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NPD: February sees 34 percent US sales spike

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Mar 13, 2008 6:19 pm PT

American game market bucks recession, beats analyst expectations with $1.33 billion haul; PS3 bests 360 for second month running; COD4, DMC4 top games.

With stocks falling, housing values plummeting, and the Federal Reserve dishing out emergency loans, most economists agree most parts of the US economy are on the verge of a recession. Conversely, the game industry is on the rebound, according to the latest report from the NPD group. After a mixed January, US retail sales of game software, hardware, and accessories shot up 34 percent in February, topping $1.33 billion and beating analyst expectations.

See that case? It's full of money.

"Even following a red-hot 2007, the video games industry shows no sign of letting up as year-to-date sales through February are up 12 percent over last year," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "Taking the extra week of sales included in the 2007 figures, on a comparable week's basis, 2008 is up approximately 26 percent over last year (through February)."

Of the various sectors, software generated the most revenue, rising 47 percent to nearly $669 million. The month's best-selling title was once again the Xbox 360 edition of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which moved 296,200 units during the month. Hot on its heels was the hellfire-kissed Devil May Cry 4, which sold 295,200 on the 360 (2nd) and 233,500 units on the PlayStation 3 (4th). DMC4's massive combined 528,7000-unit haul made it the best-selling domestic multiplatform game of the month, all but ensuring a Devil May Cry 5 somewhere down the line.

Coming in third was the ubiquitous Wii Play, which sold just shy of 290,000 units by virtue of being bundled with the Wii Remote. Another Wii game, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, came in fifth with 222,900 units sold. Rounding out the top 10 were Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS, 205,600 units), Lost Odyssey (360, 203,600 units), Turok (360, 197,700 units), the PS2 version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (183,00 units), and Rock Band (360, 161,800 units).

On the hardware front, Nintendo was once again the undisputed victor, with the DS selling 587,600 units and the Wii 432,000. However, the Xbox 360, the third-place finisher for most of 2007, finished at the bottom of the pack once again, coming in fifth with 254,600 units. It was bested by both the PlayStation 2's 351,800 units and 280,000 units of the Blu-ray-disc-playing PlayStation 3, which was boosted by the lighting-quick implosion of the rival HD DVD format last month. Last and, numerically speaking, least was the PlayStation Portable with 243,100 units.

"While hardware inventory issues at retail may still be lingering post-holiday, the fact that all now-gen systems generated significant year-over-year hardware sales increases indicates the situation is coming into balance faster than it did last year," said Frazier. "I was most surprised by the PS2 hardware sales numbers this month. While it certainly has earned its spot among the now-gen slate of console systems because of it staying power in the marketplace, the fact that it realized such significant growth this month is really a testament to its broad adoption and the response of consumers to promotional activity at retail."

Even before NPD released its report to the press, the big three console makers were filling inboxes worldwide with their own spin on the matter. Saying it was "extending its lead" in overall sales, Microsoft claimed that "$332 million was spent on the Xbox 360 platform this month, capturing 39 percent of this generation's ecosystem." The software giant also claimed that the US installed base for the 360 is 9.6 million versus the Wii's 8.1 million and the PS3's 3.8 million.

Unsurprisingly, Sony made much of the PS3's trumping of the 360 for the second month in a row, and played up that sales of the console have increased 120 percent year over year. It also reminded the world of several exclusives for the platform, Gran Turismo 5 prologue (April 15) and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (June 12). Sony also announced there are 3.3 million registered PlayStation Network visitors in North America who have downloaded 56 million pieces of content.

Finally, Nintendo took the obvious approach, noting that 47.6 percent of all hardware sold in the US in February bore its logo. Software sales weren't too shabby, either. "Nintendo DS games topped all software sales, with more than 3.6 million units sold," the company crowed in a statement. "Consumers purchased nearly 2.9 million software units for Wii. Four of every 10 games sold were for Nintendo systems."

US VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY - FEBRUARY 2008

Software: $668.7m (+47%)
Hardware: $480.0 million (+19%)
Accessories: $185.3m (+36%)
Total Games: $1.33 billion (+34%)

TOP-SELLING HARDWARE - FEBRUARY 2008

Nintendo DS 587,600
Wii 432,000
PlayStation 2 351,800
PlayStation 3 280,800
Xbox 360 254,600
PlayStation Portable 243,100

TOP-SELLING SOFTWARE - FEBRUARY 2008

Title / Publisher / Release Date / Units
1) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare* (360) / Activision / 7-Nov 296.2K
2) Devil May Cry 4* (360) / Capcom 8-Feb / 295.2k
3) Wii Play w/ Remote* (Wii) / Nintendo / 7-Feb / 289.7K
4) Devil May Cry 4* (PS3) / Capcom / 8-Feb / 233.5K
5) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock* (Wii) / Activision / 7-Oct / 222.9K
6) Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS) / Sega / 8-Jan / 205.6K
7) Lost Odyssey (360) / Microsoft / 8-Feb / 203.6K
8) Turok (360) / Touchstone / 8-Jan / 197.7K
9) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock* (PS2) / Activision / 7-Oct / 183.8K
10) Rock Band* (360) / MTV Games, Electronic Arts / 7-Nov / 161.8K

*Includes Collector's, Limited, Legendary, Bundles (Guitars) Editions

695 Comments

  • snowyjoe

    Posted May 29, 2008 4:18 pm PT

    Go sony! it's not about how many Play Stations 3s they sell, its about how much money they make

  • taddia

    Posted Apr 9, 2008 4:33 am PT

    wii is topping and surpassing xbox 360 in less then 2 years? I am a big wii fan, and hope it keeps like dat (even if i still think this trend will end soon sadly) , but still : xbox 360 is a great console too.
    It should deserve more attention by people overall the world.

  • yao1994

    Posted Apr 6, 2008 11:27 pm PT

    hahhahahaha ps3

  • Devvy01

    Posted Mar 25, 2008 6:06 am PT

    ps2 STILL outselling the ps3...?

  • MalachiLiu

    Posted Mar 24, 2008 2:23 pm PT

    DS is a beast

  • BlueyesCyclone

    Posted Mar 23, 2008 7:36 am PT

    I've been reading alot of the comments left on here. And i just want to know the that the PSN is bad or it sucks have you even tryed the PSN. I think it comes down to real opinions from people that have a PS3 and a 360 and have tryed both when comes to which ones is better. Like someone said in a comment which is a fact sony has made the PS3 to live up to 10 years and proberly more than that. which means the PS3 will keep getting better and so will the PSN untill Home comes out XBL will always be at number one. But i still like PSN better i'm a online gamer and thats why i bought the PS3 and the 360 but i like the PS3 online better because of the games but also because i never get lag. I will not say the 360 sucks because it is also a great console even thoe it does have some over heating problems i'm scared to lieve it on like i do with my ps3 just incase something happens and thats coming from someone with the elite sorry about spelling. But this Fanboy crap must stop they all great consoles people should just play and be happy. O and saying the PS3 graphics suck and have crap games that is really old with great RPGS coming out for it and MGS4 and Home coming out and so FFXIII and FF Verus XIII GTP and so on this is a great year to be a gamer for both consoles. lol i think thats all i have to say on that matter lol.

  • antrosg24

    Posted Mar 21, 2008 8:09 pm PT

    ps2 outselling ps3!!!!!PS2 was an amazing concole..Ps3 or no other concole will reach that level

  • Dion4ever

    Posted Mar 21, 2008 4:32 pm PT

    Lolz Wii Play is still selling really good!

  • westcoastxbox2

    Posted Mar 20, 2008 12:29 pm PT

    "Software: $668.7m (+47%)
    Hardware: $480.0 million (+19%)
    Accessories: $185.3m (+36%) Total Games: $1.33 billion (+34%)"
    the xbox360 won the accessories and software sales which is good. its good for the making money part. looks like the ps3 is making a push.

  • twistedhades

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 7:05 pm PT

    the $399 PlayStation 3, a high-power gaming console that's more computer than disc player. People can still watch new Blu-ray releases, but they won't be able to see picture-in-picture commentary or any other Profile 1.1 feature.

    That's why a lot of people call the PS3 a best buy in Blu-ray players. Aside from moving up to a Profile 2.0 level via a firmware update, it can also stream media, play DivX video and send photos and video over a home network

    "It will be the cheapest BD-Live player by the end of the year," says analyst Paul Erickson, director of DVD and HD market research at DisplaySearch.

  • stillereize

    Posted Mar 18, 2008 4:50 pm PT

    OMG. You are all the reason why I've stopped gaming and have enjoyed the outdoors more than any other time in my life. Who knew there was a world without dorks outside my house? That's right. My house. Not my parent's basement or attic but the house I bought that garages the new car I bought so I can drive home and watch my new plasma tv so I can watch Blu-Ray and play some video games for ENTERTAINMENT instead of abating an addiction. You all need to calm your aces down. But Im lmao that PS2 outsold the Xbox360, which broke down on me three times which I sold to my sisters husband for what I bought it for. I love America.

  • carljohnson3456

    Posted Mar 18, 2008 4:11 pm PT

    "Yuck_Too --carljohnson3456 --
    And we could argue the additional costs for 2 new rumble controllers for the PS3, making MGS4 actually cost $190...don't see how that impacts the "bargin" of anything."

    Funny, because you can still play Metal Gear without rumble... but you cant play online with the 360 without Live. There is a difference, and you know it. Weak point.

  • Nineball2112

    Posted Mar 18, 2008 1:15 pm PT

    bardkieran - Fair enough... And I agree with your analysis of the Wii as well...

  • bardkieran

    Posted Mar 18, 2008 11:42 am PT

    NineBall - I wasn't pointing out the negatives, just countering another user's posts with my own thoughts on his theory. With that, a theory can only bring points of conjecture. If his theory was a reality, then a result could be established, putting the matter to rest. It would be in the realm of an alternate reality for me to put fact to a point of conjecture, for no facts lie in the realm of the theoretical.

    Darkride - How would one best translate a verbal communication in sessions at Game Developer Conference into a believable source for you? How could I make you believe that I was talking to the lead programmer of Factor 5 when Lair was still in development? Without you being there, there seems to be no way to provide a valid enough source that could not be considered hearsay. What I can tell you, and the only thing I can clearly back, is the controller issue thing. Where households that had game systems for the past decade or so, there were only specific members of the household playing on it. With the Wii, more uncommon players are joining in. I don't think I have to back that fact too much, as we can both likely agree to that. That said, these people have nothing to invest into the console, as they are just what would otherwise be passerbys. I leave you with an example within my own family of such a thing. My family has had a console since the days of the Atari 2600, in which my parents happily took turns in Combat, Asteroids, etc. In fact, my mother was a champion at Centipede. When the NES came out, my dad would only play Duck Hunt, and my mother didn't play at all. I brought the Wii over to my brother's house this past Christmas, and what would otherwise have been a day of sports on the TV, the Wii was on the whole time, and the entire family was getting games of Wii Sports on. I know this is a personal experience, yet Ive seen and heard other families who have had similar experiences. Sure, I'll agree that if the Wii was $500, people wouldn't run out and buy it. Yet, Ive seen a few dozen people who tried the Wii actively go out and search for one afterwards. The saying is that it is a console that caters to all. But why? The price? People just want to randomly go out and blow $250 so they have the console in their home? The answer is because they had a positive experience, they were able to jump right into a game and have fun. Think about trying to explain Wii Sports tennis to a person, how the controls work. "Swing". Batting? Swing. Golf? Hold A and swing. Take shooting games... the B button is shaped like a trigger. Point and shoot.

    Lastly, I wasn't putting down the PSN as I was praising the architecture of XBL. The PSN is good, and I might even rank it higher than the Wii online, but the XBL really nailed it. That's what I was saying, not that it was bad, but its just not at the level of the XBL service.

  • Yuck_Too

    Posted Mar 18, 2008 11:31 am PT

    --carljohnson3456 --
    And we could argue the additional costs for 2 new rumble controllers for the PS3, making MGS4 actually cost $190...don't see how that impacts the "bargin" of anything.

    Another example, I own a Premium and a Core (aka Arcade) which I have at the cottage. That was a bargin, see at the cottage I don't have highspeed internet, don't need wi/fi, don't even need a hard disk, the memory card works just fine, until recently I didn't even have a 16:9 HDTV up there.

    So to me that was a bargin.

  • carljohnson3456

    Posted Mar 18, 2008 10:42 am PT

    Yuck_Too --carljohnson3456 --
    "$4 a month doesnt sound bad, but considering it's spent all in one $50 chunk, it's bad. It's like buying a game for $110 bucks"
    ~~~~~
    Umm...except it's not...unless you only play 1 multi-player game a year. In that case you are correct, but if you only play 1 game a year... never mind."

    What I meant was if you dont have Live, and buy Call of Duty and want to play online, you're going to pay $110 all for that one game. You can say that the extra $50 goes for online for other games, that's a valid point, but you have to admit that buying a Pro 360 and spending to play online puts it up to $400, making the PS3 look like a bargain.

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