Once a month the NPD group releases sales figures for the preceding month of video game sales in North America. Every month fanboys and industry watchers pore over these numbers, looking for surprises, trends, and evidence that proves their favorite system is beating the fuck out of yours.
If there’s one thing that Cracked’s known for, it’s providing thoughtful analysis of the video game industry. Well, that, and our hate filled xenophobic slander of other cultures. It’s in that spirit that I present below my thoughts on the September NPD numbers. This will hopefully become a new monthly tradition here on Cracked, or at least it will until our next relaunch in May 2008, when we plan to become an unsuccessful webmail client.
September Video Game Sales (from the NPD Group)
Hardware Sales (lifetime in brackets)
Xbox 360 527.8K (6.8 million)
Wii 501K (4.5 million)
Nintendo DS 495.8K (13.2 million)
PlayStation Portable 284.5K (8.6 million)
PlayStation 2 215K (39.3 million)
PlayStation 3 119.4K (1.87 million)
Game Boy Advance 75K
Software Sales
360 Halo 3 3.3 million
WII Wii Play (w. Remote) 282K
NDS Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass 224K
PS2 Madden NFL 08 205K
360 Skate 175K
360 Madden NFL 08 173K
WII Metroid Prime 3: Corruption 167K
360 Bioshock 150K
NDS Brain Age 2: More Training In Minutes 141K
PS3 Heavenly Sword 139K
Analysis after the break…
So it turns out that Halo 3 was released last month. Did anyone else hear about this? You’d think they would have advertised that somewhere. Despite the lack of publicity, it still managed to sell 3.3 million copies. In 12 days. For those that don’t follow these numbers, selling 3.3 million copies of a game in 12 days is huge. To put it in terms that might be easier to understand, imagine how huge Ted Danson was in the 80’s. Yeah.
Xbox 360 sales clearly felt a knock on effect from Halo3. Last month 276 thousand 360’s were sold, so it would appear that the Halo effect nearly doubled systems sales this month. That’s definitely good news for Microsoft, although honestly, I’m a little surprised the 360 didn’t sell even better. A 250K increase in sales is significant, but when you sell that much software in a month, it still feels a little low. It would appear that although all those people lining up for Halo 3 might not have had jobs or girlfriends, they did already own 360’s.
It probably shouldn’t count as surprising any more when the Wii sells like hot cakes. But to do so during a month with no major software releases, and all the publicity in the world focused on a competitors system is pretty impressive. My pet theory on this is that the Wii is basically selling itself entirely from word of mouth advertising. People are going to Wii parties, having fun playing Wii Bowling drinking games, and then waking up the next morning with a headache, someone else’s underpants, and a newfound desire to purchase a Wii. That’s how I bought my first three.
Sales of the Playstation 3 continue to disappoint. 119K units this month, down from 130K units in August, a drop that’s even worse when you consider that September’s NPD data used a 5 week month, and August’s used only a 4 week month. Whether it’s because of the price, the lack of must-have games, or something else entirely, sales of the PS3 appears to be cursed. Many industry experts now are now openly questioning Sony’s decision to design the PS3 architecture on top of an Indian burial ground.
Aside from Halo 3, on the software side the other big story is the unremarkable sales figures for Wii software, particularly the good-but-not-great showing of Metroid Prime 3. Combined with last months sales, it’s sold 375K units. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but compared to a similar game on the 360 like Bioshock (640K units in Aug & Sept) it’s a little disappointing.
To be fair, the 360 still has about a 50% larger user base than the Wii in North America, so it should be posting larger software sales numbers. But considering that the well reviewed Metroid was released in the bone dry desert that is the Wii software library, it’s a little astonishing that game-starved Wii gamers didn’t buy more copies of it. This certainly won’t help dispel the growing belief that the Wii is only owned by casual gamers. If Metroid can’t succeed, third party developers might conclude that the Wii simply isn’t a great platform to release in-depth AAA games. Bad news for Wii gamers, great news for Wii haters.
Madden is still doing very well in it’s second month. Interesting to see the PS2 version of Madden outselling both the 360 and PS3 versions this month. This certainly supports the theory that a lot of people are still hanging around the last generation of hardware, waiting for more convincing reasons before laying money down on a new system. Pussies.
What do you see in these numbers? Have a trenchant insight you wish to share? Or perhaps you’d care to spew expletive laden insults calling my analysis and ancestry into question? Post your comments below!
Last 5 posts by Chris Bucholz
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December 17th, 2008 at 5:15 am
First off, the PS3 is the same price/cheaper than a comparative 360, because Microsoft are robbing rip-off merchant bastards.
First of all you have to buy the 60GB 360, cos the arcade one (the cheap one) is shit. Second, you need to buy an extra controller and then charge packs, because Microsoft hate you and therefore didn’t just build a rechargeable controller. Then you have to spend £60, SIXTY FUCKING POUNDS, on AN ARIEL so you can use it wirelessly, cos Microsoft want your dog to starve to death.
Then to make the thing work, you have to wrap it in towels and super-heat it cos Microsoft are too retarded to use a soldering iron.
After that you actually have to use the thing which is a fucking nightmare of totally retarded design flaws, ranging from very poor menu structure to very poor general performance, and the most ridiculous online shop ever, where you have to buy Microsoft points (or twat points) to buy games and content, instead of just using money, whilst also having to pay a subscription fee to even use xbox live at all.
In conclusion, FUCK MICROSOFT.
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I think that many Wii owners, including myself, are just waiting for Super Smash Bros: Brawl to grab. Unfortunately for Nintendo’s holiday sales figures, the game has been delayed until February, but I think we can safely assume at least several million copies sold in it’s first month; the previous 2 installments were unbelievably popular.
I think one of the major blessings AND curses of the Wii’s popularity is that it can play all Gamecube games. One of th reasons I bought mine at launch was that I could just sell my Gamecube and keep on playing Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Mario Party, Metroid Prime, and every other fun nintendo title. This leaves me with little desire to purchase new Wii games, since after beating Twilight Princess, I’m perfectly happy going back to the oldies-but-goodies.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
I’m one of the pussies. Speaking as a single-player player, if there isn’t a tranformative gaming experience, why commit all that $ on better graphics? I’m assuming that by the time the price drops, developers will have figured out how better to use all the muscle. In the meantime, I still get my fix w/PS2, and can dabble in my friend’s 360.