April 2009 NPD

[jakncoke]

Data care of NPD Group


PlayStation 2 172K
PlayStation 3 127K
PSP 116K
Xbox 360 175K
Wii 340K
Nintendo DS 1.04M



FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA Wii 471K
POKEMON PLATINUM VERSION NINTENDO OF AMERICA NDS 433K
MARIO KART W/ WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA Wii 210K
PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA Wii 170K
THE GODFATHER II ELECTRONIC ARTS 360 155K
RESIDENT EVIL 5* CAPCOM USA 360 122K
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS NINTENDO OF AMERICA NDS 119K
MARIO KART DS NINTENDO OF AMERICA NDS 112K
GUITAR HERO AEROSMITH* ACTIVISION BLIZZARD (CORP) 360 110K
THE GODFATHER II ELECTRONIC ARTS PS3 91K



pretty slow month, except for Wii Fit /Pokemon and DSI pushing DS over 1 million. 91k for #10 is pathetic. PS3 really needs a pricedrop. the 30 dollar drop for PS2 pushed sales as much as possible, I mean who doesn't have at least 1 at this point? Wii Play continues it's top 10 streak, I really wonder why Nintendo will stop that game, because at this point it seems only Nintendo themselves can stop it.


Although it's completely different because 3 versions of major games were released but last year we seen 3 games surpass 1 million and #10 was 141k
April 2008 NPD: Month full of ??? - Gamers Forum (http://www.gamers-forum.com/showthread.php?t=6683&highlight=April)

kinda cool to see how the industry changed yoy

[Exodyus]

The launch of the Nintendo DSi appears to have been the sole saving grace of the video game industry in the U.S. during April, according to NPD Group sales data.

The new Nintendo handheld helped the DS platform move more than a million units in April, almost double what the Nintendo DS sold during March. The million-plus figure is also an improvement over the platform's performance from April 2008, when the DS sold a comparatively paltry 414,800 units in the United States.

Also showing signs of improvement was the $99 PlayStation 2, which sold 172,000 units last month, up from the 112,000 previous gen Sony consoles sold in March.

And that's the good news.

The bad news is that every other platform was down. Sales of the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 declined. That's both on a month-to-month and year-over-year sense.

Part of the year-to-year sales drop for home consoles can be attributed to this April's software releases. Last year, the effects of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii and Grand Theft Auto IV were felt in the form of console sales spikes. This year, not so much.

Here's how April worked out.

* Nintendo DSi - 827,000
* Wii - 340,000
* Nintendo DS Lite - 215,000
* Xbox 360 - 175,000
* PlayStation 2 - 172,000
* PlayStation 3 - 127,000
* PSP - 116,000

"The big story for the month is the performance of portable game hardware sales as propelled by the release of Nintendo's DSi," commented NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "The NDS platform accounted for 31 percent of total industry unit sales this month across all categories."

Sorry, we don't have Nintendo DSi versus Nintendo DS sales figures. The NPD Group considers them a singular platform in their reporting. Update: But we did get those figures from Nintendo.

Video game hardware sales for the month of April 2009 were $391.63 million, down 8% from the $426.94 million in hardware spend from April 2008.

That puts total year-to-date hardware sales at $1.83 billion, down a percentage point from the same point last year.

The DSi seemed to be the saving grace. Lol.

[jakncoke]

Kotaku - Excitebots Sells, Uh, 13,000 Copies - Excitebots (http://kotaku.com/5255753/excitebots-sells-uh-13000-copies)

shame Exitebots sold so few in it's first 10 days, 13k is pathetic. perhaps it'll have long legs and get to a respectable number

more news




Despite message board buzz and strong reviews, the Wii-exclusive Excitebots: Trick Racing sold just 13,000 units in the U.S. for its April debut, research firm NPD Group told Gamasutra on Friday.

The Nintendo-published game launched in the latter half of NPD’s retail calendar on April 20, so the game has yet to reach even a full month of availability on store shelves. (NPD's retail calendar for April ended on May 2.)

But the amount of units sold is still low, considering the popularity of the game’s predecessor, Excite Truck, the strong reviews, and the buzz amongst the press and hardcore fans.

NPD said the game wasn’t even able to crack the top 100 games by unit sales during the month of April.

In name, Excitebots also has heritage in the classic franchise started by the 1980s NES classic Excitebike.

Developed by Monster Games, the same studio behind the well-received Wii launch title Excite Truck, Excitebots took the fast-paced, motion-controlled arcade racing formula and added robot vehicles. The game has so far garnered an 82 percent review average on Metacritic.

News of Excitebots’ initial sales comes after NPD said that the M-rated Wii exclusive Madworld from Sega sold 66,000 units in the U.S. in its March debut. In February, Sega's other gory M-rated Wii game, the light gun shooter House of the Dead: Overkill, sold 45,000 units in its debut month in the U.S., according to NPD.