Good and bad NPD figures

[OB1]

From IGN Cube:

October 01, 2003 - The NPD group has today released annual figures showing sales data between January and August 2003. While the release is complicated, a compressed and summarised version is displayed below:

January - August 2003 compared to January - August 2002

* 3.4 percent decline in dollar volume overall.
* 8.4 percent increase in total unit volume overall.
* Console and portable hardware sales down 5.1 percent in unit volume and 18.5 percent in dollar volume.
* Console and portable accessory sales down 2.0 percent in both unit and dollar volume.
* console and portable software sales showed increases in units as well as dollars, 14 and 5.7 percent, respectively.
* Action [games] and Family Entertainment have shown the biggest unit growths, 33 percent each.
* More than 50 percent of software is selling under $40 price points across all console platforms: Over 270 new releases in 2003 are selling under $40 price points.
* More value through console bundles.

The next set of figures on today's release regards attach rates - the amount of games owned per person, per console, averaged:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Systems Tie Ratio Tie Ratio
(Jan-Aug. 2002) (Jan-Aug. 2003)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Gamecube 4.6 5.7
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Xbox 4.8 5.8
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PlayStation 2 6.1 7.1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GBA 2.9 3.3
----------------------------------------------------------------------

As you can see there, the Xbox narowly holds second place over the GameCube, with the Playstation II way out in front.

Their release also included information on the gaming habits of the American nation:

Based on a recent NPD Cross-Platform Ownership Study, more than half of respondents surveyed are playing games with online features, another factor that bodes well for the upcoming holiday season. The survey also cited the average number of hours each respondent who owns a video game system spent playing each system per week, regardless of how many systems they own. The average Xbox player spends 8.1 hours a week, the average PlayStation 2 player spends 7.9 hours a week and the average Gamecube player spends 7.1 hours a week. The hours spent per system were even higher among kids, teens and young adults.

"Based on NPD point of sale trends and our recent Cross-Platform Ownership study, price may also be a major purchasing driver for this upcoming holiday season, especially among the mass market audience," said Ow. The study revealed less than 30 percent of the respondents felt price was a factor towards purchasing a console system in the past 18 months. "As hardware price points continue to fall, we expect 'price' to be more prevalent as a purchasing motivator among the mass market audience who are more value and price-conscious than the core gaming market."

The final portion of today's release dealt with the best selling games between January and August (inclusive) this year:

Top 10 Best Selling Video Game Titles, Ranked By Total U.S. Units January 2003 - August 2003

1) Madden NFL 2004 - PlayStation 2 - Electronic Arts
2) Pokemon Ruby - Game Boy Advance - Nintendo
3) Zelda: The Wind Waker - GameCube - Nintendo
4) Pokemon Sapphire - Game Boy Advance - Nintendo
5) Enter The Matrix - PlayStation 2 - Atari
6) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - PlayStation 2 - Take-Two Interactive
7) The Getaway - PlayStation 2 - Sony Computer Entertainment America
8) NBA Street Vol. 2 - PlayStation 2 - Electronic Arts
9) The Sims - PlayStation 2 - Electronic Arts
10) NCAA Football 2004 - PlayStation 2 - Electronic Arts

It's interesting to note that there are no Xbox games there. The Playstation II fills 7 of the positions, the GameBoy Advance 2, and the GameCube, 1.
-- Andrew Burnes

Wow, I don't believe it. Zelda was the third best-selling game from January to August of this year! Very surprising. The other numbers... not so surprising.

[Great Rumbler]

That's pretty cool to see Wind Waker coming in third place.

Pokemon takes 2nd and 4th place...not surprising in the slightest.

[OB1]

And not a single X-Box game on the list... :evilha:

[Great Rumbler]

Booyah!

[A Black Falcon]

But only one Cube game, and that was Zelda... if not for Zelda no way would Nintendo have been on the list either. It took their biggest franchise... MS didn't release anything comparable yet this year, really.

[OB1]

Told ya guys that Wind Waker would sell well despite its "kiddy" look! It's the only Gamecube game that has been this successful so far. Not even Nintendo's biggest franchise (which is actually Mario) sold very well. Same thing goes for the incredible Metroid Prime.

People are stupid.

[A Black Falcon]

Well Zelda won over Kiddy. Zelda is Nintendo's biggest franchise now, I'd say... Mario might have the bigger name but after Sunshine it'll need work to get as popular as Zelda is.

Oh, and we're lucky that people did get WW... as most of Nintendo's games show quality doesn't affect sales... :(

[Great Rumbler]

If I had to make a guess as to total sales of Wind Waker from it's release through August I'd say it probably sold about 1.4 million, give or take a hundred thousand.