April NPDs - Wii has another dominate month
April was the month that everyone was looking forward to Grand Theft Auto IV or Mario Kart Wii. One was critically acclaimed while the other was described as a rehash of the previous game. Still both games sold over a million copies in April. GTA IV was released on April 29th and managed to sell 2.85 million copies in April on Xbox 360(1.85m) and PS3 (1m). Mario kart Wii sold 1.12 million copies in April. The Wii had the best month selling games with Super Smash Bros Brawl selling 325K placing 5th and Guitar Hero III selling 152K finishing 9th.
Nintendo for the second month in a row sold over 700,000 Wiis in the US. This month puts Nintendo's total to 9.5 million Wiis sold in the US. I'm curious to see how many Wiis are sold next month when Wii Fit will be included in the May numbers. Nintendo has clearly won the casual market that Sony claimed last generation with the PS2.
Microsoft has to be a bit disappointed with hardware sales down 84K to 188,000 units in April. It was believed that GTA IV would have helped move units for the 360 but those numbers are not reflected in the April NPDs. It could be that everyone was waiting for the GTA IV price cut from Microsoft. It seems all other regions got a price cut except the US market. At least they outsold the PS3 when to comes to GTA IV. Still Microsoft would have liked to have sold a higher percentage on the their console. Also, Microsoft has not sold over 10 million units in the US.
Sony can be happy they have two titles in the top ten this month: GTA IV and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue which sold 225K finishing 5th on the list. Since the NPDs don't count downloadable content, people that bought GT5
from the Sony store, like me, aren't included in this number. Still Sony has to be pleased they got their first one million copy seller in the first month with GTA IV. Did they potentially lose 1.85 million copies to Microsoft by not securing the exclusive rights? Probably did.
Like the 360, the PS3 saw hardware sales drop 80K to 187,000 units sold. We will probably see hardware increase next week with people buying GTA IV and a PS3. I don't think the $50 more a PS3 cost vs the 360 will sway many consumers considering you get a BluRay player in the PS3. So far the PS3 has sold a little over 4.2 million consoles in the US. Sony has to be very pleased they are staying neck and neck with the 360 in the 360's best market considering they are romping the 360 in other markets.
This month's NPDs should be marked as the month Microsoft should have dropped the price of the Xbox 360. By not dropping the price it made it almost a no brain'er for the casual GTA fan to pick up a PS3. It almost feels like Microsoft is beginning to give up the console race. They are content to finish well behind the Wii and in a statistical tie with the PS3. The only saving grace the 360 has so far is they have more games than the PS3 and Wii. The 360 will have another nice holiday lineup so don't expect a price cut till E3 again. By then the next CPU/motherboard iteration will be available and Microsoft can keep making a profit on it's hardware.
Source :
joystiq - april-npd-gta-iv-mario-kart-wii-race-to-the-top
Nintendo for the second month in a row sold over 700,000 Wiis in the US. This month puts Nintendo's total to 9.5 million Wiis sold in the US. I'm curious to see how many Wiis are sold next month when Wii Fit will be included in the May numbers. Nintendo has clearly won the casual market that Sony claimed last generation with the PS2.
Microsoft has to be a bit disappointed with hardware sales down 84K to 188,000 units in April. It was believed that GTA IV would have helped move units for the 360 but those numbers are not reflected in the April NPDs. It could be that everyone was waiting for the GTA IV price cut from Microsoft. It seems all other regions got a price cut except the US market. At least they outsold the PS3 when to comes to GTA IV. Still Microsoft would have liked to have sold a higher percentage on the their console. Also, Microsoft has not sold over 10 million units in the US.
Sony can be happy they have two titles in the top ten this month: GTA IV and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue which sold 225K finishing 5th on the list. Since the NPDs don't count downloadable content, people that bought GT5
from the Sony store, like me, aren't included in this number. Still Sony has to be pleased they got their first one million copy seller in the first month with GTA IV. Did they potentially lose 1.85 million copies to Microsoft by not securing the exclusive rights? Probably did. Like the 360, the PS3 saw hardware sales drop 80K to 187,000 units sold. We will probably see hardware increase next week with people buying GTA IV and a PS3. I don't think the $50 more a PS3 cost vs the 360 will sway many consumers considering you get a BluRay player in the PS3. So far the PS3 has sold a little over 4.2 million consoles in the US. Sony has to be very pleased they are staying neck and neck with the 360 in the 360's best market considering they are romping the 360 in other markets.
This month's NPDs should be marked as the month Microsoft should have dropped the price of the Xbox 360. By not dropping the price it made it almost a no brain'er for the casual GTA fan to pick up a PS3. It almost feels like Microsoft is beginning to give up the console race. They are content to finish well behind the Wii and in a statistical tie with the PS3. The only saving grace the 360 has so far is they have more games than the PS3 and Wii. The 360 will have another nice holiday lineup so don't expect a price cut till E3 again. By then the next CPU/motherboard iteration will be available and Microsoft can keep making a profit on it's hardware.
Source :
joystiq - april-npd-gta-iv-mario-kart-wii-race-to-the-top
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