Hasta La Gadget!

NPD has released its sales statistics for the US video game market in August, and Darksiders II has taken the software crown. That’s in a month where every category tumbled year-over-year, with total software sales falling by a significant 20% to $515.6 million. The decline in software sales didn’t sting as much, with that number only dropping 11% year-over-year before resting at $252.8 million for the month.

Hardware sales took the biggest hit, tumbling a whopping 39% to come in at $150.6 million. Looking at the software side of things, Darksiders II managed to take the top spot on the chart for the month, but NPD later confirmed to GamesIndustry International that the game only sold 247,000 copies in its first week and a half – Darksiders II was released in the US on August 14, and NPD’s cutoff date for the month was August 25.

That has to be a bittersweet moment for struggling publisher THQ. On the one hand, it must be nice to see Darksiders II take the top spot, but it’s almost certain that THQ was counting on more sales than Darksiders II managed to pull in. It may not be all doom and gloom though, as it’s important to keep in mind that NPD’s numbers don’t figure in Steam or international sales. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter says that worldwide sales of Darksiders II may have climbed as high 1 million by now, but also pointed out that THQ needs to sell in the area of 2 million copies to break even on the game.

“I think that the sales are below what they had hoped for,” Pachter said. “I presume it sold around 500,000 globally in the first two weeks (the NPD cutoff was Aug 25), so it’s probably over 1 million now, but my understanding is that breakeven is greater than 2 million units, so it’s not likely to get much higher than that.” Pacher continued by saying that we should give Darksiders II another month to see if its sales improve. Have a look at the full NPD top 10 software list for the month of August:

1. Darksiders II (360, PS3, PC)
2. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)
3. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS)
4. NCAA Football 13 (360, PS3)
5. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (360, PS3, PC, Wii, DS, 3DS, Vita)
6. Sleeping Dogs (360, PS3)
7. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (360, PS3)
8. Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC)
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, PC, Wii, DS)
10. The Amazing Spider-Man (360, PS3, Wii, DS, 3DS)

Sadly, if Darksiders II sales don’t pick up, we may not see another release in the franchise. THQ has been struggling in a big way lately, and new president Jason Rubin has made it clear that he has no problem whatsoever cutting projects and franchises that aren’t performing in line with company expectations. While it’s great to see Darksiders II rank as the top-selling game for August, that may not be enough for a publisher that has no choice but to cut initiatives that aren’t bringing in cold hard cash. Let’s just hope that Darksiders II is more successful than these NPD numbers (and Pachter’s analysis) lead us to believe.

[via GamesIndustry International]

NPD: Darksiders II sold 247k copies in August, takes top software spot is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Fresh off of the official announcement for the new Lumia 920 that’s been hotly anticipated we are now hearing some additional details and numbers regarding Nokia‘s popular Lumia line for Windows Phone. While we haven’t heard actual sales figures before the Finnish phone makers revealed a bit of numbers earlier today.

Right in the middle of their Nokia and Windows Phone 8 event that we are covering live as we speak the details have been revealed by Nokia. They stated that they’ve sold roughly 7 million Windows Phone / Lumia devices to date — and more importantly that 4 million of those were sold last quarter alone.

Nokia also pointed out their devices are starting to sell well and gain traction in 54 countries and are now available on over 130 carriers. The numbers while not staggering high are a good sign of how things are progressing for Nokia. With their Q2 earnings report earlier this year we learned only 600,000 Lumia phones had been sold so things are looking up.

For now it’s safe to say Nokia and their Lumia lines is miles behind Apple and the iPhone, and Samsung over with Android but can Windows Phone 8 keep things improving? Stay tuned to find out.

[via TechCrunch]

Nokia: Over 7 million Lumia phones sold, 4 million last quarter is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

With Apple finally announcing that next Wednesday, September 12th, will be the day we all see the brand new iPhone 5 all those market watchers and predictions are ramping up. After Apple made their announcement this morning researchers have already started predicting Apple’s sales this quarter could go way beyond previous predictions with the arrival of the iPhone 5.

Seriously was this even a question? Of course the iPhone 5 will have a massive increase on their sales and overall quarterly report — but some believe the added hype could make this one of the biggest yet. With many customers eagerly awaiting the iPhone 5 and holding off on any purchases in anticipation of the new smartphone, a September launch of the new iPhone could give this quarter a massive boost with the iPhone 5 alone reaching over 10 million in sales.

Market watchers usually expect or anticipate that Apple will report sales figures between 22 million and 23 million iPhones in the quarter. But with the launch of the next iPhone this month we could potentially see sales as high as 28 million according to Apple Insider. The iPhone 5 will likely give Apple another solid quarter.

Just like previous years, rumors have suggested the iPhone 5 will go up for pre-order immediately following the event on Wednesday for multiple markets across the globe. Then be available starting Friday the 21st of September. The iPhone 4S had wide availability at launch and we’re expecting Apple’s reach to be even greater with the all new iPhone 5. As a reminder the event is set for September 12th, at 10:00am PST. We’ll be there LIVE reporting the entire event where you can follow our liveblog at live.slashgear.com, and don’t forget the popcorn!

iPhone 5 sales set to exceed 10 million this quarter is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sony has shared the latest PS Vita numbers, revealing that the beleaguered handheld has achieved 2.2 million worldwide sales as of June 30. When we last checked in with the Vita back in May, it had sold 1.8 million, so were looking at a 400,000 unit gain in about two months’ time. 400,000 sales in two months isn’t terrible, but it could definitely be a lot better.

Speaking with Playfront at Gamescom, German PlayStation boss Uwe Bassendowski said that part of the reason Vita sales are struggling is because Sony has neglected to market the device to a younger audience. According to him, the company will begin to shift PS Vita marketing soon, which may help put uptake on the rise. That could be the reason why PS Vita sales are struggling, but we think it has more to do with the price and lack of games than anything else.

While Sony’s presence at Gamescom made us confident that the games issue will be turned around shortly (Killzone: Mercenary looks fantastic for instance), we won’t be seeing a price cut any time soon. Recently Sony confirmed that while it was looking for way to the bring price of the Vita down a bit, such a price cut will not be happening in 2012. It seems that pretty much everyone who isn’t an employee of Sony thinks a Vita price cut is in order, but sadly the company isn’t willing to budge on the issue until 2013 rolls around.

Instead, Sony will look toward the recently-announced PS Vita bundles and hope that those can move some units. With the holiday season just a couple of months away, those bundles might just bolster PS Vita sales, but if Sony were to implement a price cut before the shopping season kicks into full gear, we’d see them flying off shelves at a much faster rate. For now though, we’ll simply wait and see if Sony’s plan to shift marketing toward a younger audience pays off when it comes to PS Vita sales numbers.

[via Engadget]

PS Vita hits 2.2 million sales, Sony to implement shift in marketing is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

After delivering an overachieving laptop, Lenovo has delivered financial results that also exceeded expectations, producing $8 billion in revenue and $141 million net profit. Those figures are up 35 and 30 percent respectively over last year, which the company has chalked up to a higher than ever market share of 15 percent. That growth came in part from a 59 percent sales bump in emerging markets like India and Brazil, on top of a 9 percent spurt in its home market — lifting the company 24 percent in world-wide PC shipments for the quarter. Lenovo has also become the second largest player in China’s smartphone market, after Samsung, now up to a 13 percent market share. CEO Yang Yuanqing also proclaimed that, unlike other Redmond partners, he wasn’t stressed about Microsoft’s Surface tablet — and that his company had “much better hardware” than the software giant.

Continue reading Lenovo’s Q1 shows ‘record high’ market share, profits up 30 percent to $141 million

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

Lenovo’s Q1 shows ‘record high’ market share, profits up 30 percent to $141 million originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 06:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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