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Circana (formerly NPD) February 2023: PS5 #1 in Units and Dollars, Switch #2, and Xbox #3 in Units

Woopah

Member
A few observations:
  1. PS5 is in beast mode, I expect it to win every month in both units and revenue (except mayyyybe December) and comfortably win the year
  2. Excellent legs for Dead Space, Ragnarök and the usual sport COD games. You can see how increased PS5 supply is really helping push sales for those games. Forespoken dropped surprisingly little
  3. Conversely, you can see how the slowing down of Switch hardware is impacting software. This is the lowest amount of Nintendo games in the top 10 / top 20 than I can remember for a long long time. Nintendo not sharing digital (especially with vouchers now back) means that I think they will stop being a major presence on these charts like they used to be.
  4. I was not expecting Theatrythm to chart at all so its nice its on here.
  5. The fact we won't get platform specific charts any more is highly disappointing
Great tbh.
Yes!!!


Makes me wonder then why Square didn't say anything. We are almost at the end of march, it must have passed 1 million by now.
The original Octopath charted at number 1 for the month just with physical. For OT2 to be on more platforms and include digital but only be at 10 means I don't think it did particularly well. Its okay.
 
Yeah looking at those LTD numbers and considering xbox biggest market is the USA and they sell more in the USA then the rest of the world, i don't know how folks can think it is at 20m worldwide.

I doubt xbox cracked 10 mill in the USA by end of 2022, and it certainly didn't sell 10 million in the rest of the world.

Sales aren't looking so hot for jan-feb 2023 either.

Maybe shipped would make more sense at 20m, holiday season xbox have alot of consoles in the channels allegedley.

yeah thats what i've been trying to point out but someone got mad because he wanted to believe over 20m. over 20m how? thats all i was asking. unless xbox has magically started selling much better in europe and japan all of a sudden. we know thats not the case. over 20m shipped is possible though. not sold.
 
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Varteras

Gold Member
Hpgwarts is clearly a multiplat. The fact that this kid was convinced it wan't on XBOX shocked me. His mother was trying to buy a cheaper version that was the XBOX version but the kid wasn't having any part of it.

My god... Jim is brainwashing children!

r5a2zggnnfs61.jpg
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
NPD 2022

PS5 US NPD HW:
Jan-22: 369K
Feb-22: 128K
Mar-22: 282K
Apr-22: 234K
May-22: 119K
Jun-22: 277K
Jul-22: 301K
Aug-22: 341K
Sep-22: 494K
Oct-22: 456K
Nov-22: 1328K
LTD as of Nov-22: 10592K

XBX US NPD HW:
Jan-22: 307K
Feb-22: 261K
Mar-22: 489K
Apr-22: 267K
May-22: 177K
Jun-22: 260K
Jul-22: 247K
Aug-22: 251K
Sep-22: 288K
Oct-22: 261K
Nov-22: 730K
LTD as of Nov-22: 8736k
Xbox had a great month in March 22? What came out that month?
 

Klayzer

Member
What Tedd Howard can be sure of is that never again will a Bethesda game be on top of the charts anymore.
Disagree. Elder Scrolls next installment will reach the top of the charts, imo. I just don't see it reaching Skyrim level of success or sales, without it being available on a Playstation console.
 
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jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
So, about that uphill battle I talked about because MS wasn't taking advantage of low PS5 stock early last year...

Oh well.

Add in XSX stock issues, low Series S demand and...whew.
 

Mr.Phoenix

Member
PS5 is in beast mode, I expect it to win every month in both units and revenue (except mayyyybe December) and comfortably win the year
And the best is yet to come. Imagine what a lower-priced PS5slim would do after this year.
Conversely, you can see how the slowing down of Switch hardware is impacting software. This is the lowest amount of Nintendo games in the top 10 / top 20 than I can remember for a long long time.
I have never subscribed to this way of thinking. And I honestly don't get why most in this industry do it. I believe that the success of any platform while dependent on hardware, ultimately boils down to software. Furthermore, I believe software is what its all about.

eg... if you were to ask any platform holder, would you rather sell 20M consoles each year for 5 years, or sell 100M in one year and 5M more over the next 4 years. I believe they will all choose the second option.

Not charting isn't about hardware sales, its about software not being there.
 

Nautilus

Banned
A few observations:
  1. PS5 is in beast mode, I expect it to win every month in both units and revenue (except mayyyybe December) and comfortably win the year
  2. Excellent legs for Dead Space, Ragnarök and the usual sport COD games. You can see how increased PS5 supply is really helping push sales for those games. Forespoken dropped surprisingly little
  3. Conversely, you can see how the slowing down of Switch hardware is impacting software. This is the lowest amount of Nintendo games in the top 10 / top 20 than I can remember for a long long time. Nintendo not sharing digital (especially with vouchers now back) means that I think they will stop being a major presence on these charts like they used to be.
  4. I was not expecting Theatrythm to chart at all so its nice its on here.
  5. The fact we won't get platform specific charts any more is highly disappointing


The original Octopath charted at number 1 for the month just with physical. For OT2 to be on more platforms and include digital but only be at 10 means I don't think it did particularly well. Its okay.
It should be noted that the competition this month was especially fierce, so this month's number 10 is probably much higher than OT's number 10 of that month, with one of the reasons being the wide supply of PS5, driving a lot of PS5 sales, including old stuff, and strong new releases.

But yeah, being at number 10 means that the game did ok to good. But if Japan is anything to go by, hopefully OT 2 has good legs and net month's NPD should keep OT on the list, hopefully high up.
 

Flabagast

Member
Disagree. Elder Scrolls next installment will reach the top of the charts, imo. I just don't see it reaching Skyrim level of success or sales, without it being available on a Playstation console.
No, because game pass will now cannibalize a great share of their sales.

When was the last time that a Microsoft published game appeared in the NPD, and at what place ?
 

Woopah

Member
Has someone dug up these numbers and did the math on PS5 sells yet?
PS5 is over 533,000 it has beaten the all time PlayStation record and probably the all time Micorsoft record as well.
THIS is my biggest take away about anything MS related. HiFi Rush not being in the top 20 for January or February is NUTS!
Not really, its a new IP on Gamepass whis is $30. There are many factors against it charting
And the best is yet to come. Imagine what a lower-priced PS5slim would do after this year.

I have never subscribed to this way of thinking. And I honestly don't get why most in this industry do it. I believe that the success of any platform while dependent on hardware, ultimately boils down to software. Furthermore, I believe software is what its all about.

eg... if you were to ask any platform holder, would you rather sell 20M consoles each year for 5 years, or sell 100M in one year and 5M more over the next 4 years. I believe they will all choose the second option.

Not charting isn't about hardware sales, its about software not being there.
What way of thinking?

Yes software is what matters, but software rises, peaks and declines just like hardware does (though hardware tends to peak first and software peaks later). Switch software has passed its peak while PS5 software is still rising, and that's why we see fewer Nintendo evergreens in the chart in Feb 2023 than we did in Feb 2022 (plus the continuing move towards digital and Nintendo bringing back vouchers).

What was your point about the 2 different options for hardware sales? I'm afraid I don’t understand how it relates to what I said.
 

Woopah

Member
It should be noted that the competition this month was especially fierce, so this month's number 10 is probably much higher than OT's number 10 of that month, with one of the reasons being the wide supply of PS5, driving a lot of PS5 sales, including old stuff, and strong new releases.

But yeah, being at number 10 means that the game did ok to good. But if Japan is anything to go by, hopefully OT 2 has good legs and net month's NPD should keep OT on the list, hopefully high up.
I think the game will have good legs too, but I wish that it had done better at launch. But yes hopefully SE is happy with the results.
 
Why would anyone buy it? It was "free" on gamepass.
Probably because Phil said games that are on Gamepass have an increase in sales.
GsZxBKX.png


"When you put a game like Forza Horizon 4 on Game Pass, you instantly have more players of the game, which is actually leading to more sales of the game"

But yeah, I think we all know a lot of people would prefer to pay 10 bucks once and try or beat the game rather buying it, or if you are already paying for the subscription then you don't really have to spend a dime.
 

Klayzer

Member
No, because game pass will now cannibalize a great share of their sales.

When was the last time that a Microsoft published game appeared in the NPD, and at what place ?
Their games are released on Steam as well. I wouldn't discount the PC fanbase showing up at launch.
 

Mr.Phoenix

Member
What way of thinking?

Yes software is what matters, but software rises, peaks and declines just like hardware does (though hardware tends to peak first and software peaks later). Switch software has passed its peak while PS5 software is still rising, and that's why we see fewer Nintendo evergreens in the chart in Feb 2023 than we did in Feb 2022 (plus the continuing move towards digital and Nintendo bringing back vouchers).

What was your point about the 2 different options for hardware sales? I'm afraid I don’t understand how it relates to what I said.
Ok, notice how when a platform stops putting out massive or impressive monthly hardware numbers, everyone starts talking about how it needs a new-gen iteration.

Or how when software sales in a top ten chart has a poor showing on any specific platform they start talking about how there should be a PS6 or switch 2...etc.

Its almost as if poor software sales or performance is attributed to hardware sales for that month, when in truth software sales is driven more by the install base of that specific platform.

So my point was that, a poor chart showing of software of any specific platform is more reflective of the lack of new `appealing` software on that specific platform than of its hardware proliferation having reached some sort of saturation point. For example, when BOTW2 is released, it will top all charts and break records.

We want the hardware to sell as many units as possible as quickly as possible. In a perfect situation, you would rather have 100M sales in 3 years of a 7-year platform, and wouldn't care if you only had 10M sales for the remaining 4 years. Because what is important is the 100M people you have to sell your games to.
 

Mr.Phoenix

Member
Probably because Phil said games that are on Gamepass have an increase in sales.
GsZxBKX.png


"When you put a game like Forza Horizon 4 on Game Pass, you instantly have more players of the game, which is actually leading to more sales of the game"

But yeah, I think we all know a lot of people would prefer to pay 10 bucks once and try or beat the game rather buying it, or if you are already paying for the subscription then you don't really have to spend a dime.
I have never understood this kinda mental gymnastics.

No, having more players on the game, IS NOT the same as having more sales, especially when talking about the game pass model. Unless of course the sales they are talking about are GP subscriptions.

Very very very few people, will actually go out and spend $70 on any game if there is an option to play that game for s little as $15. Especially when that $15 gives you access to hundreds of other games in addition to that. So that whole GP lead to more sales has never made sense to me and sounds nonsensical to me. And after over 3 years of gamepass, there is not a single thread of proof showing the sales of a game increasing because it was made available on gamepass.

The game will or may get more exposure, more payers, more traffic, and could even boost GP subs or whatever...but that is not the same as saying it has got more sales.

A more apt description of a game in relation to anything GP, would be more and/or better games results in more gamepass subs.
 
The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console in the Americas (USA, Canada, & Latin America) with 652,210 units sold for February 2023, according to VGChartz estimates. The PlayStation 5 has now sold an estimated 15.26 million units lifetime in the Americas.

Article
 

MrA

Member
PS5 is over 533,000 it has beaten the all time PlayStation record and probably the all time Micorsoft record as well.
given his wording I checked feb 2006 -2011, so the ceiling is just under 606k as the ps3, ps2 and psp summed up to February 2009
xbox best February was 2011(nuts if you think about it) at 535k so it probably tops that, doesn't come close to the insanity of the best wii 753k but it might come quite close to the best ds February 611k
 

onQ123

Member
We know that PS5 is up at least 317% from last year's 128K so for the overall hardware to be up only 68% Xbox Series S/X or Switch had to have a pretty big drop-off from last year because PS5 cost more than Switch & Series S & a lot of these consoles was sold at $559 )


(I need Switch numbers from last year we have PS5 128K & Xbox Series S/X 261K )


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