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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

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

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

The video game Halo 3 earned $300m at the cash registers during its first week of release.  It earned more than $170m in its first day.  That easily trounced the all time best opening day box office returns for the movie industry (Spider-Man 3 earned $59.8m (source: Box Office Mojo)).  That makes Microsoft’s announcement today to spin off Halo’s creator, Bungie Studios, seem curious at first glance.  On a second look, it’s not actually that surprising.

Game Development is a little bit like movie production and venture capital.  For every hit, there are dozens of failures.  Companies spend extreme sums of time and money developing projects all the while knowing full well that many of the efforts will ultimately have to be supported by a few leaders in the portfolio.   Click to Read More