Sony Computer Entertainment America Projects Fifth
Record-Breaking Holiday Season for Playstation
Business Wire - 10:49 a.m. Nov 18, 1999 Eastern
FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 18, 1999-- Consumers
Pick PlayStation(R) Over Movies as Dollar Sales for October
Top the Overall U.S. Box Office Intake for the Month
As an early indicator of what promises to be a successful holiday season for
retailers nationwide, sales for industry leader Sony Computer Entertainment
America's PlayStation business surpassed movie box office receipts for the
month of October.(1) With its market share for both hardware and software
exceeding an impressive 60 percent, PlayStation outsold its competitors by
an average margin of more than 2 to 1 during this period, despite new
entries into the market.
Strong sales for the category overall and increased market demand for
PlayStation products has caused the company to recast its overall holiday
retail outlook for 1999. Sony Computer Entertainment America expects
overall retail sales of PlayStation branded products - including hardware,
software and peripherals - to top more than $1 billion for the 1999 holiday
selling season. Currently, more than one in every five U.S. homes owns a
PlayStation game console, bringing the total PlayStation installed base to
more than 22 million units in North America.
"As anticipated, sales have increased significantly this year but moving into
the holidays, the PlayStation momentum has exceeded even our own
expectations as the demand for hardware may outstrip supply this season,"
said Jack Tretton, vice president, sales, Sony Computer Entertainment
America. "With PlayStation we have been able to break down the
conventional barriers in entertainment by bringing together interactive
games, music and cinematic visuals in a variety of games. This mix of
entertainment has opened the door for our industry to a host of consumers
who traditionally were not interested in games."
To support this increasing consumer demand, the company unveiled its
most expansive marketing campaign to date with a $150 million spend. With
$75 million allocated towards fourth quarter alone, extensive activities
include an array of strategic partnerships with national brands such as MTV,
Pizza Hut, Fox Kids and The Cartoon Network, and an aggressive
broadcast advertising campaign airing during major network, cable and
syndicated programming.
"There are very few consumer entertainment products that have been able to
dominate their category for five successive holiday seasons," said Sean
McGowan, executive vice president and director of research, Gerard Klauer
Mattison & Co. "Sony Computer Entertainment America's PlayStation
business continues to demonstrate momentum fueled by a strong library of
titles and aggressive pricing structure."
With continued strength in both hardware and software, Sony Computer
Entertainment America continues to retain its commanding lead in the
videogame industry, a lead it has held for more than 30 months. Based on
the life-to-date figures in the October TRSTS reports from the NPD Group,
a leading source of information on the videogame industry, PlayStation
commands more than 60 percent of the overall next generation hardware
market and 67 percent of the overall next generation software market. In
addition, PlayStation continues to lead the industry with an impressive
software-to-hardware tie ratio of 7 to 1.
In October alone, PlayStation titles accounted for five of the top 10 spots on
the videogame chart and more than 60 percent of the unit sales - more than
double the software sales of its closest competitor. Based upon this sales
data, top hits for the holidays include Driver(TM) from GT Interactive,
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater(TM) from Activision, CTR (Crash Team
Racing)(TM), Dino Crisis(TM) from Capcom, Final Fantasy(R) VIII from
Square EA and Pac-Man World 20th Anniversary from Namco, among
others.
As consumers continue to purchase the PlayStation game console at an
escalating pace, demand for software has also dramatically spiked,
particularly sales of new titles to the "Greatest Hits" library. The "Greatest
Hits" line-up is a series of the most popular PlayStation games, available for
as low as $19.99. Recent "Greatest Hits" software blockbusters have
included Crash Bandicoot: WARPED(TM), Gran Turismo(TM), Final
Fantasy(R) VII and Frogger(R) from Hasbro Interactive.
Sony Computer Entertainment America, a division of Sony Computer
Entertainment America Inc., markets the PlayStation game console for
distribution in North America, develops and publishes software for the
PlayStation game console, and manages the U.S. third party licensing
program. Based in Foster City, Calif., Sony Computer Entertainment
America Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Computer
Entertainment Inc.
Note (1): According to movie receipts complied for Variety, total domestic
gross box office for October 1999 was $505.2 million.
Visit us on the Web at playstation.com.
Copyright 1999, Business Wire
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