July NPD responses: Wii, PS3 & Xbox 360 all doing well… apparently
The NPD sales figures for the month of July came out on Thursday, and they showed the Wii still massively ahead of the other home consoles, while the PS3 managed to sneak a win against the Xbox 360. But if you read the press releases from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, you’d be hard pressed to know who actually came out on top – apparently, all three are doing fine.
Mike posted the latest NPD Group data on Thursday which showed the pecking order in terms of hardware and software sales for last month. But as is always the case, the console manufacturers like to give their own version of events immediately afterwards, and these press releases are usually a lesson in how to make yourself and your products sound good.
Nintendo
Nintendo did win this month’s battle, as it has done for the last God only know how many months, so the press release is short and sweet and to the point. It seems that when you’re on top, understatement is the best policy. Nintendo basically claims victory with the Wii and DS taking the top two spots, and then concentrates on the software side of things. Five of the top ten best-selling games in July were for Nintendo platforms, and Nintendo takes great delight in boasting about this.
With many people citing the fact that the Wii has the lowest software attach rate of the three home consoles, Nintendo seems to have gone in to attack mode on this issue. Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing said:
Great hardware goes hand-in-hand with great software. Various types of games for the Nintendo systems are represented in the top 10, demonstrating how we continue to break down the barriers between veteran and new players.
Sony
While Sony claimed a small victory over the Xbox 360 in the U.S. last month, sales are still only hovering around the same 200,000 mark that they have been for a while. Sony uses its press release to blind us with science about momentum and year-on-year sales growth.
Sony had a good month in terms of the whole Playstation brand so cleverly focus on that figure rather than the PS3’s individual one. I give kudos to Sony for not talking up its victory over the Xbox 360 for the month, but that’s probably only to prevent a face pounding when the figures are no doubt reversed in the coming months.
Jack Tretton, president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America said:
Our year-to-date sales growth of 99% for the PS3 reaffirms that consumers are indeed embracing PS3 as their entertainment hub-of-choice with its feature-rich offerings like Blu-ray and our recently announced video delivery service. With an unmatched software line-up that includes LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: Confrontation, Resistance 2 and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, and the anticipated launch of our new 80GB PS3 model, we’re confident in a strong second half of the year and look forward to quickly addressing any inventory shortages due to the transition.
Microsoft
Microsoft has the least to crow about at the moment, which makes the fact that its press release is so big quite humorous. The Xbox 360 obviously came last out of the home consoles in July, and with no other platforms to back up the numbers, Microsoft had to concentrate on games, and that oh-so-important attach rate.
Microsoft apparently dominated E3, while games on the Xbox 360 received the most awards at some critics ceremony or other. What that has to do with the NPD data I have no idea. It also cites how the Xbox 360 has the highest attach rate (7.9 games per console) of any console at this point in its lifecycle. It finishes with a boast.
We’re projecting 2009 will be even bigger – we’ll sell more consoles, sell more games, and continue to grow our online community at Xbox LIVE.
So there you have it, straight from the horses mouths. If we relied on these press releases for our sales figures, we’d have no idea who actually won the battle on any given month. I hate to say it but thank God for NPD.
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18 Responses to “July NPD responses: Wii, PS3 & Xbox 360 all doing well… apparently”
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August 16th, 2008
quote:” I give kudos to Sony for not talking up its victory over the Xbox 360 for the month, but that’s probably only to prevent a face pounding when the figures are no doubt reversed in the coming months.”
Where do you get that ?
Not only did the PS3 suffer from shortages given that the 40Gb is being outed to prepare for the new 80Gb, but the Xbox had a massive incentive with a decreased price on its 20Gb model (clearance, $299).
With all that, and no exclusive on the PS3 since MGS4, the 360 still couldn’t get a win?
If things continue like this, with the new PS3 80Gb model and the end of year lineup, MS has very dire days in front of them in terms of sales vs PS3…
Imo the 360 will have a small window in August with the new PS3 model not arriving until the 28th, but from there on, I know which side the pounding will be on
August 16th, 2008
go suck a lemon
August 16th, 2008
@Greg
Its Daves way of trying to not come off so much as a Sony lover
This way we only flame each other and not the author
August 17th, 2008
microsoft states that 2009 will be better for the xbox but how do they intend to do so. there is NO game that i look forward to buy and no new software to help system sales. its times like these that im glad i have both ps3 and xbox.
August 17th, 2008
microsoft states that 2009 will be better for the xbox but how do they intend to do so. there is NO game that i look forward to buy and no new software to help system sales. its times like these that im glad i have both ps3 and xbox.
August 17th, 2008
“microsoft states that 2009 will be better for the xbox but how do they intend to do so. there is NO game that i look forward to buy and no new software to help system sales”
It’s a good thing Microsoft’s business strategy doesn’t depend on you buying one game.
August 17th, 2008
listen, consoles suck. Go buy a couple thousand dollar PC and you’ll be completely satifisfied like me. I even have a 360 i never play, because games although becoming a little more rare for the PC platform, are generally higher quality, and a much better play experience overall. This pertains exactly to this article.
August 17th, 2008
It is obvious that microsoft is in panic because of the low xbox-sales and the mediocre software sales. 2009 will obviously the year of the wii, with many 3rd-party games on the front.
August 17th, 2008
Hah! – Consoles don’t suck. You just proved why they dont suck. A couple thousand dollars on a gaming PC? sod off. for that money i’d rather by all gaming consoles and trick them out with every game ever made for them. Gaming Pc’s are horrible for playing games on i just hate the layout. And they have less desirable games to go with them. So you pay thousands of dollars for a Microsoft word machine rather than gaming rig.
August 17th, 2008
FPS on PC are way better than anything consoles have churned out, same goes for RTS.
Whilst I wouldn’t spend $2k on a gaming PC (because you don’t need to in order to play todays games) don’t discount them as gaming machines.
August 17th, 2008
sw – I totally and utterly agree that RTS are so much better on PC, but not FPS.
August 17th, 2008
Well, in recent days most fps on pc are getting ported anywhoos (such as bioshock etc.) so I guess it all comes down to the contol method.
Personally I can’t play an FPS without a mouse & kb (except metroid prime, but it had lock on
). So if you take the EXACT same game and put it on console with a mouse & keyboard then sure its just as good.
But I do find that games made for consoles can be dumbed down. Take Deus Ex, one of if not best fps/rpg ever made, DX2 was being made for consoles so they removed most of the rpg elements and it sucked (in fact DX1 was dumbed down also for ps2, location dmg taken out etc.).
I guess its all personal preference after all
August 18th, 2008
davep – “that oh-so-important attach rate.”
i love your sarcasm.
funny thing tho; that is the true measure of a console’s sucess….
good gawd, could these author/fanboys be any more clueless? lol….
August 18th, 2008
davep – “While Sony claimed a small victory over the Xbox 360 in the U.S. last month, sales are still only hovering around the same 200,000 mark that they have been for a while” – wouldn’t the fact they’re “hovering” also mean “stagnate”?
but that wouldn’t be you. you only skew ms information…. clown..
August 18th, 2008
Kev,
Attach rate isn’t a measure of a console’s success. It’s one way to look at it, but it needs to be looked at when the console is on its way out.
I actually find it strange MS is talking up their attach rate. It looks very much like an end of life cycle attach rate, because it is so high. That happens not just when games are selling, but when consoles are NOT selling.
August 18th, 2008
i think i just figured out why there are no comments on other pages of this site. noone visits it; given the employment given to obvious fanboys, i can see why.
i’m starting to think davep INTENTIONALLY write misinformation, fanboy logic, and skewed data; they know gamers will speak out and give their sites hits….
i’m out for a while. Tired of correcting the “authors” who refuse to do any due diligence before writing…..
my mistake is assuming writers know what they’re talking about. i can see why they post on the ‘net as there is no accountability for wrong information written and passed off as fact.
simply terrible writing. my advice davep? get used to saying “want fries with that?”, as a career in journalism is beyond your ability.
August 18th, 2008
Don’t worry Kev, all your posts are the same anyway. We’ll just through one together for you while your gone!
August 18th, 2008
LOL wylie. Yeah Kev Team GB (thats gamer.blorge not great britain) wouldn’t be the same without your opinionated bile. Although i do wonder who is pretending to be you?