Nintendo Systems March’s Top Sellers, NPD Says

About 259,000 Wiis were sold in March 2007 (CED April 23 p4) and about 432,000 Wiis were sold in February 2008, showing how significantly supplies improved on Nintendo’s popular console in March despite still not quite matching demand.

Release of Super Smash Brothers Brawl -- the month’s top-selling game -- and better inventory “helped the Wii to capture the highest single month unit sales of any platform outside the holiday time frame,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier said. Wii’s U.S. installed base grew to 8.8 million.

DS followed closely, selling about 698,000 units, up from about 508,000 in March 2007 and nearly 588,000 in February 2008. Its U.S. installed base rose to 19.2 million. DS sales “were most likely spurred by a combination of increased retail promotional activity along with a greater supply at retail, which is now allowing some of that pent-up consumer demand to be satisfied,” said Frazier.

Sales of all main systems but PS2 improved from March 2007. Supplies of Xbox 360 apparently improved enough for that console to surpass PS3 for the first time this year -- albeit narrowly. About 262,000 Xbox 360s were sold in March, up from about 199,000 in March 2007 and almost 255,000 in February 2008, NPD said. Xbox 360’s U.S. installed base grew to 9.9 million, keeping it at the lead of the three current- generation consoles. But 360 launched a full year ahead of rivals and the gap between it and Wii narrowed even further. Wii trailed 360 by 1.5 million units at the end of February, but only by 1.1 million at the end of March.

However, Xbox 360 continued to dominate in life-to-date software-to-hardware tie ratio, improving to about 7.4:1, versus 5.2:1 for Wii and 4.6:1 for PS3.

PS3 sales grew to more than 257,000 units from only about 130,000 in March 2007, down from about 281,000 in February this year. Its U.S. installed base improved to 4.1 million -- still far behind Wii and 360.

PSP again fell far short of sales by Nintendo’s dual- screen handheld system, at only about 297,000 units. But PSP sales were up from only about 180,000 in March 2007 and about 243,000 in February 2008 as its U.S. installed base improved to 11.2 million -- still far behind DS.

Demand for PSP remained relatively strong despite its being the month’s weakest seller and sliding from March 2007’s 280,000 and almost 352,000 sold in February. More than 216,000 PS2s were sold this time, improving its U.S. installed base to 42 million.

U.S. videogame hardware sales jumped 46 percent to $551.3 million in March, NPD said. Accessory sales soared 58 percent to $220 million. Xbox Live points and subscription cards were the “hot accessory items for the month of March, along with the PS3 wireless controller,” NPD said, giving no details. The category with the most growth was videogame software, up 63 percent at $945.6 million, it said. Total game industry sales -- including hardware, accessories and software -- rose 57 percent to $1.7 billion, NPD said.

“You'd never know that the U.S. economy was under distress by looking at the videogames industry sales figures,” said Frazier, noting that “year-to-date growth is a rock-solid 27 percent through March.” She said “Wii contributed the most to total industry sales, representing 31 percent of total industry dollars for the month.”

About 2.7 million units of Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers Brawl were sold in March, its first month available. Its nearest competitor, Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for Xbox 360 -- another new release -- sold about 752,300 units. The 360 version of Army of Two from Electronic Arts was third, with about 606,100 units. Rounding out the top five were Nintendo’s Wii Play -- still going strong since its February 2007 release with about another 409,800 units sold, and Sony Computer Entertainment America’s new God of War: Chains of Olympus for PSP with about 340,500 units.

As usual, hardware makers each boasted about their systems’ achievements. SCEA again stressed its performance’s strength when factoring in all three PlayStation platforms. PlayStation products accounted for $552.2 million in sales in March, generating more than $1.55 billion in revenue so far this year, up nearly 13 percent from the period a year ago, it said. PlayStation hardware brought $186.2 million of revenue in March, up 23 percent from a year ago, with PlayStation software accounting for revenue of $304.7 million, up 25 percent from a year ago, it said. PS3 hardware sales grew 98 percent from a year ago and more than 1.9 million PS3 software units were sold in March, for 139.2 percent growth, SCEA said. Its PlayStation Network “continues to thrive,” it said, noting that North America has more than 3.7 million registered accounts, with more than 67 million pieces of content downloaded from the PlayStation Store to date. PSP hardware sales grew 22.1 percent from February 2008 and 65 percent from March 2007, “fueled by the recent exclusive” game releases God of War: Chains of Olympus and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, which it said were the two best-selling handheld games for March. Crisis Core sold about 301,600 units, making it the month’s number six game, according to NPD. PlayStation sales “momentum continues to defy what is traditionally a sluggish sales month,” said SCEA CEO Jack Tretton.

Microsoft again stressed that 360 still led in software- to-hardware attach rate, noting that the platform took in the most money among the three current-generation consoles, but not noting its system’s big head start. Consumers have spent $9.4 billion to date on Xbox 360, Microsoft said.

Xbox 360 hardware supplies improved during the month, Microsoft said: “Going into March, some key U.S. retailers were still experiencing the trickledown effect of Xbox 360 console shortages. By the end of March, supply issues had improved and we expect retailers to be fully stocked with Xbox 360 consoles in time for the Grand Theft Auto IV launch” April 29.

Microsoft predicted that “in just two weeks, Xbox 360 will extend its industry lead” with launch of the latest entry in Take-Two Interactive’s violent but very popular Grand Theft Auto series. Not stated was that the game also is coming out on PS3. Microsoft boasted that the version for its console “will feature the first ever online multiplayer for the franchise and Xbox 360 is also the only place you can earn GTA IV Achievements and increase your gamerscore.” Starting in the fall, only Xbox 360 owners will have access to exclusive GTA IV episodic content, it said.

Xbox 360’s attach rate for March was 7.5:1 in the U.S., Microsoft said, citing NPD data. In Europe, 360 also was number one in attach rate, at more than 7:1, versus only 3.8:1 for PS3 and 3.5:1 for Wii, it said. Echoing comments it made earlier that day (CED April 18 p6), Microsoft said 360 sales in Europe “more than doubled in the wake of recent retail price changes” (CED March 11 p3).

Microsoft said third-party publishers continue to “find more success on Xbox 360” than other consoles. In March, 360 accounted for $220 million of third-party game sales this generation, for a 49 percent share, Microsoft said. Xbox 360 also continued to dominate rivals in online gaming, it said, noting Xbox Live users exceed 10 million worldwide. Xbox Live “delivers 4,800 hours of TV and movie entertainment,” it said.

Nintendo of America Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing Cammie Dunaway said her company’s systems “represented 58 percent of all videogame hardware sold in March” in the U.S. and “we expect our momentum to continue with big upcoming game launches like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit.” The Wii version of Activision’s Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was the only SKU of that title to make the top 10 in March, at No. 7, with about 264,100 units sold, according to NPD.

Nintendo said Wii passed Xbox 360 in Canada to be the top-selling current-generation console there, with lifetime sales of about 813,000 units, according to NPD data. It wasn’t immediately clear how many units of 360 and PS3 were sold in Canada through March. Nintendo declined to provide those figures and NPD wasn’t immediately available for comment. “Seventeen months after the launch of the system,” Wii “remains one of the hottest items at retail, selling out almost as quickly as it hits retail shelves,” NPD Director Darrel Ryce said. Wii was the top home console 13 of the past 17 months in Canada, Wii Play became the number one game in the market and Super Mario Galaxy was number three for March, selling almost 200,000 units, making it the top- selling title for 2008 so far, Nintendo said, citing NPD data. Despite the strong Wii showing, Nintendo said DS continued to be Canada’s top-selling videogame system overall.