Topic: Official DS Sales Thread

[Noble~Feather]

Now, why did PSP outsell DS this week? No reason? Hmm...

I guess it's safe to say PSP has Japan.

[KnowsNothing]

I think it's safe to say that you don't know what you're talking about.

[zakkiel]

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Most good political polls only contact a few thousand people and then they extrapolate a few million. And they do a pretty good job of it. If NPD "only" has something like 75% of the industry's sales known to them as undeniable fact, you'd think their estimates would be pretty reliable.

Good polling requires randomization. This sampling isn't random, and therefore there can be confounds. For example, Walmart may be more likely to sell cheaper hardware. No one can actually say what the margin of error is without doing a whole lot of looking at trend data for the sales from nonplayers to see if variations like these exist.

[Mario]

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Originally posted by: Noble~Feather
Now, why did PSP outsell DS this week? No reason? Hmm...

I guess it's safe to say PSP has Japan.

With DS's 1 million lead, and the fact it has GAMES people will buy a system for coming out for it, I guess it's safe to say Nintendo DS has Japan.

[BlackNMild2k1]

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Originally posted by: Blackknight131
I hear Puppy Times has sold around 80,00 copies already...its first day.
Wonder if that will generate more sales.

Ah screw it, combined with the new colors sales will likely double.

That pink DS is really, really nice =)

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Here are the first day sales of new titles released in Japan on April 20 - 21.

Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song (PS2, Square Enix) - 140,000 units
Fire Emblem: Souen no Kiseki (GC, Nintendo) - 90,000 units
Nintendogs (NDS, Nintendo) - 80,000 units
Baseball Live 2005 (PS2, Namco) - 25,000 units

source - The-Magicbox.com
 

[couchmonkey]

PSP certainly doesn't "have" Japan.  I have to admit it's doing inexplicably well considering it doesn't have a lot of new releases and most of its games don't seem to sell as well as the DS', but considering how one-sided the console wars usually seem to be over there, I think the DS vs. PSP is probably the closest battle Japan has ever seen.  It seems like a lot of people are buying PSPs as media player gadgets in Japan.

[mantidor]

and that sucks for sony... now see devs being idiots and start supporting more the psp even when its clear that the software doesnt sell.

[Stimutacs Addict]

... and that sucks for Nintendo  

[KDR_11k]

Actually it sucks for everyone. Sony doesn't get game revenue, Publishers sell no games and Nintendo gets no games. Perhaps we'll see publishers dropping PSP support because of low software sales numbers...

[Caterkiller]

Well this week the DS's sales have sky rocketed to like 70,000 something because of Nintendogs. I havn't read anything about the PSP, but there is no way it has equaled the DS in its sales this week. If Nintendogs is as popular and great as it seems it may keep the DS at #1 for a nice bit of time. I just can't see the PSP completely taking over Japan.

[Mario]

I heard PSP sold 33,000 and DS sold 96,000 for the week. Nintendogs is HUGE!

[Kokoro]

I think after a while the PSP hype will die down and the D.S. will outsell, I personally hate the PSP if I want an DVD player I'll buy a nice one, Or if I want a Mp3 player I will buy one, not one machine that has subpar performance

[Blackknight131]

If the DS games are as fresh and compelling as Nintendogs apparently is, the DS will clearly be a very big success by all means.
Either way, the PSP will also sell very well...its path and strategy is clear and its multiple functionalities will find a sizeable number of fans. That in itself is fairly inevitable...a price drop will likely start the next stage of large-scale PSP sales.

But hey, if you dont care for a PSP then no worries either way as DS owners have an assload of cool games to look forward to: frankly I think the DS software library will, in a year's time, stand as an impressive entity once the current development cycle has seen through its output and the RPGs and shooters and online enabled games permeate the lineup.

[Deguello]

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Either way, the PSP will also sell very well...its path and strategy is clear and its multiple functionalities will find a sizeable number of fans.

<derail> I theorize that its multiple functions will be what makes the PSP totally unappealing to game developers.  I mean, the DS is pretty much a game-only device, even with those afterthought Play-Whatever things (as they should be... afterthoughts).  That means whoever has a DS is going to be buying mainly video games.  

The PSP, however is a game/movie/mp3 player that Sony can't decide what they want to market as.  I mean it mainly plays games (it is called the Playstation Portable for a reason), but also has built-in move playback and mp3 things, and those were not afterthoughts.  I heard that there will be more UMD Movies at the end of the summer than actual games for the PSP.  And Sony oddly won't shut up about the Ipod and keeps talking about taking that down instead of the Gameboy/DS (jeez eyes on the prize, guys).  That means it is very possble given it's multiple functions that people are buying a PSP without a game, or that they will buy very few games.  That's bad for Sony, that they lose money on the PSP itself and can't make any up in game royalties or their own software. But most importantly it's bad for 3rd parties.  They find themselves competing against music and movies alongside higher budgets for handheld games.

Now despite the DS's cheaper development, let's suppose the budgets for each system were about equal.  If you were a third party, which system would you make games for?  A machine with a higher installed base comprised of dedicated, game-buying customers, manufactured by a company who, aside from optional add-ons, promotes it as such?  Or a machine with a smaller, fragmented installed base that users may or may not buy games for, made by a company that can't decide what market it is in?  

[nitsu niflheim]

NDS Nintendogs: Shiba and friends - Nintendo - 83,000
NDS Nintendogs: Dachs and friends - Nintendo - 53,000
NDS Nintendogs: Chihuahua and friends - Nintendo - 46,000

for a total of 182,000 copies.

[Artimus]

My lord! That's absolutely friggin fantastic! That's like over a 10th of all DS owners in what? The first WEEK!?

And...Naruto 3 placed number 3 on the list with 84,195 sold...so that's places 3-6 all DS games.

OMGZ!?



The actual numbers for the week:

1. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song - 216,904 (PS2)
2. Fire Emblem - 102,073 (GC)
3. Naruto 3 - 84,195 (DS)
4. Nintendogs: Siba & Friends - 82,585 (DS)
5. Nintendogs: Dachs & Friends - 52,563 (DS)
6. NintendogS: Chihuahua & Friends - 45,826
7. Baseball Live 2005 - 43,852 (PS2)
8. Mega Man Zero 4 - 37,973 (GBA)
9. Mobile Suit Gundam: One Year War - 29,592 (PS2)
10. Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zone of Control - 29,473

Other games of note:

14. Touch! Kirby (DS)
21. Made in Wario (DS)
24. Egg Monster Hero (DS)

And may I add the system sales for the week:

PlayStation 2 - (33,080)
PSP - (33,004)
GameCube - (8,329)
Game Boy Advance - (422)
Game Boy Advance SP - (10,820)
Nintendo DS - (96,191)
Xbox - (112)

That's 53% of the market share being DS.

[KDR_11k]

So Romancing Saga will again be a good game? Cool, can't wait!

[Arbok]

In unrelated news, DAMN those Xbox systems sold is low... great to see some more succesful DS games, though.

[Blackknight131]

Edit: ugh I was supposed to quote Kdr two posts above me... -__-

Heh, tho they had to turn to a remake of the very first one...nevertheless I havent had the pleasure of playing one of the legendary Romancing Saga games, this might serve as a nice segueway into the series.  

[Blackknight131]

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Originally posted by: Deguello

Quote
Either way, the PSP will also sell very well...its path and strategy is clear and its multiple functionalities will find a sizeable number of fans.

<derail>Now despite the DS's cheaper development, let's suppose the budgets for each system were about equal.  If you were a third party, which system would you make games for?  A machine with a higher installed base comprised of dedicated, game-buying customers, manufactured by a company who, aside from optional add-ons, promotes it as such?  Or a machine with a smaller, fragmented installed base that users may or may not buy games for, made by a company that can't decide what market it is in?

That would honestly depend on what kind of game I was making. A game like GTA truly does not fit the general Nintendo-system owning audience as well as it does the general PSP-buying audience.
This is a conclusion reinforced by the actions of third parties this Gamecube generation (LucasArts, another chance!!).

However, I am not saying the DS does not have the potential to change that unfortuneate culture...it will need the right kind of games tho, and the likes of Metroid Prime Hunters, Another Code, Goldeneye, Castlevania and Age of Empires are a good indication of a more well-balanced system.

I do want to note tho, that the hardcore gaming crowd who loves their RPGs are almost guarunteed to have a DS in their future...the stable of japanese-style RPGs already slated for the DS is very impressive.

[BlackNMild2k1]

The battle between DS & PSP - from the beginning

Here you go:

5th December 2004:-

NDS - 468,883

12th December 2004:-

NDS - 198,892
PSP - 160,019

19th December 2004:-

NDS - 221,625
PSP - 85,059

26th December 2004:-

NDS - 396,674
PSP - 107,217

2nd January 2005:-

NDS - 209,522
PSP - 129,957

9th January 2005:-

NDS - 108,561
PSP - 62,052

16th January 2005:-

NDS - 53,527
PSP - 64,602

23rd January 2005:-

NDS - 44,604
PSP - 66,543

30th January 2005:-

NDS - 43,226
PSP - 74,405

6th February 2005:-

NDS - 29,552
PSP - 48,781

13th February 2005:-

NDS - 26,205
PSP - 45,972

20th February 2005:-

NDS - 22,363
PSP - 38,314

27th February 2005:-

NDS - 26,761
PSP - 41,867

6th March 2005:-

NDS - 25,759
PSP - 47,633

13th March 2005:-

NDS - 26,537
PSP - 46,307

20th March 2005:-

NDS - 22,446
PSP - 43,644

27th March 2005:-

NDS - 55,825
PSP - 43,043

3rd April 2005:-

NDS - 43,023
PSP - 33,911

10th April 2005-

NDS - 30,028
PSP - 28,848

17th April 2005-

NDS - 21,698
PSP - 28,950

24th April 2005-

NDS 96,191
PSP 33,004


Totals:

DS - 2,171,902
PSP - 1,230,128

Difference - 941,774 in favour of DS.

Just catalouging the race
Its alot easier to see how things are going when its all neatly in one place

[Deguello]

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A game like GTA truly does not fit the general Nintendo-system owning audience as well as it does the general PSP-buying audience.

It somehow fit the GBA's audience.   But you miss my point.  3rd parties generally put things on the market leader.  The DS is the market leader.  And even it were more even, the DS is selling more games because it is a mainly game-playing device.

And if you meant this to be a segue into saying "Nintendo is for kids," well, then, you're sad.

[mT3]

why did the DS blitz sales this week?

[Artimus]

Nintendogs and Naruto.

[couchmonkey]

I think Deguello and Blackknight are both right.  I agree that developers may start cancelling PSP projects and moving to DS if the current sales trends continue, but I also agree that if I were specifically developing a game like GTA, I'd look to PSP.  Until DS has a good 20-30 million units, it's a Nintendo product with a low userbase, and that's not a friendly environment for ultra-violent third party games.

Oh yeah, and ROCK ON DS sales!!!