April NPD hardware sales – Nintendo DSi flies, everything else dies
I think we can safely put to bed the idea that the video games sector is resistant to the economic ebb and flow. Maybe it’s just the strength of this current recession but console sales once again dropped by a considerable margin, both from the previous month, and the same month a year ago. The PS3 and Xbox 360 may both be cutting-edge but this month’s sales figures are positively dire.
Two consoles saw increases in sales this month: the Nintendo DS and the PS2 – hardly the big hitters I would have expected. Every other console, including the previously-infallible Wii, saw a considerable sales slide. Just compare the below to last month’s already poor figures.
NPD U.S. Hardware Sales Chart – April 2009 (Courtesy of Wired)
Nintendo DS – 1,040,000
Nintendo Wii – 340,000
Microsoft Xbox 360 – 175,000
Sony PS2 – 172,200
Sony PS3 – 127,000
Sony PSP – 116,000
Nintendo
Sales of the Wii dropped from 601,000 in March to almost half that in April. Year-on-year the figures are even more depressing for Nintendo, dropping from 714,000 units then to just 340,000 units now. This lowly figure does mean the Wii is still the bestselling home console so I doubt Nintendo executives will be committing hara-kiri quite yet.
The new DSi, which launched on April 5, is estimated to have sold 800,000 of the more-than 1 million DS’s sold in the month of April. I really didn’t think the DSi would sell like this but I’ve been proven wrong for the umpteenth time in my life. Will these impressive first-month sales continue?
Microsoft
As usual, the Xbox 360 maintained its mid-table position. The Xbox 360 saw a mild drop year-on-year from 188,000 but a larger one from March, dropping from 330,000 to 175,000 units sold. In this Nintendo-dominated landscape the only real consolation for Microsoft is that all three Sony consoles consistently place below its one offering.
Sony
What can be said in this section when Sony’s best performer is the approaching-retirement PS2? Sales of both the PS3 and PSP dropped from this time last year and last month. As much as I admire the PS3, it has to be conceded that it’s failing to gain any traction whatsoever in the U.S. The only question is where do Sony go from here? Some big announcements at next month’s E3 may be a start.
Conclusions
Another month, another 17 percent drop in U.S. video game sales. Will this trend continue as long as the recession does? When even the cheap and cheerful Wii is being affected heavily you know the situation is serious.
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22 Responses to “April NPD hardware sales – Nintendo DSi flies, everything else dies”
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May 15th, 2009
“I’ve been proven wrong for the umpteenth time in my life”
Does this mean you’ve given up on predicting the downfall of the Wii? Say it’s not so Dave!
Surely the year-on-year sales decline of the Wii suggests that people are getting sick of it and are ready to move to the PS3!
May 15th, 2009
Well we obviously knew the 360 wasn’t going to do amazing because patcher said it would ‘demolish the PS3′.
As we all know, when patcher makes a prediction it usually doesn’t come to pass.
Man, I’ve said it before and ill say it again. Hookers and Coke on Nintendo tonight!
May 15th, 2009
Man, Reggie must be tripping balls!
May 15th, 2009
Nothing unexpected here I’d say.
The Wii continues to dominate, the Xbox has 2nd place well and truly locked down and those hoping for the PS3 to even begin turning in better numbers are still left hoping.
The only thing we’ve now seen here is, as Dave says, that the games market is not quite as resilient as some though.
The big question has to be, is that the start of a late dive in sales or will gaming go through the recession/slump pretty quickly & with little damage.
Given the owning profile of the market and the cost of new games I can’t help thinking we’re just late to see the recession hit but we will see carnage.
If that is true (and I realise there’s an ‘if’ there) then this is probably the worst news possible for the PS3 what with it being stuck way out of line with it’s silly pricing.
Next month is likely to be much worse.
May 15th, 2009
Sales are down across the board because there wasn’t much released in the way of software. Developers are sandbagging for the holiday season again. Then they’ll complain when half of the games released inevitably flop.
May 15th, 2009
Wow, the Wii is a sinking ship isn’t it.
May 15th, 2009
they all are.
May 15th, 2009
Why would anyone want to buy a DS or DSI over a PSP. This is somethng I just can’t wrap my head around. Is there something about the DSI that I’m just not getting. What makes it so special? The Wii is simple. Just of bunch of loosers being caught in a gimic. It’s amazing how many loosers there are in the world. Thank God that the 360 & PS3 combined are bigger then the casual bullshit.
May 15th, 2009
CAD, allow me to explain:
DS/DSi over PSP. I understand the reason though. When Sony entered the HH market, remember, despite what many think, they were not out to over throw Nintys HH market share, which at the time over 90% i believe..
Now, with that info out the way, the reason why the DS does so well is because of one reason split into two: Price. The DS is cheaper than the PSP, and so were/are the games….and the DS has more of them, good ones too, actually out of all the consoles, the DS is the de facto RPG system of choice…
As for the Wii, i will finally expand my actual Wii games (not retro games of which i have an external HD to store all those ) to 5. Punch Out can’t wait!!
As for MS “cementing” 2nd Place….hmmm for now i guess but remember, this is Sony’s 3rd year out…trailing i will admit, but MS had OVER a 10million unit lead headstart…now that figure is just over 6million….thats despite being more expensive….lets see what we got going:
Price Drop is imminent…If Sony is able to nail down the price to about $299, i think it will start selling, because frankly if it doesn’t…well, who knows what will happen…
Games: Sony’s 1st party lineup pretty much wipes the floor with MS this year going into next year, as for multi-platforms titles, thats is no longer an advantage.
Exclusives: This is the Joker’s Wild Card on BOTH sides…MS has released little to no information on any exclusives save for Splinter Cell…but it seems they are going the more “casual” way…
We don’t know what Sony has in terms of 3rd party exclusives…the only game, big game, that i know of is FF13:VS…and even that is shaky…
May 15th, 2009
Jojo, well said.. but I’m not counting on FF13 vs. If it does indeed end up a PS3 exclusive, it will be released around 2011 at best. As far as third party exclusives go, Quantum Theory looks promising.
CAD, “Thank God that the 360 & PS3 combined are bigger then the casual bullshit.” – I never though about it like that. That’s actually a really good point.
I have a DS lite and a PSP. The main reason I picked up the DS was because of the RPG remakes and ports. The PSP also has a really good selection too though.
May 15th, 2009
Jojo29
You have got to be nieve to think that when Sony launched the PSP that is wasn’t to compete with the Gameboy. Their whole motive was to take over Nintendo after their agreement to launch a console together broke down. Looks Like Nintendo is laughing now.
May 15th, 2009
Fuck PS3 got owned again!
What a surprise
May 15th, 2009
Yeah I have to admit, the PSP is really a fine piece of HH hardware, much better than the DS. Sure it’s a little bit more expensive, but surely people would rather play some good games rather than Nintendogs and Brain Training.
May 15th, 2009
i dont care what place sony is in i want them to break even so price can come down and more ppl join psn for kicks
May 15th, 2009
i keep getting older and the 360 stay’s the same place lol
May 16th, 2009
Can we regularly show the sales data from “the rest of the world” not just the US ??
“Fuck PS3 got owned again!”
Thats pretty funny CON and Co ….. when the 360 is getting “owned” by the ds, wii and even ….wait for it …. the PS2 (yes it sold about 3 thousand less than the 360, but a 10yr old machine selling about the same as the 360 is getting owned)
Look at your own machine before getting cocky.
May 16th, 2009
CAD
“Jojo29
You have got to be nieve to think that when Sony launched the PSP that is wasn’t to compete with the Gameboy. Their whole motive was to take over Nintendo after their agreement to launch a console together broke down. Looks Like Nintendo is laughing now.”
No, you just love pouring salt on Sony..Sony even stated as much, saying it would be difficult to compete with a leader that owns 90% of the market, but if we manage to get into that 10%, great for us..
AGain i have a lot of magazine, i read the interview for when the PSP. Well their PR/Marketing stated they did not want to “topple” Nintendo..
What they try to do is different entirely though, but for me, that was a wise PR move they did as it not only made them look humble, they showed respect to Nintendo…
Again, its from what i read, it probably is very well a lie, but at least they tried to front it with some spin, which is what is lacking about this generation. And what i hate about it.
I hate the fact that companies don’t care if they show themselves out to be “all for the money”. We know they are, but at least give us a facade about you wanting innovation or some BS, better than seeing that they really are..
Sony and Nintendo are currently good at this. They say things like “value and quality” and prove it. Sony says things like “we dont buy exclusives, we work on “loyalty”, and you know what? It might be a lie, but at least a lie is in place to hide all the “politics” in the background..
With MS though, it all about the money..for them…thats the problem i have with MS is the image they portray..it is one of greed and corruption.
NOW WAIT WAIT BEFORE YOU POST. I KNOW Sony and Nintendo are ALL ABOUT the money as well. I know they don’t really “care” about us or what not. BUT AT LEAST they keep the politics in the background..well moreso Ninty than Sony..Sony is just a loudmouth sometimes..but at least they are trying to portray an image of innovation.
I dont know, all this is moot anyways. Bottom line for me is this though: Sony and Nintendo seem to represent Innovation and what not, with quite a few rough edges…while for me MS just portrays one of greed.
Again, i know all three of em are corporations…its just the image for each one are quite different…we have MS with the image of greed and corruption…we have Nintendo of one trying to be “cool” kiddie stuff…and we have Sony…a bit of mesh…A corporation trying to be “cool”…
Just a rant..im tired
May 16th, 2009
@Spidey
Yes I am looking at my own console, you looking at yours? lol.
@harry
“surely people would rather play some good games rather than Nintendogs and Brain Training”
Bit of a sweeping statement there. The DS has some pretty brilliant RPGs and also hits just about every demographic unlike the psp.
May 17th, 2009
@ CON,
Not sure about the demographic that use the DS where you are from, but over here it’s strongly aimed at kids, and I don’t think these RPG’s have seen the light of day over here.
May 17th, 2009
Interesting harry.
I’d say here in the UK it’s definitely broken out of the kids niche and is selling to adults (the Nicole Kidman, Patrick Stewart & Julie Walters brain-training ads have given it a big push).
I know several adults (40+) with them & they love them.
They’ve pulled the Wii trick, again, and it’s raking in the dosh for them.
It’s pretty obvious that they have some very smart ad guys working for them at Nintendo.
May 17th, 2009
@ Happy,
Yeah we have Olivia Newton John doing the brain training ads with her hot daughter, man she would go off in the sack, but that’s more of an exception. Everything else is aimed at kids.
May 18th, 2009
Olivia or her daughter Harry ????? Or both !!