NPD March 2010

[RobertR1]

Data care of NPD Group


PlayStation 2 118.3K
PlayStation 3 313.9K
PSP 119.9K
Xbox 360 338.4K
Wii 557.5K
Nintendo DS 700.8K



GOD OF WAR III* PS3 SONY Mar-10 1.10M 1
POKEMON SOULSILVER VERSION NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA Mar-10 1.02M 2
FINAL FANTASY XIII PS3 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 828.2K 3
BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS Mar-10 825.5K 4
POKEMON HEARTGOLD VERSION NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA Mar-10 761.2K 5
FINAL FANTASY XIII 360 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 493.9K 6
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Nov-09 457.4K 7
BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2 PS3 ELECTRONIC ARTS Mar-10 451.2K 8
WII FIT PLUS W/ BALANCE BOARD* WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Oct-09 429.6K 9
MLB 10: THE SHOW PS3 SONY Mar-10 349.2K 10

 

[RobertR1]

Nice to see GoW sell well. Best PS3 exclusive that I've played this gen.

About expected for FF13 split.

Go BadCompany 2. So deserved. Love this game.

Next month should be interesting to see which game has legs.

 

[thop]

PS3 hardware sales are quite poor, considering two major releases. And I am also a bit surprised by the Pokémon split

 

[Arwin]

PS3 hardware sales are quite poor, considering two major releases. And I am also a bit surprised by the Pokémon split

There have been a fair few rumors and articles about how the PS3 as been supply constrained and is expected to be at least until May. While it sounds like your typical cop-out in a platform wars discussion, I think this time it may actually be true - under the circumstances it should probably have been 450k, similar to the spike caused by MGS4 when the PS3 price was still quite a bit higher.

Still, this has to be one of the best software showings for PS3 in quite a long time in the US, I reckon with four titles in the top 10 at 1,3,8, and 10th totalling a little under 3 million units.

 

[N_B]

PSP is not doing well at all

No Heavy Rain either and Sony said it sold 1 million. Must be quite a hit in Europe...

 

[draconian]

impressed by gow3 numbers

I really didn't think that gow3 would do that well. 1.1 million for a single player 9-10 hour action game?

 

[RobertR1]

I really didn't think that gow3 would do that well. 1.1 million for a single player 9-10 hour action game?

It's a highly anticipated title that got great reviews, tons of marketing in every form (tv, internet and even radio) and happens to be a really good game on top of it all.

It's about where it should be.

 

[zed]

everything done better than I thought (PSP excepted)
two thumbs down for sony's execution for being supply constrained with such a strong monthly lineup, thats 100k->300k sales they lost this month
gow3 done much better than I thought, the 2 previous games sold bugger all (WRT it being a big name franchise on the 100+ million seller ps2) looks like GOW3 will easily be the biggest seller of the franchise
I havent done the numbers (Ill wait for the top20) but it looks like battlefield bc2 is another FPS that again does better on the xbox360, it is the console of choice for FPS players

 

[betan]

There have been a fair few rumors and articles about how the PS3 as been supply constrained and is expected to be at least until May. While it sounds like your typical cop-out in a platform wars discussion, I think this time it may actually be true - under the circumstances it should probably have been 450k, similar to the spike caused by MGS4 when the PS3 price was still quite a bit higher.

PS3 being supply constrained is more than a rumor. It has been very difficult to find one (we have been looking).

Even recently (last week) my bro had to buy a 250GB since 120gb is still not available. That said, don't know anything about it continuing until May.

Also surprisingly great sales for Gow3 especially in this shooter heavy HD gen. Probably best exclusive opening month on PS3?

 

[Rangers]

Very strong PS3 software.

Surprised at the FF13 split for PS3. Considering UK it was much closer first week 54:46.

Strong split the other way for BFBC.

Wii software beginning to be edged out of the top ten, similar to trends seen in Europe charts.

Wii shortages must have eased given the jump in Wii hardware sales. Still outsold by HD twins though.

Also surprisingly great sales for Gow3 especially in this shooter heavy HD gen. Probably best exclusive opening month on PS3?

I was wondering that too. I think Uncharted 2 did around a million in Nov. Dont quote me though.

 

[obonicus]

Because I was curious, software numbers for March 2009:

1. Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, Xbox 360) - 938K
2. Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo, DS) - 805K
3. Halo Wars (Microsoft, Xbox 360) - 639K
4. Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, PS3) - 585K
5. Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (Nintendo, Wii) - 541K
6. MLB '09: The Show (Sony, PS3) - 305K
7. Killzone 2 - (Sony, PS3) - 296K
8. Wii Play w/ Remote (Nintendo, Wii) - 281K
9. Mario Kart w/ Wheel (Nintendo, Wii) - 278K
10. MLB 2K9 (Take-Two, Xbox 360) - 205K

And Uncharted wasn't even in the top 20 in November.

Personally, I'm shocked at how well BC2 did. The first one did 346k in June 2008, PS3 version didn't even show up in top-20.

Edit: also, EA's doing shockingly well this year, at least in unit sales. Dante's Inferno did 500k, ME2 did monster numbers, 1.2M for BC2. Even Army of Two must've done about 400k.

 

[liolio]

I'm a bit surprised by the headlines of quiet some sites in regard to these numbers, it's all about FF XIII sold twice as much as on ps3 vs 360 whereas the most important fact imo is that neither FF XIII and GoW 3 managed to sell some systems for Sony.

 

[eastmen]

PS3 being supply constrained is more than a rumor. It has been very difficult to find one (we have been looking).

Even recently (last week) my bro had to buy a 250GB since 120gb is still not available. That said, don't know anything about it continuing until May.

Also surprisingly great sales for Gow3 especially in this shooter heavy HD gen. Probably best exclusive opening month on PS3?

Supply improved all month and was much better than Feb.


(I'm going to do it. It has to be done)
I mean everyone that wants Ha.... God of war 3 has already bought a ps3 and to everyone that hasn't bought a ps3 yet Ha.... God of war 3 is hardly going to sell them a system or they already would have owned it .
(Sorry had to do it)

But seriously gow only pushed a little over 1m units and final fantasy another 800k. Dunno if thats console pushing teritory for either of those titles.


I guess april and may numbers will start to shed some light on if these numbers are low because of supply or this is what demand is really like for the system.



I don't know f any big ps3 April titles. I do know that xbox has splinter cell and its fairly early in the month (second week right) so I'm going to guess the 360 will sell better than the ps3. Actually it doesn't look like the ps3 has any exclusives through June . Mean while 360 has alan wake followed by crackdown (thats late june right ?) so it will be interesting to me to see what affect this has on systm purchases.

 

[zed]

I'm a bit surprised by the headlines of quiet some sites in regard to this numbers, it's all about FF XIII sold twice as much as on ps3 vs 360 whereas the most important fact imo is that neither FF XIII and GoW 3 managed to sell some systems for Sony.

uh well the story has been there for 3-4 weeks, + its sony did not have any consoles for sale fullstop!!, how can you ship consoles that dont exist, Its been a major failure on sonys part, they knew it was gonna be a big month ( true not a big as GT5 but still a big month ) they should of had the consoles to sell

 

[liolio]

uh well the story has been there for 3-4 weeks, + its sony did not have any consoles for sale fullstop!!, how can you ship consoles that dont exist, Its been a major failure on sonys part, they knew it was gonna be a big month ( true not a big as GT5 but still a big month ) they should of had the consoles to sell

I completely forgot about those supplies issues. I feel like there is something strange/weird going on at Sony HQ.

 

[Brad Grenz]

I don't know f any big ps3 April titles. I do know that xbox has splinter cell and its fairly early in the month (second week right) so I'm going to guess the 360 will sell better than the ps3. Actually it doesn't look like the ps3 has any exclusives through June . Mean while 360 has alan wake followed by crackdown (thats late june right ?) so it will be interesting to me to see what affect this has on systm purchases.

Modnation Racers is next month, yeah? It's actually looking really cool, but I don't know that it'll exactly be a blockbuster. 3D Dot Heroes is also a May title, but it'll probably be pretty niche

As for Alan Wake and Crackdown 2, I don't know why anyone would think of those as system movers. Especially if we're going to be skeptical about FFXIII and GoW3 moving hardware.

 

[KongRudi]

PSP is not doing well at all

No Heavy Rain either and Sony said it sold 1 million. Must be quite a hit in Europe...

Heavy Rain came at #10 on the Februar NPD.
Opened with 246k, right below Mass Effect and the two Dante Inferno-editions.

 

[obonicus]

Alan Wake actually might be a system mover, depends how many Max Payne fans there are out there and who might respond to the Remedy name, especially since the 360 is the only place to play the game. Crackdown 2 will sell well, but as a sequel I doubt it'll move systems.

 

[Billy Idol]

uh well the story has been there for 3-4 weeks, + its sony did not have any consoles for sale fullstop!!, how can you ship consoles that dont exist, Its been a major failure on sonys part, they knew it was gonna be a big month ( true not a big as GT5 but still a big month ) they should of had the consoles to sell

I agree...this clearly shows how stupid Sony as a company is! How many failures could you make - honestly, I don't get it.

When I bought my God of War 3, my local Game Dealer told that it was luck that I even got a copy...they were totally low on GOW3 copies (had only 4 copies in the store at release day), as the supply was not there. That was the first time I thought - this can not be true!! Then he goes on to tell me that they additionally don't have any PS3s at the moment...because of the supply! And I thought: what the f*** - great move Sony, seems to be a special secret plan you have: releasing the biggest game, but don't have enough copies of the game and no PS3s

 

[Rolf N]

I completely forgot about those supplies issues. I feel like there is something strange/weird going on at Sony HQ.

There's a thread about the whole thing: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=56776
To summarize, there was some sort of silent hardware revision, sporting a die-shrink of RSX most notably, bringing power consumption down to 70ish Watts.

Apparently they did not have a big enough pile of the older version and/or could not ramp up production of the new version quickly enough. Good thing they didn't pull this off in the holiday quarter