US: Has the Wii Onslaught Against HD Market Share Stalled?

US - Has the Wii reached its zenith of potential against the combined forces of Microsoft's 360 and Sony's PS3? Or is this just another lull in the cycle similar to the summer of 2007?

Will the Wii eventually pass both of them combined in the US or has it run out of time? As always, we'll know just a little more next month. Leave your thoughts in the comments section if you think you know the answers to any of these profound questions.

Click to Enlarge:

Nintendo hardware shipments, calendar 2009 Q1 or fiscal 2009 Q4: Things of Note

This quarter Wii surpassed SNES and became the second Nintendo home console to pass 50 million units shipped. About 11.5 million remain until it passes NES.

Very little movement in Japan this quarter.


At the end of 2008, Wii shipments were just below N64's final total in North America. With a quarter of over 3 million shipped, it's surpassed not only N64, but also SNES.


Wii long ago become the most successful Nintendo home console ever in Europe. This quarter still marks an interesting milestone, though, in that Wii has shipped more than NES and SNES combined. The previous four systems combined only come to 28.66 million. Wii has less than 10 million to go to pass that.


Though we are increasingly not near launch, there are still more Wiis available than any near-launch home console ever.


DS becomes the fourth gaming device to pass 100 million units shipped, if you count Game Boy and Game Boy Color together as does Nintendo. Current DS shipment numbers place it just below PS1.


Though neither DS nor Wii set an absolute worldwide shipping record for a January-February-March quarter this year, they were both among the best. Looking at the history of the top game machines around, here are the times when the first quarter of a calendar year went over 4 million. If GB/GBC or GBA ever had such a quarter we can't tell due to lack of quarterly shipment reports at their peaks, but making guesstimates based on their yearly or half-yearly numbers I doubt either would make this list.

PS2 2005: 6.08 M
DS  2008: 5.81 M
DS  2009: 5.56 M
Wii 2009: 5.43 M
DS  2007: 4.68 M
PS1 1998: 4.62 M
Wii 2008: 4.32 M
PS2 2001: 4.21 M

How about over the full fiscal year, though? In that case, DS and Wii did set records. As far as I can see, DS just had the best year for a portable system and Wii had the best year for a home console. Here are all years I know of over 20 million. Note that here 2009 indicates the year of April 1, 2008 through March 31, 2009.

DS  2009: 31.18 M
DS  2008: 30.31 M
Wii 2009: 25.94 M
DS  2007: 23.56 M
PS2 2003: 22.52 M
PS2 2004: 20.10 M
PS1 1999: 21.60 M

If you want to check out old shipment information for yourself, I recommend trying out the Garaph shipment line graph and shipment bar graph tools.

Landmark: Nintendo Passes 500 MILLION Systems Shipped

This is something I really should've noticed before. But better late than never?

As of the quarter ending September 30, 2008, Nintendo's combined shipments of home game consoles (NES, SNES, N64, GCN, and Wii) passed 200 million.

As of the quarter ending December 31, 2008, Nintendo's combined shipments of portable game machines (Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and the variations of each) is nearly 300 million. DS's numbers from the next quarter will probably push it over the edge.


Put together, as of the quarter ending December 31, 2008, their combined shipments of home and portable hardware passed 500 million.

Nintendo Propels Industry to Record Month

US - Following record sales of 2 million Wii consoles in November, Nintendo sales led the way to a new industry-wide record in December: $5 billion in revenue, the largest single month in video game history.

According to NPD, December sales were up 9 percent year-over-year, and sales for 2008 were up 19 percent.

Nintendo’s handheld, the DS, sold 3.04 million units, almost as many as the Wii and Xbox 360 combined (2.15 million and 1.44 million, respectively). Regarding software, the Wii’s console bundle, Wii Play and the Wii remote, sold 1.46 million units in December alone.

December 2008 Sales

1. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) - 1.46 million

2. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch/Activision, Xbox 360) - 1.33 million

3. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) - 999,000

4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) - 979,000

5. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Neversoft/Activision, Wii) - 850,000

6. Gears of War 2 (Epic Games/Microsoft, Xbox 360) - 745,000

7. Left 4 Dead (Valve/EA, Xbox 360) - 629,000

8. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo, NDS) - 540,000

9. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch/Activision, PS3) - 533,000

10. Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo, Wii) - 497,000

2008 Full Year Sales

1. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) - 5.28 million

2. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) - 5.00 million

3. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) - 4.53 million

4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo, Wii) - 4.17 million

5. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar/Take-Two, Xbox 360) - 3.29 million

6. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch/Activision, Xbox 360) - 2.75 million

7. Gears of War 2 (Epic Games/Microsoft, Xbox 360) - 2.31 million

8. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar/Take-Two, PS3) - 1.89 million

9. Madden NFL 09 (EA Tiburon/EA, Xbox 360) - 1.87 million

10. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo, NDS) - 1.65 million

(Charts from gamasutra.com)

PSP Loses Further Ground to DS; Now Behind in 2008 Totals

Japan - After putting together its best year ever in 2008, the PSP is now losing the yearly hardware total battle in the eleventh hour.

The PSP outsold the DS almost every week from February until August, but the release of the DSi has the Sony handheld back on its heels. The strong move by PSP came after the release of Monster Hunter 2G, which helped it take back around 5% market share in 2008, from 26.1% to where it sits now at 31.06%.

Now the PSP has been outsold seven weeks in a row and sits just behind the DS in 2008 hardware sales (3,428k vs 3,447k).

As Sony is dealing with tough numbers in nearly every territory, is this another blow to the giant of last-gen? Or should Sony be content that it has any marke share in the hanheld arena? With the release of Dissidia for the PSP next week, we're certainly look at a close finish to 2008, a defining year for the PSP that may just be a little bittersweet in the end.

NINTENDOMINATION: Media Create Sales: 12/08 - 12/14 (Software)

Japan - Nintendomination. That would be the word for what Nintendo has done to the Media Create software charts this week; every title in the top ten is on a Nintendo platform and seven of them are published by Nintendo/Pokemon.

It gets better (or worse if you're not working Nintendo systems right now). Seven of the top ten titles have sold more than half a million units, and four of those have already sold more than a million!

Just looking at the LTDs for the top ten this week is a mind-boggling affair: it represents over 10.4 MILLION units of software sold on Nintendo platforms, and all of them games that have been out for a year or less. That is staggering.

Software:
01. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco Bandai) 105,900 / NEW
02. [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) 97,700 / 587,000
03. [NDS] Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe (Nintendo) 94,500 / 629,400
04. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode (Nintendo) 63,100 / 341,700
05. [NDS] Penguin no Mondai: Saikyou Penguin Densetsu! (Konami) 59,000 / NEW
06. [NDS] Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel (Level 5) 57,600 / 492,000
07. [NDS] Pokémon Platinum (Pokémon) 57,500 / 2,066,300
08. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo) 45,200 / 1,289,400
09. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 43,000 / 2,916,900
10. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) 34,300 / 1,938,400

11. [PS3] Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami)
12. [PS2] Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World (Namco Bandai)
13. [NDS] Tamagotchi Star School (Namco Bandai)
14. [WII] Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat Wii (Nintendo)
15. [NDS] Chrono Trigger DS (Square Enix)
16. [WII] Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes (Capcom) 24,100 / NEW
17. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III (SCE)
18. [NDS] Tongariboushi and the 365 Days of Magic (Konami)
19. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) (Capcom)
20. [NDS] Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo)
21. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo)
22. [PSP] Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin (KOEI)
23. [PSP] Kenka Banchou 3: Zenkoku Seiha (Spike)
24. [WII] Wii Music (Nintendo)
25. [PSP] Gundam vs. Gundam (Namco Bandai)
26. [WII] 428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de (SEGA)
27. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo)
28. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)
29. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven (Level 5)
30. [NDS] Taiko Drum Master 2: The Seven Island Adventure (Namco Bandai)

Notes and questions for consumption:
1. Pokemon Platinum recently crossed 2 million.

2. Wii Fit is quickly closing in on 3 million sold.

3. Rhythm Tengoku Gold has not-so-quietly been one of the best selling games this year. Interesting counterpoint to Wii Music.

4. Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel will certainly pass 500k next week. Third in the series and almost guaranteed to get yet another sequel. If you were Level 5, would you attempt this formula on a different system like the Wii?

5. Wagamama Fashion looks like the next in line of offbeat hits for Nintendo. Between this and their other titles targeted towards the fairer sex, is there any question who owns that mindshare?


Famitsu Charts:

(click to enlarge)

*please note that Famitsu charts are based on data one week older than this week's Media Create data, but for visual purposes function exactly the same.*

Wii Cuts Deeply into HD Lead; Will 360 and PS3 Lose Grip on 3rd Party Exclusives?

US - Nintendo continued its console dominance with a shocking sales total of 2.04 million systems sold in November. At the same time, the Wii made major gains against the combined force of HD systems 360 and PS3.

After a full year on sale in November 2007, it appeared the HD systems would fend off the sensational sales of the Wii with landmark sales of their own.

As both the 360 and the PS3 shared an extremely common library outside of several marquis exclusives, one could observe the strategy of 3rd parties favoring the higher-powered systems with multi-platform hardcore titles while pushing sub-standard shovelware onto the Wii audience.

And you could see why, too. The audience for the HD systems is clearly an older set than what many presume the Mario Kart audience is, and most 3rd parties are still marketing primarily to the older group.

Beyond that, the combined total of the 360 and PS3 in the US outpaced the Wii by almost five and half million as late as March of this year (60% market share). With the difference in audience, HD system's sales lead, and more viable options for after-the-purchase revenue streams (DLC), 3rd parties really haven't had a choice.

This month does not erase everything, but it certainly will raise the eyebrows of 3rd parties that haven't yet taken the Wii audience seriously. In the past eight months the Wii has lowered the HD lead by two-and-a-quarter million units, a million of that in the last month alone. How 3rd parties respond to that, or if they do at all, remains to be seen.

Questions for consumption down below.

(click to enlarge)

Questions for Consumption
1. Will Wii LTD ever pass the combined total of the HD systems in the US? When? Does it matter?

2. Will Japanese 3rd party exclusives like Monster Hunter 3 and Dragon Quest X significantly alter the race in the United States?

3. Wii Western Publishers see the significant Japanese exclusives and return volley with their own?

4. Will the certain addition of jRPG-enthusiasts from MH3 and DQX mean even more jRPGs for the Wii?

5. Considering the current Western 3rd party struggles on the Wii as well as the acknowledged difference in audience, is the Wii a viable option for 3rd parties to publish traditional harder-core games?

November 2008 NPD Results - Wii Sells 2 Million!

Sorry for the delay on this post. Family in town and various other distractions. I wish I had been here earlier to post this amazing story, but this will have to be it for now. I'll post the totals and one small chart and the rest of the charts should be up throughout the weekend. Also, HOLY SHIT at Wii sales!

Hardware
Playstation 2 206k
Playstation 3 378k
PSP 421k
Xbox 360 836k
Wii 2.04M
DS 1.57M



GEARS OF WAR 2* (360) 1.56 million
CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR* (360) 1.41 million
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE (WII) 796K
WII FIT (WII) 697K
MARIO KART (WII) 637K
CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR (PS3) 597K
GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR* (WII) 475K
LEFT 4 DEAD (360) 410K
RESISTANCE 2* (PS3) 385K
WII MUSIC (WII) 297K

Stay right here for all the latest charts. Coming Soon: Full NPD charts and breakdown, Media Create Hardware, Consoles and Handheld charts. All will be out before the weekend is up. Enjoy!

360 Gains In Japan a Mirage

Media Create Sales: 11/17 - 11/24 (Consoles)

Japan - In the same week that the Wii has crossed 7 million units sold, the 360 (long since written off in Japan by sales enthusiasts, and correctly, I might add) is once again playing as a potential spoiler against Sony's PS3.

One look at the Weekly Console Sales Chart (line, 2nd chart down) will show the gains 360 has made at PS3's expense. A closer look at market share charts is more revealing; the Weekly Console Market Share (line, 4th chart down) shows a once sub-5% weekly take has climbed above 20% nine of the last eleven weeks.

For a larger perspective, please observe the Total Console Market Share Chart (line, 6th down) and the Year on Year Console YTD Chart (line, last chart in this post) and one will observe that the 360 has really only gained back the ground it lost over the past year and only now hovers where it was in December 2007 (7.51%).

More importantly, one will notice that the 360 has basically sold one-for-one with itself from 2007 with a slight gain. While a 60k gain from the previous year isn't anything to sneeze at for a console that regularly posted 3.5k weeks this very year, it's really peanuts compared to Wii's 550k negative difference and PS3's 135k negative difference, especially considering they outsold the 360 by 500k and 2 million units respectively.

Analysis
So what are we really seeing? First, we're seeing 360's concurrent RPG releases make an impact on weekly sales at the same time the Wii and the PS3 are seeing year-on-year slowdowns.

Does this mean the 360 will suddenly take control of the weekly charts and take a commanding lead any time soon from the PS3? Doubtful. A close look at YOY charts across the board shows that the 360, outside of big releases in August and September, is only slightly elevated from the previous year's effort.

The true question at hand is what we're seeing from the PS3. The Wii is mirroring its YOY chart at a slight reduction (-10k this week), and the 360 is at a slight increase from 2007 (+8k), but last year at this time the PS3 was selling 40-50 thousand units during this period. That creates a dropoff from 2007 of twenty to thirty thousand units.

Is the PS3 suffering more from the economy than the Wii or the 360? Could it only be price? Does it matter and does any of that justify stagnant sales during a heightened-sales season?*

As always, we'll know just a little more next week.

* they don't celebrate Christmas, goofball.

Animal Crossing Passes Wii Music in its First Week (Famitsu)

According to a recently released taste of last week's action in Japan by Famitsu, Nintendo's Animal Crossing: City Folk has crossed the 300k barrier, nearly doubling Wii Music's lifetime sales in only one week.

For games that are a little more inspiring to the hardcore crowd, Chrono Trigger DS and the PSP game Gundam vs. Gundam both sold extremely well at 276k and 240k, respectively.

[WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk - 303,204*
[NDS] Chrono Trigger DS - 276,049
[PSP] Gundam vs Gundam - 240,594

More as it becomes available.


Update:
* 300k puts AC:CF in the top 14 titles for the Wii. I'll work up a top-15 or something chart as more data rolls in.


Stay right here for all the latest charts and sales news! We will be updating as more information comes in.





Source: Famitsu

October 2008 NPD Results - LBP Outsold by Mario Kart

NPD results are as follows. Stay right here for the latest in NPD Charts and graphs. That PS3 number looks BAD.

Hardware
Hardware Unit Sales
Oct-08
PlayStation 2 136K
PlayStation 3 190K
PSP 193K
Xbox 360 371K
Wii 803K
Nintendo DS 491K



Platform Charts
(click to enlarge for all charts)



Overall Charts


Top 10 Software
Publisher Release Date Rank # Units
360 FABLE II MICROSOFT (CORP) Oct-08 1 790K
WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA May-08 2 487K
360 FALLOUT 3 BETHESDA SOFTWORKS Oct-08 3 375K
WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA Apr-08 4 290K
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA Feb-07 5 282K
360 SAINTS ROW 2 THQ (CORP) Oct-08 6 270K
PS3 SOCOM: U.S. NAVY SEALS CONFRONTATION SONY (CORP) Oct-08 7 231K
PS3 LITTLE BIG PLANET SONY (CORP) Oct-08 8 215K
360 NBA 2K9 TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP) Oct-08 9 202K
360 DEAD SPACE ELECTRONIC ARTS Oct-08 10 193K


Industry Sales
Dollar Sales Oct-07 Oct-08 CHG YTD Oct 07 YTD Oct 08 CHG
Video Games $1.12B $1.31B 18% $10.50B $13.13B 25%
Video Games Hardware $470.47M $494.74M 5% $4.13B $4.72B 14%
Video Games Software $514.60M $696.79M 35% $4.98B $6.76B 36%
Video Game Accessories $130.81M $120.19 -8% $1.40B $1.65B 18%