Xbox High Score All About the Timing

With the release of the PlayStation Pro on November 10, all the major videogame platform releases due this year have been completed. Panjiva data shows it may have been a slow start to the holiday sales season, with imports for July 1 through October 30 6.6% lower vs. a year earlier.

Yet, October imports were 1.3% higher than a year earlier, resulting in a new high since at least 2007. The dollar value of imports was 18.9% lower for the three months to September 30. This likely reflects the late delivery (during the year) of Sony’s new products, and possibly consumers delaying purchases in favor of virtual reality systems.

HIGH SCORE AFTER SLOW PROGRESS

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Shipments based on all HS 9504 products through October 31, dollar values specifically HS 9504.50 through September 30Source: Panjiva

Looking at the individual brands, imports of PlayStation-related products dropped 12.0% on a year earlier. This may reflect the smaller packaging of the revised PlayStation 4, rather than inherently lower sales for the product. Imports of Nintendo products may have benefited from Pokemon-Go tie-ins, with a 5.4% increase in imports being the fourth straight increase. The release of the “ Switch” console due in March may temper enthusiasm later in the holiday season.

Notably though imports of Xbox jumped 110% vs. a year earlier. This might be the result of customers who were awaiting the new PlayStation either not being enthused by the product and buying the revised Xbox One S, or being tired of waiting for the PlayStation. Customers may also have decided not to delay upgrades given Microsoft’s announcement that its Project Scorpio console won’t be ready until “holiday 2017”. A final effect may be a change in supply chain strategy.

XBOX BUYERS DON’T WAIT TO SWITCH TO SWITCH, OR PLAYSTATION

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U.S. imported shipments based on keyword search for PlayStation/PS3/PS4, Xbox and Nintendo Source: Panjiva

The growth in U.S. imports has been driven by a 90.6% jump in imports from South Korea, likely driven by third party manufacturing by LG Electronics, while China maintains the lion’s share of production with 79% of the total.

SOUTH KOREA STILL PLAYER 2, BUT IN PURSUIT

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U.S. imports of HS 9504 products by country Source: Panjiva

One potential negative is that China’s global exports of videogame systems normally peaks in September, and was 19.0% lower than a year earlier for the month. This was the result of Europe-bound exports dropping off more quickly than normal. It turn it may negatively impacted the third quarter performance of local manufacturers including Foxconn (via its Hon Fu Jin Precision subsidiary), Mingshuo Computer and Flextronics (maker of the Xbox).

CHINA VIDEOGAME EXPORTS NEED A POWER-UP

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