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NPD to finally track sales of downloadable games

James Hyde — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:48:52 +0000

Sales of downloadable games are raising rapidly, from Valve’s Steam platform, to EA’s Link and Xbox Live and the PlayStation Store, it’s hard to get an overview and some solid sales numbers, especially for games that are download-only. No digital content provider shares sales numbers, which is where NPD comes in.

NPD has been tracking retail sales for a long time, and is the third party sales tracking service that offers the most accurate sales charts each month in North America. The company has revealed plans of a digital sales chart for North America, and combat what it calls “misinformation”, from the publishers on sales numbers. However, it remains unclear how it plans on getting sales numbers from digital distributors such as Steam, as digital sales are a lot harder to track than retail sales.

NPD Sales Results for June 2009, Prototype tops charts

Gibran Nawaz — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:29:18 +0000

The NPD Group have released the sales figures for the month of June today.

The DS is currently holding the top spot in hardware sales, with its home console counterpart trailing behind. Amazingly, the PlayStation 2 is still almost selling as much as the PlayStation Portable. The price is obviously a big factor in consumer decisions, with the failing economy and other circumstances.

As for software, Prototype debuted and sold over 400,000 copies, topping the charts. Many sports titles follow the sandbox action game, including Tiger Woods PGA Tour and Fight Night Round 4.

Hardware:

Nintendo DS 766.5K

Wii 361.7K

Xbox 360 240.6K

PlayStation 3 164.7K

PSP 163.5K

PlayStation 2 152.7K

Software:

PROTOTYPE (360) 419.9K

UFC 2009:UNDISPUTED (360) 338.3K

EA SPORTS ACTIVE BUNDLE (Wii) 289.1K

TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 10* (Wii) 272.4K

WII FIT (Wii) 271.6K

FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4 (360) 260.8K

FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4 (PS3) 210.3K

MARIO KART W/WHEEL (WII) 202.1K

RED FACTION:GUERRILLA (360) 199.4K

INFAMOUS (PS3) 192.7K

via NeoGAF

Female Gamers Grew In Last Year

Will Prusik — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:22:59 +0000

No, we’re not saying you’ve gained weight. Really. We just mean there’s more of you. No, not like that. Really you look great we promise. All we’re saying is that the sheer number of female gamers has increased over the last twelve months. It’s not really us saying it either, this information comes from an NPD survey. The percentage of female console players went up from twenty-three to twenty-eight percent, mainly due to the Wii whose use increased by nineteen percent.

The handheld market rose as well with the “heavy usage” category rising by four percent amongst females, which can likely be blamed on the Nintendo DS. The ‘extreme gamers’ (those who play 39 hours or more per week) rise by a whopping four percent. Before all the ‘hardcore’ gamers out there start chiming in about how the Wii and DS are toys, let me remind you how much easier life would be for a gamer if you had a girlfriend/wife who understood your hobby and maybe even encouraged it?

NPD sales data for May

James Hyde — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:41:05 +0000

The monthly sales data from NPD is out, and with the announcement that Nintendo has sold 20 million Wiis in the US and that the month of May was the worst in almost three years, here’s the sales breakdown:

Top selling games for the month of May:

UFC 2009 Undisputed, Xbox 360: 679,600
Wii Fit w/ Balance Board, Wii: 352,800
EA Sports Active Bundle, Wii: 345,800
UFC 2009 Undisputed, PS3: 334,400
inFamous, PS3: 175,900
Pokemon Platinum Version, Wii: 168,900
Mario Kart w/ wheel, Wii: 158,300
Punch Out!!, Wii: 156,900
X-Men Origins Wolverine Uncaged edition, Xbox 360: 120,700
Wii Play w/ remote, Wii: 109,800

Top selling systems for the month of May:

Nintendo DS+DSi: 633,500
Wii: 289,500
Xbox 360: 175,000
Playstation 3: 131,000
Playstation 2: 117,000
PSP

Wii sets US sales record

James Hyde — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:29:32 +0000

It’s no secret — far from actually — that Nitendo’s Wii is a massive success, with over 50 million units sold world wide. Nintendo now has one more thing it can brag about; being the fastest selling console in US history.

According to recent numbers NDP, the Wii has sold 20 million units in the US in only 31 months, making it the fastest selling console ever, surpassing the PlayStation 2.

PS2 outsells PS3 in April

James Hyde — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:22:41 +0000

Bad news for Sony, as NPD’s latest April sales reveal that Sony’s PS3 only sold 127,000 units, the lowest since before the release of the 40 GB model in October 2007. To make matters worse, the age-old PS2 outsold the PS3 for the month, selling over 172,000 units.

Granted, the PS2 just received a price cut to $100, which has fueled sales, and might suggest that the PS3 is in desperate need of a price cut as well. If that’s not reason enough for a price cut, the NPD numbers show that the cheaper PS3 SKU outsold the expensive one by 9 to 1.

Rock Band surpasses $1 billion in sales in North America

James Hyde — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:55:09 +0000

Rock Band has surpassed quite a milestone, the game franchise has sold for over $1 billion in North America since its release in 2007, according to NPD (who else?). The $1 billion number is for retail only, and excludes DLC. NPD also revealed that GH has sold over 40 million tracks from the Guitar Hero store as well.

Rock Band’s main competitor, Guitar Hero, has already surpassed the 1 billion mark — a feat which it accomplished over a year ago.

NPD: Wii sells 750,000 units in February

James Hyde — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:18:48 +0000

According to the latest NPD sales data, Nintendo’s Wii was the best selling console in February, selling an estimated 750,000 units in the US. The Xbox 360 came in second with 391,000 units, the PS3 third with 276,000 units and the aging PS2 sold 131,000 units.

On the software side, Capcom’s Street Fighter 4 sold an impressive 850,000 units on all platforms combined.

Dawn of War 2 tops charts for 2nd straight week

James Hyde — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:15:12 +0000

Relic’s real time strategy game Dawn of War 2, or rather, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2, once again tops the PC sales charts in the US, in addition to already being at the top of the charts all over Europe. NPD’s sales chart for the week of February 22-28 in the US:

1. Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II
2. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
3. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
4. The Sims 2 Deluxe
5. World Of Warcraft
6. World Of Warcraft Battle Chest
7. Spore
8. The Sims Carnival: SnapCity
9. The Sims 2 Apartment Life
10. World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

It’s surprising that out of the ten best selling games, 4 are World of Warcraft titles and 4 are The Sims titles.

NPD: Video game sales data for 2008

Gibran Nawaz — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:56:21 +0000

NPD is reporting the total video game sale numbers for last year. Video games sales in total have topped $21 billion, which is an impressive 19% up from 2007. Surprisingly, the top selling game of the year was released in February of last year; Wii Play. Let’s take at the raw data:

Category / Total / Change

Video Games: $21.33 billion +19%
Video Games Hardware: $7.81 billion +11%
Video Games Software: $10.96 billion +26%
Video Game Accessories: $2.57 billion +14%

Game Software (in units sold)

Wii Play with Wii Remote (Wii, Nintendo) – 5.28 million
Mario Kart Wii (Wii, Nintendo) – 5 million
Wii Fit (Wii, Nintendo) – 4.53 million
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii, Nintendo) – 4.17 million
Grand Theft Auto IV (360, Take-Two) – 3.29 million
Call of Duty: World at War (360, Activision) – 2.75 million
Gears of War 2 (360, Microsoft) – 2.31 million
Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, Take-Two) – 1.89 million
Madden NFL 09 (360, Electronic Arts) – 1.87 million
Mario Kart DS (DS, Nintendo) – 1.65 million

Hit the jump for December’s sales data.

THE NPD GROUP’S DECEMBER 2008 US GAME INDUSTRY SALES

Category / Total / Change

Video Games: $5.29 billion +9%
Video Games Hardware: $1.88 billion +2%
Video Games Software: $2.75 billion +15%
Video Game Accessories: $662 million +8%

Hardware Sales (in units sold)

Nintendo DS: 3.04 million
Wii: 2.15 million
Xbox 360: 1.44 million
PlayStation 2: 410,000
PlayStation Portable: 1.02 million
PlayStation 3: 726,000

Game Software (in units sold)

Wii Play with Wii Remote (Wii, Nintendo) – 1.46 million
Call of Duty: World at War (360, Activision) – 1.33 million
Wii Fit (Wii, Nintendo) – 999,000
Mario Kart Wii (Wii, Nintendo) – 979,000
Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii, Activision) – 850,000
Gears of War 2 (360, Microsoft) – 745,000
Left 4 Dead (360, Electronic Arts) – 629,000
Mario Kart DS (DS, Nintendo) – 540,000
Call of Duty: World at War (PS3, Activision) – 533,000
Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii, Nintendo) – 497,000

via GameSpot

This Year’s Best-Selling Games so Far

Rajiv Ashrafi — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:37:57 +0000

This year has been an explosive year for videogames so far, with titles like Call of Duty 4, GTA 4, MGS 4 and other blockbuster titles marking a comeback for the gaming industry.

Gamasutra took a close look at this year’s NPD numbers till date and has made a list of the best-selling five games on each current-gen console. The lists contain so surprises, with the first spot being dominated on the PS3 and Xbox 360 charts by Rockstar’s epic masterpiece GTA 4, and the Wii chart topped by Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Hit the jump for the full lists.

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar Games)
Call of Duty 4 (Infinity Ward)
Madden NFL 09 (EA Tiburon)
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft Montreal)
Army of Two (EA Montreal)

PlayStation 3:

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar Games)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Kojima Productions)
Call of Duty 4 (Infinity Ward)
Madden NFL 09 (EA Tiburon)
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (Polyphony Digital)

Nintendo Wii

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo)
Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
Wii Play (Nintendo)
Wii Fit (Nintendo)
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Vicarious Visions)