Items tagged with NPD Group
Nintendo has seemingly struck gold with its Switch console, which was first released in early 2017 across North America. While the console doesn't exactly feature high-end hardware -- it can't even match the hardware chops of the PlayStation 4 or Xbox Series S -- but its innovative controls and solid first-party games library have made it a popular choice with gamers. Now, the NPD Group is reporting that the Switch's sales winning streak is still ongoing in the United States, as it has remained the best-selling console for 23 straight months. That's quite an achievement for Nintendo, and NPD says that this is the longest #1 streak for any game console in history. In keeping with that theme,...
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A new NPG Group report is out that looked at video game spending in June 2020. The report found that spending in June was the highest that has ben recorded since 2010. It's not surprising that people are spending big money on gaming in the U.S. as many around the nation are still unable to [fully] return to work due to the coronavirus pandemic. NPD shows that in June, Americans spent $6.6 billion on hardware, software, and accessories, which is the highest total so far this year. Despite the pandemic, video game sales have boomed in 2020 with dramatically higher spending. Through June 2020, overall spending on games and hardware was up 19% year-over-year. Comparing June 2020 to June 2019, spending...
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In what might come as a shocker to you (well, not really), the U.S. video game market set a record high for sales during the first quarter of 2020. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the reasoning was behind the increase; we can look no further than the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic that has been forced many Americans to work from home, and has given school-age children plenty of free time. According to NPD, spending on "video game products" hit a record $10.86 billion during the first three months of 2020. To put this figure in perspective, it represented a 9 percent increase over the same quarter last year. Of that total, a whopping $9.58 billion was spent solely on video...
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Smartphone OEMs have wasted no time pushing the envelope with specs and pricing in recent years. Devices like the iPhone 11 Pro and Galaxy Note 10 start at around $1,000 and can easily creep into the mid $1,000 range when you up the storage capacity (or add 5G in the case of Samsung's flagships). Likewise, Samsung is testing pricing limits with the Galaxy Fold, which is priced at $1,980. However, a new report from research firm NPD Group suggests that these uber-expensive smartphones haven't exactly been a hit with U.S. consumers. In fact, NPD's Mobile Phone Tracking service shows that fewer than 10 percent of Americans are choosing smartphones that retail for $1,000+. Given that some flagship...
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The NPD Group has published a few new reports that look into the performance of the video game industry in the U.S. for 2017. It was a good year for gaming hardware and software makers with significant growth: total revenue in the industry hit $36 billion for the year. That $36 billion number represents growth of 18% compared to 2016. The figures combine hardware revenue (including peripherals) and software sales (including both physical, digital sales and subscriptions). "The spectacular growth of our industry in 2017 proves video game developers, artists, and storytellers are the brightest lights in the US economy, finding more ways to delight the world’s 2.6 billion gamers each...
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Nintendo was in need of a win leading up to the launch of its hybrid Switch console, and despite the skepticism that gamers would embrace a comparatively under powered game console to Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One, they have done just that. According to NPD Group, Nintendo was the big winner in July, outselling both the Xbox One and PS4 in the US. Unfortunately NPD Group did not provide exact figures for individual console sales, though seeing the Switch land on top is vindication for Nintendo's decision to go with its gut, something that did not work out so well when designing the Wii U. And though the Switch launched to a limited catalog of games—The Legend of Zelda: Breath...
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Back when I was a kid, mobile gaming meant packing up my collection of He-Man figures, Voltron and GoBot toys, and other awesome 1980s items and bringing them to a friend's house. It's a different world now, one that's dominated by pocket-sized computers (we call them smartphones) capable of playing graphically intensive games. They're not only capable, they're the preferred method for playing games among today's youth. According to market research firm The NPD Group, more kids and teens between the ages of 2-17 in the U.S. play games on mobiles devices like phones and tablets (63 percent) than on consoles (60 percent) or PCs (45 percent), the latter of which is down 22 percentage points since...
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Market research firm NPD Group released its game sales data for the month of August, which were down 10 percent year-over-year to $207.9 million. This year's new releases just couldn't live up to the blockbuster titles that came out a year ago, including Diablo III for consoles and The Last of Us for PlayStation 4.This timer around, it was EA's Madden NFL 16 that topped the games sales chart, followed by Minecraft. Yes, Minecraft , and that's indicative of why sales are down. Having a game that made its first appearance in 2009 in alpha form and in 2011 as a polished product take the number two spot on the sales chart is indicative of the need for more hit titles.Here's a look at the top ten...
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It doesn't happen very often, so you'll have to excuse Microsoft if it savors the moment after its Xbox One console outsold rival Sony and its PlayStation 4 system last month, according to data collected by NPD Group. The Xbox One was the best selling game console in the U.S. in April, a month in which overall hardware sales decreased by 4 percent. Microsoft needed a win. Since launch, the PS4 has been pretty consistent in outselling the Xbox One, which no doubt played a role in Microsoft's decision to sell the standalone console without a second generation Kinect motion control sensor. Microsoft also reacted to customer demand by running a series of promotions, including game bundles to sweeten...
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It was a bit of a weird month in June for the video game industry. According to a fresh report from NPD Group, overall sales of game systems, software, and accessories in June came to $735 million, representing a healthy 24 percent jump compared to the same month a year ago. It's also the ninth consecutive month of increased sales in the games category, which can be credited in large part to new console purchases. Hardware sales jumped a whopping 106 percent to $292.7 million -- not terribly shocking when you consider that a year ago, gamers were holding out for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, both of which are now easily accessible. However, software sales declined 3 percent to $286.8 million...
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In the U.S. smartphone market, it's relatively slim pickings for companies not named Apple or Samsung. According to the latest data by NPD Group, Apple and Samsung now collectively account for 68 percent of all smartphones in the U.S., which works out to better than six-in-ten smartphones. That's up from a 52 percent penetration rate in the fourth quarter of 2012. Apple is the biggest winner with a 42 percent share of the market, up from 35 percent one year ago. Samsung, which mostly builds Android devices (while also dabbling in Windows Phone territory), increased its share from 22 percent a year ago to 26 percent currently. Image Source: Flickr (twicepix) With smartphones becoming so commonplace,...
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Microsoft earned a bit of bragging rights as we head into a new era of console gaming. As far as the previous generation goes, the company's Xbox 360 maintained its position as the best selling home console (not including handhelds) in the U.S. in 2013 by selling 166,000 units, according to the latest data from NPD. Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in October (hardware, software, and accessories) reached $283 million, the most for any console in the U.S. That's not a bad way to end things as Microsoft looks ahead to its Xbox One launch next Friday. As for the industry as a whole, sales for new hardware and software at retail in October topped $791.1 million, up 5 percent from 2012,...
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Game related spending declined yet again last month, falling 10 percent $992.5 billion, according to the latest data published by the NPD Group. However, that number doesn't tell the whole store. In fact, it may account for only half of what gamers actually spent on game related software, hardware, and accessories. How so? "When you consider our preliminary estimate for other physical format sales in March such as used and rentals at $190 million, and our estimate for digital format sales including full game and add-on content downloads including micro-transactions, subscriptions, mobile apps, and the consumer spend on social network games at $670 million, we would estimate the total consumer...
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If you want to know why the PC market is struggling, just look at the rapid rise of Internet connected devices. Sure, a desktop or laptop system offers far more functionality than a smartphone or tablet, and PCs aren't going the way of the dodo bird, but at the same time, mainstream users mostly interested in checking their Facebook feeds and firing off the occasional email can do so with a mobile device. Let's have a look at the numbers. According to recent data by NPD Group, there are 500 million Internet connected devices just in U.S. homes alone. The number of connected gadgets per U.S. Internet household has grown to 5.7, up from 5.3 devices three months ago; the installed base of tablets...
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Call of Duty: Black Ops II couldn't hold onto the top spot in game sales in February, yielding pole position to Dead Space 3, a spooky third person shooter developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronics Arts, according to the latest data by The NPD Group. Total software sales dropped 27 percent to $352 million from $484 million a year prior. Dead Space 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PC) Crysis 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) NBA 2K13 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC) Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3, Xbox 360) Aliens: Colonial Marines 2013 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) Just Dance 4 (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U) Far Cry 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) Sly Cooper: Thieves...
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Last month the NPD Group reported that Call of Duty: Black Ops II led slumping game sales in the U.S., noting that the video game industry as a whole declined 22 percent in December. Fast forward to today and NPD Group is now reporting a 9 percent increase in game sales in January, but that's only because January benefited from an extra week of accounting. NPD Group follows the National Retail Federation's calendar, which adds an extra week of sales every five to six years. This happened to be that year, so January's figures ended up inflated by tallying a five-week period instead of four weeks. In any event, gamers spent $834.7 million on game-related hardware, software, and accessories in January,...
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The video game industry industry declined 22 percent in December, dropping from $4.1 billion in retail sales in 2011 to $3.21 billion in 2012, according to the latest data published by the NPD Group. Software sales were hit the hardest, dropping 27 percent because of fewer releases. "A major culprit in the decline in retail sales in 2012 was the lack of new releases with 29 percent less SKUs across consoles, portables, and PCs," analyst Liam Callahan said, according to Gamasutra. "However, the SKUs that were released generated 8 percent more units per SKU and 11 percent more dollars per SKU." That last statement should be encouraging to game developers and publishers, though it's unclear why...
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You can't argue with the convenience of streaming video, provided you're rocking a fast enough Internet connection to watch your favorite movies without annoying hiccups and sudden drops in picture quality. As it turns out, consumers are also finding all those video rental kiosks convenient, and combined with brick-and-mortar store rentals, DVDs and Blu-ray rentals are still the media of choice for watching full-length feature films, according to data by The NPD Group. The NPD Group found that kiosks, brick-and-mortar stores, and movies by mail via Netflix accounted for 62 percent of movie rental orders during the first half of 2012. By comparison, digital movie rentals accounted for the other...
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According to date compiled by the NPD Group, Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes was the best selling game in the U.S. in the month of June, but game sames overall were down -- way down. Total game sales dropped by 29 percent year-over-year to $699.8 million in June, while software sales tumbled 27 percent to $362.8 million. Hardware sales took the biggest hit, dropping 45 percent to $201 million. Interestingly, game accessory sales climbed by 4 percent to $169.8 million. It was the only category to see an increase. NPD's figures don't tell the whole story, as they only include figures for new physical hardware, software, and accessories. The numbers completely ignore digital sales, as well as used...
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In the beginning, some questioned whether or not Intel's Ultrabook initiative would catch on. And now? There's little doubt that Ultrabooks are the wave of the future. Market research firm NPD Group says "Ultrabook sales are off to a fast start" so far in 2012, snagging 11 percent of all $700+ Windows-based notebook sales in the U.S. "Ultrabooks have helped establish a market for more premium-priced Windows notebooks at retail," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at The NPD Group. "The share of sales that the $700+ notebook segment represents jumped from about 12 percent in 2011 to nearly 14 percent in 2012 as a result of the solid market acceptance Ultrabooks have gained....
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Old Man Winter made an early exit this year in may parts of the country, and perhaps the unexpected sunshine led to gamers discovering things to do outside the house. Whatever the reason, by the time April rolled around, videogame sales were on a sharp decline, dropping a whopping 32 percent to $630.4 million in the U.S., according to NPD Group's data. Breaking it down by category, software sales plummeted 42 percent to $307.2 million, a figure that includes PC and console games, and related hardware dropped 32 percent to $189.7 million. If not Old Man Winter, go ahead and blame the Easter Bunny. "This year, Easter fell very early in April, which means most Easter-related purchases may have fallen...
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Microsoft's Xbox 360 had another record month in November and remained the top selling console for the fourth consecutive month with 1.7 million unit sales in the U.S. alone, according to data released by market research firm NPD Group. That's a 23 percent year-over-year jump, but perhaps more importantly, Microsoft was able to move almost twice as many Xbox 360 consoles in the U.S. in November than Sony's PlayStation 3, which notched 900,000 sales. After that, the most popular consoles in the month of November all belonged to Nintendo, who sold 860,000 Wii consoles, 795,000 3DS handheld consoles, and 350,000 DS units in the U.S. "This is the fourth consecutive month in which the Xbox 360 has...
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