Sep
17
Halo 3 Remains Most Anticipated; Xbox Outselling Wii by Slim Margin
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We have recently concluded our monthly video game survey looking for the top selling games, best selling consoles and most anticipated new games.
In this version of our survey product we found that Halo 3 remains the most anticipated game according to 27% of our respondents. In August 20% cited Madeen 08 as the top upcoming game release, although several noted that at this time of year the latest Madden iteration is usually a top seller. Only4% of respondent felt that Grad Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) was the most anticipated game. GTA IV has fallen in our surveys all summer from near parity with Halo 3 to barely registering among respondents.
We found that 39% of our respondents listed the Microsoft Xbox 360 as the top selling game console compared to 37% who saw the Wii as the top console. The Nintendo DS received top billing from 9% of respondents so that as a complex Nintendo continues to lead in total console preferences among our survey respondents.
The top game, in a nod to seasonality noted above was Madden 08 according to 29% of our respondents, the most responses of any game in our survey. The second best selling game was Halo 3, available on pre-order. The next top game that is shipping today is Bio Shock from Take Two Interactive. We see the buzz for Bio Shock but just 7% of respondents reported that title as the best selling game in the month. Guitar Hero fell in our survey as only 4% of respondents cited it as a top selling game now.
We are now beginning our September /October period survey on the video game space and will be back to update you all soon.
May
22
Nintendo Wii Out of Stock Most Places. Average Wait - 2 1/2 Weeks.
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We have recently completed a survey of video game stores (32) asking about the availability of the Nintendo Wii. 22 stores were out of the Wii while 10 reported they had the Wii in stock. The average wait for new Wii to be in the stores we called was 2 1/2 weeks with roughly 1/3 (11 out of 32) reporting that it would be 4 weeks or more before they had the Nintendo Wii game console in their stores.
The availability of the Wii remains an issue for continued strength for Nintendo focused games as the lack of consoles acts as the gating factor to more growth. Our previous and on-going surveys suggest that Microsoft Xbox 360 is benefiting from the production constraints on the Wii while Sony Playstation continues to see the weakest demand among the major console manufacturers.
Oct
20
Nintendo Wii Off to Hot Start; Sony Playstation 3 Still Rated #1 From Gamestop (GME) Retailers
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We completed our survey last night, just in time to capture the las hours of the Nintendo Wii pre-order process. Only 35% of the stores we contacted said we could even pre-order a Wii and the survey found fewer and fewer stores taking pre-orders as we closed in on Friday morning.In addition to inquiring about pre-orders we also asked which platform the Gamestop or EB Games employee recommended. Sony Playstation beat out the Wii by being the recommended platform at 43% of stores contacted while the Wii was recommded by 39%. Price was a large factor and some recommendations were based on the fact that the Wii will only be $250 versus either $499 or $599 for the Sony Playstation 3. 17% of our survey respondents recommended both platforms based on the age of the user. For under 13, the Wii was recommded and for games older than 13 the Sony PS3 was the recommended choice. It is interesting to us to note that the Microsoft Xbox 360 dominated our first Gamestop survey but not one survey respondent suggested this platform as an alternative to us. Looks like Microsoft XBOX could be facing some market share losses as the Wii and PS3 get into the marketplace.
Gamestop employees also told us that purchasing a Sony Playstation3 would be challending throughout the coming holiday season as most Gamestop have sold out of not only pre-order allotments but also expected inventory has been mostly spoken for informally. Demand for the Wii seems heavy as well and we were told to expect waiting times for these platforms even after the official launch dates.
Oct
19
Wii or PS3 - We Go Back to the Source.
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We have launched a new survey at Gamestop (GME) and EB Games. The question we are asking this time is which game platform should a customer pre-order - The Wii from Nintendo or the Sony (SNE) Playstation 3?We are only asking Gamestop and EB Games (owned by Gamestop) to keep comparisons meaningful with our earlier surveys on gaming platforms since these are the same channel check data points in terms of store locations and personnel.
The Wii launches on November 19th so the pent up demand or frenzy to pre-order is much less than that of PS3 but we are interested to see which platform is going to be recommended by the Gamestop experts. Our first survey on the gaming platform area suggests that the Gamestop employees really prefer the Sony PS3 considering that in our first survey of top gaming platforms they suggested waiting for the PS3 over purchasing anything else at that time.
Oct
11
On a rumor and according to GWN EB and Gamestop would allow a pre-order flurry on Tuesday 10/10/06. Not sure how much truth there was to this rumor The Channel Checkers asked the question. We called 20 EB, 20 Gamestop, and 10 Bestbuy stores for a total of 50 retailers that will carry the PS3.
Here’s what we found:
- Bestbuy was not taking pre-orders.
- 72% of EB/Gamestop stores would take our name, considering that each store could sell 8 pre-orders not bad.
- Average number of names on the list by the time we called; 7.3
The interesting question was “if we can’t put our name on the list or you are not taking pre-orders, would you recommend waiting for the PS3 or another platform”
25% said they would recommend the Wii and 6% recommended the Xbox 360, 69% said to wait for the PS3.
We wrote about the coming war of gaming platforms here.