Console hardware sales down 17% in March
March revenues for the video game industry dropped 17 percent from a year ago, the NPD Group reported Thursday, the first time in the current recession that the business has seen sales fall. For the month, the analyst firm reported that the industry turned in total sales of $1.43 billion, down 17 percent from $1.72 billion a year earlier. Hardware sales were down 18 percent, while software was down 17 percent. Overall sales were also down 2.7 percent from February’s $1.47 billion, and each of the six hardware platforms NPD tracks–Sony’s PlayStation 3, PS2 and PSP, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii and DS–had lower sales in March than in February. The PS3 and Wii led the drops, with 21.0 percent and 20.2 percent lower sales, respectively.
By comparison, the Xbox saw its sales fall between February and March, but less than the PS3 and Wii. Resident Evil 5, Capcom’s third-person survival-horror sold over 1.5 million units between the 360 and PS3 — a record-breaking launch for the property, according to Frazier. While Microsoft topped the charts in raw software sales with three titles (they claim four, but leaving out the NDS is misleading) it’s worth noting that Sony’s continuing to chart more frequently in the top 10. Through much of 2008, the company was lucky to see a single title in the running. In March, they’ve landed three. Not bad for a system many have all but written off of late.
Source: PC World
Comments(37)
recently i bought a couple of 360 games so im not to blame
recently i downloaded a few more titles than usual so i am not to blame either
I haven't made a console software purchase since my Colecovision. No need to with computers or console backup units. Perhaps I am to blame?
its simple, video games stopped being classic since the decline of SNES, only nerds with no life buy consoles of the later generations
Cut down prices, sales and promo prices are not applicable in the Philippines. The prices are still the same when it was FIRST released. That's why I f****** hate this country! Don't dare to visit Philippines.
@perry
agreed, exept the Amiga not the SNES was the last classic games platform
Well, this is OBVIOUSLY the pirates fault eh? :rolleyes:
Well heres and idea…………..
DROP THE F@CKIN PRICE ON CONSOLES LIKE PS3!!!
For f@ck sake its still $700 AND ITS A PIECE OF SH!T
I MEAN SERIOUSLY….YOU CAN BUY THE XBOX 360 FOR $240 AND IT PLAYS 95% OF THE SAME GAMES INCLUDING MANY TITLES WHICH ARENT ON THE OTHER CONSOLES
Well i wouldnt buy a PS3 evan if it were the same price as an xbox 360 anyway…..its garbage.
Oh and to all you PS3 lovers that no doubt are going to have a stupid f@ckin reply to my comment DONT EVAN BOTHER wasting your time coz i wont be back to see it.
I barelly have time to play, then with games tagged at 65/69€ on my country i wonder who will buy it.
Also wheres the rate conversion from US$ to EU€ ?!
I stay with internet pr0n, thank you.
wow 5 year old alert EVAN? eh? wow….. go to school kiddo you need to learn something….. Hell anything.
damned trolls
yeah 360 plays a lot of the same games but then it RRoD's and they still haven't fixed that problem which is why anyone with half a clue is smart enough not to buy a 360. Well that and the fact its made by Microsoft who can't even make an operating system properly let alone a gaming console.
If you bought a PC and a 360 you sir are stupid as hell. Why? because they are the same fecking thing.
I can understand ppl who buy xbox360 – great console, plays most of games that ps3 does, and price is rly not that high atm… but ps3?
For ps3 + hdd + extra pad + HD LCD TV ~ 1300-1400$
Phenom3c + 4gb ram + ati4850 + 24'LCD ~ 1200$ (prices in poland more or less, and it also plays all pc games in full hd, on max details… and i can work on it, watch tv, surf net, and emulate ps2 at same speed as ps3).
Dont buy ps3 guys, at least not yet. Wait for damn sony to cut prices by 30% or more. Or wait for next xbox
As more and more people hook their computers to their TVs in order to watch movies, they're also realizing they can use the computer to game on the big screen. We're reaching the point where Internet, Television, Movies, Music, Books and Gaming are all coming out of the same "Media System"
Consoles have gone way up in price as they add features to try to be more like computers. Now they'll need to go way down in price for people to even bother buying one.
Don't forget it's also wifi equipped out the box and the HDD is upgrade-able, cheap and easily.
@ 15
"The PS3 cost more because it's worth more.
HD games
Blu ray
internet browser
blu tooth
HD Sound
wireless, RECHARGEABLE, six-axis controllers
reliability
HD Divx and MP4 supported
photo slide shows"
the only things the ps3 has over the 360 is blu-ray & bluetooth, and who's guna replace their entire dvd collection for £20-a-pop blu-rays? nobody. as for bluetooth, well 360 owners got gta4:tlad so you can keep your "advance tech". ha
want to make money online today click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y40-DLu_ezk
Blah
Blah
Blah
Consoles are g@y anyway.
Buy a decent pc and be done with the rat race.
So I'm missing out on RE5? Thats what my nephews and cousins are for. RE5 is pretty to look at, the buck stops there. The most impressive game I've seen on the console is Killzone 2.
But 1 stinkin game is NOT worth a $500.00 game system. Btw,
My rig has a Blu Ray drive… What am I missing again?
by "g@y" do you meen homosexual? or happy? if your guna come in with brash comments make sure they make sense first…..
I love my Wii.
Nuff said.
its probably because they fixed the failing xbox rrod and now no one is replacing any xboxes lol
what the news poster fails to note was that despite the drop in sales of nintendo consoles this month the wii still outsold everything else and wii + ds sales combined were 8% higher than the combined total of the 360 & ps3 & ps2 & psp.
the other issue with software sales is realy quite simple, last march super smash bros launced, this march nothing was released that could compete with that so of course software sales were down on last year.
The PS3s buy in price is $400 not $500
How much was that pc of yours?
"only blu-ray and blu-tooth over the 370"
It has rechargeable controllers, Wireless internet (wifi), a WEB BROWSER, evey model has a hard drive, it accepts more 3rd party accessories through usb, its more DEPENDABLE.
As far as blu-ray movies go, who says you have to re-buy your back catelogue? The PS3 also upconverts dvds AND you can find GRDEAT prices on blu-ray movies on Amazon.con
Even without blu-ray movies purchased you could use mkvtovob to convert mkv movies and shows mentioned all over this very site and since mkvtovob only switches file containers to make them play-able on the ps3 the conversion takes like 10-15 minutes for 2 hour movies on even MY 6 year old pc, 25 minute shows take 15 seconds.
What planet are you all living on. In case you haven't noticed there is a economic crisis going on. People are losing their jobs and income. In the US people have lost their homes. So why on earth would they buy a console. It's a luxury item. And Microsoft and Sony should realize that their profits will go down even more. All your arguments concerning consoles are very old and becoming very tedious. Once people will restore their income and fututre they will be able to buy luxury items.
i like my xbox 360 because it was a gift and i only use it for 2 games gears of war2 and halo 3, and only because they are not available on pc
pc is still my nr 1 tough
everyone over 11 who's into video games is deserving a serious medical examination!
@27
So about 500 million gamers worldwide.
And i'd just like to say that the reason sales are down, is because most people own the consoles now. There's no reason to purchase a second one is there?
I really dont prefer one console over the other. There all great in there own right. I own a 360 but once the PS3 goes down in price I would buy it. Just hoping someone figures out how to get backups to work
.
well, of course sales are dropping, the consoles arent as new as they were… people own them already, and the ones they are selling to now are probably 17% less interested in buying consoles.
I am still under the assumption that the ps3 will never be hacked. People have bandwidth caps that will not support 50gb games such as MGS:4 or wallets that will support 300+ bluray burners.
Even modding systems work on supply and demand and right now there is no demand cause anyone that knows anything knows the games are to big to dl. The only ps3 rips I have seen at a reasonable dl size are very poor 360 ports anyways.
Seriously though? how do you expect to dl between 24-50 gbs and make it cost effective enough to be worth modding the system after 3 weeks of torrenting up a ps3 title then you gotta pay $25 for a bluray disc and over double that for a dual layer bluray disc factor in power usage for leaving your PC on 24/7 ( if you dont already) and you are well over the price of a retail title im sure. PS3 WILL NEVER BE MODDED until they can crack the games down to a 10th of the size.
@29
Same as you, I'm still waiting for PS3 hacks, that is the only thing backing me from getting a PS3.
I hope hackers are reading my post right now!!!
It's the freakin Global Financial Crisis, everything's taking a hit not just consoles. Blame slack lending practices from banks and the worlds credit binge.
M$ are crap IMO, i got a red ring of dead on my 360, sent to M$, a month later they sent me a new consol, turned it on and straight away RROD, thank god my PS3 in running trouble free
#32… Well not every place on earth has internet connection with download limits… i for example dont, and i use standard cable provider that operates in my neighbourhood (it cost me around 30$ a month). With 6mbit download speed i get 5Gb file from torrent in less than 8h. So.. i can wait ~80h (more or less 3 days) for a download, or go to store and pay 70-80$ for game i might not even like… i rather dl it.
And dont say that ps3 wont be modded. It will be, as every console was so far. Only questions is when bluray writers will drop in price.
wonder when PS3 will be patched like PSP (play games through hard drive/mc)