September NPD: Xbox 360 takes the lead, Halo 3 to thank

by Christopher Grant on Oct 18th 2007 7:58PM

Though August was an unseasonably successful month for video games, we all saw September coming. Despite being released at the tail end of the month, Microsoft's Halo 3 juggernaut walked right up to the reigning NPD champ and rifle-butted it from behind. The Xbox 360 console jumped up two places with sales of over half a million units, nearly twice as many as in August. Total industry sales for the month: a staggering $1.36 billion thanks in large part to the efforts of Mr. Chief; hardware sales alone rose 188% to $418.6 million.

Microsoft Xbox 360: 527.8K (6.8 million total)
Nintendo Wii: 501K (4.5 million total)
Nintendo DS: 495.8K (13.2 million total)
Sony PlayStation 2: 215K (39.3 million total)
Sony PSP: 284.5K (8.6 million total)
Sony PlayStation 3: 119.4K (1.87 million total)

On the software side, Halo 3 takes a dominant first place lead, single-handedly raising the console software sales for the month 64% to $550.5 million. (Remember $170 million of that was Halo 3's first day of sales; the title sold some 3.3 million units within the NPD's reporting period.)

Xbox 360 remains the most dominant platform in the top 10, selling four titles, including newcomer to the list Skate as well as last month's big 360 performers Madden and BioShock. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption dropped from sixth place to seventh, maintaining its status as the largest Wii release for the month. Sony's platforms didn't fare as well, with no PSP games making the cut, and only one PlayStation 3 game – the well received Heavenly Sword – coming in at 10th place.

Halo 3 (all three SKUs - Xbox 360) – 3.3 million
Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) – 282K
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) – 224K
Madden NFL 08 (PS2) – 205K
Skate (Xbox 360) – 175K
Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360) – 173K
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) – 167K
BioShock (Xbox 360) – 150K
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (DS) – 141K
Heavenly Sword (PS3) – 139K

Source

Tags: BreakingNews, DS, NPD, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (170)

NINTEDNO IS TEH DOOM'D

Yes, Nintendo is teh suck. "Not that it comes as much of a surprise, but Nintendo's growing market value doesn't seem to be showing any signs of letting up, with the company now crossing the 10 trillion yen mark (or roughly $85 billion)." (engadget.com). My investment of NTDOY at $18.12/share is now worth $73.28/share. Can't wait for Mario Galaxy to hit the store shelves.

As for the actual results, is anyone really surprised given Halo3's popularity?? (which I'll go back to playing as soon as BTB finds some more players).

I knew i should have gotten nintendo stock after last e3

Some nice ads to compliment 360s victory!!

Xbox 360 does what Nintendont

WELCO
METOT
HENEX
TLEVEL

Microsoft!

Jump In.

Sony's in last place.

Uh-ohhhhh!

Shagi! Killjebus! Phattie! There’s trouble abound on the innernetz! The 3 of you must band together and stop the evil Dr. Logic’s diabolical plans to destroy Sony’s reputation with biased articles!

Reload your guns and prepare for battle! Sony Defense Force….ACTIVATE!

*Power Rangers esque theme song plays*

Sony Defense Force...it has to be a coincidence their traffic went way up after I linked it on Joystiq comments.

Is it just me, or are these anticipatory anti-fanboy posts nearly as annoying as the fanboy posts themselves?

Congrats to the 360 for beating out the wii for 1 month. Will it have legs?

MS has to be kicking themselves in the ass for not having a hand held device AND abandoning the XBOX. Look at all the money left on the table by not having these things.

The REAL winner this month is nintendo almost pushing 1M units sold for the month, followed by Sony @618K, then MS with 527K units sold as far as hardware goes.

Congrats to H3, but who didn't see this coming?

@ I_hate_mtv

That was awesome! I'm so glad you called those guys out like that.

@ DickDorkelson

It's just you.

@ Smoke Dawg

Thanks!

@MattB

I disagree. Not having full backwards-compatibility forced every developer to move forward and create games natively for the 360 platform (thus using it to the full potential) instead of hedging their bets by creating Xbox-1 games that also ran on the 360. Remember, the Xbox360 was hardly a sure success on launch and given the Xbox-1's distant second behind the PS2, I have no doubt that developers would have tried to minimize risk and costs for the unproven underdog platform by doing that.

As for a portable unit, again remember Microsoft that was a neophyte and an underdog with the Xbox-1. Trying to launch a portable unit at the same time as the Xbox360 would have been fighting on two fronts against the two different experienced, entrenched, and very dominant players. Even with Microsoft's very deep pockets, that would have diverted attention and resources from making the 360 a success. Even now, the 360 is being outsold by the Wii and while the PS3 is hurting at the moment, it would be foolish to write it off for the near future.

That being said, Microsoft is no doubt entertaining the idea of a portable internally. It's just not the right time.

to Matt: Actually, I'd say XBox has a good chance oh maintaining the lead, for now. It's not like the other consoles have any interesting games coming out this month. (and it's too long from Christmas for christmas gift bonanza)

Psaakyrn, your wrong!

Zack and Wiki, Battalion Wars 2, Fire Emblem, Super Mario Galaxy.

They are all 1 week apart, and they start coming pout Tuesday.

The console who everyone claims does not have hardcore games will have the MOST come out this season. Ironic?

Psaakyrn, your wrong!

Zack and Wiki, Battalion Wars 2, Fire Emblem, Super Mario Galaxy.

.....

Unfortunately, not everyone has low standards.

Admittance: I did miss Zack and Wiki and Battalion Wars 2.

Objection: The other two games don't come out this month, and thus are not eligible. Battalion wars does come out this month, but 2 days, and lack of advertising, does not bode it well enough to up the sales that much. I reserve comment on Zack and Wiki though.

@ flameofdoom666

My response is what, what, what, and oh I guess I've kindof heard of Super Mario. Honestly for a game to do well it's needs some advertising. And Halo 3 will still be selling strongly and the PS3 well read their latest blog about it desperately trying to make third party developers stay... exactly.

I can't believe Wii Play is in 2nd place. Anyone wanna guess the post count? I say nearly 190 posts.

I'd guesstimate at least 150.

go go xbox!

Sony fanboys: "Wait until next year! MGS! And...um...yeah! MGS!"

NDFers, time to discredit Halo 3!!!

*gets shot by Bungie with a golden, diamond-headed bullet*

Halo 3 sucks. It doesn't even have portals, let alone cake.

Rubang wins.

Is there ever a day Rubang doesn't win?

Only days that end in Y.

::weeps bitterly into his portal so nobody can see the tears::

Does Nintendo make a game with Portals?

Well back in my day we used beanstalks, pipes, and warp whistles, and we liked it. But things have changed...

4 things:

1. If it weren't for the Master Chief, Wii Play would've been this month's no. 1 selling game. That's scary.

2. Is there anything than can be said about the Playstation 3's situation that hasn't been said before? Boy Sony, I hope that Blu Ray works out for you in the end, it's only gotten you a failing game console so far.

3. 360 = New home base for the Madden franchise.

4. So, is it safe to say that Metroid Prime 3's sales were less than good?

Yeah... Wii play would have been first by almost 60k... That IS a scary thought that a collection of minigames can beat out 'regular' games.

You gotta remember that it's being sold with a WiiMote and there are a lot of, I can't believe I'm going to say this, casual gamers *gulp* in the Nintendo market.

Congrats to Microsoft and Bungie for moving units. I might have to play the Haloz when I get a 360.

Never played the first two though.

You don't have to be casual to pick up Wii Play. It's a ten dollar game. Or it's a $30 game with a half-priced Wiimote. Anyway you look at it it's an amazing deal. The game isn't worth $50, but it's definitely worth more than $10.

@ Rubang B

Yeah, I thought the same thing until I actually bought and played it. Wii Play (despite its name) is not playable. I personally do not think that it is worth the $10 extra. Wii Sports is a different story. If Wii Play came with the Wii and Wii Sports came with the Wiimote, then it would be a different story.

Mr Rubang,

I'm not saying "casual" gamers are the only ones to pick it up. But the "casual" market is helping. I have "casual" in the "" because I hate that f'n term.

Yes, a term created by dorks who game 9 hours a day to take away from people who actually have fun at what they do for as little as they do it. You know, because casual gamers have other shit they have to do or get done.

AND, I purchased the WiiPlay for the Wiimote and the games. I consider myself a "moderate" gamer. Oh My God, did I invent a new gamer term? It means not extreme or excessive.

I agree with everything you said, but what happened to the metroid?

Changed it out.

Yup, gotta keep my sh]t fresh.

Wii play wouldn't even be on the list if it didn't come with a damn remote. We all know that.

Shockgamer,

A larger percentage of the PS3 fanbase purchased Madden than the 360 fanbase. It only sold more on 360 because of the much larger userbase.

And really, the home of Madden is still PS2. Those PS2 owners haven't yet chosen a next gen system, probably due to the high price of BOTH consoles.

Jake,

yeah, thats to be expected. The people who own a PS3 now are the hardcore and madden gamers who bought a PS3 on name recognition and hype alone. Plus, there is a large dearth of quality games on the PS3, and almost no variety. So unless you wanted ANOTHER FPS, Madden was your only option.

You saw this phenomena last gen on the Xbox1, for all the same reasons.

Should a nod go to analyst Michael Pachter who correctly predicted this upset?

Way to go, Pachter!

A trained monkey could have predicted this "Upset".

I mean c'mon. Halo 3 launched, the biggest game for 360 yet, vs nintendo's Wii Play. Which do you think is going to move more consoles.

I'm going to disagree with an above poster. The 360 will have elevated sales from here through christmas due to halo 3/orange box, because they are both great titles. But Nintendo has been selling those kinds of numbers since launch without any real compelling software.

Next month, 360 will probably sell a little more than half that, at around 300k. Nintendo will remain flat on both platforms.

DAMN the 360 barely beat the Wii. Only by 27,000 units. Pretty good month for the 360. But I have a feeling the Octobers NPD numbers might not be so giving to the 360, but who knows I ain't God.
Good month though. I can't wait for Christmas though. FUCK YAH BITCHES BEST YEAR EVARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(chants) O7, O7, O7, O7, O7 ,O7 ,O7 ,O7!!!!!!!!!

Another thing:this is gonna be another interesting holiday. Will the Xbox 360's new SKU's coming out(especially the one with two full 360 games),will it stay ahead of the Wii? Will the new PS3 model impact sales? Will Mario save the day?

They are allready out at the best buy by my house...no elites though. Got a shiny sticker noting that they are 2 full games.

Whatcha talking about, Mario always saves the day ...(except that one time he was missing, and then there was that time that he luigi had a case of wiiitis and some chick had to save the day, and there was that when yoshi saved...)

The 360 will continue its #1 position in October. However, if the premium Xbox will drop to $299 for the holiday, it will continue to be #1 as long as the supply keeps up with demand.

You heard it here first.

As crazy as it sounds, I'd have to agree with you. 360's have become just as hard to come by as Wii's in the store I work at. Of course, we have about 10 of the stupid Halo 3 360's in stock, but no one wants those damn things for $399. Elites, Premiums and Cores/Arcades have been flying out the door. Even used systems are impossible to keep in stock. It doesn't even stop there.

Thanks to Halo, we are constantly running out of Controllers, Headset AND XBL cards. Halo is making MS lots of $$$ from all angles, and it's not slowing down. Halo 3 will continue to be the best selling game probably a further 3-4 months. That's right NDF, your crazy if you think Super Mario Galaxy will do this well. Not a chance.

dsub:

I don't think Galaxy will do this well, but once it comes out it will outsell Halo 3 every week this year. I'll bet you 9 lolcats!

The only traditional (as in straight-up platforming) Mario games that did NOT break the 10 million mark have been Super Mario Land 2 and Super Mario Sunshine.

SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games

Since neither Halo 1 nor Halo 2 broke 10 million, it is entirely possible that Halo 3 won't either while Galaxy zooms past. Of course, there is the likelihood that Halo 3 could break 10 million, in which case it MIGHT be neck-and-neck.

I believe Galaxy will at the very least sell double what Sunshine did. If this is the true successor to Mario 64 (which hit 11 million units, by the way), that is an entirely possible scenario.

@megaStryke: That might only happen if every person who owns a Wii gets Mario Galaxy. After that report that the majority of Wii owners aren't actually using their console, the 10 million mark is questionable.

Not in the long run, of course, but certainly within the launch window.

Obviously, I don't expect Galaxy to sell 3.3 million units during the launch window. What do you think it is? Halo?

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September NPD: Xbox 360 takes the lead, Halo 3 to thank

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