Feb'12 US Video Games Retail Sales (NPD Group)

Analysis from NPD Group analyst, Anita Frazier

Overall

"Outside of new physical retail sales, we estimate that the consumer spend on other methods to acquire content including used games, full game and add-on content downloads, social network games, mobile games, rentals and subscriptions accounted for an additional $550 - $600 million in sales, which would bring total content spend across both retail and these other spend methods to $1.0B-$1.1B for February. Our official quarterly estimate of the total Q1 2012 consumer spend in these areas will be released in our Q1 Games Market Dynamics: U.S. report in June."

NPD Group's U.S. Games Industry Sales (New Physical Sales Channel*) - February 2012

4- week month; January retail reporting period 1/29/12 through 2/25/12

Hardware

"The best-selling hardware platform for the month was Xbox 360 for the seventh month in a row. While most hardware platforms posted declines versus last year, all current-generation platforms improved sales over January 2012 by more than 50 percent."

"There are four days of retail sales reported for PlayStation Vita in this reporting period. Overall, hardware unit sales increased by 62 percent over January without the Vita included. Including PS Vita sales, that increase is 87 percent."

Content

"New releases this month contributed 22% more unit sales than new launches in February 2011, fueled by new launch increases from the PS3 and 360 platforms with support from new games from devices not present last February: 3DS and PS Vita. The top 10 new releases this month accounted for 78% of total new release unit volume as compared to 94% last year, which indicates that sales were less concentrated this year among the top new releases."

"The top-selling PS Vita game for the month, not surprisingly, was Uncharted: Golden Abyss, which landed in the top 20 for overall title sales for the month."

"Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was the only new IP in the top 10 list for the month."

"A decline in catalog sales was a major contributor to the decline in content sales at retail. Games that launched in 2011 sold 32 percent less units in February 2012 as compared to 2010 launches sold in February 2011, a decrease of $107 million."

Accessories

"Three of the top 10 accessory items for the month were Skylander character packs. In total, these SKU's accounted for more than $17 million in sales for the month, and if added to the sales generated by the software, Skylanders easily claims the top spot for content-related sales."

"With only four days at retail, the PlayStation Vita platform contributed nearly $10 million to total accessory sales for February."

"Four of the top 10 accessory items were point or subscription cards which points to how digitally distributed content finds itself represented at retail."