Demand drops for games consoles Stateside
Credit crunch confounding sales?
PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 console sales were almost neck-and-neck in the US last month, according to local market watcher NPD. But consoles sales are still declining across the board.
During August, Microsoft outsold Sony with sales of 195,200 Xbox 360s, compared to 185,400 PS3.
But August’s US sales figures for both companies were down on NPD's July numbers. Microsoft sold 205,000 Xbox 360s Stateside during July and Sony shifted 225,000 PS3s.
NPD's numbers cover a period before Microsoft cut the price of the Xbox 360 in the US, reductions the software giant claimed "doubled" sales of the console immediately afterward.
However, Jack Tretton, President of Sony Computer Entertainment America, is still bullish about the PS3’s strength, and claimed in a statement that the console offers gamers a “string of unmatched content”. He hinted that upcoming titles, such as Socom: Confrontation and Resistance 2, will help boost PS3 demand further.
If you’re wondering which console topped NPD’s US sales list for August, then it was Nintendo’s DS, with sales of 518,300 units. The Wii came in a close second, with 453,000 sales during the month, although its sales were still down on the 555,000 sold during July.
Sony’s aging PS2 sold a respectable 144,100 consoles in the US during August, proving there’s life in the old gal yet.
COMMENTS
Absolutely crap reporting
Reporting the month to month numbers and neglecting the year over year numbers was horribly biased. There are only two consoles down year over year: the 360, which everyone waited on the price drop to buy (as demonstrated by the huge sales in the beginning of November), and the PS2, which can't keep selling so much (can it?).
I really expect batter out of you guys than this.
man i love comments
every page on the web should have a comment section at the end.
Xbox 360
Xbox 360 sales are no doubt declining due to the rrod issue which has really hurt MS. Word is starting to finally get around that a 360 at any price is only yours for 6 months before it takes a United Package Smashers all-expense-paid holiday down to the repair shops.
What seems more likely...
...is that with gas prices as high as they are in the states, and so many people loaded down with gas guzzling SUVs, that the disposable income that would normally be used on things like game consoles is now going straight into people's gas tanks.
No one *needs* a gaming console but they do still need to drive to and from their jobs, the grocery store, etc. I think that his is likely at least a big a factor in the dropping sales as any of the other things mentioned in the article.
Sheesh
So its not because most people are on holiday then?
Nor that christmas is coming and big purchases like this tend to get pushed back?
Oh no, it has to be The Credit Crunch. Man the pitchforks!
