Network now...NEWS
Games Again Defy Economy
The videogame industry in February showed again its ability to be recession proof.
As the economy continues to struggle, retail sales of games, hardware and accessories rose 10 percent to $1.47 billion, driven by sales of Nintendo products and Capcom's Street Fighter IV.
Hardware sales were $532.7 million, an 11 percent increase year-on-year. The Nintendo Wii once again led hardware sales with 753K units sold, up from January's 679K. The DS followed with 588K sold.
Xbox 360 enjoyed a year-over-year boost with 391K sold, up 53 percent from a year ago. PS3 sold 276K, down from 281K a year prior, while PSP sold 199K.
"The Xbox 360 realized its biggest non-holiday sales month, save for September 2007, when the Halo 3 release brought in a large group of new owners," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said. "Compared to last month, the PS3 realized the greatest month-over-month unit sales increase of all platforms."
Software was up 9 percent to $733.5 million. Wii Fit topped the charts for another month, although Street Fighter IV sold the most units across the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions with 849K total during the month.
The highly-anticipated PS3 shooter Killzone 2 sold just 323K units, but it released at the very end of the month. March results will show any impact that the game may have had from a software and hardware sales perspective.
"Consumers picked up nearly 20 million units of video game software in February, a 14 percent increase over February 2008," said Frazier. "The average retail price for games is 4 percent lower than last year, which is why the dollar sales increase is not quite keeping in pace with the increase in unit sales."
Revenue from accessories was $207.1 million, up 13 percent.
The top 10 SKUs for February are below. (*Includes, special editions and bundles, but not those bundled with hardware.)
Title | Publisher | Platform | Rank | Units |
Wii Fit w/ Balance Board | NINTENDO OF AMERICA | WII | 1 | 644K |
Street Fighter IV* | CAPCOM USA | 360 | 2 | 446K |
Street Fighter IV* | CAPCOM USA | PS3 | 3 | 403K |
Wii Play w/ Remote | NINTENDO OF AMERICA | WII | 4 | 386K |
Killzone 2 | SONY | PS3 | 5 | 323K |
Wii Mario Kart with wheel | NINTENDO OF AMERICA | WII | 6 | 263K |
Call of Duty: World at War* | ACTIVISION BLIZZARD | 360 | 7 | 193K |
Mario Kart DS | NINTENDO OF AMERICA | NDS | 8 | 145K |
New Super Mario Bros | NINTENDO OF AMERICA | NDS | 9 | 144K |
Guitar HeroWorld Tour* | ACTIVISION BLIZZARD | WII | 10 | 136K |
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Here's the story so far with the major releases for Wii, PS3 & Xbox 360 from February onwards (These are total units sold worldwide).
Killzone 2 (PS3) = 1.16 million
Resident Evil 5 (PS3) = .94 m
Halo Wars (Xbox 360) = .83 m
Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360) = .75 m
Street Fighter IV (PS3) = .74 m
Street Fighter IV (Xbox 360) = .67 m
Yakuza 3 (PS3) = .44 m
Star Ocean: The Last Hope (XBox 360) = .31 m
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (Xbox 360) = .21 m
Major League Baseball 2k9 = .17 m
HOTD: Overkill (Wii) = .16 m
Tom Clancy's HAWX (Xbox 360) = .15 m
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (PS3) = .14 m
Tom Clancy's HAWX (PS3) = .13 m
MLB 09: The Show = .12 m
Warriors Orochi Z (PS3) = .11m
Madworld (Wii) = .06 m
(Source: VGChartz.com)
I'll take those numbers with a grain of salt thank you.
If you're skeptical why not check other sources. I'm just posting it because it does not cover sales up to the present.
Agreed VGCharts aren't the most reliable source.
I can't do anything about you because all you take is EDGE's word.
Yes they are.
Actually, if you consider the difference between the 360 and PS3 installed base, the 360 needed to have sold far more SFIVs to 'win' that fight. Proportionally speaking a lot more of the PS3 base bought a copy of SFIV than the 360 base. The numbers are a bit deceiving but the SFIV fight goes firmly to the PS3.
"PS3 shooter Killzone 2 sold just 323K units, but it released at the very end of the month. March results will show any impact that the game may have had from a software and hardware sales perspective."
I'm gonna have to disagree with that statement. I think they're downplaying the importance of pre-orders and people who run out and buy the title on launch day, which I imagine a large number of people would do. Sadly, I think we're gonna see 2 different "lumps" of sales data, being split between the 2 months, which won't give as clear a picture of Killzone 2s impact, especially when it comes to it's affecting hardware sales.
Of course in context, an 8% drop in sales against competitors with consoles at half the price of yours and remembering that Feburary 2008 had the Blu-Ray victory bounce and remembering that the 360 has had a recent price cut the PS3 hasn't done too badly. A price cut is obviously on the cards once Sony moves into its new fiscal year, it's long long overdue and it'll be interesting to see what effect it has on those numbers.
It's also great to see the 360 doing well despite being quite long in the tooth now and the Wii doing so well despite not really having anything of note released for it.
It's great to see all the consoles doing so well and I think we can say that the market is big enough for three players.
"Feburary 2008 had the Blu-Ray victory bounce and remembering that the 360 has had a recent price cut the PS3 hasn't done too badly."
Very true. I think if it weren't for the 360's recent surge people would be more up on Sony's performance. It was a great month for all 3 consoles really. I think the PS3 has potential to edge out the 360 month to month if they have a significant drop (unless it's just contered by another drop by MS). Although, MS doesn't have too much room to drop any more unless they decide to can the nuttered arcade SKU and drop the 60 gig to $199 or $149 but I don't see that low a price until later in the console's life cycle. Like year 4-5. MS would have to start giving them away if they rely on price drops to stay competitive over the next 2-3 years lol.
So even with killzone 2 sony see a decline in ps3 sales compared to last year, ouch.
I've bought a shed load of games recently. I'd rather have a lot less to drink while I'm out, or not go out at all and justify spending £35 a week on games. Some might same I'm binge gaming
At times like these, you just want to scream immaturely "F*ck You Economy!"
Great News to continue my boring Liquid Simulations to, thanks Edge!
I am surprised. The PS3 has 2 titles in the top 5. Beating out the 360 for number of titles there. While the 360 held a higher spot in the software chart, it was not by much. SFIV is a great franchise and I am surprised there were not larger numbers for it, especially on the PS3. We will probably see more for March.
I think this is the first time Wii Play hasn't been number 1 or 2. This may be the last we see it so high.
AS for console sales, No surprise for the Wii, the 360 is staying steady and the PS3 once again has a drop YoY. Its time for that price drop Sony.
"PS3 once again has a drop YoY. Its time for that price drop Sony."
I think Sony is really trying to stretch its current price out as long as they can. Their sales were up over January, but still down YoY. Not too good.
As far as the top 5 thing, I don't find it that impressive personally as the PS3 was able to be out a 4-5 month old multiplatform title (of which the PS3 version hasn't placed in the top ten in a few months) with one of their largest exclusive titles (and other than SFIV there really wasn't any other new releases for the 360 that were worth a damn). Slow software month (as far as compelling new releases are concerned other than the 2 obvious).
It'll be interesting to see if Halo Wars charts higher than KZ2 in March (maybe KZ2 isn't a Halo killer, even when it's Halo's little brother...lol...had to). I was wrong when I guessed the 360 version of SFIV would crush the PS3 version, so maybe I'll be wrong about Halo Wars. I guess we'll see in a month!
Oh, how could I forget. Good on the Wii, that thing really isn't showing any signs of slowing down, at least not in the US. It's crazy it still sells with hardly any new software. When did Madworld and that other game come out, should those have charted this month?
There is something special about Street Fighter IV: you need a good D-pad to play it. That's why 360 version didn't sell that much more than the PS3 version, when compared to other third-party software in general... The same happens all the time in Europe with Pro Evolution Soccer... Microsoft needs to release a SNES shaped "classic controller" if they want to fix that problem of theirs ;)
Agreed Pascal. I have the 360 version and aside from actually not really liking the game (way old-school SF fan, not too happy about the new (i.e broken) throw system or unbalance supers/ultras/focus combos) the 360 dpad is horrid. I have a mad-catz controller with a more traditional + shaped d pad, but it still pales in comparison to SNES or PS Dpads. I'm really concerned with what I'm going to do when Tekken 6 comes out. I may invest in an arcade stick finally.
Go Arcade Stick! The new ones from Mad Catz rock. I never thought I'd say that of a Mad Catz product. But the SFIV sticks have actually been designed by a reputed Street Fighter champion. It's perfect for fighting games.
The headlines this month are 360 sales and SFIV sales.
- The 360 almost sold 400k units and is up 100k YoY (last year's shortages notwithstanding). That's an amazing number for a February and MS should be very pleased.
- It's crazy how close both SFIV skus are. Superior PS3 D-Pad, FTW!?
In other news, NPD is clearly off with those Wii numbers. 753k Wiis sold is just *way* too much, with the bubble bursting and all.
I didn't expect 360 to move so many units in February. The KZ2 number has to be a bit discouraging for Sony. I know it was only out a few days, but it should have moved twice that number on launch day for such a high profile/hyped title (particularly one with such a long development cycle and massive budget).
WOW. SFIV is extremely close between the 360 and PS3! Great numbers!
Killzone 2 looks great as well. 2 days of sales tracking, I am very interested to see where it charts next month, and with the recent word on 1 million worldwide sales of Halo Wars, I would love to see where that charts as well.
Groggy and Termy,
I'm shocked the the PS3 version of SFIV was so close to the 360 version. I guessed it'd be either 2:1 or 400k to 250k at best for 360 and PS3 respectively. Good job on that. (And good news for 3rd parties who may be worrying about PS3 versions selling poorly).
And for KZ2 as Tirminyl pointed out only charted for a couple days. So if we see 500k or so in next NPDs numbers for KZ2 that's a solid performance. Nothing too spectacular, but for PS3 very solid indeed.
Seems both consoles are having increases month over month, it'll be interesting to see what happens when Sony levels the playing field somewhat with a drop...