Joystiq

NPD: Girls increasingly becoming gamers

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-09-25T19:00:00+00:00

NPD's new study, Girl Power: Understanding This Important Consumer Segment, finds that girls between 2 and 14 years old are increasingly ~~wasting~~ spending their time gaming. The gaming disease apparently strikes between ages 6 and 8 and finally metastasizes in the brain between 9 and 12, when girls begin "migrating to computer and video games, especially virtual world online games."

NPD's industry analyst, Anita Frazier, says that 50% of girls between 2 and 14 years old still play with "traditional" items like "dolls, plush, and arts & crafts" in this digital age. She notes that the growth in use of social networking and virtual world sites by women should be recognized by manufacturers who, you know, want money from the ladies.

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NPD reveals Top 5 console games of '08 ... so far

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-09-23T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

As we head into the last stretch of the year, which is synonymous with a glut of titles flooding the market, it's worth seeing what the top titles in 2008 were up to this point. Gamasutra, using data from NPD, has posted the Top 5 titles for consoles up until August. Don't expect any surprises: Grand Theft Auto IV is in the top spot for PS3 and Xbox 360, while Super Smash Bros. Brawl is champion on the Wii.

The Wii certainly is the most interesting of the lists, with four out of the five SKUs belonging to games with included with some sort of peripheral (Mario Kart, Wii Fit, Wii Play and Guitar Hero III). Gamasutra also estimates that the software sales of the top five Wii titles combined is about 12 million units, nearly double that of the top five on the other consoles (separately). Of course, the year isn't over yet.

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August NPD: Madden scores big, 360 outsells PS3

Randy Nelson — 2008-09-11T21:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

Sales of all hardware were feeling the hurt in August ... except for - what's that? - PSP, which saw a nearly 13% spike over July's performance. Guess there was a run on the current units due to their dimmer, less responsive screens and lack of built-in microphone? Xbox 360 was down, but nevertheless outsold PS3 for the first month since May (and this was before last week's price cuts).

On the software side, it's Madden, Madden, and ... more Madden topping the charts. Wii Fit was bumped down a couple of rungs, but still performed solidly despite not actually being available anywhere. Oh, and would you look at that - Too Human has made its first (and last?) appearance. Here are this month's NPD hardware sales figures:

- DS: 518.3K 89.7K (-14.75%)
- Wii: 453K 102K (-18.37%)
- PSP: 253K 31.3K (12.49%)
- Xbox 360: 195.2K 9.6K (-4.68%)
- PS3: 185.4K 39.5K (-17.56%)
- PS2: 144.1K 11.4K (-7.33%)

You'll find the top ten in software sales after the break.

1. Madden NFL 09 - 360 - 1 million
2. Madden NFL 09 - PS3 - 643K
3. Madden NFL 09 - PS2 - 424.5K
4. Wii Fit - Wii - 394.9K
5. Mario Kart - Wii - 328.7K
6. Wii Play w/remote - Wii - 394.9K
7. Soul Calibur IV - 360 - 174K
8. Too Human - 360 - 168.2K
9. Madden NFL 09 - Wii - 115.8K
10. Guitar Hero: On Tour - DS - 111.2K

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NPD, Chart-Track and Enterbrain combine forces for global sales report

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-08-21T11:20:00+00:00

Filed under: Business

NPD, Chart-Track and Enterbrain have announced the joint monthly Top Global Markets Report, an account integrating the point-of-sale data from the US, UK and Japan. We don't know what information will be released publicly from the report on a monthly basis yet, but for the clients of these groups it will provide global data from the leading markets.

After the break we've placed a small taste of what the report has to offer, with a chart showing the top five selling games year-to-date across the tracked countries. We're also following up with NPD regarding what impact this new report will have on the standard monthly US report and what information from the global report will be made public. ~~We'll update as soon as we hear back.~~

Update: A NPD representative tells us: "The monthly report from NPD US will still be a standard deliverable. We're not sure if a regular media deliverable based on this new tracking product is something we're going to be providing. It all depends on partner reactions, client acceptance and things like that." Translation: Monthly NPD data goes on as normal, a public version of the combined global data is still up in the air.

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July NPD: Everyone sees red, Nintendo still on top

Ross Miller — 2008-08-14T19:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

After everyone saw gains last month (with one devilish exception), July's NPD figures revealed North American hardware unit sales declined across all companies, but otherwise the list is the same as it was in June. What's starting to unnerve us is Nintendo's data. To be able to say a company went from 666 to 555 (a difference of 111) is a bit creepy, dontcha think?

In terms of software, the Xbox 360 version of NCAA Football 09 barely eked out Wii Fit, while Wii Play w/remote still manages to move up a slot from 5 to 4 this month. Here are this month's NPD hardware sales figures:

- DS: 608K175K (-22.35%)
- Wii: 555K111K (-16.7%)
- PS3: 224.9K 180.1K (-44.5%)
- PSP: 221.7K 115.3K (-34.21%)
- Xbox 360: 204.8K 15.2K (-6.91%)
- PS2: 155.5K 33K (-17.6%)

You'll find the top ten in software sales after the break.

July Software

1. NCAA Football 09 - Xbox 360 - 397.6K
2. Wii Fit - Wii - 369.6K
3. Guitar Hero: On Tour - DS - 309.7K
4. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii - 284K
5. NCAA Football 09 - PS3 - 242.5K
6. Soulcalibur IV - Xbox 360 - 218.9K
7. Mario Kart w/ wheel - Wii - 174.5K
8. Rock Band Special Ed. Bundle - Wii - 165.8K
9. Soulcalibur IV - PS3 - 155.8K
10. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution - Xbox 360 - 147.6K

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Microsoft disputes Nintendo's third-party victory claims

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2008-08-11T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

"No matter how you slice it, the Wii third party game story is not a pretty one," says David Dennis, group manager of corporate peeyarr at Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business. The fighting talk comes in response to a recent claim by Nintendo that the Wii was besting its competitors (reminder: Sony and Microsoft) in terms of third-party game sales, a claim Microsoft has told GamesIndustry.biz is incorrect.

According to NPD third-party software figures, Microsoft's system has sold 67,929,999 units, followed by the Wii at 33,394,311 units and the PlayStation 3 at 19,976,325. Looking at sales occurring since the launch of the Wii, the Xbox 360 has managed 54,065,728 units (compared to Wii's 33,394,211), though it obviously benefited from having a larger install base to feed off at the time.

This particular third-party tussle has been going on since last week, when the NPD delved into sales numbers and revealed the Wii to be ahead when compared to its competitors' initial 19 months. It's all a matter of perspective, you see, albeit one that publishers (releasing games for the market as it exists right now) might not necessarily adopt. Still, with the hardware battle being won by Wii, it isn't surprising to see Microsoft putting up a fight on a more even battleground.

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Nintendo spins false assumptions on software sales

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-08-08T14:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Business

Nintendo gave GameDaily a chart to show that the assumption of low software sales for Wii are incorrect. Nintendo's Denise Kaigler wanted to set the "record straight" that the company is "selling third-party games and they are doing very well, and better than [Nintendo's] competitors."

That is a very impressive chart. What we want to know is what happens when two things are taken out of that chart: first-party titles and -- way more importantly in Nintendo's case -- a little piece of "software" called Wii Play. After doing those two things the chart may look the same, it may look totally different, but we'll be sure to post the comparison when we get it.

Update: Third-party chart now up.

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June NPD: PS3 gets Metal Gear bump, Nintendo makes devilish deal

Ross Miller — 2008-07-18T21:49:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

The Nintendo DS, Sony PSP and PlayStation saw big gains in hardware sale over last month. Industry sales for June were worth $1.69 billion, compared with $1.1 billion last month. Our sneaking suspicion is that Metal Gear Solid 4, which netted 774,600 in its debut month, helped the PS3 in its success. Elsewhere, the Wii's numerical conclusion revealed its devilish, money-printing source of income.

- DS: 783K 330.4K (+73%)
- Wii: 666.7K 8.4K (-1.26%)
- PS3: 405K 196.3K (+94.06%)
- PSP: 337K 144.3K (+74.9%)
- X360: 220K 33.4K (+17.9%)
- PS2: 188K 55.3K (+41.7%)

You'll find the top ten in software sales after the break.

June Software

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - PS3 - 774.6K
Guitar Hero On Tour - DS - 422.3K
Ninja Gaiden II - 360 - 372.7K
Wii Fit (w/ balance board) - Wii - 372.7K
Wii Play (w/ remote) - Wii - 359.1K
Battlefield: Bad Company - 360 - 346.8K
Mario Kart Wii (w/ Wii wheel) - Wii - 322.4K
Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure - Wii - 294.5K
Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure - DS - 267.8K
Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure - PS2 - 260.3K

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NPD: Wii hits 10.9m US sales, becomes console leader

Ross Miller — 2008-07-17T17:24:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Business

Nintendo has sent their second text message out (here's the first): "After just 20 mos, Wii is the new console leader in the US @ nearly 10.9 million units, says NPD 2day". (For the record, that's 102 out of 160 possible SMS characters. There's no excuse to write "2day.") So to translate, the Nintendo Wii has finally overtaken Microsoft as King of America. Last we checked in May, Wii was at 9.5 million

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Boom Blox a bust at retail, sells only 60k units

Christopher Grant — 2008-06-16T13:28:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Business

While the myth of third-party Wii software languishing on store shelves has been handily disproven by repeat NPD all-stars like Guitar Hero III (#8 this month), Mario and Sonic: Olympic Games, and even Carnival Games, the ugly truth is that those are the only third-party Wii games to break the 1 million unit milestone, according to NPD.

Why do we share such harsh statistics with you, dear reader? Because NPD just confirmed with our buddies at GameDaily that the well-received Boom Blox, an EA title with Steven Spielberg's name prominently places on the box, and the sixth highest-rated third-party Wii title on Metacritic, managed to sell only 60K units in its first month of sales. The title ranked 25 in the list of top sellers in May, and only managed to come in at number 9 in the list of top Wii sellers for the month. GameDaily did the math and determined that, using a North American install base of 10.2 million Wii units, Boom Blox's tie ratio was a barely noticeable 0.6%.

After the Zak and Wiki calamity of ought-seven, we're again afraid there's just no room for good third-party titles (even family friendly and marketable ones like Boom Blox) on Nintendo's console. In this case, where did EA go wrong (besides taking out head tracking)?

Gallery: Boom Blox

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May NPD: PS3 up and PS2 out; GTA IV in and CoD 4 out

Christopher Grant — 2008-06-12T19:41:00+00:00

Filed under: Business

This month's NPD report was greeted with a collective "Huh" upon its arrival at Joystiq HQ. Not because the PS3 is way up or because the Wii showed the greatest loss, but for a handful of other reasons. First, after some seven plus years in the North American market, the PS2 has finally been removed from the official NPD results ... in the same month that the PS2 version of craptacular movie-to-game cashgrab Iron Man made the top ten. Stay golden, little PlayStation ... stay golden ...

Also making us tilt our heads quizzicaly: the totally missing hardware boost for the two Grand Theft Auto IV-capable consoles. While the PlayStation 3 saw a very welcome 11.5% boost, it hardly accounts for the nearly half-million copies of the game that were sold on the platform. And though the Xbox 360 release of GTA IV easily outsold the PS3 version by a margin of nearly two-to-one, sales of that console remained relatively flat from last month.

Lastly, where's Call of Duty 4? Infinity Ward's superb shooter has been a staple of the NPD charts since its release in November and now, for the first time, it didn't make the top ten. Makes sense: after selling over ten million copies, people have to stop buying it some day. Nevertheless, we'd like to dedicate these colored arrows to its memory: Call of Duty 4, you've served with honor!

- Wii: 675.1K 39.1K (-5.5%)
- DS: 452.6K 37.8K (+9.1%)
- PS3: 208.7K 21.6K (+11.5%)
- PSP: 182.3K 10.4K (-5.4%)
- X360: 186.6K 1.4K (-0.7%)
- PS2: Update: Sony sent the numbers along! 132.7K 8.3K (+6.7%)

You'll find the top ten in software sales after the break.

May Software

1. GTA IV - Xbox 360 - 871.3K*
2. Mario Kart Wii - Wii - 787.4K
3. Wii Fit (w/ Balance Board) - Wii - 687.7K
4. GTA IV - PS3 - 442.9K
5. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii - 294.6K
6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Wii - 171.1K
7. Iron Man - PS2 - 130.6K
8. Guitar Hero III - Wii - 116.8K
9. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness - DS - 107K
10. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time - DS - 102K

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Analysts predict big jump in May game sales

Kyle Orland — 2008-06-11T11:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360

Even though NPD is set to release its monthly drip of "official" North American console and game sales data later this week, some impatient people just can't sit on their hands and wait. Those people include game industry analysts, many of whom are predicting a large year-over-year jump in software revenues for the month of May.

The exact size of the predicted jump ranges from a 30% increase from Lazard Capital Market's Colin Sebastian to a 43% bump from Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson. Medbush Morgan's prolific prognosticator Michael Pachter splits the difference, predicting a 39% increase in sales. Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero III and Rock Band are expected to continue their sustained strong sales, along with relative newcomers Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii and Grand Theft Auto IV.

Speaking of GTA4, Pachter doesn't think the game will lead to a significant bump in system sales for either the PS3 or Xbox 360. He forecasts the Wii will again dominate monthly console sales with 750,000 units sold, compared to 250,000 Xbox 360s and 225,000 PS3s. In other news, we predict the sun will rise in the east tomorrow.

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The top-selling games in the US over the last 15 years

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-06-05T18:20:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

Forbes, with data supplied by NPD, has released a list of the top-selling games in the US over the last 15 years. NPD only began tracking data 15 years ago, so there may be an outlier from the '80s or early '90s, but it appears the industry really ramped up this millennium, with the top games all being released after 2001.*

Holding on to the top title -- and we imagine not for very much longer -- is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas with 9.43 million units sold. Surprisingly, Guitar Hero III isn't too far behind with 8.2 million. Madden titles occupy four of the top ten spots. Find the full list after the break.

*Figuring it would be brought up, we checked with NPD about the original Pokémon Red and Blue released in 1998. Although they do have different titles, they are arguably the same game. NPD's data shows that Pokemon Red and Blue combined sold 3.1 9.9 million units. Pokémon Red with 4.9 million and Pokémon Blue with 5 million.

Update: NPD gave us incorrect Pokémon numbers. We've updated the figures.

[Via GameDaily]

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) - 9.43 million
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (2007) - 8.2 million
Madden NFL 07 (2006) - 7.7 million
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) - 7.3 million
Madden NFL 06 (2005) - 6.65 million
Halo 2 (2004) - 6.6 million
Madden NFL 08 (2007) - 6.56 million
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) - 6.25 million
Grand Theft Auto 3 (2001) - 6.2 million
Madden NFL 2005 (2004) - 6.1 million

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Wii could surpass US Xbox 360 install base this month

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-05-16T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360

It's a good thing that Microsoft got its gloating in about selling 10 million units in the US, because the Wii will not only hit that number, but probably surpass it this month. Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel did the math and found that the Wii currently sits at about 9.5 million units in the US. If Nintendo's console sells another 700k units (like it has been) this month and the Xbox 360 sticks to its 200k level, the Wii will blow right past its competition's US install base.

It'll also be interesting to see the impact Wii Fit has on the numbers when it launches next week. Microsoft can take solace in knowing that it can always fall back on saying the Xbox 360 still has the "largest global install base of any current gen, high definition gaming console" ... right?

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April NPD: GTA IV, Mario Kart Wii race to the top

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2008-05-15T19:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

Things that won't surprise you

April proved to be yet another lucrative month for the ol' gaming biz, with total industry sales reaching $1.23 billion, reports GameDaily. Software sales in particular grew to $654.7 million, an increase of 68% carried on the fine leather seats of Grand Theft Auto IV's recently stolen convertible. Rockstar's urban riffraff romp sold 2.85 million copies -- that's 1.85 million on Xbox 360 and 1 million on PS3 -- while Nintendo's Wii took the top spot in hardware sales. Mario Kart Wii, however, had to settle for second place.

Things that will surprise you

It was a photo finish for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but the photographers had likely packed up and left for the day by the time the steeds reached the finish line. Selling 188K and 187.1K units respectively, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were thoroughly bested by the systems that didn't have GTA IV. We'd feel a bit silly if we were them.

- Wii: 714.2K 6.8K (0.94%)
- DS: 414.8K 283.2K (40.6%)
- PSP: 192.7K 104.3K (35.1%)
- Xbox 360: 188K 74K (28.2%)
- PS3: 187.1K 69.9K (27.2%)
- PS2: 124.4K 91.6K (42.4%)

You'll find the top ten in software sales after the break.

April Software

1. GTA IV - Xbox 360 - 1.85 million*
2. Mario Kart Wii - Wii - 1.12 million
3. GTA IV - PS3 - 1.00 million*
4. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii - 360K
5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Wii - 326K
6. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue - PS3 - 224K
7. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness - DS - 202K
8. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time - DS - 202K
9. Guitar Hero III - Wii - 152K
10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Xbox 360 - 141K*

* includes bundles, collector's editions, GOTY editions

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Pachter predicts PS3 beat Xbox 360 in April

Justin McElroy — 2008-05-12T10:50:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360

Analyst Michael Pachter is sticking to his prediction that Grand Theft Auto IV provided more of a bump to the PS3 than 360 in April, predicting 290,000 in sales for Sony vs. 275,000 for Microsoft's box. It's worth noting though that Pachter also predicted PS3 would top 360 in March, days before the NPD reported an Xbox 360 win.

Now, does any of this mean that either of those systems (or the sales of those systems combined) beat the Wii? No, of course not, don't be ridiculous. Pachter predicts that 600,000 Wiis flew off of shelves in April, likely aided by the release of Mario Kart Wii and the unslakable waggle thirst the general populace seems to have discovered.

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NPD's latest software tie ratios for consoles

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-04-24T17:25:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

With Nintendo announcing its global software tie ratio (attach rate) this morning, we were curious to know what the current software sales ratio was in the States for current-gen consoles. We contacted NPD, which gave us its latest figures. The data represents the amount of software sold per console divided by the number of consoles sold in the US.

Xbox 360: software sales ratio: 7.5
Wii: software sales ratio: 5.3
PS3: software sales ratio: 4.6

Just for kicks, we asked about the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, which have the ratios of 4.7 and 4.2 respectively. The data shows a significant change since the last time we checked in half a year ago. The Xbox 360 has maintained its solid lead, but the Wii has rallied from 3.4 to 5.3. As always, we do have to take "software" top-seller Wii Play skewing the data into account, but Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Guitar Hero III also helped. The PS3 has ticked up one game from 3.5 to 4.6. The real takeaway from this data is that console owners are growing their software library no matter which console they own.

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March NPD: Wii, Smash Bros. on top, software sales surge

Kyle Orland — 2008-04-17T19:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360

If this is how Nintendo does before the predicted Wii Fit-exacerbated shortages, we're a little scared for what the future will hold. As predicted, Nintendo dominated the March NPD sales report, selling over 720,000 Wiis and 698,000 DS units. The DS and Wii represented 58 percent of hardware sales for March, leapfrogging over one another to swap positions from the February numbers.

Further down the list, the Xbox 360 regained an extremely slight sales lead over the PS3, mainly due to a slight dip in Sony's system sales. We predict the systems will likely continue trading slight leads like a couple of fading horses in the home stretch of a marathon-length race, until one inevitably dies just short of the finish line. And speaking of dead horses, the perpetual PS2 finally showed some signs of weakening this month, plummeting down nearly 63 percent from February's sales.

- Wii: 721K 289K (40%)
- DS: 698K 110.4K (15.8%) [Update: Fixed typo in growth number]
- PSP: 297K 53.9K (18.1%)
- Xbox 360: 262K 7.4K (2.8%)
- PS3: 257K 23.8K (9.3%)
- PS2: 216K 135.8K (62.9%)

Software sales also met predictions in rising 57 percent to $1.7 billion for the month. Super Smash Bros. rode a wave of hype to a ridiculous 2.7 million sales -- that's more than last month's top ten combined. Shooters had a good month, with the Xbox 360's Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 and Army of Two rounding out the top three for the month (the PS3 version of Army of Two also showed up in tenth place) while Wii Play, Guitar Hero and Call of Duty 4 continued their seemingly endless runs on the top ten. The PSP also made a couple of relatively rare appearances in the top ten, with the God of War and Final Fantasy brands finally making people interested in UMDs again.

March Software
1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 2.7 million
2. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Xbox 360) - 752.3K*
3. Army of Two (Xbox 360) - 606.1K
4. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) - 409.8K
5. God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) - 340.5K
6. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) - 301.6K
7. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii) - 264.1K
8. Major League Baseball 2K8 (Xbox 360) - 237.1K
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) - 237K*
10. Army of Two (PS3) - 224.9K

* - Includes bundles and special editions

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Pachter: Wii wins March, PS3 outsells Xbox 360

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-04-15T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

With the NPD numbers expected this week, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter blessed the plebs with his predictions for the March retail numbers. GameDaily transcribed the word of Pachter, in which he fortells of sales being up 47% from $579 million to $850 million. He expects software sales were driven by some game called Super Smash Bros. Brawl, along with Army of Two, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and MLB 2008.

Pachter believes the Wii and DS each sold 700K units in March and that Nintendo had diverted for a while a significant portion of its Wii supply to Europe -- due to the weakening dollar making sales less profitable -- but believes supply has hit demand in Europe and the US can expect more units soon. He also predicts sales of around 365K for the PS3 and 310K for the Xbox 360. He also notes given the US' current economic situation that the game industry appears to be "recession-resistant" so far.

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Analyst: NPD will show March was a winner for software sales

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-04-07T17:08:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Business

The March NPD report is expected next week, but Lazard Capital Market's Colin Sebastian believes software sales will be up 35% for the month. GameDaily reports Sebastian expects top sellers to include Army of Two, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and continued success by Call of Duty 4 and Rock Band. Thanks, in no small part, also goes to a little game called Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Sebastian believes an early Easter holiday and spring break for students assisted software and hardware sales. Speaking of hardware, the analyst believes that that his forecast of six to eight million Wiis being sold in North America during 2008 will "likely prove conservative" due to titles like Wii Fit. He expects healthy growth in the industry leading into the summer due to games expected this year like GTA IV, Mario Kart, GT5: Prologue, MGS 4 and Spore.

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