Following the console performing considerably well during Black Friday, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has topped the U.S. game hardware market in November for the umpteenth time.
It sold 1.26 million Xbox 360 units in November, making it the top-selling console in the market for the 23rd consecutive month.
Microsoft's achievement, however, is somewhat surprising; Nintendo launched its next-generation console in the form of the Wii U, but the former did manage to sell 960,000 units during the week of Black Friday. The Wii U also launched around halfway through the month, giving the console fewer days to accumulate sales.
Nintendo announced that its total hardware sales during the month, which includes the Wii U, Wii, 3DS and DS, reached 1.75 million. It sold 910,000 units between its DS and 3DS, as well as 845,000 console units. The Wii U in particular sold more than 425,000 units last month.
Sony refused to reveal hardware figures for the month. Total hardware sales reached $838.9 million, representing a 13 percent decline versus the $962.2 million generated during the same period in 2011.
As for the gaming software side, sales decreased by 11 percent to $1.43 billion during November. Accessory sales also suffered a similar fate, dropping by 8 percent for total sales of $280.9 million. Ultimately, the gaming industry accumulated $2.55 billion in sales last month, which is a 11 percent drop when compared to the $2.87 billion the market generated during the same period last year.
"It's important to compare this month's results to November 2005, which was the last time the industry began to transition between console generations with the launch of a new platform," NPD analyst Liam Callahan said. "Comparing this month's results to November 2005, retail video games sales are nearly twice as big as they were then (+97%). This really demonstrates the long-term health of retail sales even as many platforms are quite late in their lifecycles.
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"Despite an overall retail video game decline of 11 percent, November had the smallest year-over-year decrease we have seen for dollar and unit sales so far this year," he added. "This is a sign of momentum going into the December holiday period."
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hakesterman Yeah I don't know what the big deal is about Toms Hardware repeatedly stateing about all theseReply
irrelevant console sales. All three Companys includding Sony are sitting just fine, and these are all
out dated consoles anyway. ( Big Deal ). As for the Wii U, it's nothing at all to get excited about, it's
processing power is less than that of a 7 year old Xbox360 so Bla Bla Bla. The Big story about Consoles will be next Holiday season when the real Next Gen. Consoles arrive. -
Kami3k dauntekongGee thats sad... in US only...Reply
Yes, in the biggest market for consoles, how sad.... -
dimar I want to know which platform (consoles, PC, mobile devices..) sold highest amount of games $$$ and units.Reply -
JOSHSKORN dimarI want to know which platform (consoles, PC, mobile devices..) sold highest amount of games $$$ and units.I'm going to guess a console will still win, only because game devs whine out of their butts about how PC gaming is so hackable which is their excuse to not make a PC port.Reply
That might just be the sad truth. We all know damn well that we could build a PC today that will outdo probably the next generation of consoles, well, certainly the Wii U, but that's not all that difficult. -
crisan_tiberiu i just can't buy a current console when the new ones knock on the door...but that's just meReply -
Just means to me that there are alot of 12-17 yr olds out there with really outdated hardware by the tv. Even the so called next gen consoles are already outdated by my current PC specs.Reply
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kellybean Considering how hi their failure rate is I'm not surprised. Sure someone is going to buy another Crapbox when theirs dies because of all the money they have tied up in the games. Everyone I ever talk to that games on the Crapbox has bought at least several over the years to replace a broken one. I'm sure all the MS fanboys on Tom's will mark me down so go ahead but the truth is still the truth.Reply -
loomis86 Not surprising. Kinect is popular and xbox has a reputation for being the best for first person shooter games. If MS doesn't pull a bone-headed stunt like they did with windows 8, they should own the console market in 2 years.Reply