TheBlackCat

I have been tracking the DS, DS Lite, and PSP Japanese hardware sales since the launch, and based on the Famitsu numbers I obtained today the DS Lite has now sold more total hardware since its launch at the beginning of March (6 months) than the PSP has sold since it's launch in December of 2004 (about 21 1/2 months).

The respective numbers are 3,967,887 for the DS Lite and 3,954,281, assuming my records are correct (they should be, I've checked them).

I got some interesting results by looking at the sales of the individual systems in different ways.

I should point out that the data is weekly but I am plotting it by month since it is easier to conceptualize the number of months since something than the number of weeks (for me, anyway). I should also point out that each system starts with 0 sales, so there is a zero week which corresponds to a week before launch. The combined DS and DS lite data starts a week before the DS lite launches so it will intersect with the DS plot.

First, I looked at the sales each week since the first system, the DS, launched. Each week is the same week on the calendar.



You can see here that the DS and the PSP are fairly close in terms of weekls sales except during holidays (the launch and the next winter), during which time the DS sales exceed the PSP sales by at least several times. There is a brief (couple of month) period shortly after tha launch where the PSP sales exceed the DS, but besides that there are only 3 weeks where the PSP beat the DS by a visible amount and only 3 other weeks where they are roughly the same. The point where the red and black curves appear is the DS Lite launch, at which point the DS sales drop of quickly and the DS Lite takes over.

Second, I looked at the same thing except I lined them up by launch, so the first week on the plot is each system's own launch and the axis is the number of months each system has been on the market (the combined DS and DS lite numbers are relative to the DS launch):



This makes it much easier to compare launches. The DS launch week is better than the PSP one, but the PSP launch week is better than the DS Lite one. However, after the first month or so the PSP and DS sales drop off steeply while the DS sales continue to increase and then stabalize at a level well above both of the others.

The next plot shows the cumulative sales to date based on calander month:



Here you can see the total installed user base of the systems each week. The place where the red and black curves appear is the DS Lite launch. This is interesting since it shows that at no point does the PSP total installed user base surpass that of the DS, even after the DS launch and even considering better sales for a while at the beginning. However, the slope of the DS and PS lines are fairly similar and fairly constant, except once again for the holidays where the DS far surpasses the PSP. You can also see the black line at the bottom, the DS Lite, has just surpassed the PSP (although they are close enough that they look the same here).

The final plot is similar, except this is again based on time since launch and not calendar date:



This plot also makes a direct comparison of the launches easier. Here you can see that both the PSP and DS increase more quickly at launch than the DS Lite. However, the DS and PSP soon level off while the DS Lite numbers continue increasing at a fairly constant rate, passing the PSP in a month and the DS in what looks like about 3 months.



I hope everyone finds this information interesting. Before you ask I cannot do the same thing with the US, I cannot find a full listing of hardware sales numbers for the US since launch, there are far too many holes in the data I do have to make a meaningful comparison. If someone can get me that data I would be happy to do the same analysis. If people wish I can also update these plots on a weekly basis. These plots are generated by a simple program I wrote and it is set up so when I add more data it will generate and save new plots automatically. The program would be easy to convert to other hardware or software sales data anybody might need. If you would like me to keep this updated, next week I will make a new topic for this. And yes I plan to do the same thing for the next-gen consoles when they come out. Higher-resolution plots are also available upon request. Source code is also available upon request. It is not commented but also not particularly complicated as programs go.

Before anyone starts yelling at me for favoring the DS, I didn't make these numbers I am simply putting them in a form that is easy to look at and compare. If anyone wants to check my numbers I would be happy to post or PM the raw data.

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[color=#000000]There is always an easy solution to every human problem—neat, plausible and wrong.[/color]
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SFOSOK

I'm sorry, again...I don't live in Japan. nor do I care how many DS's are sold.

Is there a point in this whole thing? cause I really haven't found it yet.

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METAL!!

TheBlackCat

I find it interesting to see how the market develops. If you look at the systems the DS and PSP develop very similarly, but the DS Lite is completely different. Anyone could have told you that, but this plot shows exactly how ther market penetration differed. There are also various random peaks, some of which line up between systems and some that don't. The peaks also average out when looking at total market penetration. Just seeing it in graphical form, at least for me, makes the development of the market a lot easier to conceptualize than abstract sales numbers. The only reason I am using Japan is because similar data is simply not available to me in the US or Europe.

__________________
[color=#000000]There is always an easy solution to every human problem—neat, plausible and wrong.[/color]
-H. L. Mencken

SFOSOK

I would like to see European or American markets though personally. Perhaps Nintendo is only releasing sales information in Japan for certain marketing reasons or something.

I see what your saying though.

I guess we'll have to see when they actually release the info.

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METAL!!

TheBlackCat

This information isn't from Nintendo. It is from Famitsu, an independent gaming magazine that tracks hardware and software sales data in Japan and releases it publicly on a weekly basis. The US equivalent is NPD, which also tracks hardware and software sales except on a monthly basis. The problem is the information is not released publicly, it is copyrighted and sold for a substantial price to businesses that use it to make marketing and investment decesions. Thus it is often not readily available online. I don't know about Europe. I would personally like to see US and European sales data as well, if you were to send me to a place that has it I would be happy to set up the program to analyze it. Nintendo usually only releases sales data after major milestones, around the release of hardware or software, or during major conventions. Sony does not release sales data at all, they release data on numbers shipped to stores at the same times but never actually release the numbers sold to consumers, so even if I had their data it would be completely useless.

__________________
[color=#000000]There is always an easy solution to every human problem—neat, plausible and wrong.[/color]
-H. L. Mencken