System and game sales for September 2009 in the USA
September’s American video game sales data from the NPD is in, and like almost any month the past year, it shows an unchanged result: A Nintendo system on top, this time the DS and DSi handhelds only barely outsold the brand new PS3 Slim.
NPD analyst, Anita Frazier, had this to say: “All three console manufacturers enjoyed the impact of lower prices on unit sales as the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 realized an increase over August of 87%, 33%, and 31% respectively, on an average sales per week basis (keeping in mind September was a 5-week month compared to 4-weeks in August).
Compared to last September, the PS3 was the big winner, more than doubling last year’s sales. This portrays a very strong consumer reaction to the price decrease as August and September both realized a lift of more than 70% over the prior month. This is the first month that the PS3 has captured the top spot in console hardware sales.
The best-selling platform overall remained the Nintendo DS which has topped hardware sales for 6 consecutive months.”
Video game hardware overview:
1. Nintendo DS — 524,200
2. PlayStation 3 — 491,800
3. Nintendo Wii — 462,800
4. Xbox 360 — 352,600
5. PlayStation Portable — 190,400
6. PlayStation 2 — 146,000
The NPD mentions that “Halo 3 certainly impacted the industry two years ago (Sep’07) when it was launched [with sales over 3 million copies], and this year, Halo 3: ODST realized impressive sales [of 1.52 million copies] making it the 6th best-selling SKU launch of all time. Five of the top 10 software items for the month were on the Xbox 360 platform.
We know all eyes are going to be on the Rock Band and Guitar Hero sales since the music/dance genre has been so closely followed by many this year. Both titles captured a spot in the top 10 for the month and at the item level, across all platforms, The Beatles: Rock Band came in third behind Halo 3: ODST and Madden NFL 10 while Guitar Hero 5 came in fourth. The Beatles: Rock Band achieved this level of success with an average retail price premium of 130% to the average retail price for software overall. The sales of Rock Band and Guitar Hero led the music/dance genre to a 72% dollar sales increase over September 2008.
Madden NFL 10 made up some ground this month. Although when launched in August the game sold 19% fewer units than its predecessor a year prior, with a second month of sales in, that deficit has been reduced to 13%, which bodes very well for the title through the holiday season.”
Video game software overview top 20:
1. Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360) — 1.52 Million
2. Wii Sports Resort with Wii Motion Plus (Wii) — 442,900
3. Madden NFL 10 (Xbox 360) — 289,600
4. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS) — 258,100
5. The Beatles: Rock Band* (Xbox 360) — 254,000
6. Madden NFL 10 (PS3) — 246,500
7. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (Xbox 360) — 236,000
8. Batman: Arkham Asylum* (PS3) — 212,500
9. Guitar Hero 5* (Xbox 360) — 210,800
10. The Beatles: Rock Band* (Wii) — 208,600
11. Batman: Arkham Asylum* (Xbox 360)
12. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (DS)
13. Scribblenauts (DS) — 194,000
14. NHL 10 (Xbox 360)
15. Need for Speed: Shift (Xbox 360)
16. Need for Speed: Shift (PS3)
17. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (PS3)
18. Professor Layton And The Diabolical Box (DS)
19. Wii Fit with Balance Board (Wii) — 134,000
20. The Beatles: Rock Band* (PS3) — 132,400
(*includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)
Ms. Frazier ended with “On a unit sales basis, the industry was flat. The increase in revenues is driven by a rise in average retail prices in all categories with the exception of console hardware in which the average retail price decreased 8% from last September.”
Data courtesy of Neogaf
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