GameStop Details Europe, U.S. Installed Base For Consoles

The European install base of video game hardware, including both console and handheld, is about 153 million units in total, says specialty retailer GameStop, citing a report from IDG. The info comes from the company's just-released annual report, which also asserts that of the total install base in Europe as of December 2010, 114 million of that figure is accounted for be current-generation platforms, led by the Nintendo Wii with 24.9 million units. Unlike in the U.S., the PlayStation 3 edges out the Xbox 360 in Europe, with 14.7 million units to the latter's 13.7 million units. As for the handheld market across Europe, the Nintendo DS has an install base of 46 million units, and Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld is up to 14.8 million units. GameStop also cited NPD numbers for the period ending December 2010 to peg the U.S. hardware market at over 249 million units. 141 million of that install base is comprised of current-gen hardware: when it comes to home consoles, the company counts 15.4 million PlayStation 3 units, 34.2 million Wii units, and 25.4 million Xbox 360 units. On the portable market in the U.S, GameStop counts 47.3 million Nintendo DS units and 19 million PSP units. The rest of the number is accounted for by older platforms including the PS2, original Xbox, GameCube and Game Boy Advance. "Based on internal Company estimates, we believe that the installed base of video game software units in the United States currently exceeds 1.98 billion units," says GameStop. "As the substantial installed base of video game hardware and software continues to expand, there is a growing demand for used video game products." Gamasutra will have full analysis of GameStop's annual report, courtesy analyst Matt Matthews, in the near future.