Overall industry sales declined by 21% this year, according to the latest numbers from NPD. Overall revenue dropped to $3.99 billion, with hardware sales down 28%, from $1.84 billion to $1.32 billion, a $520 million drop, and software sales down 14%, $2.37 billion to $2.04 billion, a $330 million drop. According to NPD’s Anita Frazier
Overall industry results are not entirely surprising given that we are on the back end of the current console lifecycle, combined with the continued digital evolution of gaming. Core gamers continue to be engaged and spend on established franchises across both the digital and physical format using multiple devices for different gaming occasions.
Microsoft shifted 1.7 million Xbox 360s, a decline of 8.6%, marking the 12th straight month the console was on top of the hardware sales in the U.S., and the tenth straight month of the console holding 40% market share. It now boasts a total 46$ market share, with Microsoft estimating that about half of all retail sales of consoles, games and accessories were Xbox 360 products, totalling $1.5 billion in revenue.
Sony has called 20122 a banner year for the PlayStation 3, with hardware and accessory sales both increasing. 6.5 million units were sold worldwide in 2011, the electronics giant confirmed.
Total accessory sales dropped by 27%, with sales dropping from $863.5 million in 2010, to $628.7 million in 2011.
Hardware was particularly hard hit in December. Normally, we see sales increase from November to December on an average sales per week basis (keeping in mind December is a 5-week retail month as compared to November which is a four-week retail month).
The 3DS and the DS were the only platforms to realize a unit sales increase versus November, which is highly unusual since typically all platforms enjoy a lift in the biggest month at retail.
Software sales for the HD platforms went up by 8%, however. 7 of the top 10 titles in December were available on the 360, with 8 on PS3 and 6 were released on Nintendo platforms. NPD’s Frazier noted:
The top 20 titles in December generated nearly half total software revenue for the month, which is very high. There is one title that would have fallen in the top 10 for December if we were ranking on an SKU basis rather than on a combined platform basis as we do now: Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was the 10th best selling software SKU for the month of December.
The NPD Software Top 10 is as follows:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC)
- Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360, PS3)
- Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360, PS3, PC)
- Mario Kart 7 (3DS)
- Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)
- Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2)
- Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (360, PS3, PC)
- NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, PC)
- Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
- Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC)
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