February NPD data show DS, Wii on top
Another month, another batch of hardware and software sales data estimates from the NPD Group. The February numbers show Nintendo hitting the competition with a one-two punch of hardware dominance -- nearly half a million DS units and a third of a million Wiis were sold in North America in February. The Playstation 2 continued its impressive afterlife with roughly 300K in sales, while Sony's new system continued its slow start, selling only 127K units for the month -- even less than the somewhat-defunct Game Boy Advance.On the software front, Crackdown was the top seller for the month, giving the Xbox 360 had the top selling game for the fourth month in a row (In January it was Lost Planet. In December and November, Gears of War). A free Wii remote sent Wii Play soaring to the No. 2 spot, while the DS rehash of Diddy Kong Racing premiered at No. 3. In more bad news for Sony, perennial favorite Guitar Hero 2 was the only game for a Sony system to make the top 10 this month.
Continue reading for a complete breakdown of the top-selling hardware and software for the month.
NPD North American hardware sales -- February '07
- Nintendo DS - 485K
- Nintendo Wii - 335K
- Sony PS2 - 295K
- Microsoft Xbox 360 - 228K
- Sony PSP - 176K
- Nintendo GBA - 136K
- Sony PS3 - 127K
- Nintendo GameCube - 24K
NPD North American software sales -- Feburary '07
- Crackdown (Xbox 360) – Microsoft – 427K
- Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) – Nintendo – 371K
- Diddy Kong Racing (DS) – Nintendo – 262K
- Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) – Nintendo – 130K
- Guitar Hero 2 w/ guitar (PS2) – Activision – 130K
- Gears of War (Xbox 360) – Microsoft – 119K
- Major League Baseball 2K7 (Xbox 360) – Take-Two – 113K
- Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Xbox 360) – Capcom – 111K
- WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii) – Nintendo – 109K
- NBA Street Homecourt (Xbox 360) – Electronic Arts – 102K
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
sheppy @ Mar 16th 2007 10:36AM
Wow, Webbush was drastically off. Then again, what in February was a console seller for PS3?
LunarDuality @ Mar 16th 2007 10:39AM
This seems like a big win in the short term for Microsoft (since software is where the money comes in) and a win in the long term for Nintendo (if the Wii proves to have longevity and owners choose to buy more software).
And regarding GHII for the PS2, I was in Virgin just yesterday when someone asked me how he could get GH working on a PS3 and I told him the sad truth. It's unfortunate for Sony that their current top seller for the PS2 isn't backwards compatible. I wonder when the PS3 will finally get Guitar Hero?
I'm just glad that my 360 will finally be rocking GHII in less than a month! Finally.
VerdigriS @ Mar 16th 2007 10:42AM
Wow, Nintendo is really mopping the floor with the competition this year so far.
One question... Sony says that they are suppling enough PS3's to keep up with high demand, whilst Nintendo can't keep them on the shelves. Does this mean that no one even wants a PS3 yet? Can't wait to see the spin Sony puts on this one...
sheppy @ Mar 16th 2007 10:43AM
"It's unfortunate for Sony that their current top seller for the PS2 isn't backwards compatible. I wonder when the PS3 will finally get Guitar Hero?"
You can buy adapters. Some recent ones are confirmed to work.
Mark Felps @ Mar 16th 2007 10:47AM
You might note that Crackdown did their massivley impressive numbers in just eleven days.
And the PS3 numbers? Brutal.
FrankTheCrank @ Mar 16th 2007 10:48AM
It's all about PRICE.
You should have mentioned the fact that at 227K the XBOX 360 isn't selling like it should be at 1.5 years into it's life cycle. The adoption rate is starting to slow down. Microsoft was hoping for over 300K a month. That's not happening. What's the deal? They need to drop the price. Still XBOX hasn't made one red cent yet...you can sell your systems and games, but they haven't recovered their initial investment yet...and their at it 6 years now??
PS2 still selling at 300K a month is just amazing.
PS3 will continue to sell under 200K a month. It's too pricey right now.
Dolla Dolla @ Mar 16th 2007 10:49AM
@sheppy
What in March is a console seller for the PS3? I hear Motorstorm could've been it, but they don't even have head-to-head multiplayer on one console. A racing game with internet only multiplayer seems ... unfinished.
I'm sure they'll do better in March. But, with a price-drop seemingly nowhere in sight, and still no system sellers, Sony will continue to lag in the next-gen battle. I mean, the Home announcement was wonderful, and LittleBigPlanet looks awesome ... but outside of GDC, who hears about these things besides gamers, especially since they won't be debuting until the fall? Certainly not the casual consumer.
I have no idea what Sony can do to swing the race in their favor, besides releasing a killer app. And, they just did, only it was for the PS2 (GOW2).
Crono @ Mar 16th 2007 10:53AM
Your comments about motorstorm, combined with what I had previously heard about frame rate issues has made me realize that the PS3 isn't powerful enough to do everything in that game for 2 players. Think about it. If they barely coaxed enough power out of the system to get it running smoothly, how much worse would it be in split screen, where it has to render 2 separate scenes simultaneously. It just couldn't happen.
Perhaps the rumors about the PS3 hardware being broken weren't entirely untrue after all.
Jack of No Trades @ Mar 16th 2007 10:55AM
Motorstorm could have been a AAA+ title if they would have put more multiplayer options, Able to customize vehicles, story, more levels. Halfassers.
samfish @ Mar 16th 2007 10:55AM
"Then again, what in February was a console seller for PS3?"
I heard the praises for VF5 sung many a time in February.
Personally, I would never have expected Virtua fighter 5 to be a system seller, but it was touted as such by...some.
peko @ Mar 16th 2007 10:56AM
OMG at Nintendo creating this artificial demand!
shase @ Mar 16th 2007 10:58AM
@Crono
Yeah I read that the developers said they didnt want to sacrifice quality for split screen but that doesnt mean the hardware is being broken.... if they let people here develope motorstorm and we come up with crap do you think the system is underpowered? Sure they are game developers but there are still "levels" of them and they still need to learn much more about it...thats why every year games looks/plays better and better.
Crono @ Mar 16th 2007 10:59AM
LOL peko, thats funny.
Because it way too delusional to be serious.
Abbas @ Mar 16th 2007 11:00AM
Dolla Dolla: It'll take another year or so before Sony takes the lead. PS2 didn't sell as well till Final Fantasy X and MGS2 came out.
History shall repeat itself.
RYAN @ Mar 16th 2007 11:00AM
GO NINTENDO! GO!!!!!
:)
Dammit I love my wii so much it's scary. I haven't loved a gaming rig this much since I got my first computer way back in the day.
dark @ Mar 16th 2007 11:00AM
OH MY GOD!!!! You can connect them!!!!!! How do you combine motion touch sensing technology and be able to use it?? My brain can't comprehend this.
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Daryl @ Mar 16th 2007 11:01AM
I second that the PS3's sales are brutal.
Oh, and there will be a 360 price cut shortly which will really put the PS3 in a bad place.
It will be interesting to see if the wii can continue it's pace in the long run. Doubtful in my opinion.
Crono @ Mar 16th 2007 11:01AM
Shase, the point I was trying to make is that motorstorm isn't the end all be all game. Its pretty, and its got good physics, but its not mind boggling. For as much as Sony was touting the power of PS3 and 4D gaming and such, something as simple as 2p splitscreen shouldn't be a problem for it, though it clearly is.
Does this game run in 1080p?
Ritz @ Mar 16th 2007 11:02AM
Shitty news for Sony, although surprising in the least. Nintendo's money making machines look like they are well oiled, but hype only goes so far. I have 10 Wii games, but maybe only 2 or 3 get any real game time. And Microsoft looks pretty damn comfortable right about now. A price drop should yield very favorable results in the future.
billychaos @ Mar 16th 2007 11:03AM
That picture really makes me want to see a star trek game where the DS is your tricorder and the wii mote is your phaser. That will never happen though.
Jack of No Trades @ Mar 16th 2007 11:03AM
@ Abbas
History can't repeat itself if the circumstances are different. MS has the lead in the hardcore gaming market and Nintendo in the casual. 360 has the good games to play.
jay @ Mar 16th 2007 11:03AM
Abbas, will the history that dictates-
Systems over £300 never come out on top.
Media Centre hybrids from Sony do not work (PSX, PSP).
Last to launch always fails.
Most powerful console means less sales.
No console maker has been on top for more than 2 home console generations in a row.
History repeats!
Daryl @ Mar 16th 2007 11:05AM
@ Jay
Good points.
RYAN @ Mar 16th 2007 11:06AM
"PS2 didn't sell as well till Final Fantasy X and MGS2 came out. "
abbas i'm sorry but you are SO wrong. The PS2 sold 1 million units in 2 DAYS. 2 DAYS!!
The ps3 is a completely different situation.
Vidikron @ Mar 16th 2007 11:10AM
@18
Meh... the Wii wouldn't even be able to pull off Motorstorm in 1p... does that mean it's hardware is broken too?
I agree they should have worked harder to get 2P split screen in the game, but don't confuse the lack of fully being able to optimize the hardware on the part of the developers with 'broken' hardware.
Also, just because a system is more powerful that doesn't mean split screen is easier. Using that reasoning all games should be running at a solid 60 FPS because they are more powerful than last generation, but that's simply not the case. The reason is because a lot of developers are going to push any system graphically, so something like split screen will always be a challenge unless you scale back the graphics.
Zertoss @ Mar 16th 2007 11:12AM
127k units isn't too shabby, IMO. Sure it's not selling like the 360 and the Wii, but it is selling. Once Playstation Home and LittleBigPlanet hit, I'm sure those sales will rise dramatically.
Also, keep in mind that the Wii and the PS3 cater to different audiences. The Wii comes with the game that sells it to its target audience: the casual crowd and the non-gamers. The PS3 is aimed at the more hardcore gamers, those of us that have been gaming since we were in diapers. A better comparison would be to the 360, which has a much larger library thanks to it's 1 year head start. The PS3 managed to sell just over half of what the 360 did with its comparatively meager library. That's not bad in my book.
ZenGaijin @ Mar 16th 2007 11:13AM
Maybe I can actually play some games on my Wii that aren't stripped down PSP or PS2 ports that being said.
Probably going to pick up Super Paper Mario.
......Gamecube port......
Crono @ Mar 16th 2007 11:15AM
You know, Eternal Darkness was an N64 port, and it is still lauded as one of the best horror games ever created.
LaughingTarget @ Mar 16th 2007 11:16AM
I heard differently on Motorstorm. It has something to do with the design of the game, mainly the whole replay feature after each crash. Imagine split screen with someone that sucks, you'll be cruising along, the other guy crashes, then you have to wait through HIS replay. This throws the game off. Without the in-engine replay, Motorstorm loses a little of its flavor. But, that is just what I heard.
Now, if it is the other way around, couldn't get the framerates to work, this doesn't mean the PS3 hardware is broken (if it were broken, it wouldn't work at all). It likely means the following:
A. Evolution Studios isn't a decent developer. Quite possibly true given how sparse Motorstorm is.
B. The game was rushed by Sony to try and build support for enimic PS3 sales, removing the ability to tweak and improve gameplay to add split-screen. Also possibly true for the same reason as A and a better reason.
C. The PS3 isn't as powerful as advertised and Evolution Studios was given a set of requirements by Sony that couldn't possibly be done without cutting features. Again, major possibility.
A is a long-shot, but B and C are the best options. My best bet would be B with C in close second.
Matt B @ Mar 16th 2007 11:19AM
I think April will be the tell tale month for sales. Being that the PS3 isn't in Europe and other markets yet make the other consoles figures look like they are dominating.
I'm not saying that the PS3 will be on top in April, I'm just saying it will be a fairer assessment when the PS3 is in all the same markets as the other consoles.
Abbas @ Mar 16th 2007 11:19AM
Jay: The market is just maturing for media center hybrids and that's clearly evident with the success of 360's Video Marketplace and rumors of Zephyr
Ryan: PS2s initially sold out due to the PlayStation brand name alone and currently there are over 100 million PS2 satisfied customers out there. Add to that titles such as Final Fantasy, MGS, Grand Turismo, God of War and you know it's a matter of time, ESPECIALLY if you add Japan to the equation
LaughingTarget @ Mar 16th 2007 11:20AM
Matt B -
I don't follow the logic. How will launching in Europe impact North American sales?
m ike @ Mar 16th 2007 11:22AM
Zertoss
the 360 was out of stock. everfy unti sold. u could not find one in stires till almost april. be glad the 360 had shortages or the numebers would be much worse.
the ps3 has been instock in almost all stores since january. its just not selling good. the originla xbox sold more its first feb than the ps3. the original xbox. atleast the 360 sold 170,000 its first feb. thats all they had shipped.
its starting to get dire for the ps3. if they canlt outdo the originla xbox how long can those big name 3rd party games stay exclusive?
look at the xbox 360. its a softwre machine. its dominated software every month. attach rate thru the rough.
theres no good news at all from this data or any for sony. home yeah thats not really a reason to buy a console games are. where are they? the biggest game was relesd for the ps2. notice how its still selling well. thats how the ps2 dominated the past 6 years. games.
wake me up hen the ps3 outsells the original xbox. or the 360 date to date not launch cause guess what? every month the 360 outsells the ps3 it pulls further away.
and the wii. thats just crck in a box right now. yeah its looking like 2 horse race
Shagittarius @ Mar 16th 2007 11:24AM
What I think is interesting is if you break the sales down into a dollar for dollar consumer interest:
# of consoles sold * Price
Sony : People spent 76.2 million in Feb.
Nintendo : 83.7 mil.
Xbox: 91.2 mil.
Dollar for dollar people are spending more on the Xbox.
Joop @ Mar 16th 2007 11:25AM
@18: No, it's 720, like most of the things they said would be 1080.
PS3 being outsold by its previous incarnation is understandable. It has too big a hold to ignore. But being outsold by the last place legacy handheld that was replaced by the fully backwards compatible DS 2.5 years ago? That is beyond brutal.
Jack of No Trades @ Mar 16th 2007 11:26AM
Its going to take more than Playstation Home and LittleBigPlanet to sell consoles. 360 has about 6 RPG for release this year.
The japanese are stubborn pricks. The 360 is superior to the PS3 in many ways. They carry a American grudge and call it loyalty. Openned your eyes "japanese market" and see that MS is catering to you.
Emotep @ Mar 16th 2007 11:26AM
Once again, Team Japan is crushing the Xbox brand.
I would never pollute my HDTV with Batsu-Box filth
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/Emotep032/IMGP0157.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/Emotep032/IMGP0158.jpg
sheppy @ Mar 16th 2007 11:27AM
@Jack of all Trades
"Motorstorm could have been a AAA+ title if they would have put more multiplayer options, Able to customize vehicles, story, more levels. Halfassers."
More multiplayer is confirmed as coming down the pipe. The developers did a chat session on PSX Underground recently and they do have people working on getting single console multiplayer working and available as a patch.
Customize Vehicles? Dude, they are beautiful to behold regardless.
Story? Maybe I'm in the minority but I'm getting tired of developer trying to push a story into games that don't need one. Here's the story, you're at a major offroad event during a burning man style rave. That's the alpha and omega of what I need. I'm just there to race, I don't want cutscenes with Billy Bob telling me "Dat dere racing dun be good, boy. You keep dat shit up, youse gonna make a big time splash. But furs, you need ta handle mah challenge." Thank you, no. Keep the shitty stories in the shitty EA racing games.
More Levels, yeah. I can agree here. But supposedly they are coming and I would complain more if the current 8 were not balanced for all the vehicles and offer so much openness.
@Crono
Dude, the game runs at a steady 30fps and unless major mayhem is running, it's all good. The framerate drops occassionally and only when two or more cars are wrecking (remember, just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not happening). I don't understand how Gears can have a horrid framerate on more than a couple occassions and be considered a-ok but people seem to think a demo from six months ago is representational of the framerates in current release form.
No multiplayer does suck though. But in that regard, I'm personally more upset that NBA Street Homecourt, despite forcing you to pick 3 members per team, and PS3 supporting up to 7 controllers, still limits you to 4 players. 6 player Street would have ROCKED. Period.
Crono @ Mar 16th 2007 11:28AM
Your wii's still backwards...
Myke @ Mar 16th 2007 11:29AM
Not bad for a console that's going through a game "drought"...
Weren't all the PS3 boys around here saying Motorstorm was going to make the system hard to find again? Where are they now?
Matt B @ Mar 16th 2007 11:29AM
oops! I didn't see that it was north american only. My apologies.
bluemooseking @ Mar 16th 2007 11:29AM
I see very good news in this for MS...
Wii, which is likely at it's greatest price differential from 360 right now is only pulling in 110K more units than 360 per month. That's about a 1.3M unit per year catchup rate At that rate it would take 5-7 years to erase the deficit they built up from launching a year after 360. And the difference is likely to drop as production costs for 360 drop to approach the Wii's zone. Very bad news for Sony who won't even be able to play catchup if they don't sell more units, and I mean LOTS more units, than MS.
Emotep @ Mar 16th 2007 11:30AM
Look at all these great system sellers for the Playstation 3 in March-May.
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html
jsn @ Mar 16th 2007 11:33AM
At this rate it will take the ps3 nearly 8 full months to sell 1,000,000 units. That's a far cry from the garbage projections they throw out there.
Sony is sleeping in the bed they made. When you think you're untouchable and you build a product with that mindset, you will lose 9 times out of 10.
Shagittarius @ Mar 16th 2007 11:33AM
April is a crappy month for all 3 system software wise. There is nothing comming out for any system worth buying in April.
LaughingTarget @ Mar 16th 2007 11:33AM
sheppy -
The down the pipes is going to be lost on the bulk of the consumers. If it doesn't ship with the feature it is just as good as never going to be there. There are hosts of PC games that suffered in sales because of this. Sure, those features did arrive later down the line, but the title is no longer in the view of the consumers. Even when those features turn an otherwise average title into an excellent one, it is lost on the buying public because the next title is on the shelf. Unless Evolution can add all these missing features by Saturday, they've lost out entirely and would do just as well not bothering at all.
Evolution Studios can add all the additional features through patches, but historically speaking, it just won't matter. There isn't going to be a major increase in sales a few months from now. The only way that would happen is if it was given the $20 Greatest Hits treatment. The price drop will attract sales, not the addition of multiplayer.
samfish @ Mar 16th 2007 11:35AM
"The market is just maturing for media center hybrids and that's clearly evident with the success of 360's Video Marketplace and rumors of Zephyr"
What success?
It might be a cool feature, but it's NOT a success. Right now, XBVMP just sort of...exists.
Unless you're defining success to mean 'Microsoft isn't LOOSING money on this venture'.
sheppy @ Mar 16th 2007 11:35AM
"wake me up hen the ps3 outsells the original xbox."
Wake me up when the 360 outpaces the original Xbox.
Seriously. Both the 360 and PS3 are cost prohibitive to casual gamers. I mean, hell. By this time in Xbox's lifecycle compared to 360, the Xbox was half the price.
Shagittarius @ Mar 16th 2007 11:36AM
Dollar for Dollar people are spending more money on the Xbox 360 than any other console.
All things not being equal I think you should consider the dollar for dollar comparison.
Jake @ Mar 16th 2007 11:38AM
This is NA only. The 360 is doing very well here. The PS3 will do better in Japan and probably Europe off name brand and confidence in their system.
If the PS3 doesn't get its act together, the 360 will own it in the States. The 360 has better/easier dev tools and is kicking ass in software sales. There are already 9 million+ selling games in just over a year. That is actually pretty amazing historically.
It also has many metacritic 90+ titles. It really is doing very well, which is amazing considering how much the xbox kinda sucked. I'd hate to say it, but MS built a very nice gaming platform. The dev tools, online component, and MS Game Studios support are all huge right now.
They just gotta drop the price.