Charts: December NPD 2009

NPD Group have released the figures for December and there are lots of millions this time around. In the hardware chart Nintendo are dominant again and the PS3 just beat the 360:

• Nintendo Wii – 3,810,000
• Nintendo DS – 3,310,000
• Playstation 3 – 1,360,000
• Xbox 360 – 1,310,000
• Playstation Portable – 654,700
• PlayStation 2 – 333,200

December’s software also has Nintendo on top with some big numbers. Five Wii games, three 360, one PS3 and one DS:

1. New Super Mario Bros Wii (Nintendo, Wii) – 2,820,000
2. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo, Wii) – 2,410,000
3. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, Wii) – 1,790,00
4. Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, 360) – 1,630,000
5. Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, PS3) – 1,120,000
6. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) – 1,010,000
7. Mario Kart (Nintendo, Wii) – 936,100
8. Assassins Creed II (Ubisoft, 360) – 783,100
9. Left 4 Dead 2 (Electronic Arts, 360) – 728,500
10. Mario & Luigi: Bowser Inside Story (Nintendo, DS) – 656,700

At some point the figures for 2009 overall will come out, but I think that’s going to be the Nintendo games, the Modern Warfares, ODST and maybe some big third party game like Resident Evil 5 or Assassin’s Creed 2.

Source:

VG247

News: Additional October Figures

From GameSpot:

• Borderlands (2K Games, 360) – 418,000
• Borderlands (2K Games, PS3) – 113,000
• Borderlands (2K Games, PC) – 15,000 (this figure ignore digital downloads, which are likely much higher)

From VG247:

In its few days of release, DJ Hero managed 122,000:

• DJ Hero (Activision, 360) – 62,000 units
• DJ Hero (Activision, PS3) – 39,000 units
• DJ Hero (Activision, Wii) – 19,000 units
• DJ Hero (Activision, PS2) – 3,300 units

Brutal Legend managed 216,000, and the 360 version is very likely 11th in the chart:

• Brutal Legend (Electronic Arts, 360) – 150,000 units
• Brutal Legend (Electronic Arts, PS3) – 66,000 units

Charts: October 2009

The NPD Group have released the video game hardware and software charts for October 2009. The slim PS3 is still chugging along nicely this month, but the Wii reclaimed the top spot:

• Wii – 506.9K
• DS – 457.6K
• Playstation 3 – 320.6K
• Xbox 360 – 249.7K
• Playstation Portable – 174.6K
• Playstation 2 – 117.8

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves takes a well-deserved place at the top of the software chart. Borderlands (said by one analyst to have been ‘sent to die’ at retail) has done well for itself, standing toe-to-toe with Wii Fit (and very likely outselling it across all formats). Forza Motorsport 3 didn’t do badly for only a couple of days of sales, but DJ Hero, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City didn’t make the charts in a  similarly short release window.  Also missing is Demon’s Souls, but that was always expected to be a fairly niche title:

1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Sony, PS3) – 537,000
2. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo, Wii) – 441,000
3. Borderlands (2K Games, 360) – 418,000
4. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, Wii) – 314,000
5. NBA 2K10 (2K Games, 360) – 311,000
6. Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft, 360) – 271,000
7. NBA 2K10 (2K Games, PS3) – 213,000
8. Forza Motorsport 3 (Microsoft, 360) – 175,000
9. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (Square Enix, DS) – 169,000
10. FIFA Soccer 10 (Electronic Arts, 360) – 156,000

The NPD’s Anita Fraser tweeted the overall stats.  The industry as a whole is down compared to last year, but the consoles all being cheaper is obviously a factor:

October VG sales at $1.1B for month, down 19% from LY. Console hardware hardest hit down 21% in unit sales from LY. #NPDGames

Microsoft’s incredibly quick press release mentioned six 360 games in the console top 10 (ignoring handhelds), which means that Brutal Legend on 360 only just missed the chart, so even if it has to have sold less than 156,000 units on each console it did not do terribly.

News: Gamasutra’s September Analysis

Gamasutra’s Matt Matthews has put up his regular analysis of the figures. I’ll link to it by page (which are essentially detailed enough for individual articles) because there’s a lot in there, so feel free to pick and choose:

• Page One – Distribution and average sale price ($100) of The Beatles: Rock Band.
• Page Two – A look at how the 360 has emerged as the dominant platform for music games (last year the Wii was equal/bigger, suggesting Wii gamers are less likely to buy annual updates). Also a look at how Guitar Hero 5 sold less than TB:RB, but as a series has seen a lower revenue drop than Rock Band (because of RB’s expensive instruments, which most people have now).
• Page Three – Primarily a PS3 one, revealing just how readily people have snapped up the $300 system, while the 360′s price cut didn’t affect the average price at all, and seems to make $300 the real sweet spot. Apparently, the PS3 “is currently 450,000 units behind Microsoft’s system [for 2009] and will have to outsell its rival by around 35,000 units per week through the end of the year just to pull even”. With the price cut alone it’s already matched the rate of the 360′s 2007 price cut and Halo 3 launch though.
• Page Four – The Wii and 360′s tie ratios (number of software divided by hardware sold) went up, while the PS3′s stayed constant. It’s normal for it to decrease when the install base increases rapidly, as consoles bought with a game or two drag it down, so it might dip for a while. There are also the lifetime software sales for each console in here (360 is ahead, suggesting the Wii has slowed). The PS3′s rate of sales is higher than the Wii’s but the installed base is smaller, so the overall number is lower, but both the 360 and PS3 are increasing their sales rate while the Wii is flat.
• Page Five – A look at CoD:WaW’s DLC and how it has technically increased the average money Activision make from each copy of WaW sold, essentially giving WaW an average price of $65. There are some estimates and assumptions in there, but the theory is sound.
• Page Six – This is just a look at what they’ll be looking out for in November (continued PS3 sales, UC2, ODST, Forza, the PSP Go, and whether the industry really is on the up again).

News: Additional September Figures

Here are some additional NPD figures for September, culled from various places around the web (including the top 20 already on this blog):

• Scribblenauts – (Warner Bros., DS) – 194,000
• Wii Fit – (Nintendo, Wii) – 134,000
• The Beatles: Rock Band – (MTV/Electronic Arts, PS3) – 132,400
• Dead Space: Extraction – (Electronic Arts, Wii) – 9000 OR 9,200
• The Beatles: Rock Band – (MTV/Electronic Arts, All Formats) – 595,000
• Guitar Hero 5 – (Activision Blizzard, All Formats) – 499,000

Charts: September Top 20

Gamasutra has the NPD top 20 for September 2009, which I’ve reproduced below.  They also have figures for three of the games in the top 20, so I’ve kept the numbers in this time:

(*) indicates a new entry for this month

(X) indicates last month’s position

1. (*) Halo 3:ODST – (Microsoft, 360) – 1,520,000
2. (2) Wii Sports Resort – (Nintendo, Wii) – 442,900
3. (1) Madden NFL 10 – (Electronic Arts, 360) – 289,600
4. (*) Mario & Luigi: Bower’s Inside Story (Nintendo, DS) – 258,100
5. (*) The Beatles Rock Band – (MTV/Electronic Arts, 360) – 254,000
6. (3) Madden NFL 10 – (Electronic Arts, PS3) – 246,500
7. (*) Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 – (Activision Blizzard, 360) – 236,000
8. (5) Batman: Arkham Asylum – (Square Enix, PS3) – 212,500
9. (*) Guitar Hero 5 – (Activision Blizzard, 360) – 210,800
10. (*) The Beatles: Rock Band – (MTV/Electronic Arts, Wii) – 208,600
11. (4) Batman: Arkham Asylum – (Square Enix, 360)
12. (*) Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days – (Square Enix, DS)
13. (*) Scribblenauts – (Warner Bros., DS) – 194,000
14. (*) NHL 10 (Electronic Arts, 360)
15. (*) Need For Speed: Shift – (Electronic Arts, 360)
16. (*) Need For Speed: Shift – (Electronic Arts, PS3)
17. (*) Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 – (Activision Blizzard, PS3)
18. (16) Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box – (Nintendo, DS)
19. (8) Wii Fit – (Nintendo, Wii) – 134,000
20. (*) The Beatles: Rock Band – (MTV/Electronic Arts, PS3) – 132,400

Response: September 2009 – Microsoft

Gamasutra has Microsoft’s response to the NPD data.  Unsurprisingly, Halo 3: ODST‘s chart-topping performance was a big focus, saying that over five million players have spent over 116 million hours playing ODST’s campaign or Firefight mode, or the Halo 3 mulitplayer included on a second disc.  As usual, Microsoft ignored handheld titles (an area in which they don’t compete) and revealed that they had five titles in the NPD top ten, putting the 360 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum into the chart, with Gamasutra estimating about 200,000 copies sold.

Microsoft also trumpeted their continued success with third-party games, saying that as well as the 360 generating $154 million in revenue this month for third parties, the console has also generated the most money from games sales for third parties in the whole of 2009 so far.

Response: September 2009 – Sony

Kotaku have received a response to the NPD figures from Jack Tretton, head of SCEA.  In it, Tretton talks excitedly about how Sony are redefining the entertainment experiences of consumers, pointing to their strong line-up both for the holiday period and the rest of the fiscal year.  The final quote of the article:

“There simply has never been a better time to be part of the PlayStation family and we look forward to providing you with the best entertainment content and experience for many, many years to come.”

Charts: September 2009

The NPD group have released US sales data for September 2009.  Sony’s PlayStation 3 topped the hardware charts for the first time since the console released:

• DS – 524,200
• PS3 – 491,800
• Wii – 462,800
• 360 – 352,600
• PSP – 190,400
• PS2 - 146,000

Halo 3: ODST topped the software chart, though its sales are faw lower than those of Halo 3 two years earlier:

(*) indicates a new entry for this month

(X) indicates last month’s position

1. (*) Halo 3:ODST – (Microsoft, 360) – 1,520,000
2. (2) Wii Sports Resort – (Nintendo, Wii) – 442,900
3. (1) Madden NFL 10 – (Electronic Arts, 360) – 289,600
4. (*) Mario & Luigi: Bower’s Inside Story (Nintendo, DS) – 258,100
5. (*) The Beatles Rock Band – (MTV/Electronic Arts, 360) – 254,000
6. (3) Madden NFL 10 – (Electronic Arts, PS3) – 246,500
7. (*) Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 – (Activision Blizzard, 360) – 236,000
8. (5) Batman: Arkham Asylum – (Square Enix, PS3) – 212,500
9. (*) Guitar Hero 5 (Activision Blizzard, 360) – 210,800
10. (*) The Beatles Rock Band – (MTV/Electronic Arts, Wii) - 208,600

Gone from last month’s top ten:

• (4) Batman: Arkham Asylum (Xbox 360)
• (6) Madden NFL 10 (PS2)
• (7) Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
• (8) Wii Fit (Wii)
• (9) Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
• (10) Fossil Fighters (DS)

News: NPD Delayed

The NPD Group have announced that the results for September are not going to be released tonight after all, and have instead been pushed back to Monday 19th. The full text of the announcement is below:

“We have just released a communication to our clients, explaining that, due to last minute processing requirements, the NPD Video Games Retail Tracking information for September 2009 will now be released on Monday, October 19. We will issue our media advisory at 6:30pm EST on Monday. We apologize for the inconvenience.”