February NPD: Xbox 360 and BioShock 2 sales heat up

by JC Fletcher on Mar 11th 2010 7:02PM

Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg is thrilled with February's NPD numbers, and for good reason. The Xbox 360 took the top spot in home console sales last month, despite not being a Wii. According to the NPD, it's the first time this has happened since the Halo 3 launch in 2007.

BioShock 2 seems to have had something to do with the boost, with the Xbox 360 version topping the software charts (and the PS3 version absent from the top ten). Other notable software milestones: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is now the third best-selling game of all time, and Just Dance seems to have made a better pact with Satan than even Dante's Inferno did. See the software top ten after the break.

-DS: 613K

191K (45%)
-360: 422K

89K (27%)
-Wii: 398K

68K (-15%)
-PS3: 360K

83K (30%)
-PSP: 133K

33K (33%)
-PS2: 102K

60K (143%)

BioShock 2 - Xbox 360 - Take-Two - 562.9K
New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Wii - Nintendo - 555.6K
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Xbox 360 - Activision - 314.3K
Just Dance - Wii - Ubisoft - 275.4K
Wii Sports Resort - Wii - Nintendo - 272.5K
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - PS3 - Activision - 252.8K
Mass Effect 2 - 360 - EA - 246.5K
Dante's Inferno (Divine Edition) - PS3 - EA - 242.5K
Dante's Inferno - 360 - EA - 224.7K
Heavy Rain - PS3 - Sony - 219.3K

Tags: bioshock-2, dantes-inferno, just-dance, Microsoft, Nintendo, npd, npd-monthly, sales, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (144)

What is MW2 behind in terms of most sold ever?
Wow & Sims 2?

I'm not sure where that fact came from. Tetris, Super Mario Bros., The Sims, Bejeweled, and Lineage are just a few I can name off the top of my head that sold more than Modern Warfare 2.

My guess is that it is 3rd since NPD started tracking video game sales back in the mid 90's.

Mario Kart Wii, Wii Play, Wii Fit on Wii. About 5 or 6 DS titles like Brain Age and Super Mario Wii. Pokemon titles are up there. GTA: San Andreas, the SNES Mario (World?) Anything packed in, like Super Mario and Duck hunt and Wii Sports. GameBoy Tetris. Outside of Nintendo? yah , it's pretty close to the top.

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/npds-top-10-best-selling-games-of-all-time/ -- This is from January.

I'm guessing it's behind Guitar Hero III and Wii Play.

However, it should be noted that this is only NPD's data and doesn't include games before they started keeping track of sales.

There must be some sort of mistake on that list. Either it doesn't include portable consoles, or there's some variable I'm missing, but There are a few DS games (Nintendogs, New Super Mario Bros, Brain Training, Mario Kart DS) that have sold over or near 20 million units, and there are a few Wii games that have reached that plateau too. While MW2 has sold very well, the numbers are more closer to 10 million (and that's being generous) when you add the PS3 and Xbox360 sales, and even more so when the list actually claims that it doesn't include PC sales.. But not only that, but MW2 is not the best selling game on either the Xbox 360 or the PS3, by far! It's not even in the top 3! how can this be the third highest selling game in history?

Am I the only one who completely misread this?

wow dante's inferno outsold heavy rain?

Dantes Inferno was kickass.

Considering Heavy Rain is a console exclusive and the 360 user base is higher than PS3, Heavy Rain did really, really good.

It did have a 13 day and second platform head start.

Wait, scratch the last part.

I'm just thrilled to see it crack the top 10. Being a muder mystery choose your own adventure just didn't position Heavy Rain as a potential big seller.

Keep in m&kb that the Heavy Rain was only out 3 days during the time frame of this NPD report. Heavy Rain released 2.24, the report covers 1.30-2.28

What?

Dante's Inferno ON the PS3 outsold Heavy Rain ON the PS3 to you guys talking about exclusivity.

Heavy Rain, while probably a great 'game' does not really appeal to the masses. Most people would probably rent it because they are unsure if they will like this new, innovative 'game'.

The only reason the PS3 didn't outsell the 360 is because the shortage. Even Amazon is out of 'em. Sony's lost a whole bunch of money over this supply issue.

Wait, wtf does console exclusivity have to do with anything when the PS3 version of Dante's Inferno outsold the PS3 version of Heavy Rain?

If anything, console exclusivity helped Heavy Rain sales compared to Dante's Inferno PS3 sales, since multi-console owners had to buy Heavy Rain on the PS3, whereas some multi-console owners bought Dante's Inferno on the 360 instead.

@Mal F4cti0n: the scumm system would like to have a word with you claiming heavy rain innovative. evolved, yes. innovative? a bit of stretch for some old school adventure game types such as myself.

@Ballistic H

"Considering Heavy Rain is a console exclusive and the 360 user base is higher than PS3, Heavy Rain did really, really good."

ENOUGH of this fallacy. The PS3 customer base exists to buy more than 219,300 copies of Heavy Rain. It exists to buy more copies of every multiplat than is sold. And Dante's Inferno proves the rule (which is weird given all the greasy Sony Crony hate of the game in the last six weeks).

^Yeah, and imagine how many more it would have sold had it been on 360 and PC as well.
There would at LEAST be +1 for the 360 version, being me.

Yeah, Aaron Greenberg must be happy. More money for the jerkoff's wallet. Then again, I would be happy too, still can't stand the guy though.

And I'm really happy for BioShock 2! Sure, it's not as good as the first, but it has a serious good amount of depth. Congrats, 2K.

And now about that "MW2 being the 3rd best-selling game of all time" business. Just.....why? Why this game? Why not something like Assassin's Creed II or Uncharted 2 (Yes, I know U2 is a PS3 exclusive)? Games that had THOUGHT put into it. Sure, it was fun at times, but...WHY?

360 sold more because Wiis and PS3s were hard to find....

I'm not sure why Chris is downvoted: EEDAR's Divinch does point to constrained supply for the Wii's drop, not a decline in Wii interest.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27641/NPD_February_Down_15_Percent_On_Lagging_Unit_Sales_Constrained_Wii.php

Or you could just look at it as the 360 is the "Just Dance" of hardware.

Dante's Inferno was released on Feb 5th. Heavy Rain was released on Feb 23rd. I'd say selling approx 5,000 less with 6 days on the market compared to 23 is pretty damn good.

some people arent really grasping this bit of information.

I guess exclusives (Heavy Rain, White Knight Chronicles) don't mean much when it comes to actual sales

Ummm PS3 sales increased. Do you see the little green arrow? Did you expect the PS3 to sell more than the 360 & Wii or something? It probably will when March comes out because of God of War, Final Fantasy and Battlefield.

Yes, I *did* expect the PS3 to sell more than the 360...

Now, are you claiming that Battlefield and Final Fantasy will sell more PS3 hardware? I highly doubt that given these titles are non-exclusives

Well, GOWIII will definitely move some PS3's, but FFXIII's install base is bigger on the PlayStation brand.

Not that many people bought a 360 with FFXIII on their mind, but many PS3 owners did.

God damn you Tigre for mentioning Final Fantasy. I'm actually craving that game and i'm only a couple of hours in. But it's 400miles away :(

Obviously Final Fantasy and God of War are gonna move consoles, but nobody - literally not one person - is picking up a PS3 because of Bad Company 2.

@WRE

You probably would have said the same thing about Bioshock 2 and the 360.
__
If people bought a 360 for Bioshock why wouldn't they buy a PS3 for Final Fantasy, God of War & Battlefield? With all of those games out in the same month it's pretty obvious that someone would buy a PS3 for them. It's not like I said they would buy a PS3 exclusively because of Battlefield. Think a little bit here people.

You can buy system A that has Battlefield and Final Fantasy or system B with Battlefield, Final Fantasy and God of War.

marklar said that (niche) exclusive titles like Heavy Rain (actually sold well) and White Knight didn't translate into console sales when sales actually increased for the PS3. My only reply to that is that I expect the PS3 to outsell the 360 next month because of the games for it including Final Fantasy, Battlefield and God of War.

I'm incredibly surprised (and happy) that Heavy Rain made it into the top 10 this month.

same.

same even though I bought in March

Too bad we won't get a sequel... although a similar game with a less dark story might be ok...

...although I have no idea how multiplayer will tie into it all....

@ Xoonaka

less dark? no way, I want to play through a game like the movie Seven not through one like My big fat greek wedding.

Are those Dante's Inferno numbers right? Almost identical sales (224.7K) between two editions on two systems?

No. It sold 242.5 on the PS3.

um, that's why he said ALMOST identical. as in close to or nearly. geezus

@Biggen
When I wrote my comment, the #8 Dante's Inferno and the #9 Dante's Inferno both showed sales of 224.7K. I used the word "almost" because all of the numbers listed here are rounded to the nearest 100 units. I wrote the comment because I thought it might have been a typo. It seems that it was, because the number has been changed since my comment (and I believe since Guttertalk's reply).

It boggles my mind how the PS3 still isn't picking up as much traction (as I think it should) in the U.S. with all of the great exclusives that have and are coming out this year. Don't get me wrong, PS3's numbers aren't bad (their up 30%) but still, who bought a XBox 360 for Bioshock 2 that didn't already have one?

Well whatever, I don't care that much, just as a marketing major its curious. I just need the overall industry to do better so I can get (keep) my job. C'mon MOTION CONTROLLERS...we need more casual $$!! lol

Looking at charts everytime they come up, those PS3 numbers are really good and the console is really picking up. Your expectations are too high.

Heavy Rain isn't everyone's cup of tea. I loved it, but a lot of meat heads out there won't be able to get through that first hour.

What a lot of people keep forgetting is that MS is not sitting idle watching the PS3 catch momentum.

They're dropping out really good bundles that have better value for parents buying a console for their kids.

Plus ... you guys make it seem like Sony has put out 45 AAA titles in 2009 while MS had none ...

PS3 Sales are picking up extensively but the supply is pretty much barren at the moment. I have not found a single one in a store in the past 2 months. I am not even joking every since the price drop I haven't seen a damn one, well except for 2 of the 250gb versions.

I'm not saying PS3 numbers are bad, I'm saying the momentum it has (multiple highly rated exclusives, price drop, great ad campaign) you would think they would be selling more than Xbox, which is no slouch but let's be honest they haven't really offered MANY compelling titles in the past year or so.

@bobs yes MS has had some great exclusives the past year (Left 4 Dead 2, Forza 3, Mass Effect 2) it pales in comparison to the shear amount/quality/diversity of the PS3 exclusives the past year. Point is MS is still holding strong in the U.S. but they're losing everywhere else in the world...why is that? It's obviously not lack of games on PS3s part...no fanboyism, just asking questions, using what we know.

There is a pretty serious supply shortage with the PS3 in many parts of the US. At least within the San Gabriel Valley, none of the Best Buys, Fry's, Wal-Marts and GameStops had any PS3 120 GB console in stock. Even the 250 GB PS3 were selling out. As far as the retailers are concerned, the PS3 is a liquid asset (asset that translates into money relatively quickly).

What you keep forgetting is that you're pointing out to the "past year".

Microsoft has been working hard at putting out several good AAA titles every year since ... basically 2006. It wasn't until recently that Sony finally had some good exclusive titles.

I'm not saying you're a fanboy ... but the past 3 years cannot be overlooked at today's purchasing patterns. What had been released in the past still exists today and is a fundamental foundation for creating a strong platform with dozens of extremely good games.

The PS3 obviously has had great blockbusters before 2009, such as MGS4 but honestly ... other then that what else could they point to? 2009 was definitely Sony's year (latter half) but they just go to that point of being head-to-head competitive with Microsoft.

@Bobs:
I'm assuming that you were directing that at someone else.

Also, Uncharted sold relatively well enough that Uncharted 2 turned into this massive gorilla that took almost all of the critical awards and that was released back in 2007.

God of War 1 was also one such sleeper hit that became much more massive with 2nd installment leading up to the epic finale that we're all waiting for this coming Tuesday.

If anything, new IPs always take a while to pick up steam and I'm just glad that Sony's pushing for new IPs instead of throwing sequels at us. Heck, did anyone expect anything out of MotorStorm? Not really, but people loved MotorStorm and some are still bickering about it having sold more units than MGS4.

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February NPD: Xbox 360 and BioShock 2 sales heat up

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