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NPD discovers why people braved the Black Friday crowds
by JC Fletcher 
{ Dec 1st 2009 at 1:00AM }
The top reason for not subjecting themselves to the crowds and queues to buy anything on Black Friday? No, it wasn't "I'm not crazy," it was "no money."
NPD: 14% of US households have online game subscriptions
by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 17th 2009 at 3:00PM }
Interestingly, 81 and 76 percent of households have cable and internet subscriptions, respectively. Meanwhile, both newspapers and magazines experienced a 2 percent drop in subscriptions. The company found that "monthly per-capita entertainment-content subscription" spending rose to $115, a 7 percent increase from last year. Some could argue that people doing that in this economy is surprising, then again, in this economy, home entertainment would seem the most cost-effective solution for having fun.
Gearbox: Borderlands fastest-selling new IP of 2009
by James Ransom-Wiley { Nov 17th 2009 at 1:30PM } 
Going by not entirely public NPD sales figures (in North America), Gearbox has determined that Borderlands had the most launch-week sales of any new IP in 2009. The only other title that could contest that would be Prototype, which enjoyed greater sales on the Xbox 360 platform (but just by 1,900 units) than did Borderlands when comparing the two games' respective launch months (419.9k vs. 418k units). However, Prototype, which released June 9, was available at retail for 11 more days during its launch month than was Borderlands (October 20). While we don't know total sales of either title during their launch months (both were released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC), it's reasonable to assume that Borderlands is the fast-selling new IP (during a launch week), if not the best-selling one in combined platform sales for a launch month in 2009.
So, congratulations! But watch out for Dragon Age: Origins -- we hear it's fast, too.
EEDAR: Blame low industry sales on casual gamers
by Richard Mitchell { Nov 13th 2009 at 7:30PM } 
Divnich also reiterated his belief that the Wii will remain on top for the rest of the year. He also thinks the PS3 could outsell the Xbox 360 over the holidays. He did note, however, that PS3 sales are "declining much faster post-price drop than the Xbx 360," suggesting that it's too early to claim any definite winners in the long run.
Oct. NPD: Brutal Legend sold 216k; DJ Hero sold 123k
by JC Fletcher { Nov 13th 2009 at 9:57AM }
Double Fine's rocking, semi-strategy game, Brütal Legend, which debuted on Rocktober 13, totaled 216,000 units in sales across two platforms during October: 150,000 on Xbox 360 (almost enough to launch it into the monthly top ten) and 66,000 on PS3. This total fails to hit analyst Jesse Divnich's prediction for the month. However, Divnich suggested that Brütal Legend would go on to be an attractive holiday item -- something that may also be true for the bulky box with the cool turntable thingy in it.
Update: Removed reference to Brütal Legend as an Activision-published title. We know better!
October NPD: Uncharted 2 takes top spot while hardware sales slow down
by Christopher Grant { Nov 12th 2009 at 8:43PM } 
On the software side of things, the exceptionally well-received PlayStation 3-exclusive Uncharted 2: Among Thieves took top honors, selling 537K units in just the second half of October. Of course, Sony told us earlier today that the title has broken the coveted million mark (worldwide?) with November sales factored in. The multiplatform Borderlands makes a similarly impressive showing, taking third on Xbox 360 with 418K units sold; however, when you factor in the 113K units sold of the not-top-ten PS3 version (data provided graciously by NPD), you find an impressive 531K in cumulative sales, just missing the top spot.
NBA 2K10 had a strong showing with 524K in cumulative sales, "outselling last year's NBA 2K9 by 60% in its launch month" reports the NPD, while last month's champ, Halo 3: ODST, dropped to sixth with 271K in sales. With just four days on shelves in October, Forza Motorsport 3 made a strong showing at #8 with 175K. Slightly less strong was Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days' ninth-place showing despite a full month on the shelf. And in last place is the worldwide phenomenon known as FIFA 10 (or, in North America, FIFA Soccer 10). While FIFA 10 may be the "fastest selling sports game ever" in Europe, selling 1.7m in its first week, over here we bought up just 156K copies in a little over a week.
-Wii: 507K
44K (+10%)-DS: 458K
66K (-13%)-PS3: 321K
171K (-35%)-360: 250K
103K (-29%)-PSP: 175K
15K (-8%)-PS2: 118K
28K (-19%)Check out the software sales chart after the break.
Reuters: RE5 sold 1.94M in US; Dead Space 2 in development for 2010
by David Hinkle { Oct 30th 2009 at 1:45PM }
The second part of the Reuters story talks about EA and its spookier titles for 2009: Left 4 Dead 2 and Dead Space: Extraction. While there isn't anything new on the former, in a discussion of the latter, Reuters revealed that Dead Space 2 is apparently planned for a 2010 release, which would seem to confirm what we've heard about the game so far.
Gamasutra breaks down console sales in light of price cuts
by Griffin McElroy { Oct 27th 2009 at 10:00AM }
Source: NPD Group; via Gamasutra
If you're like us -- and, we figure after all these years we've been secretly brainwashing you, you are -- then the recent console price cuts were met with your curiosity over how these discounts would affect the vast gaming sales landscape. Fortunately, Gamasutra has posted a chart (using NPD figures) that measures how the price cuts altered two factors: each console's average sale price during the month of September and its year-to-date sales (through September).
This first figure proves the most telling about how the market reacted to the slashed prices. For instance, the average price at which PS3s were purchased in September was a flat $300; meaning an overwhelming majority of buyers responded favorably to the discount. Though the price of the Wii didn't get cut until the last week of September, the console's average price dropped to $218 -- also indicative of a reactionary market surge. The average Xbox 360 purchased price, however, actually increased by a buck to $261. By Gamasutra's calculations, folks purchased three Elites ($300) for every Arcade model ($200) sold during the month.
The PS3 was the top-selling console in September, which is the first time it's ever managed a first-place sales finish. It's still in last place in the 2009 year-to-date totals, though, and Sony's system would need to outsell Xbox 360 by about 35,000 units every week until the end of the year to break even with its competitor. Passing up the Wii, however, would require an act of divine intervention -- Nintendo's console is currently sitting on YTD sales of 4 million, which is more than twice the total of PS3 sales.
Uncharted 2 exceeding sales expectations, DLC coming 'before the end' of 2009
by Ben Gilbert { Oct 23rd 2009 at 6:30PM }
She wouldn't directly quote sales of the title thus far, but she did allow that the title is "exceeding expectations" and outselling the original game "by many, many times" -- a fact no doubt aided by the PlayStation 3's primary position among consoles on last month's NPDs. Hennig seems to embrace this head-on, referring to the confluence of events that lead to the current success of Uncharted 2 -- a hardware price drop, a handful of games being pushed back, and critical acclaim for the game -- as "serendipity." That doesn't mean the game ends in an expensive ice cream shop, right?
Gallery: Uncharted 2
Ignition: Muramasa sales 'in line with expectations'
by JC Fletcher { Oct 23rd 2009 at 1:00PM }
It might sound low to us, but marketing director Melody Frieda said that the total was "in line with expectations and we're happy with how it's performing to date." She said that positive reviews should help keep sales up through the holidays. The company sees even better potential for the title in the long term: according to Frieda, Ignition is "quite confident that Muramasa will be a revered cult classic like its sister property Odin Sphere," which went on to be released under the PS2's "Greatest Hits" line.
Gallery: Muramasa: Demon Blade
Report: Average CoD World at War player has spent $9 on DLC [update]
by Ben Gilbert { Oct 21st 2009 at 3:43PM }
As you might imagine, those kind of numbers add up to a lot of extra revenue for the mega-publisher – the piece approximates a cool $45 million. Taking that one step further, the average cost of each box of CoD: WaW sold at retail becomes $65. We're not sure if that number accounts for the chunk taken out by Microsoft and Sony respectively for distribution, but even cut in half that's still a nice chunk of change.
So today, we'd like to officially announce that we're changing the site's name to Call of Duty: Joystiq. Call it a strategic business move – it's all about brand recognition, people!
Update: To be clear, the $45 million number is an approximation by Gamasutra, put together with information from NPD, EEDAR, and Activision PR. It was apparently calculated by taking 65% of 7 million units at $10 a piece, without accounting for giveaways or bundles.
NPD: Dead Space Extraction sold 9,000 copies in September
by JC Fletcher { Oct 21st 2009 at 1:58PM }
EEDAR's Jesse Divnich, however, cites the sales as the result of a successful not telling anyone about the game experiment. "Electronic Arts didn't market Dead Space Extraction as much as it does with other titles," he told Edge. "And the success or failure of a Wii title usually correlates directly to marketing spend. If Electronic Arts spent little on marketing, I am sure the sell through was no surprise to them." It was, like everything, a complete shock to Dead Space Girl.
NCsoft's Aion perches atop the US PC charts for Sept.
by Alexander Sliwinski { Oct 20th 2009 at 11:30PM }
Champions Online showed up to the party in third place, with World of Warcraft taking three separate spots on the chart. Check out the full list after the break.
Scribblenauts achieves noteworthy 194K sales in September
by JC Fletcher { Oct 20th 2009 at 7:30PM }
We asked 5TH Cell creative director Jeremiah Slaczka if it met his expectations. "I didn't have any expectations," he told Joystiq. "I just hoped it'd do well. It's awesome for a completely new, original 3rd party IP on DS to do so well."
Does this strong debut mean a sequel is guaranteed? "Way too early to tell that," Slaczka said. "We've only seen 2.5 weeks of sales." He told us that Drawn to Life, which went on to break a million worldwide, only sold 40,000 copies in its first month, with one more week of sales in that month.
Beatles: Rock Band bests Guitar Hero 5 in U.S. Sept. sales
by James Ransom-Wiley { Oct 20th 2009 at 12:30PM }
The makers of B:RB have also rubbed in a few seemingly noteworthy facts; namely, (1) U.S. purchases of GH5 in September were eligible for a free mail-away copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen, and (2) GH5 is available on one additional platform, PS2. Of course, Van Halen isn't exactly the American equivalent of The Beatles, and the PS2 is no longer the dominant platform to stage one's acts upon. Still, despite the staggering odds stacked against its success, B:RB managed to capture the mindshare of U.S. gamers. (And we all know that Americans like to speak their minds with their monies.)
The sales de-feat must feel good for MTV Games and Harmonix -- what with B:RB being burned in the sales competition with GH5 by the kingdom that birthed the band (see: Chart-Track UK September sales rankings posted after the break). What was it? Right: Guitar Hero 5 supposedly outsold The Beatles: Rock Band "2-to-1 in the UK."
So, score a victory for B:RB in the battle of the bands fought in U.S. retail last month. But let's not forget there's a bigger, "World War of Rock" being waged, as well. And our wallets are the oft-unreported collateral damage.
