U.S. Game Sales Up 25% In June

Gamasutra is reporting that sales for the gaming industry were up 25% over last year in June. The results were significantly different than those expected by analysts, primarily driven by high demand for Nintendo's DS Lite handheld console and the videogames based on the Disney/Pixar film 'Cars'. From the article: "Figures from Nintendo claim that combined sales of both Nintendo DS hardware iterations amounted to just under 600,000 in June - a figure with which NPD's estimates of 593,000 agree. PSP sales for the month were put at 221,000, with no information yet available for the Game Boy Advance - which had previously beaten both new portable formats in the U.S."

Comments

360 Supplies?

[Thyamine]

What about everyone finally being able to buy a 360 that wanted one? I waited and waited and finally got one a few months ago. Now I'm buying all the games as I figure out what I want and explore what is available.

Re:360 Supplies?

[Eponymous Crowbar]

Hell yeah! I bought my 360 in June and picked up 5 games within the first week. But they were all used games, so I didn't help the numbers at all.

Your point is probably valid though, because I had no luck finding a 360 for list price until this month.

EC

Re:360 Supplies?

[Anonymous Coward]

"What about everyone finally being able to buy a 360 that wanted one?"

You've been able to walk into any major retailer and pickup a 400 dollar unbundled Xbox 360 since March. You've been able to walk into any retailer and pickup a 400 dollar unbundled Xbox 360 since April.

The sorry fact for Microsoft is there just isn't much demand outside of former Xbox owners for their system. The 360 is selling just under the first Xbox's US sales numbers - it is still around 200-300k less for the first seven months.

Re:360 Supplies?

[Twiceblessedman]

Nope, 360 is still being outsold by the ps2 according to npd numbers. Actual June NPD hardware numbers: DS 593k PS2 312k 360 277k PSP 221k

Student Boredom Up 100% in June

[TheRequiem13]

School's out. No kidding those jobless high school oddballs are buying games.

Re:Student Boredom Up 100% in June

[Mikachu]

"School's out. No kidding those jobless high school oddballs are buying games."

You do realize that there is a summer vacation every year, right? The article is comparing this june to last june.

Re:Student Boredom Up 100% in June

[kerynitian]

My thoughts exactly.

Although, I'm one of those ex-students contributing to this. I see it as more of a "Just graduated from college and finally have a job to pay for games and have the free time to play them" sort of phase :)

Not Surprising To Me

[J3M]

I got my son one of the imported blue DS Lites (before they were available here) and it is a great little machine. I plan to get my fiancee one for her birthday and maybe one of them will repay the favor by getting me one (if not, I will eventually).

The games are great, the system is great, and the price isn't too bad. People will be buying them in droves.

All I can say is that Nintendo has done it again.

The Wheee! Factor...

[__aaclcg7560]

The funny thing is that Nintendo is leading the sales figures. Whatever happened to the overpriced Microsoft XBox 360? I think the sales figure for later this year or early next year will be interesting to see who's leading whom after Nintendo and Sony releases the next gen consoles.

So the gaming industry isn't dying?

[CaseM]

From TFA: It's as if consumers woke up and decided to start gaming again

Pullleeeeeze! Every time sales are down from the prior year the industry is in a "slump" and doom and gloom projections about the industry are cast wide and far. Sales are up this year, so has the game industry turned itself around now? Oh wait, comparing this year's sales to last year's means next to nothing. Maybe, just maybe, there was nothing released comparable to the present demand for the DS Lite in June of '05?

Re:So the gaming industry isn't dying?

[Cadallin]

Depends on who you're talking about by saying "the industry." Sony and Microsoft, not doing so hot. Nintendo (as usual actually) is rolling in it. And they're doing it by focusing on a cheaper machine with an emphasis on fun games (the DS). I say this bodes well for the Wii, not so well for the PS3, with its high price and focus on Blu-Ray movies (rather like the PSP and UMD).

Re:So the gaming industry isn't dying?

[ObligatoryUserName]

From TFA: It's as if consumers woke up and decided to start gaming again

Anecdotes aren't always meaningful, but my personal experience concurs with the reported conclusion and what you're saying. The DS Lite is making all the difference here.

My game purchasing had never really recovered from the WoW induced slump, and when the DS Lite came out I bought it and... I think I'm up to 11 games now.

My brother did the same and also has 11 games, as did a good number of my friends - though they're mostly in the 3-4 games range at this point. The games that we all want the most are games with multiplayer and WiFi.

Mobile gaming has become social gaming... if people remember to carry their DSes!

Re:So the gaming industry isn't dying?

[IflyRC]

They just got tired of playing WoW and needed something new.

Re:So the gaming industry isn't dying?

[badasscat]

Maybe, just maybe, there was nothing released comparable to the present demand for the DS Lite in June of '05?

Analysts have consistently underestimated the appeal of the DS, and they continue to do it despite all evidence that consumers actually, really do LIKE this thing.

It's as if we're in 1986 again and everybody's still saying the NES is a fad and the big new game machine is going to be the Atari XEGS. Uh, duh? Have we learned nothing from history?

I remember reading from Pachter or Gartner or one of these outfits before the DS release that the DS and PSP would be neck and neck for a while, but that by this time the DS would be history and the PSP would be the clear market dominator. Hasn't worked out that way, has it? Yet rather than actually revise their thinking, these people continue to believe that the DS will just have no impact on the market. Pretty much the entire explanation for the discrepancy between the actual numbers and the projected numbers is DS Lite sales and DS games. (I know they mention "Cars", but that didn't really sell hugely over expectations, and in any case it's just one game.)

It's almost as if they looked at the upcoming DS Lite launch and wrote it off as a non-factor. When will they learn?

Re:So the gaming industry isn't dying?

[JoeWalsh]

It's as if we're in 1986 again and everybody's still saying the NES is a fad and the big new game machine is going to be the Atari XEGS.

I'm sorry to be a pedant, but . . .

When Nintendo was introducing the NES to the North American market, everyone in the media was saying that *videogames* were a fad that had already run its course (as evidenced by the video game market crash of 1983). No one thought the Atari XEGS (or the 7800 for that matter) would be "the big new game machine." They thought there would never *be* another big game machine from *any* manufacturer. (Which just makes Nintendo's triumph all the more impressive.)

A better analogy might be drawn by going forward a few years to the North American introduction of the NEC Turbografx-16, the Nintendo Super NES, and the Sega Genesis. Mainstream gamers and the press thought the SNES would maintain Nintendo's dominance of the industry. The "knowledgeable" commentators were sure the Turbografx would win out, given the huge and excellent software library for the system in Japan. No one thought crappy little Sega, fresh from the beating their 'losers-only' Master System had taken in the market-place, would have the huge impact they did.

Re:So the gaming industry isn't dying?

[Breakfast Pants]

Analysts have consistently underestimated the appeal of the Virtual Boy, and they continue to do it despite all evidence that consumers actually, really do LIKE this thing.

Re:So the gaming industry isn't dying?

[thatoneguy_jm]

Mod parent up - they're completely correct, here. On June 11 I went down and picked up two new DS Lites - one for me, and one for my fiancee. I picked up New Super Mario Bros for myself, and Brain Age and Animal Crossing for her.

The very next week, she comes over with a "present" for me - she had bought me Mario Kart and my own copy of Animal Crossing, so we could play multiplayer. Now, realize, the ONLY other time she's gone into the store and bought a video game was to buy a game for me for Christmas or my birthday. And, even then, she already had known the name of the game and the price, since I'd "hinted" quite heavily.

However, this time, she would have had to go IN the store, browse the games, and decide which ones to buy - and, of course, she picked up two more for herself. We each have about 5 games for the DS, now, and we RARELY buy games - and, if we do, we buy them used. The DS Lite is the sole reason that we spent any money on video games last June, and I'm betting that this is the case for quite a few other people as well.

Re:So the gaming industry isn't dying?

[Anonymous Coward]

dead horse

PS2 Outsells The 360...Again

[Anonymous Coward]

Crazy DS numbers.

The 360 managed to get outsold by the six year old PS2 once again. Things are going to just get worse when it has to actually compete against the Wii and PS3 in September/November. So far the 360 is just over 100k in Japan and just reached two million in the US and sales in Europe sound abysmal. Microsoft desperately needs a 100 dollar price cut immediately and to drop the stupid 50 dollar a year charge to play games online if they want to stay in the race.

DS Lite

[SilentChris]

I definitely saw the effects of the DS Lite stat. I purchased one about a week ago (even though I hate the GBA cartridge sticking out, I can't stand carrying this old brick in my pocket anymore). It has a flaw (the LCD is turned at a slight angle under the protective plastic). When I tried to return it, they had no machines to exchange with. I went online and EBGames/Gamestop were sold out. Ditto with local stores. Amazon is on 2-week backorder. Hard to get this thing anywhere.

Re:DS Lite

[SuperMog2002]

Contact Nintendo directly. When the DS was near impossible to find, Nintendo still had a stock of replacement units on hand for warranty fulfillment. I understand they take your credit card number and mail you a new one. You mail yours back in the same box after you've gotten replacement. As long as they get yours within so many days, they don't charge your card at all.

DS Lite FTW

[Rachel Lucid]

I fucking LOVE my DS.

I'm tempted to run through someone's bargain bin to try and find older games, except I love the Dual-screen nature of the DS too much to waste one. I'm betting on college time to make my task easier.

Not Suprised

[astrokid]

I'm not really suprised by how well the DS sold this month, the launch of the DS Lite coupled with the relatively new release of New Super Mario Brothers, plus it looks like the Brain Age games are catching on with the American Audience.

Can't wait to see what else is coming on the horizon. Thanks for making games fun again Nintendo!

Re:Not Suprised

[PeelBoy]

I just can't wait to see what happens when FFIII (looks freaking awesome!), Zelda and the new Megaman come out.

1987

[tornsaq]

The last game I've bought was Double Dribble for NES in 1987. I was pissed after I purchased it because it didn't look like the arcade version. I haven't purchased a game since. Thanks for tricking me Nintendo.

Re:1987

[trdrstv]

Thanks for tricking me Nintendo.

Double Dribble for NES was made by Konami.

Re:1987

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean he abandoned console gaming for 19 years based on something he misunderstood? Somebody give this guy a dollar or something, that's so sad.

Prefer Big Brain Academy

[Rachel Lucid]

Though I should try Brain Age as well, from what I've heard, I think BBA uses the dual screens more effectively. The colorfulness helps too.

Re:Prefer Big Brain Academy

[astrokid]

I need to pick up BBA. From what I can tell, it allows you to concentrate in areas that may need improving. Does that sound right? The word memorization portion in Brain Age really screws my age.

Re:Prefer Big Brain Academy

[irablum]

Brain age is pretty good. I really like the Sudoku on it. there are issues with writing and don't try and do the speaking portions in a car. but for an enjoyable time-waster which gives your brain some exercise its real cool.

Ira

Re:Prefer Big Brain Academy

[rjung2k]

Yes, BBA lets you either run a "test" consisting of 30-second runs in all five categories, or a beat-your-best-score pick-your-own option.

It's not a game with a lot of hidden features, but it's great for fast and short bursts, and the price is hard to argue with.

Re:Prefer Big Brain Academy

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.watercoolergames.org/archives/000568.sh tml

"The game is based on the research of Japanese neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima. The premise of Kawashima's research in analog and videogame format is straightforward. Kawashima uses fast-paced mental activities like arithmetic and memory puzzles to measure the player's "Brain Age" on a scale from 20 to 80. 20 is the "optimal" age, and the game encourages players to "exercise" every day in order to perform better on the brain age test, which is comprised of a randomly selected series of those very exercises."

Re:Prefer Big Brain Academy

[Anonymous Coward]

Hold "select" when choosing to do a brain age test, it'll let you pick which tests you take. You can avoid it first time round (so it doesn't affect your score) then practice all you want.
You probably want to try different techniques. I found it easier to remember groups of four words than a big list, so I split them up. Saying them out loud helps too. Practicing too much is bad for me though, I find myself remembering words from 3 tries ago... got to space it out a bit.

More PSPs sold than I would have thought

[SuperKendall]

The DS results are no suprise if you read any advanced reviews on them - they seemed really like a nice update.

I'm suprised the PSP is doing as well as it is though, over 200k units sold just last month! I hadn't really heard much about the system and thought it might be languishing, but even though it's not even half the DS sales that's still a lot of PSP's if you think about a year of sales.

Re:More PSPs sold than I would have thought

[PeelBoy]

PSP might be selling well but it means next to nothing because the games aren't selling for shit. They haven't sold anywhere near as well as DS games in the US and NOTHING has sold better than DS games in Japan this year (and most of last year).

Also the light doesn't "seem" like a good update. It IS a great update. Plus it's cheap! They didn't raise the price at all. It still costs $130.

I got mine and I love it. Plus I have a spare DS laying around for friends or roommates to use or play multiplayer games with. It's pretty sweet.

Link to last month's story...

[lpangelrob]

U.S. Video Game Sales Down 10% in May

If they had been comparing May 2006 to June 2006 it'd make more sense, but as they're comparing May 2005 to May 2006 (-10%) and June 2005 to June 2006 (+25%), there's no simple explanation to be found at first glance. Other than "don't listen to analysts", but most of us probably abide by that already.

Re:Link to last month's story...

[Slithe]

Apparently, they compare the sales from the same months in previous years to disregard the impact of seasonal trends. Video games sales will always skyrocket from November to December, and then they will slump in January and February. There are probably some other trends as well, like video games sales may increase in June and July, because children will be out of school and have more time to play games.

Re:Link to last month's story...

[PeelBoy]

Actually I believe summer is bad for sales. They don't release a lot of new games around that time they save them for Nov - Dec. like you said before.

People go on vacations and kids might play outside more during the summer? or just because it's better to wait a few months for the holidays? I dunno.

Re:Link to last month's story...

[Phisbut]

Actually I believe summer is bad for sales. They don't release a lot of new games around that time they save them for Nov - Dec. like you said before.

People go on vacations and kids might play outside more during the summer? or just because it's better to wait a few months for the holidays? I dunno.

Consoles and PC games might be hard to sell in the summer because of what you have mentionned. However, portable games can see quite an increase in sales as people go on vacation, and the kids need something to kill time during the hours long car rides.

No, probably not

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you read the article?

Figures from Nintendo claim that combined sales of both Nintendo DS hardware iterations amounted to just under 600,000 in June - a figure with which NPD's estimates of 593,000 agree... NPD has also revealed a figure of 277,000 unit sales for the Xbox 360 - above previous estimates, but still below the PlayStation 2 total of 312,000 units.

It may be everyone who wants a 360 can now afford one. But apparently not all that many people want 360s. Even now that they're all available, the 360 this month sold less than the PS2 and less than half the rate of the DS.

Now, of course, we're talking about software sales here, and of course all those people buying 360s will want to get games to go with it. But that's also true of the people buying new PS2s and DSes. Meanwhile if we look at the second gamasutra story, the one with the game sales numbers, we see

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter commented: "We had expected next generation (360, PSP, DS) software sales to total $120 million, so the $158 million sales figure was much better than our forecast. In particular, sales of Xbox 360 software were much better than we expected, increasing sequentially from $47 million to $66 million in June. Current generation (PS2, Xbox, GC, GBA) software sales were also better than expected at $287 million, compared with our estimate of $250 million."

So, the PSP and DS system-unit sales sum to nearly 3 times as much as the 360 sold, and the 360 was able to sell $66 million worth of software to the PSP and DS's $100 million. (This doesn't mean the same proportion of game-units were sold, though, since 360 games tend to cost sometimes up to $60, whereas DS and PSP games are cheaper). The $66 million in software sales isn't all that impressive-- this means, if I'm reading these numbers right ((78 + 158 + 287)/66) that the XBox 360 comprised a mere eight percent (8%) of software sales. Even if we assume that all of that is market growth (that is, we have to assume, probably falsely, that the 8% is entirely new sales and not just sales to people that, had there been no 360, would not have just spent the same amount of money on XBox games) the 8% there isn't enough to explain the 25% increase in sales from last year. It becomes even more clear the 360 is in no way driving software sales when we see:

According to the report, June sales were largely driven by Nintendo's New Super Mario Brothers for the DS, as well as by new releases such as THQ's Cars (PS2, Xbox, GC, DS, GBA, PSP, PC), Eidos' Hitman Blood Money (Xbox 360, PS2, Xbox, PC), and Take-Two's GTA Liberty City Stories (PS2).

So of the four games they consider to be the drivers of sales, none are 360 exclusives and only one was available on the 360 at all.

One would normally expect, I imagine, that just six months after launch, a hot new console would be a major driver of game sales. The XBox 360 is somehow not pulling this off.

You all fail to see the real reason they're up.

[Rendo]

The real reason sales are up is because Chuck Norris said real men play games all day, and people strive to be like Chuck Norris.

Re:You all fail to see the real reason they're up.

[Drooling Iguana]

Except Chuck Norris. He strives to be like Jerry Lewis.

I just bought World Of Warcraft.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? Because at the moment I can't afford real life. And gas prices aren't helping.

Fifteen dollars worth of gas a month wouldn't take me very far. :)

Hmmm

[MrSquirrel]

I'm surprised the software industry equiavalent of the RIAA didn't try to pin this on the temporary shutdown of piratebay. Honestly, you have to admit that when Nintendo comes out with a portable console that I think about buying, it is playing its cards correctly. Explanation why I don't consider handheld consoles useful to me: I'm a college student who isn't exposed to situations for long periods of time where I wouldn't be able to access a computer / real console... the DS is different because it has games I would actually want to play, it's not just a rehash of a console [two screens = different game elements!], it is pretty cheap [ouch PSP, you are expensive!], it's got built in wireless for instant LAN possibilities, and it is possible to run Linux on it [definitely an appeal to my hardcore geek side].

Re:Hmmm

[PeelBoy]

Hmm well I almost never travel. There is zero reason for me to own a portable for the most part, but the DS is by far the system I play the most and we have 2 xbox 360's, fast computers, a modded to hell xbox with just about everything you can think of on it, gamecube with tons of games, ps2's with tons of games etc etc etc.. you get the picture. The DS is fun as hell so get it if you're thinking about it.. who cares if you don't travel? shit I play mine in bed before I go to sleep every night.

Re:Hmmm

[Phisbut]

and it is possible to run Linux on it [definitely an appeal to my hardcore geek side].

Someone will have to explain this to me someday. I am a geek and a Linux user, both at home and at the office, and I am quite happy with it. However, I own a NDS and I have no idea why someone would want to try and install Linux on that? What's the point? Is it just the good ol' "I do it because I can", or is there a real use it?

Re:Hmmm

[MrSquirrel]

Basically it's the "I do it because I can". It's handy because you can run emulators on it and play NES/SNES/Genesis/etc games... but in the future (they're still working on it [I think there are 3 different developments of it]) there should be wireless support (internet!), stereo mp3 playback (right now it's just mono), and... that's all I can think of.

Re:who cares?

[Rapter09]

If I had mod points I would mod this underrated. Why is it flamebait? Honestly, nobody does care. Of course, the point should have been explained. Analysts and industry insiders keep sounding the deathknell for the gaming industry year after year after year. A month or two ago it was like "oh! The jigg is up! Nobody can invent anymore we're all gonna crash like its the year 2000!" Every single time the industry does a slingshot and comes back again. Not that i'm saying the industry doesn't need to innovate ever because it'll always bounce back, but this constant bimonthly ringing of the gong to signal the end of days, only to have stocks and profits surge the next week or month is getting to be old news.

In Related News

[WillAffleckUW]

most gamers still waiting until they can buy the Wii this fall, when suddenly game sales will skyrocket.

Suprising

[Sv-Manowar]

I think it's suprising to actually see these figures promoted by the gaming industry, and it is a much better approach that the movie industry which continually forces the issue of piracy and how it is destroying their business down the consumer's throats. I think if the movie producers and companies stopped moaning about how much piracy costs them, then maybe they could get down to work and make films that more people would actually want to see. It seems as if the game developers are actually doing this, with a great lineup for the rest of this year including the introduction of the Playstation3 and all of the games associated with it I can definitely see that this could easily be a bumper year for video game sales.

Well the name needs to change

[Deliveranc3]

But gamers need the equivalent of "Summer Blockbuster Season" for the younguns who get time off, for... good... behavior.

http://ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20030128 Wintereenmas!!!!!

Re:who cares?

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

" who cares? no one. that's who."

I wish you hadn't posted anonymously so I could tell if you were the guy I voted for to speak for me.

see you in june

[mattavian]

It's as if consumers woke up and decided to start gaming again
Well lots of kids got new game systems this year. It takes a while to build a library, and summer jobs start in june...

Re:who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!

Re:who cares?

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Hahah!