January NPD: Mass Effect 2 debuts at #2, hardware is down

by Christopher Grant on Feb 11th 2010 7:45PM

Sure, last month's NPD numbers post had all sorts of green arrows plastered all about its form -- this month, we knew things would go down. Little known fact: Christmas never occurs in January, and this year is no exception. Without Consumermas driving console adoption, numbers were down across the board; what's not so obvious is that numbers were also down year-over-year. That means that overall sales are down 13 percent since last January, way back in ought nine.

Nintendo's consoles lost the most in sales, with the Wii dropping a hefty 88 percent; however, that still wasn't enough to knock the white wonder from its top spot. The Xbox 360 and PS3 continue their back-and-forth battle, with the Xbox reclaiming its number three spot again, having just reclaimed it in November. A good reason for the Xbox's "victory": the not-available-on-PS3 Mass Effect 2, which pushed an impressive 572,000 units in the six short days following its January 26 release. That still wasn't enough to dethrone New Super Mario Bros. Wii, though, which moved 657,000 units with a full month of sales propelling it.

Beyond Mass Effect 2, the bottom of the software sales list is made up of similar newcomers: Army of Two: The 40th Day in 8th, Just Dance in 9th place, and Darksiders just making the cut. Really, universe? Just Dance made the top ten while the excellent MAG is nowhere to be found? Color us disappointed in all of you.

-Wii: 466K

3.34M (-86%)
-DS: 422K

2.89M (-85%)
-360: 333K

977K (-65%)
-PS3: 277K

1.08M (-74%)
-PSP: 100K

361K (-72%)
-PS2: 42K

291K (-86%)

Check out the software sales chart after the break.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Wii - Nintendo - 656.7K
Mass Effect 2 - Xbox 360 - Electronic Arts - 572.1K
Wii Fit Plus - Wii - Nintendo - 555.7K
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Xbox 360 - Activision - 326.7K
Mario Kart w/ Wheel - Wii - Nintendo - 310.9K
Wii Sports Resort - Wii - Nintendo - 297.6K
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - PS3 - Activision - 259K
Army of Two: The 40th Day - Xbox 360 - Electronic Arts - 246.5K
Just Dance - Wii - Ubisoft - 191.9K
Darksiders - Xbox 360 - THQ - 171.2K

Tags: DS, Mass-Effect-2, Microsoft, Nintendo, NPD, NPD-Monthly, sales, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (74)

mario is unstoppable

he's definitely going strong, but it also helps when you have a 26 day lead.

It's the gas from all the Mushrooms. People just get out of the f'ing way

25 years and still going strong... Quite amazing really

"572,000 units"

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/09/analyst-mass-effect-2-outsold-everything-else-6-to-1/

"BioWare's latest spacefaring adventure sold an estimated 1.1 million copies (of the Xbox 360 version) in January"

How is this info that disparate? I thought ME2 was on goal to beat NSMB Wii?... I know only five days are included in this, but where did the 1.1 million come from? Was it 'shipped units'?

I hate the numbers in video game sales. They get skewed so easily.

@ Wiizer
Because this only applies to the American market, not Europe or Asia (or Africa or Australia or Antarctica)

So, only 21k units of Darksiders sold outside of the US?...

@Wiizer

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/12/october-npd-uncharted-2-takes-top-spot-while-hardware-sales-slo/

Just go back and re-read those comments. Uncharted 2 and Mass Effect 2 sold almost identical amount of copies. Let's try and stay classy and not go down that road in this thread. I don't know where te confusion came from, maybe the analyst was referencing shipped total or global totals. Still, thats a good amount of sales and its about where expectations should've been for ME2 on 360 in january.

@wiizer they said they shipped two million, so maybe the 1.1 was 360 and PC? Either way there does seem to be a large incongruity

@wiizer: pretty certain that the 1.1 million units figure includes pc as well as 360. npd doesn't track PC.

but commander Shepard is going to put a spaceboot up his italian ass!

has anyone realized that tic toc sounds just like just dance??

you just cant touch NSMBW!!! good lord!!

I have a feeling that PS3 & 360 will constantly flip between 2nd & 3rd for the next few months....going to be an interesting year that is for sure..

ME2 did pretty good as well for it just being out 4 or 5 days last month....

who the hell is buying Mario Kart? I cant find that shit anywhere....

So, has NSMB outsold MW2 yet?

I'm way to lazy to check, though I'd bet that it has or is close to beating the MW2 PS3 sales.

Yes, in both consoles, but individually, not PS3/360 mixed

No Bayonetta?
... shame.

I noticed that too.

... and frowned.

Well, glad I knew that NSMB would sell consistently well, and I'm just glad that so many people are enjoying Mass Effect 2. It's a great game, my new favorite of all time.

Not nearly enough people.

MAG didn't top but it has sold 500k+ worldwide

Well, it didn't come out until the 26th

I'm really surprised by that :/ Judging by its fans it sounds like it beats the crap out of BFBC2 and MW2... Im still skeptical though, my opinions soley based on the beta.

@stylez

I was in the MAG beta, and I found it to be just ok. But I'm hooked on the retail version. It's a lot of fun and I think it's better than MW2. I haven't tried out BFBC2 yet so I can't really comment on that.

@Styleznma

I was on a fence just like you, but after reading/watching reviews, I decided to get it, my copy arrived on Tuesday and now I can't put it down, it's way better than the beta.

@styleznma

The major difference is that it is an online only game. They tend to sell a lot less.

Anybody thinking or on the fence about Mass Effect 2? Then the pleasure would be mine to push you over, ME2 is Flipping Jack Special AWESOME !!!!!

I really want it. If you would be so kind as to send me a copy I would gladly accept :)

I believe "Would you kindly..." is the correct phrase.

I am just the right mix of generous billionaire and wildly devoted fanboy to actually consider buying you a copy tracer. And then another for myself

Mass Effect 2 ROCKS!!

Army of Two: The 40th day was really well done, and it's good to see it selling well. I would have liked MAG to have charted, but I always had a feeling it wouldn't have Uncharted 2-level sales. Also, congrats to Bioware, they must be happy to see Mass Effect 2 sell like that.

Percentage fail...

466K down 3.34M is an 87.8% decline (for example)

Mr. Arithmetic says it's impossible to have a greater than 100% decline in a quantity without going negative.

Cheers!

You can't count though, the fail is all on you.

If I sell 1 computer in December, then in January I sell 10, sales have increased 1000%.

So if I sell 10 computers in December, then in January I sell only 1, sales have dropped 1000%.

(10/1)x100

So if I sell 3.34m in December then 466k in January sales are down 718%.

(3340/466)x100

Indeed! My spreadsheet columns were inverted and I was no auto-pilot. Updated with REAL percentages this time.

Paddy fail - your example is exactly the fallacy I was pointing out. If you go from 10 computers to 1 its a 90 percent decline. :)

@paddy

no.

So if I sell 3.34m in December then 466k in January sales are down 718%.

thats just wrong. Very wrong.

if you sell 3.34 in december and 466k in january, sales are down 3.34-466 = 2.87million.

so sales are down 2.87/3.44 * 100 = 83.5%

Down 3.34m TO 466k, thus 1-466/(3340+466) = 88%

i.e., it was 3.81m last week.

Us financial types aren't good for much, but I do know my percentages :)

Ok got it now. So sales in December where 718% of sales in January I think but the drop % is written as difference/Dec Sales x 100.

Sorry Kalenn.

I think it sounds more like an unholy union of L' Trimm (The Cars That Go Boom) and Black Eyed Peas.

... this isn't nearly as desirable a thing as that might make it sound.

wow, it didn't let me reply to that comment about that terrible Ke$ha song. Sorry all!

Ke$ha and Lady Gaga need to take an ill fated airplane ride together.

Wonder how Bayonetta did...

A good january, after all. Not quite as good as last year in terms of hardware sales, but a stronger month for software.

With all Wii and PS3 shortages, they're still selling impressively. The 360 has pretty good numbers without the shortages. Where I work at, 360s and DSs are the only systems we have in stock.

Greenburg should watch what he says sometimes. I know he has to do his job but he doesn't have to be a smartass. He'll have to eat his words sooner or later.

[notices the massive negative percentages all-around]

ABANDON SHIP!

[jumps off]

[lands on a spike trap and explodes]

It's good to see Darksiders at number 10. Hang on, my little post-apocalyptic buddy!

I'm going to sell my copy of the 'tardedly named "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" out of disgust for it beating out a much better, and brand new, game.

Looks like Mass Effect sold about the same as Uncharted 2 in its release window. Thats probably to be expected, I don't know who thought it'd sell 1 MIL units in North America. Still, nothing to be disappointed about. The people saying that the sales of UC2 (back tits) are probably eating a big slice of humble pie ... or they're trolling a different game.

MAG deserves better. Hopefully it has a good release worldwide and has a long shelf life. I know my brother is getting it now since he got to come over and try the retail version, his best friend is also getting it based on word of mouth. New IP, online only and released the same day as Mass Effect 2 ... yeah I'm not saying they weren't expecting better but I'd like to know if sales were in line with expectations. The game is awesome and deserves sales but being sandwiched between MW2 & BC2 probably isn't helping it out either.

Mass Effect 2 massively outperformed Uncharted 2, the most overhyped game in history.

It took Mass Effect 2 six days to sell about the same as Uncharted 2 did in nineteen, considering U2 was a first party title and wasn't released in the slowest month of the year, it must be rough viewing for Sony.

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January NPD: Mass Effect 2 debuts at #2, hardware is down

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