Modern Warfare 2

By now we all know that Modern Warfare 2 has sold incredibly well, but NPD Group estimates have shown that the Call of Duty Series has amazing figures as well. The series has surpassed 55 million unit sales to date worldwide. That figure means that they have taken in $3 billion in retail sales.

“Call Of Duty has become one of the greatest entertainment franchises of all time,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard.

“If you consider the number of hours our audiences are engaged in playing Call of Duty games, it is likely to be one of the most viewed of all entertainment experiences in modern history.”

According to the NPD, gamers rely on word of mouth from others to get information about games. Hands-on play at friends or relative’s homes is next followed by Magazines and online ads. Five percent of gamers are influenced by social networking sites.

“When it comes to developing successful games and targeting marketing and promotions, each gaming platform has its own unique challenges and opportunities to consider,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group.

In the US, 14 percent of Wii owners also own a Playstation 3 and 26 percent own an Xbox 360. Playstation 3 owners (10% of all gamers) are broken down into 42 percent own a Wii and 34 percent own a Xbox 360. When it comes to Xbox 360 owners (20% of gamers) 42 percent own a Wii but only 18 percent own a PS3.

The NPD now has gamer demographics at 56 percent male and 44 percent female.

What influences you the most in your decision to purchase a video game?

Nintendo logo

Nintendo has sent their June results from NPD data that show the Nintendo DS is still performing well. The DS and DSi outsold all the current-gen consoles combined. In June the total units sold were 766,000.

The best selling Wii game was Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 from EA which comes with Motion Plus.

“More consumers continued to gravitate toward products that offer quality experiences and great value for the whole family,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Consumers again selected Nintendo systems for those experiences, particularly our hand-helds.”

Girl Gamers

We may know that there is a growing number of both women and girl gamers, but the NPD Group has proved it with a recent study. According to the NPD Group the number of female console gamers rose to 28% of the console userbase.

This is a 5% increase over 2008.

“Last year was one of the most transformative in history in terms of defining the audience for gaming, says Anita Frazier, from the NPD Group. “Even with the increased competition from mobile and social network gaming, the console gamer segment added the most new participants to its ranks in the last year.”

The survey was conducted from 20,000 people.

[source Kotaku]

We’re in a recession and you would think that people are not spending their money on things like entertainment or video games. But NPD report released today shows a steady or actual increase in entertainment spending in 2009. I mean you need something to do when you are home all day from being laid off right?

According to the NPD report, 75% of consumers said they will spend the same amount or more on digital music, while 65% said they will spend the same or more on video games. Nearly three-quarters of consumers expect to spend the same amount or more on movies.

“Even in the face of a down economy, entertainment remains a popular spending category,” said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD. “Most consumers say they’ll continue to purchase at least the same amount of many entertainment categories in the coming year.”

The current per capita spending on entertainment is $160 a month. Most of that goes to subscriptions related to Internet Access and TV.

Crupnick does advice companies to exercise some caution. People may not always spend if the recession lasts for a long time. “There is anxiety about the economy among entertainment buyers, increasing use of unpaid digital options for entertainment and competition for the entertainment dollar,” Crupnick said, “but consumers have clearly shown that compelling content will get them back into the stores or theatres.”

“Compelling content” which doesn’t include badly made video game movies. Do you hear me Hollywood?