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When NPD’s November retail stats came out the second week of December, records were shattered for domestic U.S. gaming sales.  From the Wii to the PS3 to the Xbox 360, consumer’s were snapping up consoles and games at record pace. Global data is showing similarly strong sales are occurring around the world.

Today, Media Create released their weekly report on Japanese sales.  All but the Microsoft Xbox 360 saw sizable week over week sales gains.  Sony’s PSP more than doubled the prior week sales. The Wii saw an increase of more than 55k units.  The PS3 increased by about 25k.

In England, Chart Track similarly reports strong sales.  Click to Read More

The last days of Viacom’s advertising partnership with DoubleClick were long ago foretold.  With Viacom still feuding with Google over YouTube and copyrights, and with Google’s purchase of DoubleClick likely nearing the end of regulatory review, it was just a matter of time.  Wednesday the hammer dropped and Viacom pledged its allegiance to Microsoft.

In a five year deal worth at least $500m in exchanged value, Microsoft and the media giant behind MTV Networks, Nickelodeon and Paramount pictures reached a complex advertising and content distribution deal.

Under the pact, Microsoft will license Viacom content (non-exclusively) for use on both Microsoft web properties and for the Xbox 360.

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Check the buzz-meters and the Nintendo Wii remains one of the most popular topics online.   Yesterday, net tracking firm Hitwise said searches online for the console increased 274% over just the prior week (week ending Dec 8.)  For November 1 to December 11, comScore, similarly put a high tab on ecommerce spending. Their estimate: $20b.  Video games, both consoles and software have been a big part of that.  NPD’s monthly report is out and the numbers are staggering.

Nintendo, as has been the case, reigns mightily from the throne of best seller.  The playability and fun factor of the Wii continue to outpace the high powered computing and awesome graphics of the Xbox 360 and PS3.  For November, Nintendo had their best month yet with sales nearly hitting one million consoles (981k); and demand continues to outpace supply. Click to Read More

When Sony released earnings data at the end of October two things were abundantly clear: i. the PS3 was still a major component of their future plans; and ii. unless they started changing things soon, especially in time for the holiday sales push, the future wasn’t going to be too bright.

Somebody at Sony got the memo.

Monday, in an effort to increase game development, Sony cut the fees charged to game developers. The change comes a month after Sony cut global prices for the console.

The Software Development Kit, which Sony calls the Reference Tool, will now cost $10,250 in North America, $8,600 in Japan, and $11,250 in Europe. Sony will also improve programming tools included with the kit.

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Albert Einstein once said that "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." Near the middle of every month market research firmNPD Group tries to apply that maxim to the gaming industry with release of retail statistics for the prior month’s sales. The numbers are meant to show the direction of the market, and individual products. Today, the October numbers hit the wires. They don’t account for an apparent turn around for Sony’s PS3, which began moving well with price cuts, but the numbers do give a snapshot of the gaming industry as it enters into the two biggest months of their year. As has been the case all year, the industry is hot.

For October, just about a year after the release of the Wii, Nintendo returned to it’s reign as king of the consoles and portables. (Nintendo was briefly displaced in September result of both strong Halo related Xbox’ sales and a limited supply of Wii’s).

As has been the case all year, the Wii remains hard to get and is selling out consistently. Click to Read More

Sometimes bad news is actually good news in disguise. That the case at game publisher Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS). Thursday, EA released their earnings report for the 2nd quarter 2007. Relative to the same quarter last year revenue was down and earnings went from the black to the red but the bad news was good, really.

EA posted a net loss of 62cents a share ($195m) on revenue of $640m but a significant part of the loss was due to changes in accounting practices regarding revenue recognition. Click to Read More

The PS3 and Blu Ray may be Sony’s bigger bets but camera’s and consumer electronics are increasingly proving to be their steady hand. When earnings were announced today, it was the strength of camera’s and televisions that carried them. Net profit for September was in at $646.7m. That was largely thanks to strong electronics sales (which account for 2/3rds of annual sales). On the quarter Sony hit their highest earnings results in three quarters. They also adjusted forecasts upwards for the fiscal year (which ends March 2008).

Despite keeping on track for their 5% operating margin goal, however, gaming remains the leading story. The beleaguered game division returned the 7th consecutive losing quarter. And the losses are only getting worse. This quarter was a negative hit of $848m, nearly double the loss for the same quarter last year.

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