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NPD: BioShock 2 Feb. PS3 sales just shy of 200k mark

Despite the Xbox 360 edition's #1 ranking in US February game sales, the PS3 version of BioShock 2 was curiously absent from the top ten listing. An NPD representative told Joystiq that the PS3 game recorded roughly 190.5k units sold last month, "just outside the top 10 at #11." If anything's to blame for this somewhat modest debut month, it's Heavy Rain. In just one week of retail availability, the PS3-exclusive "Western Interactive Novel" had enough of an impact, with 219.3k units sold, to seemingly alter the sales course of BioShock 2 for PS3.
Now, just imagine how much trouble a rampaging "murder carousel" could stir up for BioShock 2 PS3 sales this month!
Nintendo sells 1.9 million DS and Wiis through Feb. 2010
Following last night's NPD report for February, Nintendo has issued a press release lauding the amazing selling power of its own products. In typical fashion, the gaming giant that got your grandma into gaming has managed to sell a ridiculous amount of DS and Wii systems in the U.S. -- 1.9 million in the first two months of 2010, to be exact.
As impressive as that 1.9 million figure is, Nintendo's ability to break its own records is even more impressive. In selling 613,000 DS units throughout February 2010, Nintendo has managed to set a new monthly record, besting the previous top-selling month of February 2009's figure of 597,000 units. It would seem that two things are certain in this life: we're all going to die one day and before that day comes, each of us is going to own nine DS systems.
With March 28 fast approaching -- that's the release date for the DSi XL -- Nintendo is hoping to further build on the success of its now six-year-old handheld. And, to think, even after all that time, the gif still hasn't gotten old.
As impressive as that 1.9 million figure is, Nintendo's ability to break its own records is even more impressive. In selling 613,000 DS units throughout February 2010, Nintendo has managed to set a new monthly record, besting the previous top-selling month of February 2009's figure of 597,000 units. It would seem that two things are certain in this life: we're all going to die one day and before that day comes, each of us is going to own nine DS systems.
With March 28 fast approaching -- that's the release date for the DSi XL -- Nintendo is hoping to further build on the success of its now six-year-old handheld. And, to think, even after all that time, the gif still hasn't gotten old.
February NPD: Xbox 360 and BioShock 2 sales heat up

BioShock 2 seems to have had something to do with the boost, with the Xbox 360 version topping the software charts (and the PS3 version absent from the top ten). Other notable software milestones: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is now the third best-selling game of all time, and Just Dance seems to have made a better pact with Satan than even Dante's Inferno did. See the software top ten after the break.
-DS: 613K
191K (45%)-360: 422K
89K (27%)-Wii: 398K
68K (-15%)-PS3: 360K
83K (30%)-PSP: 133K
33K (33%)-PS2: 102K
60K (143%)Analysts predict hardware, software drops in February NPD

Analyst Colin Sebastian is guessing at a 15 percent decline, despite encouraging early sales for games like Heavy Rain and preorders for games like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (which, as an early March release, may fit into the NPD February sales period) and God of War III. The fact that high-profile games are likely to show sharp declines after strong first-week sales will prevent software trends from turning for the better.
Scribblenauts was the #5 DS game of 2009

"The DS is a very different market than console, I think treating it as such helps," Slaczka said about cracking the DS market. "I think it's one of the toughest markets to sell on because the demographic is so broad: gamers, non-gamers, kids, adults, boys, girls. And unlike the Wii, it's even more limiting in power. Making a game that appeals to everyone is tough." And that kind of universal appeal is exactly what 5th Cell went for with Scribblenauts -- an approach that put them in some pretty exclusive company.
Sony: PS3 supply to be 'tight' over coming months

As this is the first we've heard about any sort of PlayStation 3 hardware shortages, we followed up with Seybold to make sure he wasn't only warning about future supply issues, but also explaining January's sales of the console. He told us: "Yes. The strong demand carrying through the holidays was evident and early in the month we [knew] there was going to be limited supply of the PS3 at retail in January. We're working closely with the retail channel to meet this demand, but expect tight supply for the coming months."
The upcoming supply issues may also be a result of Sony's "upcoming line up of the industry's most anticipated games" -- games like Heavy Rain, God of War 3, and ModNation Racers. Seybold additionally points out that "this momentum is fueled by a stellar holiday" and the recent releases of games like MAG and BioShock 2. We here at Joystiq have yet to see the shortages at our local brick-and-mortars, but feel free to let us know if you do!
EEDAR: No More Heroes 2 sold less than 30k in January

"No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle has scored top reviews averaging a 90 (out of 100) since its release," EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich said in the EEDAR report. "However, sales came less than 30,000 units for its first week (January 26, 2010 release)." Divinich compared the lowish sales to Dead Space Extraction and MadWorld, both of which also had "low marketing budgets, which is likely the wrong strategy to use when attempting to target the Wii consumer, even if you are targeting the 'core' market." When is that ever the right strategy?
January NPD: Mass Effect 2 debuts at #2, hardware is down

Nintendo's consoles lost the most in sales, with the Wii dropping a hefty 88 percent; however, that still wasn't enough to knock the white wonder from its top spot. The Xbox 360 and PS3 continue their back-and-forth battle, with the Xbox reclaiming its number three spot again, having just reclaimed it in November. A good reason for the Xbox's "victory": the not-available-on-PS3 Mass Effect 2, which pushed an impressive 572,000 units in the six short days following its January 26 release. That still wasn't enough to dethrone New Super Mario Bros. Wii, though, which moved 657,000 units with a full month of sales propelling it.
Beyond Mass Effect 2, the bottom of the software sales list is made up of similar newcomers: Army of Two: The 40th Day in 8th, Just Dance in 9th place, and Darksiders just making the cut. Really, universe? Just Dance made the top ten while the excellent MAG is nowhere to be found? Color us disappointed in all of you.
-Wii: 466K
3.34M (-86%)-DS: 422K
2.89M (-85%)-360: 333K
977K (-65%)-PS3: 277K
1.08M (-74%)-PSP: 100K
361K (-72%)-PS2: 42K
291K (-86%)Check out the software sales chart after the break.
Analyst: PS3 continues to set records, Wii and software sales down
Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia says that Sony is in for a good 2010 -- he expects the PlayStation 3 to experience its largest year-over-year growth from last month's sales among all consoles, and for Sony to beat its own record from the month before for the console's best sales ever. The PS3 appears to be on a roll, and January sales are expected to continue the trend.
Bhatia also says that the Wii's sales are being hurt by "meaningful shortages," and points out that just 28% of the stores NPD checked in January had Nintendo's console in stock. Bhatia also suggests that Xbox 360 sales would be up slightly, due to a big GameStop promotion, and that software sales would be down in general. Not unexpected, given that January almost never matches up to the frenzy of the holiday season, but 2010 has already started off with a bang in terms of quality releases. NPD's official info, released soon, will let us know if there were sales to match.
Bhatia also says that the Wii's sales are being hurt by "meaningful shortages," and points out that just 28% of the stores NPD checked in January had Nintendo's console in stock. Bhatia also suggests that Xbox 360 sales would be up slightly, due to a big GameStop promotion, and that software sales would be down in general. Not unexpected, given that January almost never matches up to the frenzy of the holiday season, but 2010 has already started off with a bang in terms of quality releases. NPD's official info, released soon, will let us know if there were sales to match.
NPD: New Super Mario Bros. Wii sales have surpassed Super Mario Galaxy
New Old Mario is stomping all over the mark left by his globetrotting counterpart, with sales of New Super Mario Bros. Wii having already surpassed Super Mario Galaxy in the US. According to the NPD, Galaxy has sold approximately 4.1 million units in the two years since its November 2007 release, while NSMBW has amassed 4.2 million sales in about 45 days.
As IGN notes, the Wii's install base is much higher now (26 million in the US), but that still doesn't explain why Galaxy, which has had far more time on retail shelves, was passed by so quickly. We'd posit that there's something nostalgic about NSMBW, which makes it stand apart from Galaxy and speak to the Wii's demographic. Of course, Super Mario Galaxy 2 will have the benefit of being quite familiar too ...
As IGN notes, the Wii's install base is much higher now (26 million in the US), but that still doesn't explain why Galaxy, which has had far more time on retail shelves, was passed by so quickly. We'd posit that there's something nostalgic about NSMBW, which makes it stand apart from Galaxy and speak to the Wii's demographic. Of course, Super Mario Galaxy 2 will have the benefit of being quite familiar too ...
NPD: Wii Play is best selling 'game' of all time in the US
If there's a statistic measuring how well a game sold, you're likely to find Wii Play lingering in it somewhere. It's not only been the best-selling game of 2009, but also just recently made itself known as the top seller for the last decade. Now, according to NPD data (via GameSpot), the software-hardware hybrid has claimed another throne: top-selling non-PC US game ever.
It's a pretty prestigious list and while no exact figures are listed (save for the bundle's October performance, selling a whopping 11.1 million units in that month alone), the other games listed should give you an indication of just how many homes Wii Play has invaded. Taking second place is Guitar Hero III, the first game to earn $1 billion in revenue, followed by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The others in the top ten are generally expected, including Activision's other $1 billion earner, Modern Warfare 2 (notable because, damn, that was fast!), along with a pair of other Call of Duty games. Head over to GameSpot for the full list.
It's a pretty prestigious list and while no exact figures are listed (save for the bundle's October performance, selling a whopping 11.1 million units in that month alone), the other games listed should give you an indication of just how many homes Wii Play has invaded. Taking second place is Guitar Hero III, the first game to earn $1 billion in revenue, followed by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The others in the top ten are generally expected, including Activision's other $1 billion earner, Modern Warfare 2 (notable because, damn, that was fast!), along with a pair of other Call of Duty games. Head over to GameSpot for the full list.
NPD: DJ Hero best-selling new IP of '09, by revenue only
Activision has announced that DJ Hero was "the #1 new intellectual property by revenue in the U.S. and Europe for calendar 2009, according to the NPD Group." Lest you sped through that proclamation, take note of the two key words: "by revenue" -- in other words, the total amount of money spent by consumers. Considering DJ Hero debuted at $120 for the standard turntable bundle and $200 for the Renegade Edition, it's no wonder that it managed to bring in the most money (though not necessarily the most profit, and certainly not the most units sold for a new franchise).
NPD representative Anita Frazier clarified for Joystiq the performance of last year's new IPs in terms of actual unit sales. As you might have guessed, DJ Hero wasn't quite #1 in that category, but managed a respectable 789,000 units in U.S. sales. Still, it was soundly outsold by other new IPs, including Borderlands and Dragon Age: Origins, which sold 1.11 million and 1.14 million units, respectively. Besting them all, however, was EA Sports Active, which amassed 1.2 million units sold.
And get this, if we consider new IPs that launched before 2009, then Wii Play and Wii Fit were technically the best-selling new IPs in 2009 in terms of unit sales and revenue, according to the NPD.
Finally, we should point out -- as did Frazier -- that NPD data only covers the U.S., despite Activision's claim that the group provided European sales data regarding DJ Hero.
NPD representative Anita Frazier clarified for Joystiq the performance of last year's new IPs in terms of actual unit sales. As you might have guessed, DJ Hero wasn't quite #1 in that category, but managed a respectable 789,000 units in U.S. sales. Still, it was soundly outsold by other new IPs, including Borderlands and Dragon Age: Origins, which sold 1.11 million and 1.14 million units, respectively. Besting them all, however, was EA Sports Active, which amassed 1.2 million units sold.
And get this, if we consider new IPs that launched before 2009, then Wii Play and Wii Fit were technically the best-selling new IPs in 2009 in terms of unit sales and revenue, according to the NPD.
Finally, we should point out -- as did Frazier -- that NPD data only covers the U.S., despite Activision's claim that the group provided European sales data regarding DJ Hero.
The Beatles: Rock Band does 1.7M as music games continue slide
Sales of the latest Rock Band game seem to be fueled less by Beatlemania and more by Beatlemildinterest. According to the L.A. Times, the NPD estimates that The Beatles: Rock Band moved 357,000 units in December, for a total of 1.18 million in the U.S. Worldwide, the game has sold 1.7 million, the same amount Rock Band 2 sold in the U.S. alone during its first four months. A spokesperson for MTV Games said the company was pleased with the holiday sales, though "some European markets performed below the company's expectations."
It's not terribly encouraging, but perhaps EA should be happy the news isn't worse: According to the NPD, the music genre is down 46% year-over-year to $1.06 billion. Though rock may be its stock-in-trade, it seems like music games spent most of 2009 singing the blues.
[Via VG247]
It's not terribly encouraging, but perhaps EA should be happy the news isn't worse: According to the NPD, the music genre is down 46% year-over-year to $1.06 billion. Though rock may be its stock-in-trade, it seems like music games spent most of 2009 singing the blues.
[Via VG247]
NPD 10 top-selling games for (all of) 2009
With the final month of the year in our snowmobile's rear-view, we can now pore over a totally complete and official list of the best-selling games of 2009 and boy, what a difference a month makes. While Modern Warfare 2 for 360 and PS3 still hold the #1 and #8 slots respectively, December has allowed first-party Nintendo games to fill #2 through #7. Heck, Pokemon Platinum even sneaks back in there at the end for good measure. Gamasutra's got the full list here, if you feel like perusing.
We at Joystiq Publishing would again like to apologize to our investors for failing to crack the Top Ten list for the seventh year running. That said, we've been learning from these success stories and we're pretty sure that Healthy Race Island: Now With Shooting and Pokemon, will lead the way to a much brighter 2010.
We at Joystiq Publishing would again like to apologize to our investors for failing to crack the Top Ten list for the seventh year running. That said, we've been learning from these success stories and we're pretty sure that Healthy Race Island: Now With Shooting and Pokemon, will lead the way to a much brighter 2010.
People still mostly buy physical copies of games
This perhaps shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but America still loves its boxes. As reported by Gamasutra, the NPD says that 90 percent of sales in Q3 2009 were attributed to boxed copies of games. If you're not so good with the math, that means only 1 out of 10 games was distributed digitally. That average drops to 79 percent if you lump together portables, PC/Mac, mobile, and smartphones, but that's still pretty darn impressive.
We have the same preference as the rest of the country, but only because we can't hang digitally distributed games from the ceiling tiles of our dorm room to give it a hip, edgy look.
We have the same preference as the rest of the country, but only because we can't hang digitally distributed games from the ceiling tiles of our dorm room to give it a hip, edgy look.

















