May NPD US Hardware/Software Sales

[Dr Mario Kart]

PS2 117k
PS3 131K
PSP 100.4K
360 175K
WII 289.5K
NDS 633.5K

1 - 360 - UFC 2009 UNDISPUTED (THQ) - 679.6K
2 - WII - Wii FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD (NoA) - 352.8K
3 - WII - EA SPORTS ACTIVE BUNDLE (EA) - 345.8K
4 - PS3 - UFC 2009 UNDISPUTED (THQ) - 334.4K
5 - PS3 - INFAMOUS (SCEA) - 175.9K
6 - NDS - POKEMON PLATINUM VERSION (NoA) - 168.9K
7 - WII - MARIO KART W/ WHEEL (NoA) - 158.3K
8 - WII - PUNCH OUT!! (NoA) - 156.9K
9 - 360 - X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE UNCAGED (Acti-Blizzard) - 120.7K
10 - WII - Wii PLAY W/ REMOTE (NoA) - 109.8K

11 - NDS - New Super Mario Bros (NoA)
12 - NDS - Mario Kart (NoA)
13 - PS3 - X-Men Origins Wolvering (Acti-Blizzard)
14 - 360 - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (ACti-Blizzard)
15 - NDS - Gardening Mama (Majesco)
16 - 360 - Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (CDV SOftware)
17 - 360 - Call of Duty: World at War (Acti-Blizzard)
18 - NDS - Rhythm Heaven (NoA)
19 - 360 - Halo 3 (MGS)
20 - WII - Gold's Gym Cardio Workout (Ubisoft)
__________
Other:
Bionic Commando - <30k combined 360+PS3

Analysis: NPD's Anita Frasier
The video games industry continues to struggle with difficult comparisons to last year, and this is the first month that industry sales have dipped below $1B since August 2007. May is typically one of the lowest revenue-generating months in any given year for the industry in general.

Every category declined versus a year ago with the exception of portable hardware sales which was bolstered by the continued strong sales of the Nintendo DS including both the DSi and the Lite.

Unit sales declined less than dollar sales did. The dollar sales decline was exacerbated by a decline in average retail prices for almost all of the categories.

The DS was the top-selling hardware platform for the month. There is a lot of new DS content coming to market this month for a wide variety of gamers, so we should see strong hardware sales continue.

Two third-party titles had a strong showing in May. UFC Undisputed had a great launch selling over a million units across both platforms, while EA Sports Active Bundle, a Wii exclusive, made it into the top 5. There are more new releases in this month's top 10 list than we have seen for some time. As we mentioned last month, it's a great time to release new IP, illustrated by May's strong debuts of EA's Sports Active and Sony's InFAMOUS.

While there were some very strong new releases this month along with continued strong sales of evergreen games, this month's top 10 games sold 2.6 million units combined, whereas last year the top 10 sold 3.7 million units. Again this illustrates how tough the comparisons are to last year.

Looking ahead to June, there are some promising games coming out this month between Sims 3 (PC), Prototype, Red Faction, Virtua Tennis, Ghostbusters, Transformers and Tiger Woods just to name a few. At E3, it was notable how many games were targeted to the tween girl demographic, and this June will see a number of games introduced for girls as well. June comparisons are still likely to be tough, but the wide variety of new content could help reinvigorate things somewhat.

Tiger Woods titles are typically released in August or September. It will be interesting to watch how the title performs when it's not competing at retail with Madden, and with the impact of the Wii MotionPlus for the Wii version. Releasing it during the month when the U.S. Open (and consequently Tiger) is getting air time can't hurt either.

Nintendo PR Response:
NINTENDO DS BRAND CONTINUES HOT STREAK, WII HITS 20 MILLION SALES MILESTONE

June 11, 2009

The Nintendo DS™ franchise continued its strong sales and placed No. 1 across all platforms for May, according to the NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. U.S. consumers purchased nearly 390,000 Nintendo DSi™ systems and nearly 244,000 Nintendo DS systems in May, for a combined total of more than 633,000 hand-helds. Total Nintendo DS franchise sales are at more than 31 million in the United States.

Nintendo's Wii™ console also hit a major milestone in May. With more than 289,000 unit sales in May, U.S. Wii sales crossed the 20 million mark after just 31 months on the market, reinforcing its position as the fastest-selling console in history.

"The continued enthusiastic consumer response to our products shows that Nintendo has something for everyone," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "For Nintendo, precision motion controls and social gaming are realities today. Upcoming games like Wii Sports Resort, launching at the end of July, and Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, coming this fall and holiday, will give consumers even more amazing experiences to enjoy."

Six games published for Nintendo platforms finished in the top 10 best-sellers of May in the United States. These include Wii Fit™ at No. 2 with nearly 353,000 sold, EA Sports Active at No. 3 with nearly 346,000 sold, Pokémon™ Platinum Version at No. 6 with nearly 169,000 sold, Mario Kart™ Wii at No. 7 with more than 158,000 sold Punch-Out!!™ at No. 8 with nearly 157,000 sold and Wii Play™ at No. 10 with more than 109,000 sold.

Average weeks ownership (Average purchase date)
Wii: 57.7 (April 22, 2008)
PS3: 63.3 (March 13, 2008)
X360: 84.9 (October 14, 2007)

Year over year change:
NDS +40%
WII -57%
360 -6.2%
PS3 -37.2%
PS2 -11.8%
PSP -45%

Lifetime to Date:
PS2 - 44,147,818
NDS - 30,876,658
PSP - 15,097,336
360 - 15,240,286
PS3 - 7,749,396
Wii - 20,203,081

Year to Date:
PS2 - 633,200
NDS - 3,335,300
PSP - 755,700
360 - 1,380,000
PS3 - 955,200
Wii - 2,662,700
_______________
Timed Comparisons
PS2 23,432,000 (43-month mark) (April 2004)
PS2 17,360,000 (31-month mark) (April 2003)
Xbox - 8,901,402 (31-month mark) (May 2004)
Xbox - 12,200,000 (43-month mark) (May 2005)
GCN - 7,473,241 (31-month mark) (May 2004)
GCN - 11,002,000 (43-month mark) (May 2005)

360 15,240,286 (43 months) (May 2009)
360 10,267,000 (31 months) (May 2008)
PS3 7,749,396 (31 months) (May 2009)
Wii 20,203,581 (31 months) (May 2009)

[Ryukahn]

Wow, I'm shocked that many copies of UFC sold.

Also, I don't generally keep track of sales, but is that NDS number normal?

[Dr Mario Kart]

DS is still riding high from the DSi launch.

PS3 is down year over year for 7 consecutive months now
360 is down for 2 months
Wii is down for 3 months
PSP is the lowest NPD has ever recorded for the system.

[Wombat]

I had no idea UFC was so popular, is the actual sport really that big?

[Maklershed]

Damn, the console sales are still slumping (except for the DS).

Also, thats kinda surprising that UFC did so well. I know it got a lot of good buzz in the game press but I didn't think it would be that high profile for the public.

[msdmoney]

I had no idea UFC was so popular, is the actual sport really that big?

The UFC is basically bigger than boxing at this point. Which brings up the lack of Fight Night Round 4 on the list, didn't it come out this month?

[Maklershed]

It comes out in July.

[sotc1988]

So big question for Infamous, will it sell less in the next month then what it did for its first week? Remember LBP and Killzone came out on the last day of their respective months and each sold more on the first day (which weren't terribly impressive figures) than they did for the entire month after.

[hiccupleftovers]

I had no idea UFC was so popular, is the actual sport really that big?

Yep:D MMA is bigger than boxing now. Out here in Vegas they even do half and half fight cards of half MMA/half boxing, though the MMA pulls in more people than the boxing. There's also more MMA promotions going on now it seems that there has been for boxing for quite sometime. There's Square Ring productions, which is Roy Jones. Jr.'s, TUF 'N' Enuf (or however they spell it), UFC/WEC, Affliction, etc.

I actually really want to get the UFC game, but I might just rent it for a weekend for the time being.

[Dr Mario Kart]

Sony's forecast for this fiscal year is to move 13 mil PS3's worldwide compared to 10 mil last year. I wonder how reasonable this expectation is. Will a $50 price drop be enough to hit the target?

Regarding Infamous, it has a slight edge in that June is a 5 week reporting period as opposed to 4. Even so, the chances of it charting again next month are very slim.

[Sparta]

I thought FNR4 was june 23rd or the 30th?

[TC]

Good news for THQ.

[Logg]

What about Sacred 2

[Monsta Mack]

What about Sacred 2

11 New Super Mario Brothers DS Nintendo 87,098
12 Mario Kart DS DS Nintendo 76,571
13 Sacred 2: Fallen Angel X360 CDV SW 73,953
14 Halo 3 X360 Microsoft 73,829
15 Call of Duty: World at War X360 Act-Bliz 68,831
16 X Men Origins: Wolverine U.E. PS3 Act-Bliz 58,847
17 Gardening Mama DS Majesco 58,337
18 Lego Star Wars: T.C.S. Wii Lucas Arts 50,708
19 MLB 09: The Show PS3 SCEA 50,522
20 Nintendogs DS Nintendo 50,151

[Logg]

Hell ya man thats awesome for that game.

[sotc1988]

Anybody know how much business Bionic Commando made in May?

[Monsta Mack]

Yeah enough business to take future reservations for the bargain bin.

[dpatel]

Wow.. pretty bad numbers for all hardware (minus the DS).

[whoknows]

It's cool to see inFamous in the top 10, considering how it came out towards the end of the month.

Badass game though. It deserves it.

[BlueSwim]

---Thoughts---
PSP: Looks like people were waiting out to see what PSP Go! was all about before they took the plunge. Guess some people liked what they saw.

PS3: I assume people were waiting out a possible price drop at E3. Should be higher this month.

DS: Not surprised. I completely understand why so many people buy one each month.

UFC: HOLY GOD! I didn't expect it to do THAT well.:shock:

Punch Out: I wish it was a little higher...I never did pick that up, did I? Hmm.....

[jkanownik]

Anybody know how much business Bionic Commando made in May?

~30,000. Ouch! RIP Grin.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/994/994115p1.html

Where did the units on 11-20 come from? Don't they just usually publish the titles?

[trq]

Anybody know how much business Bionic Commando made in May?

Not well at all. According to IGN:

"Bionic Commando Rearmed, a high-profile Xbox Live Arcade remake of the original, sold more than 130,000 units across PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in its first week of release. By contrast, the full retail version of Bionic Commando (a sequel to the XBLA title) sold more than 100,000 units less than Rearmed in two weeks of release last month."

So less than 30k.

EDIT: Beaten to the punch by jkanownik. I'll forgive him, though, since he knew the difference between a Byronic hero and an anti-hero. ;)

[Shrapnellistic]

The lame Bionic Commando demo hurt sales. Multiplayer-only demo, night time map, and no easy way for a private room to get acquainted with the bionic arm.

[mooshie78]

Sony's forecast for this fiscal year is to move 13 mil PS3's worldwide compared to 10 mil last year. I wonder how reasonable this expectation is. Will a $50 price drop be enough to hit the target?


I doubt it. I just don't see the killer, main stream game they can pair with a price drop to get those kind of sales.

And the appeal as a blu ray player is all but gone with stand alone players being so cheap. Still a good deal for someone who wants it for games and blu rays--but I don't see the game library changing enough to get many of those people still on the fence.

Not with current standalone player prices, that I'm sure will get even cheaper this fall. There were several deals for good standalone players for around $150 on black friday last year, and I'm sure there will be even more of those kind of deals this holiday season.

[BlueSwim]

I doubt it. I just don't see the killer, main stream game they can pair with a price drop to get those kind of sales.

And the appeal as a blu ray player is all but gone with stand alone players being so cheap. Still a good deal for someone who wants it for games and blu rays--but I don't see the game library changing enough to get many of those people still on the fence.

Not with current standalone player prices, that I'm sure will get even cheaper this fall. There were several deals for good standalone players for around $150 on black friday last year, and I'm sure there will be even more of those kind of deals this holiday season.
Doesn't Wal Mart have a $128 player now or am I mistaken?

[jkanownik]

---Thoughts---
PSP: Looks like people were waiting out to see what PSP Go! was all about before they took the plunge on an iPhone or iPod touch. RIP PSP.

Corrected.

[EXStrike]

11 New Super Mario Brothers DS Nintendo 87,098
12 Mario Kart DS DS Nintendo 76,571
13 Sacred 2: Fallen Angel X360 CDV SW 73,953
14 Halo 3 X360 Microsoft 73,829
15 Call of Duty: World at War X360 Act-Bliz 68,831
16 X Men Origins: Wolverine U.E. PS3 Act-Bliz 58,847
17 Gardening Mama DS Majesco 58,337
18 Lego Star Wars: T.C.S. Wii Lucas Arts 50,708
19 MLB 09: The Show PS3 SCEA 50,522
20 Nintendogs DS Nintendo 50,151

It's not nice to give out VGChartz numbers.

[BlueSwim]

Corrected.
:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: Oh well, the PSP had a nice run.:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

[KingBroly]

I suspect July will be a pretty big month for Wii, hardware wise. June though...looks horrible for everyone.

[MSUHitman]

I had no idea UFC was so popular, is the actual sport really that big?

Yes Wombat it is. It's the No. 1 PPV purchase in 2008, beating boxing for the first time ever. I called it in last month's thread.

In terms of the videogame, if another major sport didn't have a game for 5 years and then suddenly a new game came out, and the demo that dropped 3 weeks before release showed it was really awesome, then sales should go through the roof.

My Gamestop had 100 preorders for it, and for the rest of May, it was hard to find in St. Louis as many stores were sold out.

[Thomas96]

Yes Wombat it is. It's the No. 1 PPV purchase in 2008, beating boxing for the first time ever. I called it in last month's thread.

In terms of the videogame, if another major sport didn't have a game for 5 years and then suddenly a new game came out, and the demo that dropped 3 weeks before release showed it was really awesome, then sales should go through the roof.

My Gamestop had 100 preorders for it, and for the rest of May, it was hard to find in St. Louis as many stores were sold out.

wow, i feel bad for boxing.

[Malik112099]

Doesn't Wal Mart have a $128 player now or am I mistaken?


$148

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/3979/14116828.jpg

[jkanownik]

It's not nice to give out VGChartz numbers.

WTF??? Why the hell would you post the VGChartz numbers in the NPD thread and not at least mention you were pulling them from another source? Time to add to the ignore list.

[crunchewy]

With regard to this NPD versus VGChartz thing... are VGChartz numbers less reliable then NPD? I'm asking this as a bit of a newb. Are VGChartz numbers looked at with disdain, or is this just an issue of "this is the NPD, not the VGChartz thread"?

[jkanownik]

With regard to this NPD versus VGChartz thing... are VGChartz numbers less reliable then NPD? I'm asking this as a bit of a newb. Are VGChartz numbers looked at with disdain, or is this just an issue of "this is the NPD, not the VGChartz thread"?

Quoting VGChartz numbers on NEOGAF gets you banned for good reason.

[MSUHitman]

DMK usually has the NPD 11-20 list either today or tomorrow so it shouldn't be a problem soon.

[Dr Mario Kart]

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/top-20-may-2009.png

[Monsta Mack]

Oh no I'm on somebodys ignore list. I think I'm going to pull a Hossa :(

[jer7583]

PSPGo will be Sony's last, successful attempt at killing that platform. $250 is absurd when the $180 unit is struggling and all you're doing is removing features..

Slow month all around. i think it's going to be like this at least through august. Wii Sports Resort will give the Wii a boost and should sell well through the end of the year, though.

[Monsta Mack]

I'm *REALLY* interested in PSP Go numbers at launch.

[Logg]

Still man thats awesome for Sacred that game is so awesome.

[Monsta Mack]

Yeah however I'm looking for cheaper eBay versions only because my wife wants one for her $360. Not worth $120 imho. Hoping to see a sale on them soon... or score on eBay.

[Malik112099]

Yeah however I'm looking for cheaper eBay versions only because my wife wants one for her $360. Not worth $120 imho. Hoping to see a sale on them soon... or score on eBay.


What are you talking aboot?

[Monsta Mack]

Getting two copies of sacred for Live and co-op play and what not.

[mykevermin]

tangentially related to sales - I'm curious how UFC will do over the next 3 months compared to the WWE Smackdown series. Not that they're similar games, but in terms of revenue streams, the two companies do (whether they admit it publicly or not) view themselves as competitors.

WWE ruled Pay Per View for more than a decade before UFC began trouncing them. I'm curious to see if this begins to happen in games as well. Smackdown 2009 didn't really hold up the sales numbers of previous iterations.

[diddy310]

I think UFC will stay in the top 10 for at least another month. Fans were starved for a new UFC game and it seems like people have been burnt out on Smackdown for at least 2 years now

[MSUHitman]

DMK,
Out of curiosity will you be able to get the top 20 per system you had been able to get in previous months or not? Thanks.