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Over the past week, we surveyed Gamestop and EB Games stores across the United States to track sales trends of gaming consoles and video games. We asked the following questions:

1. What is the best selling video game right now?

2. What is the best selling game platform?

3. What will be the next big game released over the next 3 months?

• 17% of respondents saw Fight Night Round as the top selling game. 13% said Halo 3 and Aion, while 9% said Tiger Woods 2010.

• Nintendo Wii was seen as the top selling console by 35% of respondents. 30% saw the X-BOX 360 as the top console. 26% cited the PS3 as the top console.

• Madden 2010 was seen as the most anticipated new game coming out according to 30% of respondents. 22% of respondents cited Halo 3: ODST as the most exciting new game coming out. 13% cited Harry Potter, while 9% said G-force.

Conclusion of Channel Check: The Nintendo Wii was seen as the top console by 35% of respondents. It dominated the response to this question in 2008 and still continues to. Despite the lead in responses, all three major platforms are holding onto 1/3 of the market appears according to our respondents, a sharp divergence from the days of Wii dominance in 2007 and 2008. When asked what will be the next big game coming out over the next 3 months, 30% of respondents said Madden 2010. The result of the survey shows that Nintendo Wii will continue to be a popular gaming console compared to the X-BOX and the PS3. However, there doesn’t seem to be any new major title coming come out in the next couple of month besides Madden 2010.

For access to the underlying survey or for more information, please contact Jason Katz at 415.867.0959 or jason@thechannelcheckers.com

Over the past week, we surveyed Gamestop locations to gauge trends in the casual dining business. We asked the following questions:

1. What is the best selling video game right now?

2. What is the best selling console?

3. What will be the next big game released over the next three months?

• UFC Undisputed 2009 from publisher THQ was seen as the best selling game over the past week by 22% of respondents. 19% viewed Resident Evil 5 as the top selling game. No other single game title was seen as the best seller by more than 10% of respondents.

• Surprisingly the Microsoft Xbox 360 was seen as the top console by 44% of respondents, 25% saw the Nintendo Wii as the top console and another 25% saw the Playstation 3 as the top selling console. The market for consoles appears to have tightened considerably since 2007 and 2008 where the Nintendo Wii dominated the response to this question.

• 13% of respondents viewed Bionic Commando as the next big game title coming out, while 12% saw X-men Wolverine as the next big game. These diffuse response rates suggest that there is no major new title coming out in the next month.

Conclusion of Channel Check: The game market looks to be lacking a major “hot” title or platform at the moment. We view this as somewhat problematic as the market may be somewhat slow with little flow in any trend direction. Electronic Arts only mention in our most recent survey was where 6% of respondents thought NFL Madden 2010 might be the hottest new game coming out in the near future. THQ seems to be a small beneficiary in the current market. Gamestop locations might be hurt by the lack of high profile hits.

For access to the underlying survey or for more information, please contact Jason Katz at 415.867.0959 or jason@thechannelcheckers.com

Over the past week, The Channel Checkers surveyed 24 GameStop and EB Games (same parent company) stores across the United States to track sales trends of gaming consoles and video games.

1. What is the best selling game platform?

2. What is the best selling video game right nowt?

3. What will be the next big game released over the next three months?

• Nintendo Wii was seen as the top selling console by 58% of respondents. A large shift from last momth when only 27% saw it as the top console. 17% saw the microsoft X-box as the top console compared to 40% said Microsoft X-box was the top selling game console last month. 17% cited the PS3 as the top console. 8% say the Nintendo DS is the top seller.

• 50% of respondents saw Resident Evil 5, produced by Capcom, as the top selling game. No other game was mentioned by more than one respondent.

• Guitar Hero: Metallica from Activision, was seen as the most anticipated new game (this game was released on March 29^th, the day after our survey ended) coming out in the next month according to 29% of respondents. 20% of respondents cited Pokemon Platinum (launched on March 21, in New York) as the most exciting new game coming out.

Conclusion of Channel Check: Nintendo Wii staged a major comeback in March from February and moved solidly into the lead in our survey. Sony Playstation 3 continues to be stronger versus recent history and was tied with Xbox for second in responses in our survey. StreetFighter IV has faded since last month with Resident Evil 5 taking over as the clear best seller in our survey. Capcom makes both games. Halo Wars was the most highly anticipated new game last month, but that has not translated into strong current sales for the game according to our survey.

For access to the underlying survey or for more information, please contact Jason Katz at 415.867.0959 or jason@thechannelcheckers.com

Over the past week, The Channel Checkers surveyed 30 GameStop and EB Games (same parent company) stores across the United States to track sales trends of gaming consoles and video games.

1. What is the best selling game platform?

2. What is the best selling video game right nowt?

3. What will be the next big game released over the next three months?

• 40% said Microsoft X-box was the top selling game console. 27% cited the N intendo Wii as the top seller, while an additional 13% thought the Nintendo DS was the top seller. 20% of respondents saw the Sony Playstation 3 as the top selling console.

• Street Fighter IV, produced by Capcom for the X-Box and Playstation 3, was seen as the top selling game according to 37% of respondents. 13% reported that pre-sales for Halo Wars was the top selling unit. 7% cited Dawn of War as the top game while another 7% cited Major League Baseball 2K9 (Take Two Interactive) pre-sales as the top selling unit.

• Halo Wars which launches at Midnight on March 2, 2009 was seen as the most anticipated new games coming out in the next three months by 27% of respondents. Another 27% thought Resident Evil 5 (also from Capcom) would be the top new game coming out in the next three months. 10% cited Major League Baseball 2K9, which launches on March 3rd.

Conclusion of Channel Check: Sony Playstation 3 is doing much better in relation to the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft X-Box than in any survey we have conducted over the past twelve months (contact Jason Katz: jason@thechannelcheckers.com for access to the historical data series). Street Fighter IV looks like a strong current performer but blockbuster titles tend to be seen as the top seller by 50%+ of respondents. Anticipation for Halo Wars (27%) so close to its launch is a little lower than we have seen historically and might suggest the demand for the game is not on par with the launch of Halo 3. Demand for Resident Evil 5, not due to launch until March 13^th is good in light of the marketing blitz around Halo Wars and Major League Baseball 2K9.

The Channel Checkers has been tracking the sentiment of game store employees on their enthusiasm for GTA IV, the new game released by Take Two Interactive last week.  Our most recent survey covered from April 21 to April 28. We found that approximately 62% of respondents to our survey believed that GTA IV would be the next big game in May. While that number was positive in general it was well below the 80-90% response rates we saw fro Halo 3 in the fall of 2007.  We believe that GTA IV will underperform the expectations since it is clear that the game needs to be as big a hit as Halo 3 if not bigger.

We believe that sentiment surveys like ours are very predictive of game success in the video sector. The opinions of those working at the video retail outlets is powerful especially when aggregated in significant numbers and surveyed consistently.

We wonder if Electronic Arts might abandon its bid for Take Two once it becomes clear that GTA IV is not as powerful a franchise as many had hoped.

Nintendo of America, the maker of the insanely popular Nintendo Wii consoles, says the inventory of the game is improving and a good thing too for fans. The Channel Checkers surveyed 32 electronics, game and console stores across the nation this week and asked whether the Nintendo Wiis were in stock, if not, how long before more arrived? The stores included GameStop, EB Games, Blockbuster Video, Toys R Us and Best Buy. Thirteen or 41% of respondents claimed that the Nintendo Wii was not in stock, while 19 or 59% said they stocked the console. Of those who said they did not stock Nintendo Wii, 16 or 50% said they would have the console within one week, 9 respondents or 28% said it would be two weeks and 7 or 22% said it would be four or more weeks before they would stock the product.

Our most recent research of video games and consoles at retailers (59% were Gamestop locations), showed that the Nintendo Wii had reclaimed the honors as top video game console at 48% of stores that responded (up from 36% in our previous survey). The Xbox 360 was only cited as top seller by 28% of stores, a large change our last survey’s findings of 43%. The Sony Playstation 3 dropped to top seller at only 10% of stores, down from 21% in early March and 16% in February. The newly released Mario Super Smash Brothers Brawl (played on the Wii console) was the top selling game at 30% of responding stores. Call of Duty IV was seen as tops by 14% of respondents, while the previously top seller Halo 3 and Army of Two were each only named as tops by 10% of respondents. Grand Theft Auto remains the most highly anticipated game for launch in the next three months, according to 52% of respondents (up from 29% earlier in the month). The recently launched Mario Super Smash Brothers Brawl had been named as the most anticipated game by 29% of respondents just weeks before its launch earlier this month.

The Nintendo Wii continues to be scarce in the US. Following up on a survey done in January, we polled Best Buy, EB Games, Gamestop, Target and Walmart in the US and Canada in February. Of these stores, 68% did not have the Wii in stock. The average wait was almost 2 ½ weeks to obtain the game console. The one store which had a significantly higher percentage of Wii’s in stock was EB Games. At that store a customer had a 50% chance of finding one in stock.

We have just concluded an early video game survey of game stores in the U.S. The Nintendo Wii was seen as the top console by over 50% of our respondents. This high response rate is impressive given the widespread shortages of Wii’s this Christmas. The Xbox from Microsoft was reported as being the top selling console by 31% of respondents and 10% saw the Sony PS3 as the top seller.  Our survey bodes well for sales of Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox consoles given that Sony reported this morning that it had sold 1.2 million PS3’s from late November through December.  We would expect unit sales to be 3x for Microsoft and 5x for Nintendo in the same period.  Time will tell how predictive our survey is.

The top game was Guitar Hero III from Activision which was rated as the top selling game by 28% of our respondents. 21% of respondents viewed Halo 3 as the top game despite the widespread problem of scratched discs for Halo 3.  15% of respondents saw Mario Brothers Galaxy as the top game while 10% each viewed Call to Duty 4 and Guitar Hero III competitor Rock Band as the top games.

Halo 3 is seen as the best game for the Xbox console specifically by 41% of respondents. 12% see Call to Duty 4 and Guitar Hero 3 as the best games for this console platform.  The most anticipated new game according to our survey is Super Smash Brothers for the Wii.  21% of respondents cited this game as the most anticipated while no other title garnered meaningful support.

One negative from our survey is we believe that Assasin’s Creed and The Orange Box have not been as successful as hoped as our respondents rarely cite either game in any of our response categories despite substantial hype about the games before their releases.

In our just completed video game survey for October we find that the Halo 3 effect remains in full force.  80% of stores we called told us that Halo 3 was the best selling video game. Guitar Hero III from Activision was recommended by 6% of respondents which placed the game as the number two game for this month.
On the console front, the race for number one remains fierce. Last month saw for the first time in our survey Xbox consoles be cited as the top seller by a majority of retailers breaking the grip of the Wii.   Our new October results show the Wii has inched back into the lead by a small margin (48% versus 47% for Xbox).  The Wii’s performance is impressive as we also conducted an auxiliary survey of video game retailers and found that over half were sold out of Wii’s and would need 1-4 weeks to get new supplies.  It appears the Wii will be hurt by shortages again this year, which will likely result in our master video game surveys continuing to show Wii and Xbox as a very close 1-2 in console sales.   PS3 in our most recent survey was cited by only 2% of respondents as the best selling console.  This marks the lowest recording for PS3 ever in our surveys.

For upcoming games we found that  Call of Duty 4 is the most often cited “next top game over the next six months” with 20% of respondents followed by Grand Theft Auto 4 with about 12% of respondents.  The Mario Brothers series, which consists of several titles that we group together was third with about 8 of respondents calling those games the best ones coming our in the next six months.

We believe that video game and console market share information will be of great interest as the Christmas shopping season approaches and we will begin our November survey soon to continue to bring you the most relevant field data on this topic on the web.

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