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Game Consoles, Software Have Happy Thanksgiving

Posted by simoniker on from the turkey-overdose dept.

Thanks to Reuters for their report rounding up the sales figures reported for Thanksgiving by the major console makers. Nintendo announced "...it sold more than 500,000 units of its GameCube console during Thanksgiving week, roughly twice what it sold in the entire month of October", and Sony indicated "...the PS2 sold more than 1 million units in November, with sales of its $199 online-enabled Combo Pack doubling from October." Finally, Microsoft "...said year-over-year hardware sales for its second-place Xbox were up 7 percent during Thanksgiving week", with Halo sales peaking 435 percent after its price cut. Reuters also has a piece talking to software publishers, in which they're cautiously optimistic over "relatively strong" game sales.

50 comments

  1. Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder why MS didn't tell us how MANY units they sold?

    Trying to be sneaky? Or low sales compared to the "3rd place" GC?

  2. Halo sales by MMaestro · · Score: 3, Funny
    "with Halo sales peaking 435 percent after its price cut."

    You mean there are Xbox owners who don't already own a copy of Halo?!

    1. Re:Halo sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's all the system's good for... 'cept maybe use in a cheap server farm...

    2. Re:Halo sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "That's all the system's good for... 'cept maybe use in a cheap server farm... "

      Sounds like another Xbox hater..ask mommy to buy you one for xmas

    3. Re:Halo sales by imitier · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well, since they didn't tell you how many units of the game were actually sold, a 435% increase isn't necessarily all that impressive. If (to make up a number) 100 people a month were buying Halo over the last few months at it $49.99 price (because, as you suggest, almost everyone with an XBox owns it), then the 435% increase only means sales went up to 435 for the time period they're looking at (note: numbers and time periods totally made up.) In fact, given that they didn't give an actual sales number, but just gave a percent, I have a feeling that the actual number of Halo sales wasn't that large. The price cut to $30 wasn't that impressive anyway, since it was pretty easy to get the game for $40 or less before the price cut.

    4. Re:Halo sales by hibiki_r · · Score: 2, Insightful

      IIRC Halo was the 10th game in the list of XBox videogame sales in October in the US, so either it is still selling pretty well, or everything else for the console is selling terribly.

    5. Re:Halo sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Sounds like another Xbox hater..ask mommy to buy you one for xmas"

      Hmm, this must be Xbox fanboy logic at work. Excellent!

    6. Re:Halo sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let me correct your post.

      "[Halo] is still selling pretty well, AND everything else for the console is selling terribly."

    7. Re:Halo sales by leifm · · Score: 1

      I'd guess nothing else is selling terribly well. I've been seriously considering an XBOX, but I'm having a hard time justifying it because I really don't see much I care about other than Halo. I already have a PS2, and a GCN, and other than Halo and the forthcoming Halo2 I don't see much else I'm excited about. And on top of that I just tried out the Halo demo on my laptop, and to my suprise it runs pretty well, even though it's only 2.4/256 with a Radeon 7500. So I'll probably just grab the PC version and wait for XBOX to drop some more..

      Then there is Killzone supposedly coming for PS2 next year, and it looks like it could out Halo Halo.

      --

      "Windows Me offers tremendous reliability and stability improvements..." -- Paul Thurott
  3. Gamecube? by neostorm · · Score: 4, Informative

    This http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031202/25455_1.html
    is an interesting take on this news.

    It claims Nintendo is in 1st place after Thanksgiving weekend, but appears to be combining sales of the GBA and GC. Either way, interesting news, if tricky...

    1. Re:Gamecube? by MBCook · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Well, combined that's really not saying much. While we're always hearing about how the PS2 has X times as many units as the 'Cube (or so forth) the fact is that all three together are soundly TROUNCED by the sales number of the GBA, so that's nothing new. This has been true for a very long time.

      It goes to prove,a cheap console with good games will sell very well, even if they aren't 3D or FPSes. The fact that it's portable adds a lot, but I would own a GBA even if it wasn't, because the games are just that good.

      If we're talking total units sold, then tinking about it, that MUST be combined. While Nintendo is ahead of Microsoft (I think), the PS2 has WAY more units than either of those two, so it would have to be a combination of the 'Cube and GBA, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense.

      But if we are talking units sold during that time frame, it's entirely possible that the 'Cube outsold the other two systems (not including the GBA). It's cheaper, and many people already have PS2s (which would otherwise outsell).

      So in conclusion, go Nintendo! (I suppose).

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    2. Re:Gamecube? by Daetrin · · Score: 1
      It claims Nintendo is in 1st place after Thanksgiving weekend, but appears to be combining sales of the GBA and GC. Either way, interesting news, if tricky...

      It's the way announcements by companies work. If you can massage the numbers so they make you look like you're doing well, you trumpet them to the media. Otherwise you just stay quiet and publish the stats a few months later as part of required financial disclosures and such and hope no one notices.

      --
      This Space Intentionally Left Blank
    3. Re:Gamecube? by Acidic_Diarrhea · · Score: 2
      You mention great games for the GBA. I bought a GBA and immediatly got Metroid Fusion and Zelda but have run into a lack of games which I find interesting. What do you suggest?

      Advances Wars and the Mario Bros. remakes don't interest me.

      I heard Harvest Moon was good. Any other suggestions?

      --
      I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
    4. Re:Gamecube? by Yorrike · · Score: 2, Informative
      My favourites:
      Mario Kart Super Circuit
      Golden Sun 1 & 2
      Advance Wars 1 & 2

      And not forgetting, quite possibly the most fun handheld game ever: Wario Ware Inc. Minigame Mania.

      And there's some goodies coming out soon too, like Sword of Mana. Also, give Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga a look, it's a fantastic game but not for everyone.

      --

      Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?

    5. Re:Gamecube? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tactics Ogre, Sword of Mana are great games.
      All three Castlevania titles are very good, though I recommend Aria of Sorrow above the other two. Very solid game.
      I've been playing Mario and Luigi for a while, and that is very entertaining and has an interesting control scheme.
      Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance are supposed to be two other very good Strategy titles, though I haven't played FE and didn't enjoy the latter due to changes from the original.
      Golden Sun 1 & 2 are decent RPGs, and I suppose you could always go the Pokemon route, though I've never been a fan myself.

      For quick multiplayer games: Mario Kart, Bomberman and Super DodgeBall are loads of fun.

      There are more but I can't think of them off the top of my head...

      Hope that helps.

    6. Re:Gamecube? by dogbowl · · Score: 1

      Definitely Wario Ware, without a question one of the best games I've played this past year.

      Fire Emblem was pretty good, I didn't like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance so much.
      Mario & Luigi has been reveiwed well, but I havent played it yet. Oh, and Monkey Ball is a great conversion too.


      --

      These pretzels are making me thirsty.
    7. Re:Gamecube? by Naffer · · Score: 1

      "Harvest Moon - Friend of Mineral Town" is a blast if you're into that sort of thing. I play it like crazy. FFTactics was a good time waster. I put 50 hours into that one.

    8. Re:Gamecube? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last week's individual system sales rank, U.S. only:

      1. Nintendo GameBoy Advance SP
      2. Nintendo GameCube
      3. Sony Playstation 2
      4. Microsoft Xbox
      5. Nintendo GameBoy Advance
      6. Sony PSOne

  4. A note on the numbers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Microsoft said year-over-year hardware sales for its second-place Xbox were up 7 percent during Thanksgiving week.
    Which means how many?
    "We think we're still pretty much on plan to make our numbers for the year," Aaron Greenberg, a business manager for Xbox at Microsoft, told Reuters.
    So is that a 200 or a 300 million dollar loss? I guess it means an "improvement" of 7% year-on-year?
    Greenberg also said Microsoft had seen a 435 percent rise in week-over-week sales of "Halo," the best-selling Xbox game ever, after Microsoft cut the title's price to $29.99 from $49.99.
    Again, which means how many? Halo had basically reached the end of its $50 run and sales were probably very low, so in absolute terms a 435% increase is probably meaningless.
    1. Re:A note on the numbers by nelsonal · · Score: 2, Informative

      I think the numbers they are hoping for is about 9 million unit sales by year end. I can't remember if that was US only or world. Loss will be closer to $1 billion for the full year. The economics of video games are to sell em cheap at the beginning to get the installed base, so you get the best games, which allows you to rake in sales after you have a 30+ million installed base Then when TakeTwo wants to sell GTA 4 on the console with the best installed base, they will give you a cut of $15 per copy sold.

      --
      Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
    2. Re:A note on the numbers by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 1

      Microsoft hit 9.4 million total units Worldwide back in July(as did the Gamecube). They were at something like 6.2 million in the USA (and the GCN was at 5.2 million). This was before the GCN pricecut. I have no idea where they all are now, but I can guess.

      If MS had a dead even distribution of sales over it's entire life, it's been selling about 250,000 units a month in the USA. A 7% increase(over that) would put it at about 276,000 for the month. Microsoft's foray is reminding me more and more of Atari in it's later years. Maybe us Americans just can't beat the Japanese in the Console Wars.

      --
      The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
    3. Re:A note on the numbers by Troed · · Score: 1

      The only consoles ever to have been sold at a loss are the Dreamcast, Saturn and Xbox.

      Congratulations, you've fallen for a myth. Guess why the Gamecube is so "simple" to manufacture (come on, open it up)? So it can sell at $99 without Nintendo taking a hit ...

      Microsoft on the other hand, pay big dollars to nVidia and Intel on each and every Xbox.

      --
      it's in my head
  5. 7%? by Seraphim_72 · · Score: 2, Funny


    I mean seriously - whoopie!!! Wow with sales like that MS and SCO are in a pitched fight to see who can out preform the other in units shipped!! Woo!

    Sera

    --
    Slashdot, where armchair scientists get shouted down and armchair theologians get modded up.
  6. XBox Figures... by OneFix · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's obvious from the odd M$ figures, the XBox had the lowest sales...why else would they mix figures...someone had to tell em "But Sony and Nintendo gave us numbers, not percentages"...you can bet that if they outsold even Nintendo they'ld want everyone to know...from these figures, the XBox was probably outsold by the NGage :)

    Of course, this is how things were last year as well...noone has released any new hardware in the set-top arena and the PS2 has got a few more tricks up its sleeves since last year...what would be interesting to see is how much of Nintendo and Sony's sales were XBox owners...

    Wanna see how the real figures probably work out...just look at GameFAQs' Top Games...this is a telling list, it tells you exactly what ppl are playing right now...

    In the top 10, it looks like we have 7 PS2 games, 1 PC game (highest of the "one hit wonders"), 1 Nintendo game, and 1 XBox game (almost didn't make it on the top 10)...

    Which sounds about right for what I've seen as well...

    1. Re:XBox Figures... by shoptroll · · Score: 1

      Are you implying FFXI is a one-hit wonder?

      Typically the reason why that list is console dominated is that there are a lot more console games than PC games out there... I'll bet $5 that within the next week we'll be seeing Deus Ex 2 up there somewhere.

      Case in point: Need For Speed Underground is ranked at 7 for PS2, while the PC version is 27. The Xbox version is even lower on the chart.

      --
      Insert Sig Here
    2. Re:XBox Figures... by OneFix · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I meant that the PeeCee is a "one-hit wonder" in respects to the top 10 list...

      It's not an exact science...but the truth is, your argument supports my theory...there ARE more consoles out there, which means that this list reflects reality to an extent. If the list were dominated by 1 console, then it may be biased...but the list looks to be a pretty good sampling of what ppl are playing and as such, it should also give us a good sampling of just what systems they are playing them on...

    3. Re:XBox Figures... by Babbster · · Score: 2
      Wanna see how the real figures probably work out...just look at GameFAQs' Top Games [gamefaqs.com]...this is a telling list, it tells you exactly what ppl are playing right now...

      No, it tells you exactly what people who visit particular GameFAQs FAQ pages are playing right now, which has little to do with the rest of the console market. It's like judging the entire clothing market based entirely on people who shop at The Gap.

      It's a hit counter, not a scientific survey.

    4. Re:XBox Figures... by edwdig · · Score: 2, Informative

      The GameFaqs top ten list isn't that good of a choice. GameFaqs is a huge hangout for RPG fans, and in particular Square fanboys. But overall, RPGs don't make up that big a percentage of games sales. Sure, in Japan RPGs are the biggest thing, but not elsewhere. I really doubt GameFaqs has very many readers from Japan.

      Whenever there's a lull in high quality games, half the top ten will be Final Fantasy games.

    5. Re:XBox Figures... by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 1

      #15 is the Zelda Collector's disk.

      Holy shit, unless a whole heck of a lot of people suddenly subscribed to Nintendo Power, that's a lot of Game/Consoles Sales Revenue going straight to Nintendo.

      #19 is the damned Gamecube Hardware(whereas the X-Box ranks at #21 and PS2 at #25).

      --
      The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
  7. Playstation Sales by 77Punker · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why do PS2's still sell so big? I just don't get it. Both X-Box and Gamecube boast more powerful hardware than the PS2. The Gamecube costs less, has 4 control ports, and gets lots of good exclusive games from Nintendo. The X-Box has those controller ports, a hard drive, Halo, and just about every PS2 game has an X-Box version. There's just no reason to the madness!

    1. Re:Playstation Sales by orthancstone · · Score: 1

      I almost have to wonder how many of them are people buying a new one to replace one that broke from too much play. After all, seriously, it is hard to imagine so many new people getting into the console market every year O_O

    2. Re:Playstation Sales by gamgee5273 · · Score: 1
      I'm playing Final Fantasy X (which I bought at Target for $15) as we speak. I was showing Jak & Daxter off to a friend earlier tonight.

      Those are two examples of the solid games that the PS2 has in its library. Sure, the GTA games are on the Xbox now, but GTA 4 won't. The Xbox has a hard drive, but a lot of casual gamers could care less about that. And, the PS2 has games that support dial-up... which is big because of the fact that broadband is still not in a majority of connected households. And, in the end, it's a DVD player immediately - no need for a $30 remote.

      I suspect that the PS3 will look a lot like today's Xbox... and may even be less powerful than the Xbox Next... but it will have a host of PS1 and PS2 games to call back to. That won't be an easy thing for MS or Nintendo to compete with.

    3. Re:Playstation Sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hear that the PS2s tend to have more hardware problems.

      Does anyone have a source that shows hardware failure rates from the big three consoles?

    4. Re:Playstation Sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only anecdotes from retail employees who oversee customer returns.

      Common knowledge is that, reliability-wise, Playstation 2s are very unreliable, Xboxes are much better, and Gamecubes are even better yet. Makes sense, given hardware track records for each company. Sony's consumer electronics have not been consistently reliable for many years, while Microsoft's computer input devices are often the best in their category. Nintendo has been making the entire game system widget for over 20 years - they know what they are doing.

  8. Why the PS2 still sells well... by ottergigas · · Score: 3, Informative

    While the PS2 can't quite match in the hardware department, there are still a few reasons that it does so well:

    * Games exclusive to the system, especially RPGs. If you want to play certain games, like Final Fantasy X-2, you have to get the PS2.

    * A very large game library. Yeah, a lot of it is crap, but there are so many more games for this system than the X-Box or GameCube. While all three systems have "Greatest Hits" series of cheaper classic games, the PS2 library of inexpensive games is also very solid.

    * That library is even larger when you also consider the backwards compatibility of the system: add all the PS1 titles floating out there and you've suddenly got a much larger body of games. It may not mean much to an avid gamer who only wants the newest games, but I know a few parents who like the fact that it runs the games from the original PlayStation.

    There are other reasons as well, but these are the ones that come to mind.

    1. Re:Why the PS2 still sells well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      "Avid gamer who only wants the newest games..."

      Poor guys those must be. This isn't a "the old games were better" rant. It's just that there isn't a single gamer who hasn't missed many great games. We all have finite money or finite playing time.

      There's always a PS1 game about which you say to a friend "you haven't played that? Let's go get the damn thing, you haven't lived yet," a game which you buy for $10, and which you pop into your PS2. It's a pity you can't do the same with the other systems.

  9. Re:begs the question by BizDiz · · Score: 1

    it also begs the question as to whether you know what the term begs the question means.

  10. Check the post...talk about vague by orthancstone · · Score: 1

    The comparisons are a joke.

    GC - 500k over a weekend (I'll assume they mean Friday through Sunday but maybe they only meant Fri and Sat? I dunno...)
    PS2 - 1000k over a month (um, right, so now we are comparing 30 days to 2 or 3...)
    Xbox - Some unknown number over the period of Thanksgiving week (the amount of days is just as vague as the totals)

    There is very little to work with here other than knowing that the GC had a positive couple of days to make up for some lousy months :/.

    1. Re:Check the post...talk about vague by hibiki_r · · Score: 1

      A Nintendo press release sheds a little more light on the matters , at least if we can trust Nintendo's figures. They claim that they actually sold more Gamecubes than Sony sold PS2s on thanksgiving week. It seems that they sold "only" 600K Gameboy, so either the GBA is selling way less than most of us think, or the Gamecube sales were truly terrific.

      So, if we use the numbers we've got and use some imagination, we can get some better results. Since know that Nintendo sold about 250K GCN in October, we could extrapolate that to about 65K a week. If they kept similar sales numbers for the first three weeks of November, that's about 750K in the entire month: not that far behind from PS2 sales, and far better than what MS is doing.( About 75K more units a month than the GCN before the price cut, I think)

  11. Ok by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 1

    One company releases figures for the week, another releases figures for the month and a third just releases a percentage(and a low one at that).

    Great article, really, absolutely excellent. So many useful financials. Why I can positively say the following absolutely, with data to back it up instead of opinion! :)

    Let's translate. The Gamecube beat everyone on Black Friday, followed by the PS2, with the X-Box in a probably distant third.

    --
    The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
  12. 3rd party! Final Fantasy! Suikoden! THINGS! STUFF! by wanderers_id · · Score: 0

    Simply put: Replacements (im on my 3rd PS2) and 3rd party support.

    With an emphasis on 3rd party support.

    Anyone who is into final fanstasy or the vast majority of RPG titles has to have a PS2. (Or PS1 for older titles)

    GTA is a major point, like another poster mentioned. Yes XBOX has them *now* but it didn't at GTA3/GTAVC's launches.

  13. sounds like microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They stopped hyping Xbox Live! subscriber numbers when they noticed that they weren't going up any more.

  14. Gamecube sales by M.C.+Hampster · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm sure the huge number of sales for the GC on Black Friday weekend had to do with the Walmart deal of $79 for a Gamecube, which came with the Zelda collection. I already own a Gamecube and was feeling like I needed to get another one. Why? I don't even know.

    --
    Forget the whales - save the babies.
    1. Re:Gamecube sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A sale is a sale.

    2. Re:Gamecube sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Wal-Mart deal caused many a small riot at Wal-Marts all over the country on Black Friday. Their exclusive Zelda bundle (with the Zelda disc and an official GameCube disc case) rocks.

      Even $99.99 for the system itself is, realistically, a great deal for what you get - a superior-to-PS2 game system. But who am I kidding, $79.44 for a Cube with a cool game collection and a game case simply owns. Your impulse to buy a second GameCube proves it.

      Too bad for Nintendo that NPD does not track system sales at Wal-Mart, their biggest retailer. It's possible that NPD's incomplete numbers could even show that the PS2 lead the GameCube last week, which would be completely false.

  15. According to the store where I work... by Lemental · · Score: 0

    This sounds about right. For every X-box we sold over the weekend we sold about 1.3 gamecubes. We only sold 1 new PS2, although, people bought the used software like mad. Amazingly sales of N64's and thier used games was very brisk. We are quickly running out of the popular titles for N64. We also sold out of all our used SNES and NES consoles. PC titles, bah.

  16. Ignorance is bliss by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Of course, if you do, you sit about alternately wishing people wouldn't use it incorrectly and wishing you had an opportunity to use it correctly. When you do get that opportunity, nobody around you is excited. It's in the same category with "no, this really is a Catch 22... not just a dilemma" and "I do mean 'literally,' not 'literarily/metaphorically/pretty damn like'."

    And is anybody else here upset about gossiping hags? My god, where do they come from, and why can't they speak more quietly in the book store?

  17. FALSE. ARTICLE CITES GAMECUBE DATA ONLY. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Subject.

    Anyone who reads the article you cite can determine this for himself.

    Article reposted w/html link, for the lazy - (http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031202/25455_1.html)

    First para, quoted:

    "Nintendo GameCube sold more than half a million systems to consumers during Thanksgiving week, easily surpassing its console competitors. Among all game devices, it trailed only Nintendo's portable Game Boy Advance, which sold almost 600,000 units to U.S. buyers during the week."