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Stories about: NPD Group


42% of American Adults Hope for Videogaming Christmas

A survey conducted by the Entertainment Software Association is showing that 42% of American adults are interested in giving or in receiving a videogame or more as presents for Christmas, which is good news for an industry that has seen sales fall this year over the same period in 2008 and hope that the shopping spre...

18 November 2009
13:11 GMT

Analyze That: The Videogames Industry Can Bounce Back

October was not a good month for the videogames industry in the United States, which remains the biggest market in the world. Overall, the industry is 19% down over the same period in 2008, going down to just 1.07 billion dollars, making it worse than the same period in 2007.But it seems that even if the numbers don&...

16 November 2009
03:12 GMT

NPD Hardware: Nintendo Wii Back on Top in October

The NPD Group has released the data for hardware and software sales on the United States market, showing that the videogames industry has declined no less than 19% when compared to the same period of 2008, with sales reaching 1.07 billion dollars. As analysts predicted, the overall economic situation is impacting vid...

13 November 2009
08:41 GMT

NPD Software: Uncharted 2 Better than Wii Fit Plus

The NPD Group figures for October are out and they look pretty grim. Hardware is way down even if all major home consoles have lower prices and it seems that players are not even rushing to stores to get the latest big release. The biggest seller on the North American market has been Uncharted 2: Among Thieves from N...

13 November 2009
08:07 GMT

Uncharted 2 Will Shine, DJ Hero Will Disappoint

The NPD numbers for hardware and software sales on the North American market are expected to arrive soon and it seems that after the rosy patch that September was, the videogames industry is set to return to its blue period, with falling sales, less revenue brought in through console sales and falling profits made fr...

10 November 2009
03:27 GMT

Spin Cycle: Microsoft Emphasizes Halo 3: ODST

Microsoft has outed the usual response to the figures released by the NPD Group for software and hardware sales for September in North America. The company is obviously happy to talk about the impressive numbers posted by Halo 3: ODST, developed by Bungie, managing to sell more than 1.5 million copies even though it ...

21 October 2009
02:41 GMT

Spin Cycle: Sony Is Redefining Entertainment

Sony was, undoubtedly, the company that had most to celebrate when the NPD Group sales figures for September were released. The PlayStation 3 managed to sell almost half a million consoles during the month, significantly more than the Xbox 360 and even more than the Nintendo Wii, and with three PS3 games breaking int...

20 October 2009
15:11 GMT

Analysts: PlayStation 3 to Dominate September Sales Numbers

It seems that September will be judged to be a good month for videogaming when the NPD Group hardware and software sales numbers are released. For the first time in seven months, the industry is set to post positive growth numbers mainly on the back of the price cuts that kicked in for the PlayStation 3, with the rel...

9 October 2009
03:38 GMT

Advertising Is Ineffective for Videogames

The NPD Group does more than to put out monthly data related to hardware and videogame sales in the United States. And a recent study from the firm seems to indicate that when it comes to game advertising efforts, whether they are in print, on television or online, they are not very effective at actually selling prod...

16 September 2009
14:21 GMT

Sony Emphasizes PlayStation 3 Slim Impact

Sony is eager to show off the PS3 Slim’s important launch, which has been out since September 1 with a price point of 299 dollars. One the same day that the NPD Group data for August came out, the Japanese console manufacturer offered some data on the progress of its newest device.A statement from the company s...

14 September 2009
13:31 GMT

A Gamer's Week: 6 – 13 September

This week was dominated by the release of the NPD Group numbers for August, which showed the industry selling about 16% less than in the same period of 2008. Still, it was not all bad news. Here's what you need to know about the news from the last seven days.On Monday, we found out that Sony was interested in ke...

13 September 2009
10:41 GMT

NPD Hardware: PlayStation 3 Rebounds, Overall Sales Down

The NPD Group has released the data for both hardware and software sales that took place in the month of August in North America, the most important market for the videogaming industry. And, as numerous voices predicted, it's not a pretty sight to look at. Overall sales are at 908.72 million dollars, which is 16...

11 September 2009
17:01 GMT

NPD Software: Madden NFL 10 Rules the Chart, Batman Close

It takes a courageous publisher and a very solid videogame to compete in August in the North American videogame market, as this is the time frame in which, normally, Electronic Arts puts out the annual installment of Madden NFL 10, the American football franchise that is one of the main money makers for the company. ...

11 September 2009
16:01 GMT

Analysts: August, Last Month of Decline When Compared to 2008

2009 has been a pretty miserable year for videogames up until now, with sales lagging behind those registered in the same months of 2008 in both the hardware and the videogame departments. It did not help that in spring 2008 some really big titles were released, like Wii Fit, Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid ...

10 September 2009
12:58 GMT

Cutting Game Console Prices Can Increase Sales by 60%

With the PlayStation 3 Slim announced by Sony at Gamescon and confirmed as arriving on most markets on September 1, a lot of people are now wondering how Microsoft and Nintendo, the two rivals of the Japanese manufacturer, are preparing to respond to the new hardware unveiled and to the price cut attached to it. We m...

26 August 2009
02:35 GMT

Videogame-Related Sales Will Fall for Fourth Consecutive Month

With the NPD Group sales numbers for both hardware and software due to come out towards the end of the week, analysts who are watching the videogame industry have been presenting their estimates. Yesterday, we heard from one firm, which believes that the slowdown in sales could amount to as much as 20% year over year...

15 July 2009
03:13 GMT

Analysts Expect Videogame Sales to Slide 20% in June

The NPD Group, which tracks sales of videogame hardware and software on the North American market, is set to release its sales numbers for June at some point during this week and analysts are already issuing predictions related to what they'll be telling us about the videogaming industry, which has had rough fiv...

13 July 2009
16:21 GMT

Analyze That: More Women Are Becoming Gamers

For a hobby long thought of as exclusively masculine and for an industry defined as being a boys’ club, videogaming in welcoming a lot of new gamers each year. A fresh NPD Group report shows that, in 2009, the percentage of female gamers who play on consoles has grown from 23 to 29%, which is really impressive....

30 June 2009
03:42 GMT

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Makes Franchise History

Electronic Arts released last week, as the eyes of gamers were glued to the press conferences at the E3 trade show, the 2010 edition of Tiger Woods PGA Tour, its long running gold franchise.The game has been developed for the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, the PS2, the PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo Wii, and eve...

15 June 2009
03:18 GMT

Analyze That: 68% of American Households Are Playing Videogames

In the wake of E3, where the titles that companies should release in the coming year were showcased, the Entertainment Software Association, which organizes the show itself, outed an interesting report revealing how important gaming has become to the American way of life.The main thing that jumps off the page is...

13 June 2009
07:31 GMT

NPD Hardware: All Platforms Shed Sales, Nintendo DS Gains

The NPD Group has offered the data for sales of videogame hardware and software in the United States for the month of May and it's not looking too good. Year over year, the videogames industry actually registered a slump in sales of 23%, the worst seen this year. Of course, part of this is because of the strong ...

12 June 2009
16:31 GMT

NPD Software: UFC 2009 Gets a Grip on the Top Spot

In May, no videogame release managed to sell more than 1 million units in the United States and this number alone manages to offer a quick, simple view at the overall state of the videogaming industry. The NPD Group numbers for the month of May paint a picture of an industry that lost 23% of the value of its sales ye...

12 June 2009
13:01 GMT

Analysts: May NPD Numbers Will Be Disappointing

The NPD Group, which tracks software and hardware sales in North America, is set to release its data for the month of May at the end of this week and, ahead of that event, several analysts are saying that the numbers will be disappointing, mainly because of the fact that May 2008 was a very good month, with Grand The...

9 June 2009
18:11 GMT

More Americans Playing Videogames than Going to the Movies

The NPD Group is well known for putting up two charts every month showing how videogame consoles and software releases perform in the United States market. But the group also does other researches related to the industry, and its newest study is saying that more American are playing videogames than are going to the m...

25 May 2009
02:39 GMT

PlayStation 3 Price Cut Coming by the End of Summer

For much of the five months that passed since the beginning of 2009, analysts, pundits and rumors have indicated that Sony needed to cut the price of the PlayStation 3 in order to make it competitive in the console fight, especially when taking on the Xbox 360.The talk was of taking 100 dollars off the price of the c...

18 May 2009
05:13 GMT

NPD Hardware: DS on Top, PS2 Better than the PS3

The NPD Group has released its sales data for April and it seems that the value of the videogames market is at the moment a little over 1 billion dollars. Overall, the videogames industry slid 17% when compared with the same period of 2008. However, readers must keep in mind that April 2008 saw an increase of almost ...

15 May 2009
18:21 GMT

NPD Software: Nintendo Domination Edition

Software releases drove up the impressive results that the videogames industry posted in April 2008, with Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii leading the charge. Now, software releases are probably to blame for the slump that the NPD Group reported for April 2009, as the research group says that the overall value ...

15 May 2009
17:31 GMT

DSi Release Boosted Nintendo DS Sales

The Nintendo DSi, released in the month of April, is set to increase the sales of the Nintendo made handheld by more than 175% year over year, which is quite the performance, says industry analyst Mike Hickey, who is working for Janco Partners.One of the reasons is the increased price of the Nintendo DSi, which makes...

14 May 2009
03:34 GMT

April NPD Numbers Will Likely Show Decline

April 2009 will likely not be a good month for videogames. The most reputable industry analysts are saying that a 17% decline in the numbers posted, when compared with April 2008, should not be ruled out as the NPD Group is preparing to unveil its figures.The main reason of the year over year decline is that fact tha...

13 May 2009
03:34 GMT

Spin Cycle: Microsoft Points to Xbox 360 Growth

Each major console manufacturer is “pleased” after the monthly NPD Group numbers, which track sales on the all important North American market, are announced.The problem is that some of them have a reason to be pleased (like the dominating Nintendo) while others (think Sony) cherry pick positive facts fro...

21 April 2009
04:06 GMT

NPD Hardware: Status Quo Maintained

In a month when the value of the videogames industry in the United States, the biggest market in the world, went down by a threatening 17%, the Nintendo Wii continued to be the best sold console, again selling better than the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 combined.The NPD Group, which is watching the videogames indu...

17 April 2009
16:31 GMT

Spin Cycle: Nintendo Praises Wii Play

With the NPD data for February now out, all the big gaming companies, focusing on creating gaming consoles and publishing titles for them, are scrambling to put a positive spin on the new results.Taking a cold, hard look at the numbers reveals that Nintendo has the easiest job doing this, considering that fact that W...

23 March 2009
17:11 GMT

Spin Cycle: Microsoft Shows Off The Lost and Damned Performance

After the NPD Group numbers for a month, which track the performance of both hardware and software in the United States, all the big players in the game console business usually deliver press releases set to outline their domination of the market and the promising outlook they have for the next month.It was no differ...

23 March 2009
14:31 GMT

NPD Hardware: Reign of the Nintendo Wii Goes On Uncontested

If there's one thing you can safely count on after the release of the NPD Group hardware numbers for February is the fact that all major console creators, from Nintendo to Sony and even to Microsoft, will be claiming that the numbers offer them an advantage over their competitors.Until the new inevitable press r...

20 March 2009
19:01 GMT

Analysts Worried About February Videogame Sales

Yep, it's that time of the month again. On Thursday, the NPD Group, which is tracking the sales numbers for both gaming consoles and videogames in North America, is set to reveal its results for the month of February.As usual, before the numbers themselves are revealed, a chorus of analysts is making its own pre...

17 March 2009
19:11 GMT

The PC Dominates Online Gaming

Most of the titles recently released on gaming consoles like the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 from Sony have highly emphasized the multiplayer element, with cooperative play for two or four players being offered alongside classic competitive multiplayer. So, it might come as a surprise that the PC is...

11 March 2009
16:11 GMT

NPD Hardware: Wii Again Outsells the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 Combined

The good news is that the videogame industry is still growing in the United States, as seen in the data the NPD Group has offered for the month of January. The bad news is that the growth seems to be slowing down, when compared to other years.In January 2009, sales of videogame hardware and software reached the figur...

13 February 2009
16:51 GMT

NPD Software: Dominated by Wii Fit, Play and Mario Kart

Hardware sales were the main driver for the 13% increase the videogame industry saw in the United States for the month of January 2009 over January 2008. The data coming from the NPD Group shows that software sales increase at a slower pace than hardware, indicating a somewhat surprising trend: when there’s lit...

13 February 2009
14:21 GMT

Analyze That: Less Games Generate More Profits

Think back to the period running up to Christmas last year. High profile games were released every week, with a publicity and public relations blitz designed to drown out any other gaming news for those crucial first days to one week when blockbuster titles generate the biggest part of their sales. There is little si...

22 January 2009
02:30 GMT

14% Down, PC Still a Viable Gaming Platform

The general rush when the numbers offered by the NPD Group come out is to look at the data and try to answer the Most Important Question in Gaming (or MIQG, pronounced like “my cog”). Did the Xbox 360 sell better than the PlayStation 3? How much money did Nintendo make in the last month? Will 2009 be the ...

20 January 2009
15:01 GMT

Nintendo Dominates Sales as the Xbox 360 Mauls the PlayStation 3

Despite the world wide economic downturn, the videogames industry is continuing to grow as the NPD Group data for December shows that 5 billion worth of hardware and software was sold during the month, which is apparently more than the sales for the whole year of 1997. Still, the recession shows that December 2008 gr...

16 January 2009
14:31 GMT

Children Are Attracted to Digital Downloads

It seems that the younger the consumer, the smarter he is. Or at least this is how the results of a new NPD Group study can be interpreted. The research basically shows that children who use digital devices are more and more interested in downloadable content, which they can get quickly and without going into a store...

9 January 2009
02:31 GMT

Analyze That: Videogames Industry Helps Music Industry

Could the gaming industry, and more specifically, the rhythm game segment, be beneficial to the music industry? Some CEOs of big music companies suggested that games like Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour should pay bigger royalties to their companies, which offered them the rights to use various music tracks.Ac...

23 December 2008
15:11 GMT

Gears of War 2 Is the Best Selling Videogame of November

In a month when the gaming industry grew by around 10% over the same period of 2007, bringing the total revenue for the year to around 16 billion dollars, sales of videogames went up by 11%, which is good but not great, considering the value of the games released during the recent four weeks.The biggest game of Novem...

12 December 2008
19:31 GMT

The Xbox 360 Outsells the PlayStation 3

The NPD Group data for October is now out, and the numbers are good for the videogame industry, even as the world seems to be slipping further into an economic depression with each day. When compared with the October of 2007, the industry managed to grow by more than 18%, with sales going over 1.31 billion dollars, w...

14 November 2008
17:31 GMT

Apple Dominates the 'Premium' Computer Market

The NPD Group has recently issued a report saying that Apple's Macs have gained quite a percentage in popularity among the US consumer population. Now, as a Mac owner and a fan, you don't need the NPD to tell you just how popular Macs are/aren't. But, according to the market trackers, while Apple'...

22 May 2008
17:06 GMT

iTunes Is Indeed #1

As some of you may recall, a recent Ars Technica report has said that several Apple employees received an internal email (Excel spreadsheet) revealing what looked like a chart ranking top music retailers in the US for the month of January 2008. Apple's iTunes was placed right at the top, as the #1 music retailer...

4 April 2008
07:06 GMT

Nintendo's Catching Up to Sony, and Fast!

A few months ago, Nintendo started showing off some impressive NPD figures, with the Wii rocketing towards winning the next-gen console war and with the DS recording the best sales for a gaming handheld ever. Now, it looks like Nintendo is even going to beat Sony, currently occupying the second position for the bigge...

22 June 2007
03:41 GMT

Experts Say Children Want Handhelds

Here are some interesting facts on how technology affects us, how the time when these processes start affecting us plays a crucial factor. The report pokes the issues of penetration of consumer electronics (CE) in kids' lives today and how this has changed since the earlier 2005 and 2006 studies, measuring devic...

6 June 2007
07:00 GMT

Adults Play Games More than All Phone Owners

NPD Group has conducted a recent market research in order to establish the main target of mobile games on the basis of current users' habits. The study showed that adults are the most frequent mobile phone gamers. According to their studies, there are more than 29 million users that play video games on their mob...

26 April 2007
08:12 GMT


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