November 2009 NPD analysis: Hardware

Now that November 2009's NPD sales results are in, we can begin to draw comparisons to see how well companies truly did during Black Friday. Hardware-wise, Nintendo is the clear winner, 1.7 million Nintendo DSes and 1.26 million Wiis. Here are the full charts, as well as the chart for last month and the chart for this time last year.

Comparing the data to last month we see a huge increase across the board, as expected. One change is that, on pure numbers, the Xbox 360 beat out the PlayStation 3 by about 100,000 units sold. The 360 also had a marginal year-over-year sales increase, which is to expected as the Xbox 360 line has had no significant price cuts since last November. Expect to see a big jump when the Arcade model dips significantly below $200.

Sony executives have to be happy when they compare PlayStation 3 performance to last November - sales nearly doubled. That $300 PS3 slim, bolstered by great games like "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves," must be performing well for them. However, their other current-generation platform, the PlayStation Portable, seems to have dropped off significantly, despite the launch of a new hardware platform, the PSP Go. I think it's safe to say that the PSP Go is a flop at this point, and if I had to guess, it's due to the almost insulting $250 price point. 

Nintendo, however, continues to dominate no matter how you slice it, but their Wii numbers are down significantly year-over-year, even after a price drop from $250 to $200. The slight rise in DS sales helps that hurt a bit less, but it really makes you wonder if the Wii's total dominance of the sales charts is coming to an end. Nintendo can't be pleased with that, but even if they stopped selling Wiis completely, it would still be their most successful home console since