Industry trackers put software sales near $514 million while hardware tally more than doubles; Guitar Hero III takes four of the top 10 software sales spots.
The holidays are here again, as the game industry opened the fourth quarter in a big way, according to the industry-tracking NPD Group. The firm today released its US retail sales figures for October, and NPD analyst Anita Frazier put the industry's yearly growth to date in perspective.
"This year sales have already achieved the annual sales number for 2005," Frazier said, "and the two biggest months are yet to come. I think we'll see not only record-breaking revenues but record-breaking year-over-year growth when the final numbers are tallied."
Game sales for October were up 39 percent to $513.9 million, with hardware sales up 127 percent to $469.7 million. Factor in accessory sales, which Frazier said increased sharply alongside the hardware sales, and the industry as a whole for the month took in $1.1 billion, up 73 percent from October 2006.
As promised, the group's monthly recap also included hardware sales figures, and the Xbox 360's Halo 3-sparked reign atop the charts was short-lived. For October, the Wii retook the sales crown with sales of 519,000 systems, followed by 458,000 units sold for the Nintendo DS. The Xbox 360 posted sales of 366,000 systems, while the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 followed with 286,000 and 184,000 sold, respectively. The PlayStation 3 trailed with 121,000 sold, perhaps hurt by Sony's advance notice that it would make a less expensive version of the hardware available in November.
As expected, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was all over the sales charts. The Xbox 360 bundle of the game and guitar sold more than 383,000 copies, followed by the Wii bundle (286,000), the PS2 bundle (271,000), and the PS2 stand-alone version of the game (nearly 232,000).
"Guitar Hero has certainly established itself among the elite video games properties," Frazier said. "Very few games sell in excess of 1 million units in their first month in market, but Guitar Hero III did easily with combined sales of 1.4 million units in only 6 days. Since it has broad appeal, it's also the type of game that should continue to do very well throughout the holidays."
While dwarfed by the cumulative sales of Activision's rhythm franchise, Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 sold more than any other single-platform release of a game during the month, notching almost 434,000 new recruits. Year to date, Halo 3 is still the best-selling game with 3.7 million sold in the US. Madden NFL 08 is close behind with 3.2 million sold across all systems, followed by Guitar Hero II (2.8 million), Wii Play with Wii Remote (2.5 million), Pokémon Diamond (2.1 million), Pokémon Pearl (1.5 million), Spider-Man 3 (1.4 million), and Guitar Hero III (1.4 million).
Top 10 best-selling games of October 2007, according to NPD Group
Halo 3 (regular, collector's, and legendary versions)--Xbox 360--434,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar)--Xbox 360--383,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar)--Wii--286,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar)--PS2--271,000
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass--DS--263,000
Wii Play with Wii Remote--Wii--240,000
The Orange Box--Xbox 360--238,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock--PS3--232,000
FIFA Soccer 08--PS2--130,000
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day--DS--117,000
October 2007 hardware sales, according to NPD Group
Wii--519,000
Nintendo DS--458,000
Xbox 360--366,000
PSP--286,000
PS2--184,000
PS3--121,000
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
only problem i have with playstation3 is that it is retardedly expensive. i really like my ps2 and alot of the games are awesome, but if sony doesnt drop the price far the ps3 its never going to sell to the average gaming community. which is a shame cause they have the rights to some really amazing games.
"My congratulations to ALL the various companies for such great sales! With all the great releases we've had this year, this year has really been a heckuva year to be a gamer, period." sandman80_basic, u can't be more right....what's with all the complaining and useless complains? who cares if ps3 is better or xbox or wii? first of all, u either got one and cant afford the others(in this case u don't have to fight because u made your choice and u cant do anything so have fun with ur console) or have all of them (in that case, play all of them and don't fight)....second, none of them is the best they all have pros and cons it's just about what taste chooses which one...which is again nothing to fight about. you can't blame anyone for liking red more than blue, so u cant blame anyone for liking one console more than the other. Oh, and by the way, u might be some person who has not bought any console yet and planning to, but you are so confused about this whole war thing and want to buy the best console. there's no such thing as the best console. Try'em all, and see which one YOU like the most one other thing, Being totally maniac and fanboy-ish about a stupid console is as stupid as being totally maniac and fanboy-ish about a Color. They're all just colors. to me, Red might be the best. to you, Blue. and it doesn't even make a difference if 90% says Red is better and only 10% says Blue. that still doesnt prove that Red is better. Fact is, no color is really the best. they're all the same. It's just a matter of opinion.
@flyingdutchdog the PS3 has no hardware failure are you just mad that you got the RRoD. I have all three consoles no problems with an of them, PS3 for a year Wii for a year but I only got the 360 when Halo came out. Stop being fanboy's. Be a gamer no one console is better than the other... yet.
almightydemon ya but over the years when they get old, they preak down or get busted. most of my friends all had to buy another 2 or 3 ps2s and mine is just about to break down so im gonna need to get a new one pretty soon. thats prolly where most of those sales are coming from.
The Wii is outselling the PS3 4:1, while the XBox 360 is outselling it 3:1 in the states. The PS3 is doing much better in Europe however, but with sales figures like these here in the states, I don't see the PS3 catching the Wii or 360 anytime soon. It definitely won't catch them in 2008, but in 2009 things may change. There will be a lot more quality software out there at that time and the PS3 will finally have it's day to shine.
Increased consumption is not a new trend for the industry. However, the PS2 outselling the PS3 is rather peculiar. http://vgfreedom.blogspot.com
to mrkame did you see the wii??? um combine box and ps3 is 487,000 wii sold 519,000............... nuff said
@darkride: I am on my 10th PS3 now ... and I have 83 friends who are all on their 20th PS3. One more meltdown and I'll be hiking to the mountains for "serenity now."
Xbox 360--366,000 PS3--121,000 And thats Just in October, Now they have both drop prices for the holiday, so who will Reign Supreme?.....................
This a very good sign for the Wii. Had GH3 tanked, like Madden did it would have been a clear indicator of exactly what the Wii was being used for. But this shows that the audience isn't just going after Wii Sports or first party Nintendo games. They're willing to pick up games like GH with a good broad appeal.
GH is too hard for me too, I mean, I guess I came late to the party... I'm more old-skool, I prefer guns or kinky spells in my games. I'm sure it's great fun for those who like it though.
GH is kicking arse but i ain't getting it. it's too hard. (for me, and i do suck at it, {anticipating fanboy bashing)
i predict that everyone who wanted halo 3 now has it, so in the months to come, all halo 3 sales will be tagging along with 360 sales. therefore, theorhetically less than.
PLAYSTATION EYE i'm telling you that is going to be the best thing to come out since the invention of the chair. i'm telling you PLAYSTATION EYE baby.
@Temmehkan "is that why companies like ubisoft, who give the 360 special games like splinter cell, make more money on the ps3 than the 360?" Companies like? You mean just Ubisoft, and only for one quarter(Where they hardly had any new games on XBOX 360 at all in that quarter). You also mean made more money in one particular quarter right, not overall, don't you? You must work for Sony with the amount of spin you try to put on your comments to give them more weight. "Sales have increased to 100K a week since the price drops." *NPD Report Comes In* "Oh wait that included PS2 and PS3."
My congratulations to ALL the various companies for such great sales! With all the great releases we've had this year, this year has really been a heckuva year to be a gamer, period.
guitar hero sold more on the ps2 once you include the with the guitar with the without a guitar....dumba*ses.
The software sales on XBOX 360 are speaking volumes to consumers, and third parties alike. Now Atlus is on board XBOX 360, and I would suspect that many more Japanese publishers of this type will be joining them as well, as this continues.
To the people who think the Wii should go away because it doesn't have the latest in graphics, or you think that it can't be for a hardcore audience, and I use the word THINK strongly, because there are plenty of titles that would dictate otherwise Metroid Prime 3 being the least of which to prove it isn't a mini-game driven system, you really sound petty. I mean the wish that Wii would go away really has nothing to do with the game it distributes or the graphics it has, it has more to do with the fact it is hard to watch a 400-600 dollar video game system be outdone by what the leaders of Microsoft and Sony deemed for kiddies. If you don't like the Wii, don't buy it. That's capitalism, that is pretty much the corner stone of western society. In the meantime, don't have sour grapes over someone else's success.
wow ... ~ ~ PS3 outsold 3-1 by the 360 and 4-1 by the Wii !!! and the Wii doesn't even need the boost of Mario !! ~ personally i still don't understand why people are buying the Wii. Now with Mario and Metroid i kinda do .. but before ... not a clue !!
After reading little over one-eighth of the comments here, they have all but reinforced my belief that the NPD really needs to consider ending these sales charts.
OMG!!! Nintendo is a beast...... this year is the Greatest year of ALL TIME for the Gaming Industry.... with the Greatest Releases of Game titles in history and the numbers of sales are only growing, breaking record sales..... OMG!!!!
my personal opinion, but I hope the wii goes the way of the dodo bird. You can't make games that look as good as assasins creed or cod4 on the wii. you can only make cartoony games that will look only as good as what the game cube graphics can achieve. right? so, If I buy a wii, its only because the controller makes it fun. After the controller part wears out, I want kick ass graphics. no excuses. the wii crowd will keep making excuses about the graphics and low end technology, and how HD doesnt matter. In the end, it does. I want to be WOWED visually. Like when I got my ps2 and compared the graphics to the ps1. Halo, cod4, assassins creed, mass effect, bioshock....these games are intense and graphically kick ass. not just games where a little guy runs in circles while the sounds go "boing..boing" and "beep..beep".
Am I the only one that noticed that the number one selling version of a game was Guitar Hero 3 for the PS2. The way they put it on the charts makes it kinda hard to tell, but when you add the non-guitar version to the one with the guitar, you get 503,000 units. Not sure if I was the only one to notice that or not, just thought I'd point it out. Also, I think that anyone that is bashing Sony should take note that they control a much larger piece of the gamer pie than some of you think. Just based on this month alone, Sony controlled 30% of the hardware sales in the gaming industry. In any industry, if you own that large of a percentage, you are clearly not failing to do well. In short, I don't think Sony will be going anywhere anytime soon.
The PS2 is still outselling the PS3 by a good margin. This thing called the PS2 is a wesome I love it. Let's see how good the PS3 sells in november after the 40Gb model is released. For reference it jumped from 17k to 55k a week in Japan because of the 40 Gb model.
All this 'console war' rubbish gets on my nerves. They all have there pros and cons so it's just an argument that no one can win. Also, sony are gonna have to do something soon about the PS3, I know it's selling well in Japan but that just isn't enough.
I guess that's true, but the PS2 has been out for quite a while now, and has had the time to accumulate a wide variety of games. I see that as the reason why it's outselling the PS3. Sony's next gen console lacks the games to make it appealing to a wider range of people. Plus, from what I've seen around the forums generally Xbox 360/PS3 multiplat titles seem to work/function and look slightly better on Microsoft's console. But I don't know, I don't pay much attention to the console war. I just purchase the console I want and be done with it...
As for PS 2 outselling PS 3 , PS 2 has vast library of superb games even more than nitendo , Xbox 360 n PS 3 and you can still never completes its whole collecction (play its games for a long long time) and the console is much much cheaper to afford . Plus i hear SONY removing the backward compatibility of PS 2 games also in new models of ps 3 . so ....
Been reading all over the web that the ps3 has outsold x360, its really funny to see that NPD are now giving stats that suggest that ps3 is the lowest selling console, its even behind ps2. Am not a big fan of Sony but am ashamed of them for this, its like they aint making any effort at all. They've been announcing the 40gb version with games such as burnout paradise and mgs4, well mgs4 is the only game have that's exclusive, cuz i read somewhere that there's going to be an mgs online for the 360 n pc. I guess I'll get a ps3 sometime next year or next 2years cuz so far I am not impressed at all.
"It is funny to see how people got an intensive dislike for PS3, where does this hatred come from?" i'm not a ps3 "hater" but i'm guessing it comes from sony acting like arrogant idiots and screwing people over. like how in europe we were charged 33% more than anyone else for almost a year. when companies act like that it backfires sooner or later
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