Although there were informal mutterings around results last week, the NPD US sales details for July are starting to go public; Nintendo, in a break from recent convention, has news so good that it's leapt out with a press release to sum up its successes. Bear in mind the NPD results only account for physical retail sales in the US.
Nintendo is able to claim the best-selling games system in the US for July; for the first time in quite a while the 3DS was the top selling hardware, boosted by Capcom's Monster Hunter Generations and Pokémon titles benefitting from GO mania. In fact, Generations was the best-selling game overall, though Nintendo doesn't clarify whether that's in the overall chart or the single SKU chart. Either way it's an impressive result for the rather fantastic entry in the series, and a boost for all that hope for strong sales to encourage further MH localisations from Capcom.
The following bullet points from Nintendo's press release outline how good July was for the 3DS and a few key releases, including one on Wii U.
- The Nintendo 3DS family of systems sold nearly 80 percent more units this July compared to the same time period a year ago, and finished as the overall best-selling video game system in July. On the software side, Capcom's Monster Hunter Generations emerged as the best-selling game for any system.
- July sales of the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire games for Nintendo 3DS were over 80 percent higher than July 2015. The games launched in November 2014.
- July sales of the Pokémon X and Pokémon Y games for Nintendo 3DS were almost 200 percent higher than a year ago. The games launched in October 2013 and finished No. 16 and No. 22 on July's best-sellers list, respectively.
- Games playable on Nintendo systems claimed five of the top 11 spots on the July best-sellers list. These include Monster Hunter Generations from Capcom at No. 1, Minecraft: Wii U Edition from Microsoft at No. 6, Pokémon Omega Ruby at No. 8, Pokémon Alpha Sapphire at No. 10 and Kirby: Planet Robobot at No. 11.
- The Nintendo 2DS system has crossed the 2 million lifetime sales mark in the U.S.
The 2DS dropped price to $79.99 earlier in the Summer, too, which is also being highlighted as a key to improved sales.
It's always pleasing to see Nintendo notch up some sales wins, and it's especially pleasing to see Generations continue the strong momentum that we saw with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.
Let us know what you think of these results in the comments.
Comments 31
@KingofSaiyanZ Capcom said they have no need for MH to be on a home console anymore. The whole point of MH3U for Wii U was online which worked out fine for MH4U on 3DS.
@KingofSaiyanZ At this point I'm just hoping the NX is a console/handheld hybrid that can play 3DS games on the TV. Wouldn't mind replaying 4U if that happens...
According to Sony sites it was the Xbox one that took the top spot? Iunno. Must be hard mentioning a competitor that's only relevant from a dinky little handheld.
And I only praise Sony at times because I'd rather take 12 million angry people than 40 million.
@BLPs sounds more like they think handhelds don't count. That's been the naritive they have used since the vita flopped.
"Bear in mind the NPD results only account for physical retail sales in the US."
Actually, that's not entirely true. NPD started tracking digital sales with June's NPD, but not every publisher gives digital data. They also changed it to where the top 10 list for software is a revenue ranking, rather than a units sold ranking.
@BLPs The Xbox One took the top console spot. A bit of spin from Microsoft and the media there.
So smartphone games can translate into "normal" games sales.
@IceClimbers
Exactly right, which is why GTAV was in the top 2 last month, as digital sales are included (for some games and systems).
Nice to see Nintendo on top again. And it's been really fun seeing the Pokemon craze start up again thanks to Pokemon Go. I think this is the most popular the brand has been since it first began.
This is a spectacular domination by Nintendo, which is saying quite a bit given the age of the 3DS and the renewed popularity of Pokemon.
Glad to see it. Nintendo may not make that much from Pokemon Go, but its halo effect over the rest of the Nintendo lineup is surely putting more money in the coffers than expected. I am surprised at Monster Hunter taking the overall #1, but that is great to see as well.
@Agent721 To be fair, it's not like GTAV needed those changes to be in the top 10 list lol
@KingofSaiyanZ Pfft, I maxed out the time thing on mine...lol
@IceClimbers
True that. 65 million copies sold & counting...
@KingofSaiyanZ Anyways I'm fine with the games on the handheld, but 4U would've been perfect on the console. Since it focused on story and had the new monster cutscenes that involved the player for once.
@BLPs
When a dinky little handheld is outselling the "fastest selling gaming device" of the current generation, I think it's fair to say that it's not so dinky. Or if it is, what does that say about the consoles that are being outsold by that "dinky handheld".
The handheld market is every bit as viable as the console market. There is no dinky. It's a gaming platform. And everything is relevant- it's just a question of to what degree. Wii U is relevant. Vita is relevant. It's just only 1/3 as relevant as the top selling gaming devices.
@JaxonH I'm commenting from their viewpoint. Xbox one won because it's not the Vita in the top spot. Remember these people are spec obsessed and western game focused. Need I remind you of the antipathy towards the Japanese sales on push square? If the ps4 isn't miles ahead it's not good. Even if the Vita isn't miles ahead it's not good. The 3ds family simply does not exist to these people.
Hell I remember when both were new I met people who filmed themselves with the Vita camera, smashing 3ds units. That's the kind of people that matter in modern gaming. And it's kinda sad when the trends lean that way. Hell some of the fantastic anti Japanese gaming I see is...good god. It's even in my uni. Pc or bust. EA and Activision or bust.
The renewed focus on 2DS is paying dividends. 2DS is the current go-to system for playing games in the "3DS family".
That's great! Hopefully MH Stories will get localized soon...
Hopefully this bodes well for continued 3ds support for a little while longer. I know if NX is a handheld the focus will shift but a boost in sales this year could be leveraged for some software sales down the line. If nothing else Nintendo can continue to increase their VC and digital offerings for thr 3ds.
Guess it's great that the 3DS hunted top spot, the Wii U on the other hand...
Deep Down Capcom knows Monster Hunter on Nintendo is the only franchise they need. NX will launch with a Monster Hunter game.
@KingofSaiyanZ SAMEEEE
@JaxonH You aren't wrong, but if you are comparing how many people are playing, individual consoles get used by multiple people vs. portable systems which are usually only played by one who much more frequently will buy multiple models. So, there are legitimate reasons not to compare the numbers directly.
I'm more fascinated by how effective Pokemon GO on smart phones has been at getting people to pick up traditional games and apparently new hardware. I always thought it was a decent bet that mobile games could do this, but there were plenty of people that seemed convinced that it was an impossibility. I guess we don't know if it will work with IPs that aren't so huge. Overall, Pokemon is an argument for the value of advertising, merchandizing and spreading a brand. Nintendo is not just watching, it has already started on that road and is reaping actual monetary rewards from it. Should be hard to ignore.
How ironic that Nintendo once feared entering the mobile market so much, yet it is the mobile market that is causing sales surges to their dedicated handheld business and may be the key starting point in stopping and reversing the sales declines of dedicated handhelds.
@aaronsullivan What about people that buy multiple same home consoles for different rooms (i.e. PS3 in the family room and bed room)? I wish people didn't use that statement (unless backed by some type of hard data home console ownership per user vs portable console ownership per user)
I know these games haven't been announced, but I can't help but wonder what will smartphone releases of Mario and Zelda do for the franchises as a whole. Will they spark interest in old games and merchandise like with Pokemon. Even more interesting would be to see how a Donkey Kong smartphone release would effect the franchise.
@KingofSaiyanZ Capcom would be dumb to develop MH on a console. They can sell a lot more copies for a much smaller investment with portable games.
@westman98 this is the strategy they should have done years ago. Release a version of a game on mobile that will channel people to their devices. If done properly, I'll bet a mobile Mario game could have a similar effect. If nothing else, having a mobile presence is a form of marketing and awareness creation.
@Malakai
I guess the multiple room thing could happen. Does that seem common to you? The same exact console in both places? Seems more likely that the PS3 might go to the kid's area where the PS4 gets the prominent treatment. I don't know.
I went looking for data because you got me curious...
You can see that adults are more likely to have own at least one console than at least one portable gaming device:
http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/29/technology-device-ownership-2015/pi_2015-10-29_device-ownership_0-01/
In 2014 a study showed “the average household in the U.S. has at least two gamers” most of them on dedicated game machines (article calls them consoles but it could include portable game devices): http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/29/gaming-advocacy-group-the-average-gamer-is-31-and-most-play-on-a-console/
Dedicated gaming handhelds were used far less often than consoles for gaming in 2014 (34% vs. 6%).
http://time.com/120476/nielsen-video-games/
Side note from that report: perhaps the Pokemon GO phenomenon of affecting play on dedicated gaming devices shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone as half of people who play on consoles also play games on their phones in 2014, and that was a climbing percentage.
The most recent data
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/percentage-of-us-homes-with-game-console-drops-for/1100-6439360/
shows that “Most popular platforms for frequent gamers include PC (56 percent), console (53 percent), smartphone (36 percent), wireless device (31 percent), and dedicated handheld system (17 percent).”
So, I guess you can now extrapolate sales numbers in a rough way. PS4+XB1+WiiU comes out to about 70 mil and so does 3DS+Vita about. So… That should mean about 50/50. These people are saying they play the console the most, though. 56 to 17 ratio. Pretty rough but a big disparity.
So, how does all that happen? The perception that many people share a console and many people buy more than one portable but only play one at a time seems a viable hypothesis at least. Haven’t seen hard numbers on this, but it still seems logical to me.
One bias I have is that the age of the average gamer has climbed yearly — I've been around for awhile — so the common situation of families having a bunch of kids using one console may not be as obvious and even true anymore. Many more single adults might balance this out a bit. It’d be nice to imagine they have friends that share their console, but gamers with disposable income probably buy one for their home pretty often even if they don’t play it much. So, I’m willing to admit that my assumption is based on a bias and facts that were previously self-evident are now much more murky.
Look at the marketing approach, though. Nintendo apparently wants 3DS owners to buy one for each day of the week, where Microsoft and Sony want you to sell you something attractive to finally get you on board. Then, they're happy to have you. It is changing, though, with the NEO and Scorpio and it’s interesting to note that Nintendo has been doing that mid-cycle upgrade for a long time now (DSi, 3DS XL, New 3DS). Maybe we are at a tipping point on this issue.
This is why I believe it is exclusives that drives systems. This one just happens to be a third party exclusive.
@aaronsullivan the numbers only hold true for the United States. So, the console and handheld split is not evenly disturbed across the globe-in refecerence to your 50-50 split of handhelds. Looking at the gamestop article we have roughly 13 million +11 million +5 million= 29 million for PS4, Xbox One and Wii U receptively. Also, we still are getting releases for PS3 and Xbox 360 where this isn't the case for the DS, PSP. (which I can imagine this may as well be the case for the Vita in the United States as well) I believe the Xbox 360 sold about 40 million in US and the PS3 did about something about in the mid 20 million-ish (for this comment I'm going to assume 25 million in the US) figure. (Assuming a one to one relationship i.e. PS3 owner brought a PS4 case or a Xbox 360 brought a Xbox One which I know isn't exactly the case) We have 25 million minus 13 million equals 12 million remaining PS3 and 40 million minus 11 million equals 30 million reaming Xbox 360. So roughly at most 42 million gen 7 console owners out there that still may be gaming on them. 42 million for gen 7 and 29 million for gen 8 home console gamers. Roughly 71 million active home console gamers in the United States vs only the active 17 million gamers on the 3DS platform in the United States.
The gamespot article percentages refers to: "Top devices most frequent gamers use": PC (56%), dedicated game console (53%), smartphone (36%), wireless device (31%), dedicated handheld system (17%)
So, going by my calculated figures it seem as if the home console are the one that is underrepresented vs the handheld.
It was a rough number mash up but I can't make sense of yours. Conveniently allowing all 360 and PS3 while disallowing DS even though there is a 5 year difference in launch time between the home consoles and the 3DS. It was sloppy of me to compare just XB1 PS4 Wii U to 3DS + Vita but worldwide sales of 360 and PS3 were ~1 million each worldwide in 2015.
Numbers are too fuzzy on this. I wish we had some hard numbers. We see that there are 1.7 gamers per "gaming" household on average, so if we could just see how many home consoles per household on average and how many handheld consoles on average we'd really have something.
I will admit that I imagine a scenario where people who buy consoles very rarely buy more than one of the same type until the prices come way down when a new generation console appears. Otherwise, if there is going to be a second console it ends up being one of the competing consoles. Anecdotally I see people talking about owning multiple handhelds all the time. None of that is evidence just limited support of a hypothesis.
Anyway, good discussion but these numbers of mine and of yours just aren't doing it for me.
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