This Week in Gaming Sales History (August 8 - 14)
by William D'Angelo, posted on 11 August 2010 / 2,061 Views
To understand what will be discussed I will like to first take a minute to explain how the article is set up. For each week a look will be taken of past sales and trends during the same week in a past year. It will start with an overview of what was available at the time and how far away major releases are to help put the date into perspective. Followed by what was selling during that time and by how much. Graphs will be used to help aid in comparisons between now and then will be the last part. Since sales for the week won’t be in until the next week and sales for the previous week are still coming in, we will have to compare it to sales from 2 weeks ago, 31 July 2010.
Overview - This week we are taking a look at the beginning of the current generation, the week of 11 August 2007. This was a time when the Xbox 360 still had the console lead over the Wii; however that would only last one more week when the Wii passes it and it would become the fastest selling console of all time. The PlayStation 3 and Wii were only nine months old at the time and the PS3 was not even released six months ago in Europe. When it comes to major releases Halo 3 was a month away, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Super Mario Galaxy were 3 months away.
Sales on 11 August 2007
Hardware – when it comes to home console sales the Wii dominated the current generation with a 58% market share. However the lead console from the last generation, the PlayStation 2, was still selling very well, outselling both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and was only 100,000 behind the Wii. The Xbox 360 received a $50 price cut to $350 during the week, which caused a 50% increase in sales. This follows the $100 price cut of the PlayStation 3 the previous month to $500. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were virtually tied with only a 2% difference in weekly sales. The Wii would outsell the Xbox 360 the following week and would never look back. The gap between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 was six and a half million, an increase of over a million since the launch of the PlayStation 3. The GameCube had one foot in the grave, barely selling one thousand worldwide for the week. It would only sell 300,000 more for a total of 21.75 million.
When it comes to handhelds the DS and PSP were hitting their stride. The DS was way out ahead of any system on the market with sales of 483,000, more than 200,000 above the Wii. It was only a few weeks away from hitting 50 million in total sales. The PSP was the first non-Nintendo handheld to be a success since Nintendo took control of the handheld market in the late 1980’s. With sales of 25 million it was way ahead of the next non-Nintendo handheld, the Sega Game Gear which achieved sales of 10 million. The Gameboy Advance sales have been in decline since the release of the DS, but it still managed sales of 33,000. It reached a total of 78 million and it would only sell 3 million more by the time Nintendo pulled it off the market.
Software – Home consoles saw the Wii in the lead with 1 million games sold for the week, double what the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sold combined. The PlayStation 2 sold 600,000 games, double the Xbox 360 and almost triple the PlayStation 3. The other consoles from last generation, the GameCube and Xbox, sold 34,000 and 10,000 games respectively.
Handhelds had DS software way ahead of the PSP for the week, a difference of 5 to 1. The DS was the top selling system of the week with 1.7 million games sold, 700,000 ahead of the Wii. The PSP sold on par with the Xbox 360 and the Gameboy Advance like with other last generation systems, other than the PS2, is on its last legs, selling on 13,000 games.
When it comes to individual games, Nintendo dominated the top 10 with every game being either for the DS or the Wii and 17 of the top 25 games. The top selling game of the week was Pokémon Diamond / Pearl Version (DS) with sales of 300,000, 11 years after the release of the original game in Japan back in 1996. It has been on the market for 46 weeks and has sold a total of 9.7 million up to that point. Wii Sports bundled with the Wii in all regions accept Japan, sold 236,000.
Rounding out at the top 10 at positions three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten are Mario Party 8 (Wii) with sales of 205,000 for the week, and Wii Play with 149,000. SD Gundam G Generation: Cross Drive (DS) was the top debut of the week at the fifth position with sales of 137,000. The second half of the top ten are Nintendogs (DS), Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (DS), New Super Mario Bros. (DS), Mario Strikers Charged (Wii), and Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (DS).
Comparison – The market while not as different when compared to last generation, the last 3 years has seen sales increase for some while decrease for others. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are currently double and 50% higher respectively, compared to where they were. The DS, Wii and PSP are all down in sales. The HD ‘twins,’ 360 and PS3 combined, have pulled ahead of the Wii from a lead of 4 million back in 2007 to 5 million today and it is still growing. To see the hardware totals click here.
Hardware – Microsoft was in its last week of first place back on 11 August 2007, as the Wii would pass it the following week. The Xbox 360 received its first price cut back than to $350 from $400 on the pro model and $250 from $300 on the Arcade model. At the time the pro model had only a 20 GB HDD, which would eventually turn into the Elite model with a 120 GB HDD. The Xbox 360S which has not been out 2 months is currently selling double what the old model was back in 2007. The difference between the two is a redesigned system that is roughly 20% smaller, has a 250 GB HDD compared to 20GB and has Wi-Fi built in, all for $300.
Nintendo was one week away from reclaiming the top spot of the console race for the first time since the Super Nintendo over 10 years ago. The Wii cost $250 and came bundled with Wii Sports in all regions accept Japan, compared to today which costs $200 and comes bundled with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. It was selling more than the PS3 and 360 combined back than, but ever since the release of the 360S, its sales have fallen and are currently on par with the PS3. However Wii generally gets a much bigger boost during the holidays.
Sony who looked lost at the beginning of the current generation with a console, the PlayStation 3 that was $200 more than its closest competitor when it was first launched was able to decrease the price of it $100, to $500 which helped spur sales to the point it outsold the Xbox 360 until the 360 got a price drop where sales became in favor the 360. Comparing 11 August 2007 to 31 July 2010 the gap has decreased one million to 5.5 million however it has been increasing again since the release of the 360S. The PS3 now costs $300 and has a slim model that was released 11 months ago. The HDD space has doubled from 60 GB to 120 GB. The PS3 has cost Sony billions of dollars, but Sony has recently announced they are making money on each system sold.
A total of 464,000 consoles were sold on 1 August, 2007, compared to 495,000 on 31 July, 2010. The reason sales are higher now is quite clear in the graph above. Wii sales are down over 100,000, but that is more than off set by the increase in sales for the PS3 and 360. Sales were a little more one sided with the Wii having a market share of 58%, but today it has become a three way race they are all within 50,000 of each other.
Hardware totals look a lot different when compared to the weekly sales. The Wii and Xbox 360 were neck and neck with total sales but the Wii quickly passed it and has gone on to sell 71 million to date. The 360 has quadrupled its sales reaching 41 million from 10 million 3 years ago. It took one and a half years to reach 10 million but since than it has averaged 10 million in sales each year. The PS3 which had only sold 4 million at the time has gone on to sell 36 million. The 360 and PS3 have become the best selling second and third place consoles.
Software – Comparing games of 2007 to 2010 shows trends as to which franchises have become more popular or have faltered and seen sales decrease. The First game is Pokémon Diamond / Pearl Version (DS) which sold 10 million in only 15 weeks and went on to sell over 17 million. The most recent version of the game Pokémon Heart Gold / Soul Silver Version (DS) have managed to sell 8.5 million since its release last September in Japan. It is still selling 70,000 each week; however with a new game in the series being released soon, sales will drop, barely crossing 10 million. That is a big decrease in the franchise in only 3 years but still able to sell 10 million for a single release is nothing to laugh about. As only two 360 games ever crossed that mark and no PS3 game has sold 10 million.
NCAA Football is the next series to take a look at. NCAA Football 08 was released only 1 month prior of 11 August 2007 across 4 systems, PS2, PS3, Xbox, and 360 and went on to sell a combined 1.81 million. The most recent version NCAA Football 11 has gone on to sell .63 million with only 3 weeks on sale. To compare them NCAA Football 08 sold 600,000 in its first week while NCAA Football 11 sold 424,000 a difference of 176,000 in favor of the 2007 release. Sales have clearly declined in the past 3 years for the franchise.
Conclusion – The current generation has grown by leaps and bounds since 2007. It is on track to sell more systems than any other generation. The Wii has become the fastest selling home console of all time, the Xbox 360 the best selling second place console of all time and the PlayStation 3 the best selling third place console of all time. This is the first generation where 3 home consoles can co-exist at once and all make profit. The handheld market has grown to over 200 million systems sold with the DS and PSP combined. This generation has only become more interesting in the last 3 years and with the PS3 and 360 up year on year there are no signs when the next generation of home consoles will start.
