March NPD: PS3 barely loses lead over Xbox 360, Nintendo continues to dominiate
Posted by: in Wii NewsIt’s that time of the month again, when I plow through the NPD numbers and try to make sense of each of the big three’s press releases.
Sony’s PlayStation 3 continues to have a good run, though they just barely lost the lead they had over the Xbox 360 for the past two months. The March NPD shows sales of 257,000 PS3s vs 262,000 Xbox 360s. Sony attributes this continued success to strong software sales. In March, over 1.9 million units of software were sold, putting them up almost 140% over last year’s numbers. I’d guess this is only the start for them.
Likewise, the PSP continues to kick ass, outselling both the Xbox 360 and PS3 with about 297,000 units sold in March. Sony says that Crisis Core and God of War were the two best-selling portable games in March.
Microsoft’s only system reclaimed that number 2 spot from Sony, and they attribute that to improved stock supply. They say that they plan to have fully stocked stores before the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. In March, both Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Army of Two rocked software sales chart, showing that Xbox 360 is the king of multiplayer action. I think gamers will keep that in mind when they pick up GTA IV.
Oh, Nintendo. Of all of the press releases, theirs is the shortest. It basically says "we won." You won’t be surprised to hear that the Wii and DS were the number 1 and 2 selling systems in March, with numbers of about 720k and 700k respectively. You also won’t be surprised to hear that Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the best selling game of March. Moving on — nothing new to see here.
Prediction time:
As for the near future, I don’t expect Nintendo to lose much of their lead. They still have Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit up their sleeves. Of course, Sony has Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and GTA IV coming up, and MGS 4 is also looming. And speaking of GTA IV, Microsoft is probably going to see near-record numbers when that is released. I think that both April and March are pretty open, but I don’t see Nintendo losing their lead any time soon either. Who are you giving it to in April?
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