Q3 2012 games hardware: Volumes fall a fifth, as Wii U heralds new TV console generation

By
Steve Bailey

November 21, 2012

This quarter provides further confirmation that the current TV console cycle is drawing to a close, as the PS3 and Xbox 360, which had been producing respectable year-on-year sales trends earlier in this downward phase of the cycle, experience significant decline.

Q2 was a drab quarter for high-profile full-price game releases, a stereotypical summer lull compounding the generational downturn, with the big-name title slate heating up in late Q3 and into Q4. Still, even with this clutch of respected franchises in tow, a round of price cuts wouldn't be expected to do anything bar lessen the decline, such is its terminal nature.

For the second quarter in a row, hardware volumes are hit particularly hard in USA, where even Nintendo's latest handheld, the 3DS, sees only threadbare year-on-year growth, despite solid performance in other territories.

Highlights:

Year-on-year decline in world volumes for games hardware is 20 per cent, compared to last quarter's tumble of 25 per cent.
The PS Vita is outsold by its forebear, the original PSP, on a global basis.
An even older console - Sony's PS2 - receives a surprising kiss of life in PAL territories, thanks to an ongoing push into emerging territories.

In this report:

Hardware volumes: World
Hardware volumes: PAL
Hardware volumes: USA
Hardware volumes: Japan
Hardware installed base forecast: World
Hardware volumes forecast: World
Hardware volumes market share: TV consoles
Hardware volumes market share: Handhelds
Hardware volumes, per-territory breakdown

Tables and charts included:

World hardware volumes, year-on-year change
World hardware volumes, Q2 11 and Q2 12
PAL hardware volumes, year-on-year change
PAL hardware volumes, Q2 11 and Q2 12
USA hardware volumes, year-on-year change
USA hardware volumes, Q2 11 and Q2 12
Japan hardware volumes, year-on-year change
Japan hardware volumes, Q2 11 and Q2 12
World hardware installed base forecast, TV consoles
World hardware installed base forecast, handhelds
World hardware volumes forecast, TV consoles
World hardware volumes forecast, handhelds
World hardware volumes market share, TV consoles, Q2 11
World hardware volumes market share, TV consoles, Q2 12
Release volume by format, TV consoles, 2010 and 2011
World hardware volumes market share, handhelds, Q2 11
World hardware volumes market share, handhelds, Q2 12
Release volume by format, handhelds, 2010 and 2011
World hardware share, by region, Q2 12
Hardware sales volume, by region, Q2 12

Pages: 9

Tables & charts: 20

Tags:

Countries: USA Japan
Companies: Nintendo Sony Microsoft

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