M+E Connections

All of the latest video game consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have been in strong demand this holiday season, but – similar to what was seen one year ago – it’s actually the new mini version of an old Nintendo console system that’s been the hardest to find at retail stores or online retailers.

Supplies of the newest version of the 4K Ultra High-Def (UHD) Microsoft Xbox One X console have, like most SKUs of the Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Nintendo Switch hybrid console and portable game system, been spotty at many major U.S. retailers since November. GameStop reported initially strong demand for the Xbox One X shortly after that system’s launch, while also projecting that demand for Switch would outpace supplies through the holiday season.

Yet consumers who wanted to buy just about any of those three consoles were still likely able to find one in time for Christmas or Chanukah if searching at Amazon.com or the stores or websites of major retailers including Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Walmart Dec. 18.

That wasn’t, however, the case with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) Classic Edition … unless one was willing to shell out well more than its $79.99 suggested retail price by buying it from an Amazon third-party seller and still not get it in time for Christmas, or cough up an even higher price from an eBay seller and get it in time for Christmas.

The situation echoed what was seen with the widely sold-out Nintendo Classic Edition last holiday season. But Nintendo said in September it would ship more units of the SNES Classic Edition on launch day in the U.S. than were shipped of the NES Classic Edition last year, subsequent shipments would arrive in stores “regularly,” and the company also planned to, unlike its plans for the NES Classic past last year’s holiday season, ship the latest retro console product “into 2018.”

The PS4 “sold the most units of any hardware platform” in November in the U.S., NPD video game analyst Mat Piscatella said Dec. 14, when the research company released data on November U.S. video game product sales. But the Xbox One “drove the highest dollar sales of any hardware platform” in the month, he said. That was, at least in part, because the Xbox One X, released Nov. 7, costs a whopping $499. Xbox One hardware “generated its highest unit sales tally of any November month life to date,” he also said.

Total video game hardware spending in November grew 52% from a year ago, to $1.1 billion, according to NPD. “Spending growth was driven by” PS4, Switch and Xbox One, Piscatella said. As usual, NPD didn’t say how many units of each console were sold.

Total Switch global hardware sales reached 10 million units since its March 2017 release, Nintendo said Dec. 12. That’s far behind the more than 70.6 million units of all PS4 hardware SKUs that Sony Interactive Entertainment said had been sold through to consumers globally as of Dec. 3. But PS4, of course, had a huge head start, launching in November 2013 (the same month as the Xbox One’s release). Microsoft hasn’t released an Xbox One hardware sales update recently. But the website VGChartz estimated that 31.7 million Xbox One consoles had been sold globally as of Nov. 4, behind 66.5 million for the PS4 and ahead of Switch’s 8.2 million at the time.

The PS4 was the best-selling video game hardware platform in the U.S. through November, Piscatella said. Through November, U.S. video game hardware spending grew 28% compared to the increase seen in 2016, coming in at $3.4 billion, he noted, adding consumer spending on Switch, “Plug N Play devices such as the SNES Classic” and the PS4 “continue to fuel growth.” (SNES comes pre-installed with 20 classic games from the original SNES plus “Star Fox 2,” which Nintendo said had never been released before. Unlike with PS4, Switch and Xbox One, there’s no need for consumers to buy separate game software for SNES Classic Edition.)
 
Total U.S. November video game spending across hardware, software and accessories jumped 30% from a year ago, to $2.7 billion, NPD said. Dollar sales of console, portable and PC game software combined to reach $1.2 billion in November, up 19% from a year ago, it said, adding that, through November, U.S. consumer spending on software was up 6% at $5.4 billion
 
Activision Blizzard’s “Call of Duty: WWII” was November’s best-selling game overall, and “instantly becomes the best-selling video game of both 2017 (year to date) as well as the rolling 12 month period ending November 2017,” Piscatella said. Activision Blizzard “generated the most consumer spending of any publisher in November 2017 and remains the top selling publisher” for the year, he said.