NPD figures: Microsoft focuses on GTA IV and "improving" hardware stocks

Microsoft's response to last night's NPD data was a tad more muted than Sony and Nintendo's - unsurprising as Xbox 360 was beaten into fifth place out of six consoles for the month - focusing instead on the upcoming April release of GTA IV.

"For February's NPD reporting period, Xbox 360 remained in a supply constrained situation," said the company in a statement. "The situation is improving and we are confident consumers will soon be able to find the Xbox 360 SKU they seek, in time for the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV, which we expect to be one of the biggest titles of the year with huge impact on the Xbox 360 platform."

Despite disappointing figures for the month, Microsoft did a good job of spinning the data, saying that $332 million was spent on Xbox 360 throughout the month compared to $235 million on PS3 and $283 million on Wii; that Xbox 360 now has a US installed base of 9.6 million compared to PS3's 3.8 million and Wii's 8.1 million; and that Xbox 360's attach rate in February was 7.2, nearly twice that of the PS3 or the Wii.

Read the rest after the link.

February Monthly NPD Update

For February's NPD reporting period, Xbox 360 remained in a supply constrained situation. The situation is improving and we are confident consumers will soon be able to find the Xbox 360 SKU they seek, in time for the launch of "Grand Theft Auto IV", which we expect to be one of the biggest titles of the year with huge impact on the Xbox 360 platform.

What makes a winning platform? It's more than console sales. It's about consoles + content + community.

As you do your reporting this month we thought we'd provide you with what we believe is a complete picture of a healthy console ecosystem, and how Xbox 360 is contributing:

Consoles:

* $332 million was spent on the Xbox 360 platform this month, capturing 39 percent of the generation's ecosystem, $235 million was spent on the PS3 and $283 million was spent on the Wii. (February NPD data)
* The Xbox 360 platform now has a U.S. installed base of 9.6 million; the PS3 has 3.8 million, the Wii has 8.1 million. (February NPD data)
* February NPD data shows a new Xbox 360 software attach rate of 7.2, nearly twice that of the PS3 or the Wii. (February NPD data)
* 255,000 Xbox 360 consoles were sold during the month of February. (February NPD data)

Content:

* Xbox 360 leads in games, with six out of the top 10 best selling console games in February. (February NPD data)
* Xbox 360 "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" (Activision) was the best-selling console game across all platforms, outselling the PlayStation 3 version by 2:1. (February NPD data)
* Xbox 360 has the top selling games on its platform. According to February NPD, Xbox 360 sold $184 million in games, with PS3 selling $97 million and Wii $130 million.
* Third party partners find more success on Xbox 360. In February, Xbox 360 accounted for $159 million of all third party game sales this generation, or 45 percent of share. (February NPD data)
* Xbox 360 has more games available than any other platform, and more than twice the games available on PS3. (February NPD data)

Community:

* Xbox LIVE is the largest online gaming community currently over 10 million strong worldwide, and growing. The PS3 online network is only 2.9 million (U.S. data only) and the Wii has only four million (this number includes North America and Japan). (Microsoft internal estimates)
* Xbox LIVE is opening doors to help turn its 10 million gamers into developers. Last month, Xbox 360 announced community games for Xbox LIVE and will be widely available this fall.
* Today, we are announcing Xbox LIVE experienced 750,000 downloads of seven new community games on Xbox LIVE. They were made available for free, for less than a week. (Microsoft internal estimates)

When you look at lifetime performance of all three consoles, Xbox 360 continues to lead:

Lifetime Ecosystem Performance (US NPD Data):

* To date, $9.0 billion have been spent on Xbox 360 in the U.S, which is more than the competition's retail dollars combined. This is nearly $6 billion more than consumers have spent on PS3 and approximately $4.5 billion more than Wii.
* Third party publishers make 60 percent of their revenue at retail on the Xbox 360 platform this generation.

Xbox 360: Extending the Lead

* Xbox 360 has six of the top 10 best games, ranked by quality. (Metacritic)
* No other game platform delivers downloadable digital entertainment, with family favorites like "Hannah Montana" and "Lost."
* No other platform delivers interactive online experiences to more than 10 million members around the globe.

Now that you've seen the gaming ecosystem from a different perspective, we look forward to hearing your thoughts.