NPD June 2011

[maxy]

5-week tracking month; Reporting Period 5/29/11 through 7/2/11

Software (New physical retail only, across all platforms including PC)
01. L.A. Noire (360, PS3) Take 2 Interactive - 419,000
02. Duke Nukem Forever (360, PS3, PC) Take 2 Interactive - 376,300
03. Infamous 2 (PS3) Sony - 369,200
04. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC) Disney Interactive Studios
05. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) Nintendo - 283,200
06. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, NDS, PC) Activision Blizzard
07. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, PC) Take 2 Interactive
08. Mortal Kombat 2011 (PS3, 360) Warner Bros. Interactive
09. Cars 2 (NDS, Wii, 360, PS3, PC) Disney Interactive Studios
10. Just Dance 2 (Wii) Ubisoft

Hardware
Xbox 360 - 507,000
Wii - 273,000
PS3 - ~276,000 (extrapolated)
3DS - 143,000
DS - 386,000

Nintendo PR

After less than two weeks on store shelves, The Legend of Zelda™: Ocarina of Time™ 3D for the Nintendo 3DS™ portable entertainment system finished the month as the No. 2 best-selling video game on an individual platform, with more than 283,000 units sold, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States.

Other highlights from the month include:

Nintendo sold more than 800,000 combined hardware units in June. This includes 386,000 units of the Nintendo DS™ family of systems, 273,000 Wii™ systems and 143,000 Nintendo 3DS systems. Each product line saw double-digit growth over the previous month, and the lifetime U.S. installed base for the Wii system crossed 36 million units.
Five of the top 10 and 13 of the top 25 best-selling individual software titles play on Nintendo platforms.

This holiday season, Nintendo will offer something for everyone with fan-favorite titles including Super Mario™, Mario Kart™, Kid Icarus™: Uprising, Star Fox 64™ 3D and The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword.

For more information about Nintendo, visit http://www.nintendo.com.

MS PR

Halfway through 2011, Xbox 360 maintains its lead in the U.S. console market, selling more units in the U.S. than any other console for 12 of the past 13 months. Even while console and software sales across the industry have slowed, as often happens in the summer, Xbox 360 continues growing, staying on track to have the biggest year in Xbox history in the sixth year of its lifecycle.

June 2011 NPD highlights include:

    Holding 48% share of the overall current-generation console market share, Xbox 360 sold 507,000 units in June, selling nearly twice as many units as other current-generation platforms and maintaining the number-one console spot in the U.S. for 2011. Additionally, Xbox 360 was the only console in the U.S. to show year-over-year growth in the month of June. (Source: NPD Group, June 2011)
    Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in June (hardware, software and accessories) reached $350 million, the most for any console in the U.S. (Source: NPD Group, June 2011)
    During the month of June, four of the top ten console game titles were for Xbox 360 including: “L.A. Noire,” “Duke Nukem Forever,” “NBA 2K11” and “Call of Duty: Black Ops.” (Source: NPD Group, June 2011)



With the holiday season and major launches just around the corner, the second half of 2011 promises to make Xbox 360 history. The size of the Kinect games portfolio will triple by the end of the year and Xbox will bring new partnerships like UFC and Disney to the platform as well as blockbuster games, movies, music and TV together in one place. We expect Xbox 360 to maintain its lead and to be number one worldwide by the end of the year, selling more hardware units than PlayStation and Wii.

Sony PR

"According to the latest NPD report, PlayStation continues to see growth in software with a strong demand for exclusive PlayStation 3 franchise titles. The recently launched inFAMOUS 2 was the #1 software SKU in June. In addition, momentum is accelerating with the upcoming fall releases of Resistance 3 and Uncharted 3 on the horizon. This week the Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta surpassed 1.5 million unique players, demonstrating the strength of the PlayStation platform and consumers’ interest in gaming experiences that combine rich stories, challenging gameplay, and exhilarating 3D immersion," Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications at SCEA.

[maxy]

IGN

June NPD sales for Shadows of the Damned are pathetic. You can forget about a sequel. Alice: Madness Returns did much, much better, however.

ah

[Cerveza mas fina]

Much better but still under 200k across 3 platforms...

[Sho Nuff]

Wow LA Noire did pretty bad, considering the marketing/development budget

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

the Xbox is cheap-ish as of now and has the most robust current and future gaming library on the market.  It shouldn't be surprising its kicking so much ass.  What is surprising is how the PS3 is still sucking wind and the almost dead Wii is doing relatively alright.

and how the heck is NBA 2K11 still hanging in there.  Great month for Take2, WB and Disney games I suppose, unless F3AR tanks (it did, didn't it?).

[maxy]

random numbers

dsIII ~80k (360>ps3)

Alice < 120k (360 > PS3)
Child of Eden= 34k
Wii Play Motion < 30k
Shadow of the Damned= 24k (360 > PS3)
SSF4 AE: < 20k (PS3 > 360)

/corrected

[Cerveza mas fina]

Rez didn't light up the charts either I think. It's an extremely niche title.

[demi]

Why the hell did the 360 sell so much?

Kind of surprised to see the PS3 version of LA Noire outsell the 360 version, but it's not by a massive amount.
I guess the 360 crowd aren't really hot for sophisticated games.

Surprised?

- One disc
- Excloosive DLC (Consul's Car)

And LA Noire is far from sophisticated

re: Child of Eden - nobody is gonna spend $50 on an XBLA title

[Cerveza mas fina]

Thats really shit, esp since he makes good games. Imagine working on a project for years then being tricked like that  :'(

[Herr Mafflard]

bad month for maverick j-developers 

I can't tell if Duke Nukem's performed okay or terribly. On one hand its a bad game and deserves to drop-off the face of sales charts next month; on the other I don't remember the last time a game garnered so much publicity just for coming out-- and those sales don't reflect that.

I suppose it just is, though. That a name can net you a few hundred thousand copies sold, regardless of quality. But they've probably damaged the brand name in releasing it so. The next Duke Nukem game would have to prove its worth more than ever for people to give a shit again.

[Herr Mafflard]

Exactly. Nothing suprising about its performance.

Just an anomaly of a videogame, is all.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Esp if they reached new people and not just old MK heads.

Just Dance 2 is the most successful 3rd party Wii title of the generation by the way.

[Brehvolution]

the Xbox is cheap-ish as of now and has the most robust current and future gaming library on the market.  It shouldn't be surprising its kicking so much ass.  What is surprising is how the PS3 is still sucking wind and the almost dead Wii is doing relatively alright.

and how the heck is NBA 2K11 still hanging in there.  Great month for Take2, WB and Disney games I suppose, unless F3AR tanks (it did, didn't it?).

Surprised to see NBA 2k11 in there too considering I just bought it used from GS fro $26 yesterday.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

pretty much a bad month for everyone, big or small

Alice is the closest thing to a semi-success story

[demi]

For the record,

I bought Alice, Shadows, Eden, AND Duke

So blame all the other dirty poors

[Cerveza mas fina]

OK fuck gaming, Shadows Of The Damned and Alice don't sell well and yet any military fps does. Fuck that noise.

There was no marketing. I didn't even know Alice was out until I saw it as available in my GameQ. Both games seemed to have been quietly pushed out.

True, guess they figured they wouldn't sell much more with marketing so no need to sink money.

[maxy]

Meanwhile, two games weirder than Zelda attracted far more exclusive audiences. Child of Eden, the NPD told Joystiq, sold approximately 34,000 units in its debut month, ranking at number 83. At the same time, Shadows of the Damned managed to sell 24,000 copies, combined, on PS3 and Xbox 360. Damn.

[fistfulofmetal]

wait for

ocarina of time

[EmCeeGrammar]

With the exception of Wii Play Motion, Nintendo is doin ~ok~ all around considering they are mostly fending for themselves.  Unfortuneatly being a publicly traded entity means they are certainly disappointing their shareholders.

I'm also pretty sure Child of Eden was the wii game Miziguchi was working on once upon a time.  There's some vindication somewhere in there for us Nintendo sales fegs.  Something something certain games bomb on any platform.  Games like Hotd Overkill and Madworld outsold the likes of Vanquish and Shadows of the Damned as well.  But arbitrary pissing matches aside the future of Japanese development -at least on consoles- ain't looking too bright. Sad times for the wacky jappy afficianado.

[Smooth Groove]

I love how Sony is always making progress as intended, regardless of how much its competitors are outselling Sony.

[Joe Molotov]

Catherine will bomb too.

[iconoclast]

With the exception of Wii Play Motion, Nintendo is doin ~ok~ all around considering they are mostly fending for themselves.  Unfortuneatly being a publicly traded entity means they are certainly disappointing their shareholders.

I'm also pretty sure Child of Eden was the wii game Miziguchi was working on once upon a time.  There's some vindication somewhere in there for us Nintendo sales fegs.  Something something certain games bomb on any platform.  Games like Hotd Overkill and Madworld outsold the likes of Vanquish and Shadows of the Damned as well.  But arbitrary pissing matches aside the future of Japanese development -at least on consoles- ain't looking too bright. Sad times for the wacky jappy afficianado.

If MadWorld outsold Vanquish (800,000+) I'll lose what little faith I have left in current gen gamers.

[cool breeze]

I play games so little now and pay scant attention to release dates and I've found I'm a pretty good indicator now of what will sell.  if I don't know when a game is coming out (Shadows of the Damned) it will always bomb.

there is a nice thread compiling all known release dates on gaf:  http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=437238

I learned that Rayman Origins is coming out in the same two weeks as Halo, Assassin's Creed, Saint's Row, Skyrim, and Call of Duty.  Ubisoft expects it to sell like hot pancakes.

[EmCeeGrammar]

With the exception of Wii Play Motion, Nintendo is doin ~ok~ all around considering they are mostly fending for themselves.  Unfortuneatly being a publicly traded entity means they are certainly disappointing their shareholders.

I'm also pretty sure Child of Eden was the wii game Miziguchi was working on once upon a time.  There's some vindication somewhere in there for us Nintendo sales fegs.  Something something certain games bomb on any platform.  Games like Hotd Overkill and Madworld outsold the likes of Vanquish and Shadows of the Damned as well.  But arbitrary pissing matches aside the future of Japanese development -at least on consoles- ain't looking too bright. Sad times for the wacky jappy afficianado.

If MadWorld outsold Vanquish (800,000+) I'll lose what little faith I have left in current gen gamers.

Vanquish did not sell that much.  Not even close. Not even far.

[Bebpo]

Duke Nukem:
-probably damaged the ip a bit but oh well

You mean the ip that hasn't been touched in 13 years and has nothing going besides this game

[ferrarimanf355]

i feel bad for mizuguchi

a few weeks ago, someone tweeted him an article from gamasutra saying child of eden was number one in america (they write their articles based on amazon rankings which as you can see is a pretty fucking distinguished mentally-challenged way to try to come up with anything resembling real numbers) and he got all excited and retweeted it around to his friends and company mates

and now we see it kaboomed

Maybe if Ubisoft didn't charge $50 for a game that can be beaten in an afternoon, it would have done better.

[iconoclast]

Vanquish did not sell that much.  Not even close. Not even far.

I guess those were shipped numbers then. Either way it still had to have sold better than MadWorld. I hope.

[Robo]

SSF4 AE: < 20k (PS3 > 360)

 :'(

[iconoclast]

Yeah, I don't think many people are going to be buying the disc version of AE. 99% of the matches I see online are for AE though, so I'm sure everyone still playing just downloaded the update.

[EmCeeGrammar]

Vanquish did not sell that much.  Not even close. Not even far.

I guess those were shipped numbers then. Either way it still had to have sold better than MadWorld. I hope.

Madworld's first month was more than both skus of Vanquish combined. I think No More Heroes 2 did better than Shadows combined (I think NMH2 was 30kish). Either way Platinum and other console jdevs  can't catch much of a break these days.

[Robo]

SSF4 AE: < 20k (PS3 > 360)

 :'(

Why the tears? Most people downloaded the update.

Ah, I was assuming that figure included the update.  The disc release was only out for three days in June.

[demi]

Good for you. Game is shit.

[Robo]

I realize now that I'm the only person ever who loves MadWorld.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Not the only one. 

[close]

[EmCeeGrammar]

I realize now that I'm the only person ever who loves MadWorld.

Fun if flawed dumb beat em up.  Welcome to the club.  Its just us.

[The Sceneman]

With the exception of Wii Play Motion, Nintendo is doin ~ok~ all around considering they are mostly fending for themselves.  Unfortuneatly being a publicly traded entity means they are certainly disappointing their shareholders.

I'm also pretty sure Child of Eden was the wii game Miziguchi was working on once upon a time.  There's some vindication somewhere in there for us Nintendo sales fegs.  Something something certain games bomb on any platform.  Games like Hotd Overkill and Madworld outsold the likes of Vanquish and Shadows of the Damned as well.  But arbitrary pissing matches aside the future of Japanese development -at least on consoles- ain't looking too bright. Sad times for the wacky jappy afficianado.

you make me sick

[magus]

ehy guys
i like mad world too!

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Jesus how are people buying so many Xboxen? There aren't even games on that thing... it is truly the next Wii.

1) It's the multiplatform console of choice - dudebros buy their Maddens and Calls of Duty on their Xdudes.  Nobody gives a shit about PS3 in this regard.

2) Well established library - Strong software library, even if it has been on cruise control for a little while.

3) A cheap, well established library - tightasses and poors can find a bevy of quality games for less than $20 or even $10.

4) Nobody gives a shit about PS3...and nobody ever will.  This was known since mid 2008 to all except the most delusional of Sfags.

5) Soccer moms and grandmas have put their Wiis into their closets to play Angry Birds on the latest iShit.

6) Kinect, which while awful, is a success

[Himu]

Not to mention the hacking situation.

[demi]

Jesus how are people buying so many Xboxen? There aren't even games on that thing... it is truly the next Wii.

[Third]

HAHAHAH at 3DS. It is truly the Ps3 amongst handhelds.

wow at X360. It 's a great console for people who never played on it before. There's a great backlog to catch up to. But for current owners it's a pretty terrible machine.

[EmCeeGrammar]

I realize now that I'm the only person ever who loves MadWorld.

first level or so : oh, this could be fun
second level : um...
third level : ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

It's not a -bad- game, it's just in dire need of some variety.

Eh its a beatemup.  Every level has specific props/weapons/stage hazards to utilize.  I think its main problem was low enemy population density and viscous movement.

[Cerveza mas fina]

DS outsold the 3DS by 200k? Just noticed

[Stoney Mason]

360 sales are darn impressive for this late in it's life cycle. Whatever you think about Kinect, it's undeniable its given them a huge Wii like boost.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Let's see what happens, I have my coffee at the desk and am waiting 

360 sales are darn impressive for this late in it's life cycle. Whatever you think about Kinect, it's undeniable its given them a huge Wii like boost.

Is it really Kinect? Or just people jumping in now.

[Damian79]

DS outsold the 3DS by 200k? Just noticed

It's remarkably similar to the situation with the GBA and the DS for the first while.  Difference is, I'm not so sure there's a light at the end of the tunnel for the 3DS here.

The main selling point of the DS was its long battery life.  3ds has the same battery life as the ngp.  WTF?

[pilonv1]

Dance Central

[Smooth Groove]

What's the big deal about Xbox not getting exclusives?  How many good exclusives did the PS3 get in the last 6 months?

[Stoney Mason]

Let's see what happens, I have my coffee at the desk and am waiting 

360 sales are darn impressive for this late in it's life cycle. Whatever you think about Kinect, it's undeniable its given them a huge Wii like boost.

Is it really Kinect? Or just people jumping in now.

I think it turned what was primarily a hardcore device into something families want to buy for their younger kids. It opened it up to a larger group of consumers that it previously had trouble breaking into.

[The Sceneman]

What's the big deal about Xbox not getting exclusives?  How many good exclusives did the PS3 get in the last 6 months?

Xbox gets awesome exclusives, on XBLA

[The Sceneman]

But are there any Kinect games worth owning? Be real.

Dance Central, Child of Eden is really good with Kinect.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I liked Kinectimals 

[close]

[Mupepe]

Kinect Sports, Child of Eden, Dance Central. 

Like the Wii it's a great party accessory.  People come over and love playing on it.

[maxy]

http://venturebeat.com/2011/07/22/wal-mart-to-finally-share-game-data-with-market-analysts/

Wal-Mart Stores is finally going to allow market researchers to use data on the sales of video games at Walmart and Sam’s Club warehouse stores, according to AdAge.

That breaks a 10-year ban on sharing data for Wal-Mart Stores, which previously considered that data to be a company secret. By allowing the data dump for Nielsen and NPD, Wal-Mart will finally be a good citizen in helping analysts gauge the size of the video game business. Not only will Wal-Mart share game data, it will also share other retail data as well.

Nielsen will be able to provide clients access to to Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club store data in “a few months,” said Nielsen spokeswoman Jennifer Frighetto. “We’re raring to go,” she said to AdAge, “and starting to work with [Wal-Mart] and train them and we will be providing new views of our U.S. industry numbers. It’s a big impact.”

The new data will include census data from all U.S. Wal-Mart stores, Neighborhood Markets and Sam’s Clubs, and it will include historical data, Frighetto said.

AdAge said the executive who made the change is Cindy Davis, the former Sam’s Club chief marketer who earlier this year became executive vice president of Wal-Mart global consumer insights. Davis said the sharing of the data will lead to deeper insights into customer purchasing and category growth.

yay

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

just as the NPD threatens to become less relevent, this happens.

[Don Flamenco]

it's not like there's a suitable replacement for NPD...there is no sales-age without whatever little morsel NPD wants to hand us


If Wal-mart is consistently the #1 game retailer in the U.S., the next NPD might be the most accurate NPD we've ever gotten, even if the MP games are all bundled up.   Unfortunately, from a publisher standpoint, it looks better to bundle them up, though they probably still get the separate numbers in their monthly reports.

[Vertigo]

What's the big deal about Xbox not getting exclusives?  How many good exclusives did the PS3 get in the last 6 months?

inFAMOUS 2 was alright LBP2 was boring,KZ3 was very underwhelming and it seems even Guerilla agrees by "giving it a rest"
Motorstorm Apocalypse is third rate the game would get no attention if it was third party.

PlayStation Move Heroes  The demo told me all i needed to know about that deleted it off my PS3.

SOCOM 4 was busted sold the game so don't know if it got fixed. Resistance 3  does anyone actually want another one? even the most hardheaded sony fanboy knew part 2 was dogshit. The backlash was a sight to see people who had shilled and dickrided the game for months turning on it.

The only games worth a shit and i mean from a sales perspective is Uncharted 3 and even that won't join the really big sellers club. Journey is awesome and Sony can suck a fat one for pushing The Last Guardian back till next year

They may as well get it over with as no matter when it releases it's going to bomb sadly.

First parties are nice but third parties have become more important this gen. Saying that MS knows how to support their software and get the base out to purchase on launch day.