November NPD

[Stoney Mason]

stolen from GAF thread

Hardware

360 - 1.7 Million (+24%)
PS3 - 900K (+70%)
WII - 860k (-32%)
3DS - 795k
NDS - 350k (-77%)

Software:

1.   Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, WII, PC)** Activision Blizzard ~9 million
2.   Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360, PS3, PC)** Bethesda Softworks
3.   Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)** Electronic Arts
4.   Assassin's Creed: Revelations (360, PS3, PC) Ubisoft
5.   Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360) Ubisoft
6.   Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2)** Electronic Arts
7.   Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3)** Sony - 700k
8.   Saints Row: The Third (360, PS3, PC)** THQ
9.   The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (WII) ** Nintendo
10.   Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC)** Warner Bros. Interactive

xx. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) Nintendo - 625k

**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)
Physical retail copies only.

Overall, the new physical portion of industry sales was essentially flat versus last November. While content sales grew substantially thanks to a great slate of new content, a decline in average retail price in all categories with the exception of portable hardware resulted in flat dollar sales even though unit sales grew for console hardware, as well as console, portable, and pc software...

This is the fourth consecutive month in which the Xbox 360 has been the top selling hardware system. The gap between 360 sales and sales of the next best selling platform was the largest we’ve seen since December 2008 when the Nintendo DS was the top selling system.

The month-over-month sales increase versus October that all systems realized is in line with the range we typically see going into November, so hardware performed in line with typical seasonality trends

This November marks the best November on record for sales of new physical content. November 2008 was previously the best November on record

In one month, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is just about half a million units shy of matching Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in lifetime sales. Its first month performance was a five-fold increase over Oblivion’s first month sales. The game garnered outstanding review scores

When looking at the top 10 best selling titles at the SKU level, both Super Mario 3D Land and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary would have been included

Even with Call of Duty coming to market, Battlefield 3 was the third best-selling game of the month, and is now the best-selling title under the Battlefield property.”

“The critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham City sold well in month two at retail and is now just shy of Batman: Arkham Asylum’s lifetime unit sales

Nintendo News

Nintendo 3DS and Wii Cross Major Milestones after Record-Breaking Black Friday

Strong sales on Black Friday pushed the U.S. installed base of the Wii™ system to 37.7 million units and helped the Nintendo 3DS™ system surpass the first-year totals of the Nintendo DS™ system (2.37 million) after only eight months on the market, according to the NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. Other milestones reached in November include:

Software

The Super Mario 3D Land™ game for Nintendo 3DS sold more than 625,000 units and is the fastest-selling portable Super Mario™ title in U.S. history.
The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword for the Wii system had the biggest first day in franchise history and sold more than 600,000 units in its first week.

Hardware

Nintendo sold more than 2 million combined hardware units in November. This includes more than 860,000 Wii systems, more than 795,000 Nintendo 3DS units and more than 350,000 units of the Nintendo DS family of systems. Nintendo 3DS had its biggest single month of sales, representing an increase of more than 215 percent over the previous month, and has now sold nearly 2.5 million units since launch. Wii had its biggest Black Friday ever with more than 520,000 units sold. Full-month sales increased by more than 245 percent over the previous month.

“Great software and unparalleled value drove momentum on Black Friday and through November,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Both Nintendo 3DS and Wii have already set records, and we’ve still got the bulk of the shopping season to go. People are flocking to our bundles and the fun of Mario and Zelda that can only be found on Nintendo systems.”

"PlayStation 3 is off to a phenomenal start to the holiday season, recording the best ever Black Friday sales period in the console's five-year history. According to the November NPD report the PS3 saw a 70% increase in hardware and a 30% increase in software year-over-year," said Patrick Seybold, Sr. Direcrtor of Corporate Communications at SCEA.

November 2011 highlights from the NPD Group, an independent market research firm that tracks the digital entertainment industry, include:

· Holding 49 percent share of the overall current-generation console market, Xbox 360 sold 1.7 million units in November, maintaining the number-one console spot in the U.S. for 2011. This marks the ninth consecutive month Xbox 360 has had more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share, and eleventh straight month the Xbox was the top selling console in the U.S.

· Xbox 360 unit sales grew 23 percent year over year in November.

· Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in November (hardware, software and accessories) reached $1.4 billion, the most for any console in the U.S.

· During the month of November, Xbox 360 held four of the top 10 console game titles including: “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” “Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations” and “Battlefield 3”.

[magus]

in before himuro "zelda is done for" post

[Himu]

Uncharted 3 outsold SR3?!

[Stoney Mason]

Uncharted 3 outsold SR3?!

Not shocking to me. Honestly I'm surprised SR3 is as high as it is. Not a lot of people were playing it on my friends list. But it probably sold to expectations for THQ which means there will be plenty more of them.

[Stoney Mason]

The gap between 360 sales and sales of the next best selling platform was the largest we’ve seen since December 2008 when the Nintendo DS was the top selling system.

No numbers yet though.



Also

Skyrim is 500k away from topping lifetime sales of Oblivion, says Nov. NPD sales data.

Also

On the software side, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception sold 700,000 units in the month, NPD revealed to Game Informer, coming in at #7 behind leaders Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The first month sales for Modern Warfare 3 were up 7 percent over last year's Black Ops.

[AdmiralViscen]

Yea, SR3 is the big surprise there. Uh oh for halo, though I suppose this is listed by revenue

[Stoney Mason]

Yea, SR3 is the big surprise there. Uh oh for halo, though I suppose this is listed by revenue

I also saw nearly nobody playing that on my friends list. That game seemed to just release in a blackhole of interest. Halo Anniversary I mean.

edit: Although it did at least "decent".

“When looking at the top 10 best selling titles at the SKU level, both Super Mario 3D Land and Halo:  Combat Evolved Anniversary would have been included.”

[Himu]

Yea, SR3 is the big surprise there. Uh oh for halo, though I suppose this is listed by revenue

I also saw nearly nobody playing that on my friends list. That game seemed to just release in a blackhole of interest. Halo Anniversary I mean.

my friends list has at least 10-12 people playing SR3

[cool breeze]

reading comprehension

[Himu]

U3 @ 700k

if U3 is at 700k, that means......

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 :'(

[Stoney Mason]

Yea, SR3 is the big surprise there. Uh oh for halo, though I suppose this is listed by revenue

I also saw nearly nobody playing that on my friends list. That game seemed to just release in a blackhole of interest. Halo Anniversary I mean.

my friends list has at least 10-12 people playing SR3

To be fair your friends list is probably populated with GAF and Bore people. It probably had tons of people playing Catherine at one point too. I'm not dissing SR3 or anything. It sold a bit under 700k across all platforms. That's not bad at all.

[Himu]

That is TERRIBLE considering the state of THQ. Who is going to buy off Volition and can they take Volition's franchises with them?!

[Howard Alan Treesong]

glad to see SR3 selling well enough to keep Volition in business

[Joe Molotov]

Yea, SR3 is the big surprise there. Uh oh for halo, though I suppose this is listed by revenue

I also saw nearly nobody playing that on my friends list. That game seemed to just release in a blackhole of interest. Halo Anniversary I mean.

They should have released it on Steam, I would have pity bought it.

[Himu]

That is TERRIBLE considering the state of THQ. Who is going to buy off Volition and can they take Volition's franchises with them?!

Uhh it's saving THQ's ass as of now. THQ should be buying lambos for Volition staff.

[cool breeze]

I thought SR3 was going to do poorly because of the other big games, so I'm glad it didn't...or something.  I don't know how to read these numbers.

I'm most surprised that there hasn't been AssCreed fatigue.  I can understand with Call of Duty because of the multiplayer, and even Just Dance 3 because of kids and drunks, but Assassin's Creed consistently selling well is the most baffling thing about November npds.  It's just so weird that it has a huge audience for its type of game.

did Rayman bomb or just not chart? sounds like Mario 3DS sold 630k, and Uncharted sold 700k, so Batman is somewhere int he middle.  Maybe Rayman sold 631k or something!

[Stoney Mason]

That is TERRIBLE considering the state of THQ. Who is going to buy off Volition and can they take Volition's franchises with them?!

I'm not exactly sure what you were expecting. It did probably around 600-700k this month. It will have a good month next month also probably. And then relatively low sales after that. It's enough to keep the franchise going but it was never going to be the savior of THQ. It just doesn't have that kind of mindshare as a franchise. It's more than enough to make games of the quality level you enjoy from the franchise though.

[Stoney Mason]

I'm most surprised that there hasn't been AssCreed fatigue.  I can understand with Call of Duty because of the multiplayer, and even Just Dance 3 because of kids and drunks, but Assassin's Creed consistently selling well is the most baffling thing about November npds.  It's just so weird that it has a huge audience for its type of game.

Lots of people are really addicted to the mythos and open world nature of that franchise. This is the first year that I honestly have no interest in playing it as the additions didn't seem that interesting to me and they seem to be tap dancing around to extend the story.

[Vertigo]

Yea, SR3 is the big surprise there. Uh oh for halo, though I suppose this is listed by revenue

I also saw nearly nobody playing that on my friends list. That game seemed to just release in a blackhole of interest. Halo Anniversary I mean.

According to GI

“When looking at the top 10 best selling titles at the SKU level, both Super Mario 3D Land and Halo:  Combat Evolved Anniversary would have been included.”

[Stoney Mason]

Yeah I edited that into my post. Although Halo Wars did 639K in an april. This game did less than that and its $40 bucks. Not sure if that's great considering how cheap this was to make or a low point for the Halo franchise since it couldn't outsell an rts.

[maxy]

MW3
9 million

bomba

[Great Rumbler]

Nintendo

[Stoney Mason]

NPD Data show Xbox 360 has biggest November ever selling 1.7 Million units in the US alone" -Major Nelson

NPD reports 1.7M Xbox 360's sold in Nov, 49% share, +23% YOY, nearly double all other consoles.

[AdmiralViscen]

Halobox 1.5

[Brehvolution]

Xbawks > 2x Triple

Which one did you buy?

[brob]

game i like did better then game you like neener neener

[Tasty]

Er, uh. Those 3DS numbers are pretty good.

Wonder if MK will chart next month.

[cool breeze]

the fad is finally over

[Stoney Mason]

did Rayman bomb or just not chart?

Bomb

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-12-10-rayman-origins-sells-50-000-in-debut-us-month

[archie4208]

>Make $15 XBLA game
>Put on $60 disc
>lol i dunno why the game flopped

[Great Rumbler]

>Make $15 XBLA game
>Put on $60 disc
>lol i dunno why the game flopped

This.

[Don Flamenco]

if the budget was that small then 50,000 copies at $30 to $60 was actually not a terrible move

[MrAngryFace]

Rayman Origins is a really great game

[bork]

I thought Rayman Origins was an XBLA/PSN game.

[Stoney Mason]

I'm sure Origins is a good game but its just out of step with current HD market trends especially if your name isn't Mario or to a lesser extent Sonic.

[Himu]

I'm sure Origins is a good game but its just out of step with current HD market trends especially if your name isn't Mario or to a lesser extent Sonic.

It is? Side scrollers have revived.

The problem is, they made it a retail game.

[Stoney Mason]

I'm sure Origins is a good game but its just out of step with current HD market trends especially if your name isn't Mario or to a lesser extent Sonic.

It is? Side scrollers have revived.

The problem is, they made it a retail game.

Side scroller platformers have "revived" if you make them $15 dollars and aim them at the correct target market. In other words they haven't revived for the mainstream market despite good sales for something like Super Meat Boy or a shitload of flash games.

[Owl-faced Wizard]

If they have a gimmick like LBP or Drawn to Life/Scribblenauts (I'm counting Scribblenauts as a platformer for no reason) or a strong brand (Mario, Donkey Kong, Sonic, Kirby) they can do well - but those are the same qualifiers as any game really.  The ludicrous sales of NSMB shows there is at least an untapped demand.  First month US sales is also a realllllllly bad way of judging the success of a game like Rayman.  Still, I doubt sales will justify the level of effort they took.

The attitude gamers have to budget -> price is really bizarre though.  Can't think of another medium where that occurs.  Can't be healthy.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

if it wasn't a full priced game it would have sold better.  This is endemic of the HD market where many games are flopping just because they're too optimistically positioned for a massive success that they wouldn't ever get.

the HD era is now five years old, we need variable pricing right fugging now.

[pilonv1]

Every game has it's price. Not all games should be priced the same. Some are slower than others at learning this.

[MrAngryFace]

Maybe if you could unlock an OP rifle and BROFIST it'd sell. smh @ gamers

[chronovore]

Rayman Origins was also released on November 15th competing against more hyped games including Ubi's own Assassin's Creed. It wasn't marketed like at all, a lot of people see sidescrollers as downloadable 15 dollar games now, plus when was the last time Rayman was huge? the Rabbids have sadly far surpassed him in popularity.

It was doomed from the start, which is pretty sad cause the game is fantastic.

People have waited this long for Rayman -- Ubi should have launched it somewhere other than these murderous months, just sat on it until February or March.

[Bebpo]

No matter what the budget or effort put into the title was, Rayman NEEDED to be $15 on XBLA/PSN/Steam to be successful.

Everyone is like "I can get 2d HD game with stuff like Castle Crashers and Bastion for $10/15, why is this $60".  Plus no one cares about Rayman in the US.  It's practically like launching a new IP.

[pilonv1]

Didn't need to be as low as $15, but it really didn't need to be on the sad side of $40 considering its' launch week.

[MrAngryFace]

Rayman Origins > overrated Bastion

[Smooth Groove]

My contributions to NPD this month:

+1 PS3
+1 Socom 4

I don't think I've even bought one console game this year.  For some reason, my mom thought that the PS3 slim was a different console from my perfectly working original 60gb PS3 w/BC. 

First, I was thinking WTF, I already have that system.  Second, I wanted to yell at my mom for not knowing that I'm a Xfag and buying me the elite instead. 

However, I didn't have the heart to tell her that the new PS3 is basically useless for me because she thought she was a pretty cool mom for buying a gaming Xmas gift. 

[Smooth Groove]

I don't even need 1 PS3. 



Also WTF at Socom POS 4ever.  The only Socom game I ever bought was the first one.  My mom said that dad picked it because he knew it was not on the PC.  He was mighty proud of himself.  SMH

He knew so much yet so little. 


Maybe I'll exchange it for a 360 elite and hope they don't notice the difference.  This time of the year, many stores give store credit without receipts.  But this gen is almost over anyways and both my systems are still working fine.  The 360's disc noise doesn't even bother me ever since I could install games on the HD. 

[MrAngryFace]

My PS3 is my DVD/BluRay player- sometimes ill use it for games tho

[Joe Molotov]

My PS3 is my DVD/BluRay player- sometimes ill use it for games tho

Same

[Flannel Boy]

I don't even need 1 PS3. 

Fine don't play the greatest game ever made, MLB 12 The Show.

[MrAngryFace]

Can play that on Vita next year too woo

[Stoney Mason]

I came into a little extra money recently and seriously debated getting a PS 3 but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Not a diss on the PS 3. If I had one I'd feel the same about the xbox. There isn't enough compelling reasons to own both for me.

[Himu]

ps3 is a great blu ray player, probably the best on the market actually.

[Stoney Mason]

ps3 is a great blu ray player, probably the best on the market actually.

That's nice and everything but every device nowadays comes with that. It's like having a great CD player. I don't really care if my console does that. In fact since I tend to stream everything from my computer to whatever device I'm using its really rather pointless. (for me)

[Cerveza mas fina]

Wow Zelda bombed hard, couldnt even outsell Uncharted.

[MCD]

I use my gaming desktop + PowerDVD for blu rays now and dare I say, it's better than my PS3.

[Himu]

Wow Zelda bombed hard, couldnt even outsell Uncharted.

Didn't it come out the very end of the month, though?

[Great Rumbler]

Wow Zelda bombed hard, couldnt even outsell Uncharted.

Didn't it come out the very end of the month, though?

Uncharted 3 - November 1
Skyward Sword - November 20

[Cerveza mas fina]

Only big game to come out on the Wii this year maybe even in years, you'd think it would push a million in 10 days no?

Uncharted 3 had to compete with other games coming out on PS3, Skyrim, COD, SR3, Batman, Battlefield.

Zelda had the Wii to itself plus the Wii's install base is much bigger. Bomba total.

[Himu]

Lager has a point. I mean, it is Zelda. And it still sold less than Saints Row 3, which means it sold worse than 700k. And it's fucking Zelda. That's pretty pathetic for an esteemed Nintendo franchise that at its height sold 7 million copies.