Romier S Posted June 22, 2004 Report Share Posted June 22, 2004 PLATFORM SALES PS2 RED DEAD REVOLVER $6,500,786 135,259 PS2 FIGHT NIGHT 2004 $5,219,379 107,742 PS2 NBA BALLERS $4,382,179 114,523 PS2 SHREK 2 $4,366,418 87,729 PS2 MVP BASEBALL 2004 $4,349,614 90,340 PS2 TRANSFORMERS $4,305,023 86,846 PS2 SYPHON FILTER: OMEGA $3,786,355 76,904 PS2 ONIMUSHA 3: DEMON $3,434,012 69,135 PS2 SAMURAI WARRIORS $3,258,318 65,471 PS2 HITMAN: CONTRACTS $3,032,286 60,795 XBX RED DEAD REVOLVER $4,269,550 86,887 XBX FIGHT NIGHT 2004 $2,314,411 47,289 XBX T. CLANCYS PANDORA $2,077,493 42,700 XBX HALO $1,831,614 62,572 XBX RALLISPORT CHALLENGE2 $1,720,862 34,910 XBX HITMAN: CONTRACTS $1,682,831 33,770 XBX NBA BALLERS $1,651,458 42,848 XBX VAN HELSING $1,594,113 32,720 XBX MVP BASEBALL 2004 $1,590,718 32,723 XBX SHREK 2 $1,497,357 30,107 GCN POKEMON COLOSSEUM $2,699,522 56,692 GCN SHREK 2 $2,691,449 54,099 GCN CUSTOM ROBO $1,889,476 47,598 GCN MARIO KART: DOUBLE $1,315,605 26,582 GCN HARVEST MOON:WONDRFUL $1,107,039 27,812 GCN SONIC HEROES $895,927 17,968 GCN SUPER SMASH BRO MELEE $837,854 28,192 GCN SONIC MEGA COLLECTION $807,821 14,144 GCN MVP BASEBALL 2004 $797,860 16,465 GCN MARIO PARTY 5 $710,399 14,326 GBA SHREK 2 $2,107,945 71,163 GBA POKEMON RUBY $1,393,931 42,955 GBA MARIO BROS 3: MARIO 4 $1,341,584 45,090 GBA MARIO VS. DONKEY KONG $1,297,909 45,399 GBA POKEMON SAPPHIRE $1,244,601 37,422 GBA YU-GI-OH! TRNMNT 2004 $1,053,870 31,485 GBA METROID ZERO MISSION $938,681 31,619 GBA MARIO & LUIGI SAGA $875,600 28,586 GBA SONIC BATTLE $711,934 23,962 GBA DONKEY KONG COUNTRY $655,996 32,788 HARDWARE SALES May Console Sales PS2 - 253,454 Xbox - 216,997 GC - 77,827 WEDBUSH MORGAN NPD REPORT On Monday afternoon, NPD Funworld released its May 2004 (four-week period ending May 29, 2004) TRSTS data for U.S. console video game software sales. Total sales were $245 million, down 22% sequentially from April?s $315 million, and down 17% compared to May 2003?s $295 million. Year-to-date sales are $1,699 million compared with 2003 year-to-date sales of $1,709 million (a year-over-year decrease of 1%). The overall sales figures were significantly lower than our expectations of $265 million (down 10%). We believe that the lower sales level is due to a combination of a greater percentage of sales of older catalog titles at lower prices and the difficult comparisons to last year?s Atari game, Enter the Matrix, which generated over $45 million in U.S. retail sales. There were no comparable ?blockbuster? games this May. If the contribution from Enter the Matrix were eliminated, May 2004 sales would be approximately 2% lower than last year?s figure. We note that total unit sales were down 15% year-over-year (5.7% lower excluding Enter the Matrix), while average selling prices (ASPs) were down 3% from last year to $29.62 (3% higher excluding Enter the Matrix). We think that it is important to view May?s results in the context of last year?s Enter the Matrix. Sales of the game represented 10% of all units and 15% of all dollar sales for the month, comparable to the impact of Take-Two?s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City when it launched in October 2002. In October 2003, NPD monthly sales were down 14.6% as publishers struggled to overcome the tough comparison, although sales rebounded into positive territory for the four succeeding months. We expect a rebound in June, as games such as Full Spectrum Warrior, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow, Driver 3 and Spider-Man 2 compare favorably with last June?s Lara Croft Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. We continue to be optimistic that a number of blockbuster titles and strong holiday sales will allow the U.S. console software market to deliver 10% year-over-year growth (up from 5% in 2003), and believe that a sharp rebound in sales growth may start as early as June considering last month?s console price cuts and the upcoming release schedule. So far in 2004, ASPs have been relatively flat, with ASPs through May down only 1.5%. We believe that this reflects the firming up of the rate of ASP decline (approximately 7% in 2003, expected to level at between 5 ? 10% in 2004). Unit sales are also relatively flat year-over-year, with only a 1% increase. Given the relatively low number of games released so far this year (190 SKUs compared to last year?s 239 through May), we believe that consumers may be waiting for the next ?big game?, and expect unit sales growth to resume in the 20% range for the back half of the year. May sales were led by continued strong sales of Electronic Arts? Fight Night (PS2, Xbox, GC) and MVP Baseball (PS2, GC, Xbox, PC) and Ubi Soft?s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (Xbox, PC). The top May releases were Activision?s Shrek 2 (PS2, Xbox, GC, GBA, PC) and Take-Two?s Red Dead Revolver (PS2, Xbox). There were only three games selling more than 100,000 units apiece in May vs. our estimate of eight and compared to seven last month. Of note, only one of the top three was a new release (Red Dead Revolver for PS2), while the others were released in April. The top 200 games (out of 3,000 games sold in May) captured 58% of unit sales and 68% of dollar sales, compared with 60% of unit sales and 70% of dollar sales in April, while the top 10 captured 17% of dollar sales in May versus 25% last month. These figures reflect the relative lack of sales strength for new releases, and we expect higher contributions from the top sellers for the balance of 2004. The average selling price of all games (console and handheld, legacy and current generation) was $29.62, down 3% with last year?s $30.46 ASP, and lower than April?s $30.20, also indicating that new releases were a lower portion of the mix than last month. We expect a greater proliferation of catalog games and a handful of $39.99 titles (notably, Harry Potter) to drive ASPs slightly lower over the next several months, with ASPs ranging between $29 and $30. ANALYSIS Acclaim Entertainment (AKLM?Hold) Releases during May: None. May Retail Sales--$3 million WMS Estimate--$5 million Acclaim?s market share decreased from 1.8% to 1.3% along with retail sales from $6 million to $3 million (compared with $5 million last May). Acclaim's sales were lead by All-Star Baseball 2005. Alias continued to sell poorly with only 4,000 units sold combined in its second month of release. Older catalog sales were lead by All-Star Baseball, NBA Jam, ATV Quad Power Racing, Burnout, Mary Kate & Ashley, Legends of Wrestling, and Turok. The company?s ASP for all units sold was $22.64, down from last year?s $29.41. This decline reflects a considerable shift in the mix of Acclaim?s sales toward lower-priced catalog games. Activision (ATVI?Buy and Focus List) Releases during May: 5/4 Shrek 2 (PS2, Xbox, GC, GBA, PC), 5/11 True Crime (PC). May Retail Sales--$17 million WMS Estimate--$16 million Activision?s market share increased sequentially from 3.4% last month to 7.1%, along with retail sales from $11 million to $17 million (compared with $20 million last May). Sales were led by Shrek 2 which sold 243,000 units combined compared to our forecast of 150,000 units. The figure was significantly higher than the 120,000 units that THQ?s Finding Nemo (a 5-million unit seller) sold in its debut last May. Activision?s ASP for all units sold was $32.96, down 4% from last year?s $34.20. We believe that Activision's future success remain tied to the performance of its upcoming games, including Doom 3 and Spider-Man 2, each of which we expect to sell more than two million units. Atari (ATAR?Buy) Releases during May: 5/4 Transformers (PS2). May Retail Sales--$11 million WMS Estimate--$11 million Atari?s market share increased sequentially from 3.3% last month to 4.6%, along with retail sales from $10 million to $11 million (compared with $54 million last May). Sales were led by Transformers, which sold 87,000 units compared with our estimate of 50,000 units. Catalog sales of Backyard Baseball and various Dragon Ball Z titles sold well. Atari?s ASP for all units sold was $26.89, down significantly from last year?s $41.20. This decrease reflects an unfavorable shift in the mix of Atari?s sales toward lower-priced new and catalog games compared with much higher selling prices recorded by Enter The Matrix last year. We believe that Atari's near term success depends upon the consumer reception to its DRIV3R game, which was released today. Electronic Arts (ERTS?Buy) Releases during May: 5/1 UEFA Euro 2004 (PS2, Xbox, PC), 5/25 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (GBA, PC). May Retail Sales--$41 million WMS Estimate--$60 million Electronic Arts? market share decreased sequentially from 24.5% last month to 16.7%, along with retail sales from $77 million to $41 million (compared to $45 million last May). Fight Night and MVP Baseball continue to sell well with another 155,000 and 140,000 units sold respectively, while the company's other catalog titles performed significantly below our expectations. The company?s ASP for all units sold was $34.52, down 11% from last year?s $38.88, but still higher than the industry average, reflecting Electronic Arts? ability to maintain a favorable mix of sales toward higher-priced new releases. Midway Games (MWY?Hold) Releases during May: None. May Retail Sales--$9 million WMS Estimate--$13 million Midway?s market share decreased sequentially from 5.9% last month to 3.7%, along with retail sales from $19 million to $9 million (compared with $5 million last May). The company?s sales were led by NBA Ballers, which sold 157,000 units in its second month of release. Sales of The Suffering and other catalog titles were significantly lower than we expected. Midway?s ASP for all units sold was $30.62, up sharply from last year?s $25.22. This increase reflects a considerable shift in the mix of Midway?s sales toward higher-priced new and catalog games this year. We believe that the early success of The Suffering and NBA Ballers indicates that Midway has executed well on its strategy of developing fewer, higher quality games, and we think that its recent sales performance portends good things to come from the company over the remainder of the year. Take-Two Interactive (TTWO?Buy and Focus List) Releases during May: 5/3 Red Dead Revolver (PS2, Xbox), 5/3 Serious Sam Next Encounter (GC), 5/3 Serious Sam Advance (GBA). May Retail Sales--$19 million WMS Estimate--$14 million Take-Two?s market share increased from 3.8% to 8.0%, along with retail sales from $12 million to $19 million (compared with $13 million last May). Take-Two delivered results above our expectations, with Red Dead Revolver selling 222,000 units compared to our 100,000 units forecast. Take-Two?s ASP for all units sold was $32.57, up from last year?s $29.19. This reflects a shift in the mix of the company?s sales toward lower-priced new and catalog games. We continue to believe that many investors await the release of the next installment in the GTA series, GTA: San Andreas in October. THQ (THQI?Buy) Releases during May: 5/25 Sonic Advance 3 (GBA). May Retail Sales--$14 million WMS Estimate--$20 million THQ?s market share decreased from 6.5% to 5.5%, along with its retail sales from $21 million to $14 million (compared with $18 million last May). THQ sales were lower than we expected, with catalog sales weaker than we anticipated. Sonic Advance 3, released late in the month, sold through a relatively modest 21,000 units, contributing to the company?s overall weak sales. We expect THQ to benefit from strong Nintendo GBA SP sales over the coming year. THQ?s ASP for all units sold was $24.42, down 5% from last year?s $25.72. We expect the company?s ASP to increase in June, as we believe that the company is executing well on its plan to diversify into higher priced console games, and we expect this trend to continue over the coming months. CONCLUSION May overall retail sales were significantly lower than our expectations, coming in at $245 million compared to our estimate of $265 million. Only three titles sold over 100,000 units, compared with our estimate of eight, and only one of these was a new release. We were also disappointed with relatively weak year over year unit sales, which we believe is attributable to the relatively low number of SKUs released to date (down 20% year-over-year). We expect sales growth to resume in June, and anticipate that overall industry growth will rebound to 10% for the full year as the console installed base continues to expand, with strong sales of several blockbuster games over the rest of the year (such as Sony?s Gran Turismo 4, Take-Two?s GTA San Andreas, and Microsoft?s Halo 2). We expect video game sales in June to be driven by the new releases of Activision?s Spider-Man 2 (PS2, Xbox, GC, GBA, PC), Atari?s DRIV3R (PS2 and Xbox), Electronic Art?s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (PS2, Xbox, GC), and THQ?s Full Spectrum Warrior (Xbox). Although Electronic Arts? sales disappointed us, we expect the company?s sales growth to resume as its key releases are introduced during the balance of the year. Activision?s, Acclaim?s, and Atari?s results were about in line with our estimates and we do not expect significant movement in the share of any of these companies as a result of the May data. Midway?s and THQ?s results were lower than our expectations, while Take-Two?s were better than we expected, though we expect that investors will continue to focus on the key releases from each company over the balance of the year. We continue think that our ?Buy? rated companies (ATVI, ATAR, ERTS, THQI and TTWO) are in good position to grow market share in the coming year, and expect further share appreciation in the next several months. May 2004 Market Share Rankings (Top 30 Companies) Total (millions) 245 $ Company Projected $ 's Market Share 1 ELECTRONIC ARTS 41 $ 16.7% 2 NINTENDO OF AMERICA 25 $ 10.1% 3 TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP) 19 $ 8.0% 4 ACTIVISION 17 $ 7.1% 5 SONY (CORP) 14 $ 5.9% 6 THQ 14 $ 5.5% 7 ATARI 11 $ 4.6% 8 VIVENDI UNIVERSAL (CORP) 10 $ 4.1% 9 MIDWAY 9 $ 3.7% 10 KONAMI OF AMERICA 9 $ 3.5% 11 CAPCOM USA 8 $ 3.4% 12 UBISOFT (CORP) 8 $ 3.2% 13 EIDOS INTERACTIVE (CORP) 8 $ 3.1% 14 MICROSOFT (CORP) 7 $ 3.1% 15 SEGA OF AMERICA 7 $ 2.7% 16 NAMCO 5 $ 2.2% 17 KOEI 4 $ 1.7% 18 ACCLAIM ENTERTAINMENT (CORP) 3 $ 1.3% 19 MAJESCO 3 $ 1.1% 20 LUCASARTS 2 $ 1.0% 21 SQUARE ENIX USA (CORP) 2 $ 0.9% 22 TECMO 2 $ 0.8% 23 NATSUME 2 $ 0.7% 24 MULTIPLE VIDEO GAME MANUFACTUR 2 $ 0.6% 25 MASTIFF 2 $ 0.6% 26 BUENA VISTA GAMES 1 $ 0.6% 27 CODEMASTERS 1 $ 0.4% 28 BETHESDA SOFTW ORKS 1 $ 0.4% 29 INTERPLAY PRODUCTIONS 1 $ 0.3% 30 SONY ONLINE ENT. 1 $ 0.3% Some thoughts.... -Never expected Red Dead to sell as much as it has. Was very unimpressed with the game in general but apparently it found an audience. -Rallisport Challenge 2 released in early May and the sales figured are really underwhelming which is a damned shame. The game will more than likely fickle out in the 120k units sold in the next month or two if its lucky. Fantastic game and considering the Xbox audience I have to wonder why more people didn't buy? (perhaps CMR 4 at 19.99 hurt its appeal?). -What else is there to say abou Halo? 62k units sold? It damn near outsold Onimusha 3 and that game was a new release in May. Speaking of which Capcom and Inafune must be a bit disappointed with those Oni numbers. I expected the third installment to make a bigger splash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Zot Posted June 22, 2004 Report Share Posted June 22, 2004 -Never expected Red Dead to sell as much as it has. Was very unimpressed with the game in general but apparently it found an audience. Yeah, an audience of people that don't read game reviews :green: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whooter Posted June 22, 2004 Report Share Posted June 22, 2004 Originally posted by Snakefish@Jun 22 2004, 01:34 PM -Never expected Red Dead to sell as much as it has. Was very unimpressed with the game in general but apparently it found an audience. Yeah, an audience of people that don't read game reviews :green: My ATAR stock is counting on those same people to buy "Driv3r"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derrik Draven Posted June 22, 2004 Report Share Posted June 22, 2004 We believe that Atari's near term success depends upon the consumer reception to its DRIV3R game, which was released today Well, if these people read reviews; two words for Atari, "you're fucked"....in the near term. Of course, it could be another "Matrix", where a very average game sells like hotcakes to the Joe Sixpack, weekend gamer crowd. It is sad that RS2 sold so weakly. Killer game! The 1st thing I keyed in on, with the list, was the Halo sales. Sheesh!!!!! Amazing, after all this time.... :tu: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danger9777 Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 Don't forget that those Halo sales could be due to the limited edition XBOX that's out. I'm certain that many people jumped at the chance to buy limited edition XBOX's even if they weren't necessarily interested in Halo. Heck, a friend of mine bought one just so that he could turn around and sell it on ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 I notice that Red Dead Revolver has been advertising a lot on cable (specifically Comedy Central). Does this account for its sales figures, or is it in reaction to them? -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 Rockstar/Take Two are very good at doing prolonged advertising for their games on cable/satellite TV, something few publishers seem to do. Instead of throwing all their TV budget on expensive ad time when the game launches, they do it for a number of months /after/ the game is out & on the shelves which goes against the common wisdom of throwing away your budget on launch ads... I think RDR has sold a lot on the Rockstar label being attached too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 Originally posted by danger9777@Jun 23 2004, 09:18 AM Don't forget that those Halo sales could be due to the limited edition XBOX that's out. AFAIK, bundled games are not included in these numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 AFAIK, bundled games are not included in these numbers. Depends on the bundle. If a game is bundled with hardware from retailers' own stock, frequently it's scanned seperately & thus counted. If the game is "inside" the package, usually it's not. That make sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whooter Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 Originally posted by dogbert@Jun 23 2004, 11:06 AM AFAIK, bundled games are not included in these numbers. Depends on the bundle. If a game is bundled with hardware from retailers' own stock, frequently it's scanned seperately & thus counted. If the game is "inside" the package, usually it's not. That make sense? It does to me. In the Halo Xbox's case, the game is included inside the box, so probably doesn't figure into the numbers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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