handhelds on Fire
Both current handhelds, the Nintendo DS and the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) sold very well during November.
Nintendo DS sales have hovered around 100,000 systems per week for the first ten months of 2007. In November that rate nearly quadrupled to 382,500 systems per week. This exceeds the record rate set back in December 2006 when the Nintendo DS sold at a rate of 320,000 systems per week. Perhaps more stikingly, the 1.53 million DS systems Nintendo sold in November is almost precisely the combined number of PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable systems that Sony sold during the same period.
For its part, the PSP was Sony's best selling platform for the month at a rate of 141,750 systems per week. It has sold better (for example, 224,000 systems per week during December 2005), but this is its best November showing ever, which suggests that it could set a record during December of this year.
Software's Biggest Month Ever
In November 2005, the entire industry generated $1.3 billion in sales across hardware, software, and accessories. During November 2007, the software revenue alone generated that same amount: $1.3 billion.
The following table summarizes data for the top 10 selling games of November, according to NPD's figures:
Obviously Call of Duty 4 performed well on both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. It is now second only to Halo 3 for first-month sales numbers on the Xbox 360. On the PlayStation 3 no other game has launched as well as Call of Duty 4 in November.
Super Mario Galaxy performed extremely well for its first month. If it follows in the footsteps of Super Mario Sunshine, we will be seeing Galaxy on the charts for at least two more months – and given the pace of Wii sales, perhaps even longer than that.
Two new properties – Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect – sold well enough to make the top 10. Across both platforms, Assassin's Creed was actually the second best selling game of the month. Mass Effect, an Xbox 360 exclusive, sold about as well in its first month as other Xbox 360 exclusives in the past year (e.g. Crackdown, Lost Planet, and BioShock).
Three familiar favorites rounded out the top 10: Guitar Hero III, Halo 3, and Wii Play (back for its 10th consecutive month).
It is amusing to note that despite the unprecedented Nintendo DS and PSP sales, no game for either system sold well enough to make the top 10 software list for November.
November US videogame industry sales were a staggering $2.63 billion. But what do all these big sales numbers mean in the big picture? Next-Gen goes in-depth in our monthly NPD feature.
With the NPD Group's report of November 2007 videogame industry sales, the Nintendo Wii finally revealed its potential, entering the previously exclusive domain of the venerable PlayStation 2. Moreover, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed made the top 10 software chart with both its PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, and so demonstrated how cross-platform development can drive a successful new property to record sales. Sony's PlayStation 3 sales were finally up, presumably on the back of the new $400 model, and below we will try to put the increased sales in perspctive. Also, we'll look at software sales in depth and show that the Xbox 360 may well be Guitar Hero III's weakest platform.
Record Console Sales for the Big Three
Consumers were clearly ready to buy new consoles in November, with all current generation consoles selling at record paces. In this graph showing the weekly sales rates for the Sony PlayStation 3, the Microsoft Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii the holiday sales effect is clearly visible.
The Xbox 360 still sold very well at a rate of 192,500 systems per week – a rate second only to its its peak of 226,000 systems per week in December 2006. Yet, even that record pace from last Holiday season was outdone by the Wii which managed 245,000 systems per week even under the supply constraints that Nintendo is still reportedly working to eliminate. The PlayStation 3 showed signs of life with sales averaging 116,500 systems per week.
As expected, holiday shopping has pushed sales higher. Historically November sales are around 2.5 times what they are in October and it is instructive to apply that rule of thumb here.
Had PlayStation 3 sales performed according to this rule, the October rate would have led one to expect 75,600 systems per week in November. Clearly, Sony bested that rate by over 40,000 systems per week, most likely on the strength of its $400 model introduced on 2 November 2007. Even so, Sony is under pressure to further close the gap between its sales rate and that of the competition.
For its part Microsoft's November sales were a factor of 2.1 times larger than October sales. Even so, Microsoft sales were up a robust 50% from the same period in 2006 and the Xbox 360 widened its lead over the PlayStation 3. With a strong slate of software and prices that put it squarely between its competitors, consumers are clearly finding it to be an attractive system.
The Wii didn't even come close to the historical holiday sales ramp: its November sales were only 1.9 times its October sales. That only serves to enhance Nintendo's achievement, since in absolute terms the Wii outsold the Xbox 360 by over 200,000 systems and the PlayStation 3 by over half a million systems.
Before examining handhelds, let us take stock of how the platforms are performing overall. As a first illustration, we compare the first November-through-November period of the Xbox 360 (2005 to 2006) with the first November-through-November period for the Wii and the PlayStation 3 (2006 to 2007).
For a first-year console, the Wii has done exceptionally well, especially compared to its competitors, selling 2.5 million more systems in this period than the Xbox 360 and 3.5 million more systems than the PlayStation 3.
Previous iterations of this article have shown the growth of the installed hardware bases with the launch dates aligned. For a different perspective on the current console competition the graph below shows how the systems have sold over time starting with the Xbox 360 launch in November 2005 and putting the launch of the Wii and the PlayStation 3 at November 2006 on the same axis/timeline.
With the entire life of the Xbox 360 visible, this graph shows just how quickly the Wii is catching up to the Xbox 360. When the Wii launched, Microsoft had around a 3 million system advantage. Today that advantage stands at under 2 million systems – and that's with Nintendo's unfortunate supply problems.
Handhelds on Fire
Both current handhelds, the Nintendo DS and the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) sold very well during November.
Nintendo DS sales have hovered around 100,000 systems per week for the first ten months of 2007. In November that rate nearly quadrupled to 382,500 systems per week. This exceeds the record rate set back in December 2006 when the Nintendo DS sold at a rate of 320,000 systems per week. Perhaps more stikingly, the 1.53 million DS systems Nintendo sold in November is almost precisely the combined number of PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable systems that Sony sold during the same period.
For its part, the PSP was Sony's best selling platform for the month at a rate of 141,750 systems per week. It has sold better (for example, 224,000 systems per week during December 2005), but this is its best November showing ever, which suggests that it could set a record during December of this year.
Software's Biggest Month Ever
In November 2005, the entire industry generated $1.3 billion in sales across hardware, software, and accessories. During November 2007, the software revenue alone generated that same amount: $1.3 billion.
The following table summarizes data for the top 10 selling games of November, according to NPD's figures:
Obviously Call of Duty 4 performed well on both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. It is now second only to Halo 3 for first-month sales numbers on the Xbox 360. On the PlayStation 3 no other game has launched as well as Call of Duty 4 in November.
Super Mario Galaxy performed extremely well for its first month. If it follows in the footsteps of Super Mario Sunshine, we will be seeing Galaxy on the charts for at least two more months – and given the pace of Wii sales, perhaps even longer than that.
Two new properties – Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect – sold well enough to make the top 10. Across both platforms, Assassin's Creed was actually the second best selling game of the month. Mass Effect, an Xbox 360 exclusive, sold about as well in its first month as other Xbox 360 exclusives in the past year (e.g. Crackdown, Lost Planet, and BioShock).
Three familiar favorites rounded out the top 10: Guitar Hero III, Halo 3, and Wii Play (back for its 10th consecutive month).
It is amusing to note that despite the unprecedented Nintendo DS and PSP sales, no game for either system sold well enough to make the top 10 software list for November.
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