Manu
12-06-2001, 01:00 PM
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Bragging rights for top spot in the $20 billion video game business mean a lot, but it's getting harder to tell who has the right to brag.
Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. Ltd. are both claiming that their heavily hyped game console launches last month were the most successful in the industry's short history.
But whether Microsoft's Xbox is outselling Nintendo's GameCube, or vice versa, depends on who you ask, analysts say, and in the end it may not even matter, since both are still jostling for second-place behind Sony Corp. and its market-leading PlayStation 2.
Microsoft's Xbox launched on November 15 and Nintendo's GameCube launched on November 18 and the only thing that the two rivals have agreed on since is that both game machines are selling as well as anyone expected.
Nintendo fired the first shot on Tuesday, claiming that it was outselling Microsoft. The company said it had sold 600,000 GameCubes within 15 days of launch, based on retail data.
"In short, although launching at retail three days following the Microsoft (Xbox), it seems apparent that we have sold through to consumers more game consoles than they have even been able to deliver to retail outlets," said Peter Main, executive vice president for sales and marketing with Nintendo of America.
But in its own release Tuesday, Microsoft staked its claim to the same title, calling the Xbox, "the best-selling video game console launch on record after two weeks of sales."
Microsoft, which has steadfastly refused to say how many consoles it has sold or even shipped, cited data from the market research firm NPD showing that more games were being sold with each Xbox than for competing consoles.
The so-called tie ratio for the Xbox was 2.4 games per machine, compared with 1.9 for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 at its November 2000 launch, Microsoft said.
When asked, a Microsoft spokesman declined to say that it had sold more of the Xbox units than Nintendo's 600,000 GameCube units, the number on which the Japanese company based its claim of victory.
"We can't comment specifically on what numbers Nintendo is using," said James Bernard, a spokesman for Microsoft.
Eilene Haase, the director of toys and video game research at NPD said it has not released any sales totals yet, and the company, which provides the most widely watched industry data, said it cannot say yet which machine has sold better.
Nintendo, meanwhile, has already discounted the NPD figures, which exclude sales at Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, the biggest U.S. outlet for the GameCube.
Based on his own analysis of NPD data, Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Heath Terry estimated Monday that Microsoft had sold 556,000 Xboxes by November 24, while Nintendo sold 469,000 GameCubes in the same period.
"Both of them are selling just about anything that goes into the channel," said Mike Wallace, an analyst at UBS Warburg. "Who sells more in a particular week is pretty much irrelevant."
Sales drive industry growth
Sony's $299 PlayStation 2, which built a North American installed base of over 5 million units within a year of its November 2000 launch is projected to remain the dominant console the next year, if not longer.
The $299 Xbox is Microsoft's first entry into the video game hardware market, while the $199 GameCube marks Nintendo's fourth new console in 16 years.
Anticipation for the two powerful consoles has been so strong that the shares of most major U.S. video game publishers have risen sharply this year, in some cases more than doubling.
Nintendo says it shipped 740,000 GameCubes for its launch, while Microsoft has refused to release its own number, estimated by analysts to be somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000.
The number Microsoft is stressing is its calendar year-end target of 1.5 million Xboxes shipped, a number they are now expected to meet. Nintendo recently raised its year-end target by 200,000 to 1.3 million.
On Tuesday, specialty video game retailer Electronics Boutique said it expected sales for its fourth quarter, ending in January, to grow by 45 percent to 50 percent over the same period last year, on the back of strong console sales.
www.cnn.com
Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. Ltd. are both claiming that their heavily hyped game console launches last month were the most successful in the industry's short history.
But whether Microsoft's Xbox is outselling Nintendo's GameCube, or vice versa, depends on who you ask, analysts say, and in the end it may not even matter, since both are still jostling for second-place behind Sony Corp. and its market-leading PlayStation 2.
Microsoft's Xbox launched on November 15 and Nintendo's GameCube launched on November 18 and the only thing that the two rivals have agreed on since is that both game machines are selling as well as anyone expected.
Nintendo fired the first shot on Tuesday, claiming that it was outselling Microsoft. The company said it had sold 600,000 GameCubes within 15 days of launch, based on retail data.
"In short, although launching at retail three days following the Microsoft (Xbox), it seems apparent that we have sold through to consumers more game consoles than they have even been able to deliver to retail outlets," said Peter Main, executive vice president for sales and marketing with Nintendo of America.
But in its own release Tuesday, Microsoft staked its claim to the same title, calling the Xbox, "the best-selling video game console launch on record after two weeks of sales."
Microsoft, which has steadfastly refused to say how many consoles it has sold or even shipped, cited data from the market research firm NPD showing that more games were being sold with each Xbox than for competing consoles.
The so-called tie ratio for the Xbox was 2.4 games per machine, compared with 1.9 for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 at its November 2000 launch, Microsoft said.
When asked, a Microsoft spokesman declined to say that it had sold more of the Xbox units than Nintendo's 600,000 GameCube units, the number on which the Japanese company based its claim of victory.
"We can't comment specifically on what numbers Nintendo is using," said James Bernard, a spokesman for Microsoft.
Eilene Haase, the director of toys and video game research at NPD said it has not released any sales totals yet, and the company, which provides the most widely watched industry data, said it cannot say yet which machine has sold better.
Nintendo, meanwhile, has already discounted the NPD figures, which exclude sales at Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, the biggest U.S. outlet for the GameCube.
Based on his own analysis of NPD data, Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Heath Terry estimated Monday that Microsoft had sold 556,000 Xboxes by November 24, while Nintendo sold 469,000 GameCubes in the same period.
"Both of them are selling just about anything that goes into the channel," said Mike Wallace, an analyst at UBS Warburg. "Who sells more in a particular week is pretty much irrelevant."
Sales drive industry growth
Sony's $299 PlayStation 2, which built a North American installed base of over 5 million units within a year of its November 2000 launch is projected to remain the dominant console the next year, if not longer.
The $299 Xbox is Microsoft's first entry into the video game hardware market, while the $199 GameCube marks Nintendo's fourth new console in 16 years.
Anticipation for the two powerful consoles has been so strong that the shares of most major U.S. video game publishers have risen sharply this year, in some cases more than doubling.
Nintendo says it shipped 740,000 GameCubes for its launch, while Microsoft has refused to release its own number, estimated by analysts to be somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000.
The number Microsoft is stressing is its calendar year-end target of 1.5 million Xboxes shipped, a number they are now expected to meet. Nintendo recently raised its year-end target by 200,000 to 1.3 million.
On Tuesday, specialty video game retailer Electronics Boutique said it expected sales for its fourth quarter, ending in January, to grow by 45 percent to 50 percent over the same period last year, on the back of strong console sales.
www.cnn.com