May NPD: PS3 up and PS2 out; GTA IV in and CoD 4 out
This month's NPD report was greeted with a collective "Huh" upon its arrival at Joystiq HQ. Not because the PS3 is way up or because the Wii showed the greatest loss, but for a handful of other reasons. First, after some seven plus years in the North American market, the PS2 has finally been removed from the official NPD results ... in the same month that the PS2 version of craptacular movie-to-game cashgrab Iron Man made the top ten. Stay golden, little PlayStation ... stay golden ...
Also making us tilt our heads quizzicaly: the totally missing hardware boost for the two Grand Theft Auto IV-capable consoles. While the PlayStation 3 saw a very welcome 11.5% boost, it hardly accounts for the nearly half-million copies of the game that were sold on the platform. And though the Xbox 360 release of GTA IV easily outsold the PS3 version by a margin of nearly two-to-one, sales of that console remained relatively flat from last month.
Lastly, where's Call of Duty 4? Infinity Ward's superb shooter has been a staple of the NPD charts since its release in November and now, for the first time, it didn't make the top ten. Makes sense: after selling over ten million copies, people have to stop buying it some day. Nevertheless, we'd like to dedicate these colored arrows to its memory: Call of Duty 4, you've served with honor!
- Wii: 675.1K
39.1K (-5.5%)
- DS: 452.6K
37.8K (+9.1%)
- PS3: 208.7K
21.6K (+11.5%)
- PSP: 182.3K
10.4K (-5.4%)
- X360: 186.6K
1.4K (-0.7%)
- PS2: Update: Sony sent the numbers along! 132.7K
8.3K (+6.7%)
You'll find the top ten in software sales after the break.
May Software
1. GTA IV – Xbox 360 – 871.3K*
2. Mario Kart Wii – Wii – 787.4K
3. Wii Fit (w/ Balance Board) – Wii – 687.7K
4. GTA IV – PS3 – 442.9K
5. Wii Play w/ remote – Wii – 294.6K
6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Wii – 171.1K
7. Iron Man – PS2 – 130.6K
8. Guitar Hero III – Wii – 116.8K
9. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness – DS – 107K
10. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time – DS – 102K
