US video game sales grow 38% in September

by Blake Snow { Oct 13th 2006 at 12:30PM }

The NPD Group (which tracks US game sales) announced yesterday that video game sales for the month of September grew 38% over last year to $777M, this despite "dreaded console transition" concerns and being 18% higher than predicted. One NPD analyst believes 2006 will set an all-new record in video games sales by way of 20% or greater growth for all categories including hardware, software, and accessories, man boob style. Here's a quick rundown:

TOP SELLING HARDWARE (units sold)

NDS - 403,435
PS2 - 306,517
360 - 259,458
GBA - 177,145
PSP - 153,353
NGC - 42,286
XBX - 6,495

TOP SELLING SOFTWARE (units sold)

PS2 - Madden NFL 07 ~ 507,000
360 - Saints Row ~ 455,000
PS2 - Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy ~ 349,000
NDS - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team ~ 285,000
GBA - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team ~ 219,000
360 - Madden NFL 07 ~ 218,000
GCN - Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy ~ 170,000
XBX - Madden NFL 07 ~ 166,000
NDS - Star Fox Command ~ 137,000
NDS - New Super Mario Bros. ~ 134,000

[Listings courtesy Games Are Fun; Thanks O_o]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

The1 @ Oct 13th 2006 12:34PM

I thought SONY Said the PSP and DS were selling about even in the US?

Proud to be a Wiitard @ Oct 13th 2006 12:34PM

ha, gba outsells psp!

Moogle @ Oct 13th 2006 12:36PM

People really go overboard when they talk about how much the DS is beating the PSP. Yeah, it's a fair bit, but it's not overwhelming. Oh, wait, that says 'PS2', not 'PSP'. Only 150k? Ok, maybe a little overwhelming.

*grins* But seriously, PSP's doing ok enough if you look at it outside the context of the DS. Not great, but by no means an N-gage.

Beeves @ Oct 13th 2006 12:40PM

I'm going to wait for Me to show up.

Foetoid @ Oct 13th 2006 12:41PM

@1. 'I thought SONY Said the PSP and DS were selling about even in the US?'

I hope you dont believe everything that Sony says. It has been a known fact for a while now that the UMD format is DEAD and the psp is being PAWNT by the DS in every region. Sony should really cut thier losses and axe the PSP. Good machine, better competition. Also this table makes me wonder, since the GC is outselling the xbox in every region now, will it eventually outsell the xbox causing it to rot in 3rd place of last gen? The xbox only sold about 2 million more units worldwide than the gc, so maybe its possible.

ALH @ Oct 13th 2006 12:43PM

'1. I thought SONY Said the PSP and DS were selling about even in the US?'

you sure that wasnt SHIPPING? ;)

Chessasaur @ Oct 13th 2006 12:45PM

I was surprised to see Saint's Row so high. And it's the only title on the list that isn't from an already established franchise. Also, with the PS2 still selling so well, I hope Sony doesn't stop supporting more game development for it. (I know that TGS had like no PS2 games.) That number will be even higher when the silver version comes out in November.

AG @ Oct 13th 2006 12:48PM

Actually, the psp seems to be doing very well...

Any console selling roughly 150 - 200 k a month is not dead. And people stop comparing it to the DS, if the PSP was priced evenly with the DS those sales figures would be much closer.

Chessasaur @ Oct 13th 2006 12:49PM

@5: According to the list, the Gamecube is outselling the old Xbox, not the 360. I beleive that MS has stopped production and they are drying up in the stores. The number is so low because there aren't any to sell.

reguy @ Oct 13th 2006 12:50PM

dear sony, how about you have a 1 week sale where the psp is only 99 dollars? do you have any idea how many you would sell? plus you can still rip me off with your 50 dollar games(on a handheld wtf) but still i'll be happy cuz i got my psp for a steal

cmon make it happen, the gba is currently beating you.

Ryan @ Oct 13th 2006 12:51PM

That pic's hot. :D

Sergio @ Oct 13th 2006 12:53PM

"...if the PSP was priced evenly with the DS those sales figures would be much closer."

No. But if it were priced evenly AND had a lot of games more people wanted to play, then yes.

007craft @ Oct 13th 2006 12:54PM

you guys know, selling that many ps2s is a bad thing for sony. If so many people are buying ps2s a month before ps3 comes out, you can assume they are all not planing to get the ps3 since the ps3 is backwards compatible and would be stupid to buy a ps2 now if you wanted a ps3.

Pedro Van Faulk @ Oct 13th 2006 12:58PM

AG

You mean like in Japan? Where the PSP sells for less and gets stomped even harder?

Price is a factor in some people not buying a PSP. but not as much as the lack of decent software, and a poorly made system.

32_Footsteps @ Oct 13th 2006 12:59PM

You know, those numbers for the PSP would look alot rosier if the GBA hardware wasn't selling better.

But when Nintendo manages to hold down both the #1 and #2 spot in portable hardware sales, Sony really has to be concerned.

Player1 @ Oct 13th 2006 1:05PM

Wow, a sales chart followed by a ton of comments about the DS "pwning" the PSP. Never thought I'd see that.

Karen @ Oct 13th 2006 1:05PM

I wonder what they do at the Nintendo office when sales figures like this come in. Free cake at the cafeteria? Ice cream party? Ribs?

h0tr0d @ Oct 13th 2006 1:07PM

Jesus, who the hell is still buying PS2's? Well, I guess it's because the early ones were piece of crap! I've had 4 of them total.

BlindsideDork @ Oct 13th 2006 1:10PM

Anyone else notice that Nintendo had

Frosty22 @ Oct 13th 2006 1:11PM

Wasn't there an article somewhere about the PS2 being the PS3's biggest competitor? These numbers seem to ring true for that.

strider_mt2k @ Oct 13th 2006 1:14PM

The GBA sales were me and three other guys.

Sorry everyone!

Sorry!

Steve @ Oct 13th 2006 1:16PM

There's a couple of interesting (well, to me anyway) things in these figures:

1) DS sells 400,000 units, DS games manage to capture 3 of the top ten slots with a total of 556,000 units sold. PSP sells 153,000 units and doesn't get a single title, not even GTA which you'd assume would be pretty high on everyone's must-have list, into the top ten. IMO that tends to highlight the big problem with the PSP system: people seem to be buying it as a media player and homebrew system rather than to play PSP games, thus Sony aren't seeing much in the way of licence revenue at the moment. That's potentialy a big problem, especially if they're still loosing money on the hardware (anyone know if they are?).

2) 360 seems to be doing pretty well all things considered. For Madden to sell just under half (okay, 43%) of the number of copies it did on the PS2 on a system that has a much smaller install base is surely a positive sign for Microsoft. It would also explain why developers are more eager to ink cross-platform deals if the 360 is delivering a strong customer base. Regardless of what happens with the PS3 there simply won't be the number of units in the marketplace to match the 360 for at least a year (and that assumes that the PS3 obliterates 360 sales). For that matter, 260,000 sales isn't exactly shabby for the 360 considering it's not yet christmas. Just wondering, if the PS3 really is only getting 500,000 units for launch (and only small numbers of units after that), could we potentialy see the 360 running it close or even beating it in the sales figures for that month?

3) As for Sony, their good news is the PS2 is still selling bucketloads and is probably considered the budget offering of choice right now with a very good catalogue of titles available and more on the way. Of course it remains to be seen what Wii will do to that when it comes out as once you work out the cost of a slim PS2 ($130) + memory card ($20) + game ($40) is only $60 cheaper than the newcomer.

CJC @ Oct 13th 2006 1:17PM

"...And people stop comparing it to the DS, if the PSP was priced evenly with the DS those sales figures would be much closer..."

And therein lies the reason why so many people feel the PS3 will poorly. It won't sell poorly. It'll sell poorly in comparison with the Wii.

Scooby Doo @ Oct 13th 2006 1:24PM

I don't necessarily have an opinion on the PSP doing poorly, I just wonder who the heck is still buying GBA's? I know that the DS is priced significantly higher in relation, but who in there right mind would pick it over the DS. I loved my GBA for many years, but now a days...it's kind of ghetto.

I can just imagine soom poor kid getting one for his 12th birthday. "Uh...Mom...Dad...was I a bad kid this year?"

dsub @ Oct 13th 2006 1:33PM

007craft-

actually, it's not stupid. sony is making a hefty profit on PS2's right now. They know every PS3 they make is going to sell for the next year or so, so if they can keep pumping out PS2's, they are recouping alot of the losses they are taking from the PS3.

Robert Jung @ Oct 13th 2006 1:36PM

"I wonder what they do at the Nintendo office when sales figures like this come in. Free cake at the cafeteria? Ice cream party? Ribs?"

Reggie refrains from kicking someone's ass? ;-)

--R.J.

dsub @ Oct 13th 2006 1:39PM

steve-

it is very likely that for the month of november the 360 will beat out PS3 in sales. If it's moving 260,000 right now without the big holiday push of AAA titles, imagine how much it will sell if it's got game like Gears of War, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell...etc. coming out for it next month. I won't be one bit surprised when 500,000-600,000 360's sell in November. The big numbers for MS are going to come in December though. By then the PS3's will be all spoken for, and their main competition will be the Wii. Right when everyone goes xmas shopping to.

You are right though. PS3 would have to outsell 360 on a 2:1 basis for an entire year to catch up to them. At this point, I really don't see that happening. 2007 is going to be a great year for MS. They have TONS of amazing looking games coming to 360 in 200. Most notably...Halo 3. 2007 will also see GTA4, RE5, and Assassin's Creed as big cross platform titles, and games like Mass Effect and Bioshock as some heft exclusives as well.

For sony's sake I hope they can get shelves stocked up with PS3's for Assassin's Creed. Otherwise MS might end up with an unintentional semi-exclusive (i.e. if in march PS3's are still in short supply alot of people wanting to play Assassin's Creed may opt for the readily available 360 instead)

RazERX @ Oct 13th 2006 1:41PM

and people keep saying PIRATING AND MODDING ARE KILLING THE GAMES INDUSTRY! Waaawaaaahh. I think these numbers say one thing - BULLSH*T, the games industry is doing big!

BlindsideDork @ Oct 13th 2006 1:41PM

I heard PSP sucked cause they didn't really have any killer aps like the DS has

idesignit @ Oct 13th 2006 1:41PM

Lets put these numbers in another perspective:

Handhelds atrributed for 54.42% of sales
Nintendo had 46.18% of total hardware sales
Sony had 34.10% of total hardware sales
MS had 19.72% of total hardware sales
Last generation hardware maded up 80.76% of hardware
Nexgen (xbox360) made up 19.24% of hardware sales

additional notes:
- Sony has not released new hardware in over 19 months
- Nintendo is only company making money on ALL hardware sales
- Sony makes money on all PS2 sales
- MS makes money on xbox sales
- MS loses money on all 360 sales

Another point to mention is that this is a single month of data and no trends can be determined from such a small time frame.

From the data provided we can tell that both nintendo handhelds sells were greater than the PSP sales for the month of September. This data does not in any way make Sony's claim of having similar overall sales equal to or greater tahn the Nintendo DS invalid. However, if we were to find total sales numbers I am sure that would discredit Sony's claims.

There is no questioning Sony's very strong positioning in teh gaming market, though. And, previous claims that Nintendo was a dying company have been completly destroyed.

As a gamer there has never been a better availability of gaming choices in software or hardware. Gamers of any demographic can find something that meets their wants and needs.

Cyrix_0 @ Oct 13th 2006 1:48PM

So its gona be

PS2 vs PS3...

Gona be a Tough One...

Nintendo DS has had two product launches, the Chunky DS and DS Lite in a short period of time from each other....

so a boost in sales figure is most apparent and expected for a on-going period...

What you think will happen if PSP Lite version was released...sale Boost...most likely...so not suprised by that at all.

PSP is there for a reason...Im sure with the Games Libary expanding by the day it will reach better expected sales figures...

Patrick @ Oct 13th 2006 1:52PM

PS2 - 306,517
(that's 300k people who won't be buying a PS3)

tydobbs @ Oct 13th 2006 1:55PM

dsub,

I agree that November has good potential to be a great month for Microsoft, and likely for all three of the console makers but I just couldn't help but notice something in your post. The triple A exclusive titles you mentioned for the 360 in your post are, "Gears of War, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell...etc", and later "Most notably...Halo 3". Is it just me or does it feel like these are all basically the same game? Or at least the target audience for these games is all the same person? With what Steve noticed about almost half of 360 owners buying madden last month that really makes me worry that perhaps the 360 is catering to too narrow a crowd and if that niche is large enough to support both the 360 and the PS3. I can see why Nintendo didn't wnat to fight on the same playing field as Microsoft, there isn't enough enough room on their own console for the competition. I can only imagine the most hardcore gamers will be able to affort to play in both time and/or money all four of those most likely excellent games. when they are released. Also later in dsubs post he mentions "2007 will also see GTA4, RE5, and Assassin's Creed as big cross platform titles..." I can't help but laugh when thinking of the games I re listed here and the earlier post on joystiq about microsoft's esrb parent education roadtrip. like a poster in that thread said they are teaching you how to lock out all the good games for the system.

clo1_2000 @ Oct 13th 2006 1:55PM

It amazes me how the same people that "LOL" at the PS2 "pwning" the GC all of the sudden say that you are comparing apples and oranges when trying to compare DS sales to PSP sales. Those same people say, "The PS2 sold millions more than the GC, it is way better" come back to say, "It doesn't matter if the PSP sells a few million less than the DS, it is still a better handheld". It is enough to make me "LOL" in "RL".

BlindsideDork @ Oct 13th 2006 1:56PM

it is pretty bad when a current gen system is outselling a next gen system...

360 im looking at you!

BlindsideDork @ Oct 13th 2006 2:02PM

MS is focusing/targeting the stupid college frat boy group of kids. An article on this site or another had an interview with someone from MS saying their target audience is:

Around 24 year old GUY who is most likely in a HALO clan and likes technology. He plays online to reconnect to his DORM buddies and play HALO online...

It went on to say some other things but this was the gist. This even shows that MS recognizes that their only true MS game is HALO. If it wasn't for this game then they would be dead in the water by now...well even more than now. :D

I seriously hate my Nintendo DS @ Oct 13th 2006 2:06PM

Those figures are pure joystiq junk. The GBA is not outselling the PSP, in fact it's hard to even come upon a GBA these days. They are most likely artificially inflated bundles of the GBA, GBA SP, and GB micro.

2playedout @ Oct 13th 2006 2:09PM

"#35. it is pretty bad when a current gen system is outselling a next gen system...

360 im looking at you!"

Dude, STFU! The XBOX 360 costs a little over double the PS2. And the PS2's brand awareness is much much higher than the 360. I think that considering how its a downtime (normally) for entertainment, the XBOX 360 being almost a year old and is still chugging along well. Just stop trying to be clever, cause your not.

shase @ Oct 13th 2006 2:10PM

These numbers mean nothing. I liked one of Moore's few unbiased lines at E3 " We wont know who the "winner" is until the christmas of 2007 where the gamer can go to a store and choose a game machine with a lot of power, a game machine with great online or a game machine with an innovative controller". I agree with that statement and even though by next christmas PS3/Wii unit sales probably wont surpass X360's but we can still see how they did in a year compared to what 360 did in a year... (7-8 million sold thus far?)

gamerx @ Oct 13th 2006 2:14PM

Bahahaha!

NDS is wasting PS2!

GBA is wasting PSP!! lol

Nintendo is owning the US market hands down!

I'd love to hear darryl/aZn_1080p/Me's spin on this!

Darth Pixel @ Oct 13th 2006 2:15PM

:) The 360 is still getting trounced by the PS2.

idesignit @ Oct 13th 2006 2:20PM

Shase...

I think this time next year we will see polarization of sales with MS leading or neck to neck with Sony in teh US and Sony leading by a large margin in Japan and MS leading by a large margin in Europe/Austrailia. I believe nintendos Wii will sell strongly this holiday season and into teh first and second quarter of next year and then take a considerable nose dive as the "uniqness" of the control system wears off and developers and consumer intrest wanes. Holiday season next year will see a slimline version of teh 360 with a built in HD-dvd player, $99 Wii console with free game, $129 PSP, and a single SKU PS3 at the same price point as teh high end system with 2-3 game bundle and gift certificate for multiple Sony studio movies to download over their service.

gamerx @ Oct 13th 2006 2:22PM

Also notice the top 10 software sales: 5 of those are Nintendo games versus 3 MS games and 2 Sony games. PSP isnt even on the list!

Man its looking very good for Nintendo. I expect Wii to tear the roof just like DS Lite.

BlindsideDork @ Oct 13th 2006 2:25PM

Awww look, MS fan boys are getting angry cause they bought the wrong system. :P

By your logic(#38), about the price and name brand, I do believe that Nintendo will kick the poo out of the 360. Also keep in mind that you may think it is "chugging along well" but shouldn't it be doing GREAT since it is the ONLY next gen currently on the market? How well did the PS2 do while it was on the market by itself? I think far greater. PS2 relaly got its name out there cause they were out first and gave you games to play (some good and some bad). Well 360 is doing that now and I think it is onlye "chugging along well" cause it is the only thing out there...just wait till Christmas comes and next year when you realize MS has maybe like 3 or 4 games people want and a lot of junk floating around for gamers to buy to make them feel like they didn't waste money on a system.

Now I'm looking at you #38

BlindsideDork @ Oct 13th 2006 2:26PM

idesignit

You are dreaming...really you are. And that is cool, I can be a dreamer at times too but you need to know when to draw the line betwen reality and fiction.

I am sure you said the same thing about the DS about its "uniqueness" dying off in a year. Wait isn't that system selling like hot cakes to...EVERYONE?

And funny you say PS3 winning Japan...it will be a close race but they are more interested in the Wii.

Sentinel @ Oct 13th 2006 2:48PM

Some of these comments are hilarious.

"31. So its gona be

PS2 vs PS3...

Gona be a Tough One...
"

So the only competition for the PS3 is ... the PS2? You don't think the 360 or Wii will sell? Seriously?
Come on man, i think the PS3 is a cool system, and i can't wait to see the great games that are going to be built for it. But it's launching with 500k units, that's nothing. Sony isn't a contender THIS (!) year.
Systems that are in the race: PS2, 360, Wii and the DS.
Looking at these number, the logical order would be: DS > PS2 > 360 > PS3. The only console i'm not sure where to put is the Wii, but i think i might be the biggest seller (this! year). It'll have enough supplies to do great, and the system had some massive positive hype going for it. And don't forget that it's launching with ZELDA! :)

"Nintendo DS has had two product launches, the Chunky DS and DS Lite in a short period of time from each other....

so a boost in sales figure is most apparent and expected for a on-going period...

What you think will happen if PSP Lite version was released...sale Boost...most likely...so not suprised by that at all.

PSP is there for a reason...Im sure with the Games Libary expanding by the day it will reach better expected sales figures..."

No, the DS isn't doing great because there's a new version, it's doing great because it has some great software. New hardware (or colours/colors) can increase sales for a while, but not for 3-4 months (how long has it been ?) at a time (,1-2 month at most. And a boost like that doesn't instantly triple sales, great software does.
Sorry to dissappoint you, but developers are flocking to the DS, so things are only getting worse for the PSP. The DS is starting to dominate just like the PS2 did.

and euhm, lol @ 37
If you hate your DS, just sell it and get a PSP. We won't hate you for it. :)
I never bought a GBA myself, so now i'm enjoying it's great games on my DS.
Zelda: minish cap, Mario & Luigi (I HAVE FURY!), 2 Metroid games, Castlevanias, 2 Fire emblems, 2 advance wars, Final fantasys, Tactics ogre, ...
Again: it's great software that makes a system sell. I do actually like my DS, it's getting way more playtime than all my other systems combined. But hey, that's just me. :)

ps: how the hell did i wind up typing such a long boring post? sorry :/

gamerx @ Oct 13th 2006 2:49PM

John Lucas,

Market disruption successful! :P

david @ Oct 13th 2006 2:50PM

If you look at the amount of money spent on the hardware platform, you get:
Revenue Platform Price Used to Calculate
52,442,500 NDS 129.99
39,540,700 PS2 129.00
90,807,700 360 349.99
14,169,800 GBA 79.99
34,502,900 PSP 224.99
4,228,180 NGC 99.99

I used the MSRB for the NDS, PS2, GBA, and NGC. For the Xbox 360 I average the core and premium package, so this is probably an underestimate, since the premium outsells the core package. For the PSP, I averaged the value pack and the core package; I don't know what the ratio is, so this could be either an underestimate or an overestimate. I didn't include the original Xbox because it seems that most retailers aren't offering it, and there isn't really a standard price for it. The cheapest price for a new Xbox on Amazon Marketplace is 349.99 dollars.