software-sales
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30 million Wiis sold in the US
If you went out this week to pick up a Wii, congratulations! You're part of history. Nintendo just announced that the Wii has now exceeded 30 million units sold in the US, forty-five months after its launch. To celebrate the occasion, Nintendo released some rare sales data, disclosing not only the top ten Nintendo-published Wii games (as of the end of June), but the top ten third-party games as well. Nothing from 2010 is on the list, reaffirming the belief that many Nintendo titles enjoy high sales alongside long tails. If that list isn't to your liking, however, perhaps you should go buy several copies of Sin & Punishment: Star Successor to move things along.
New Nintendo hardware coming when the company finds a 'very interesting idea'
At least, that's according to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, speaking to a sharp-tongued investor during the company's quarterly financial results briefing question and answer session. When asked about the longevity of the current Nintendo hardware on the market, Iwata said, "As soon as a new hardware is completed and introduced to the market, a team is established within the company which starts reviewing what the next hardware will be." He claims entire hardware pieces have been scrapped in favor of finding a "very interesting idea that can make people all over the world to feel like purchasing [it]," rather than releasing products all willy nilly -- like a few items from Nintendo's past. Interestingly, the man also admits to lacking Japanese third-party support for Wii, saying, "Nintendo thought that the situation would change in about two years after launch [for the Wii and third party software support] ... While our assumption turned out to be correct with the portable system, it did not progress as we anticipated for the domestic home console market." Considering the considerable Monster Hunter support Capcom has thrown into the proverbial ring, we imagine that next year's third-party support for the Wii in Japan has been bolstered just a bit.[Via Eurogamer]
790K people bought Chrono Trigger DS (and other Square sales figures)
Note: numbers reflect 10k increments Square Enix has released an accounting of its software sales for fiscal year 2009 -- which ended March 31 -- and remakes ruled. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, a refresh of the 1992 Super Famicom installment in the famous role-playing series, sold 1.35 million copies globally -- placing Dissidia: Final Fantasy, a new property, in second place with combined sales of 930,000 teeny-tiny UMDs.Let there be no questioning of Chrono Trigger's lasting appeal: the DS re-release managed to make it into the hands on 790k gamers, many of which were no doubt buying the game for the second or third time since the 16-bit original's 1995 launch.European gamers gobbled up Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII with half a million units sold in the territory, although the region came in third in overall sales for Square Enix. The US actually proved to be its most lucrative market with 1.69 million games sold, versus 1.51M for Japan. Part of the success in the West: The Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery, which sold better in the States than anywhere else.[Via Siliconera]
Japan's February software charts dominated by PSP games
Sales for PSP titles in Japan were strong in the month of February according to data collected by Famitsu (via IGN). Four PSP games dominated the top ten, while two of them crowned the top three. Tales of the World 2: Radiant Mythology, which had been at number one for several weeks, is unsurprisingly the strongest seller for February at 288,860 units . It had beaten the month's other top portable role-playing game, Mario & Luigi RPG 3, by a mere 10K units but had a two-week lead. Konami's Winning Eleven 2009 for PSP took third place with 177,399 units sold.Idolmaster SP, which released in three different versions, ranked-in only at #7. Meanwhile, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G stays in the top ten at #9. Yeah, you read that right. It's still selling massively, despite being a year old. It just edged out fellow three-million-club member Wii Fit at #10 by 16K units. Check after the break for the full top ten and their respective sales numbers. [Via IGN]
Nintendo boasts NPD success that 'offset' competitors
Nintendo issued a celebratory press release following the announcement of the NPD numbers last night, pointing out an impressive statistic: "While the video game industry grew by $150 million (12 percent) year-on-year, Nintendo's total sales grew by $300 million in January, offsetting declines on other platforms." Nintendo is basically compensating for the whole industry's decline at this point, at least in terms of financial growth. No doubt Nintendo is pleased to have a new angle to talk about in its monthly statement of how awesome it is. The company said that sales of the Wii grew 148 percent in January 2009 over January 2008, and DS sales grew 99 percent. It also pointed out that 20 of the top 30 games last month were produced for Nintendo systems, including five of the top ten -- six, we must point out, if you count Guitar Hero: World Tour.
January NPD: Industry up 13% over Jan. '08, handhelds down 80% from Dec.
With the 2008 holiday season behind us, this month's NPD sales data brings with it figures showing the inevitable -- and dramatic -- decline in hardware sold for the month of January '09. For instance, last December the Nintendo DS was the top-selling platform, with 3.04 million units moved that month alone. This month? 511K were sold. (It was still the second best selling hardware after the Wii.)In the battle to decide who's going to play second fiddle to Nintendo, 360 continues to lead PS3 in sales, but the gap isn't nearly as wide as last month (roughly 106K versus December's 714K). Handheld saw the most significant drop-off in sales, with DS and PSP declining 82% and 83%, respectively.Software-wise, there are only three platforms -- and companies -- to look at this month. Those would be the Wii, DS and 360 on the hardware representing the hardware on the backs of which EA, Activision and Nintendo rode to software sales success. EA's two most recent major releases, Skate 2 and Lord of the Rings: Conquest, both made it into the top 10. Fun Fact: Three of this month's top games have something in common other than their publishers: they all have "Mario" in the title and they're all a bit ... dated. Mario Kart DS hit in 2005, New Super Mario Bros. in 2006 and Mario Kart Wii in April of last year. That's-a some lasting power! -Wii: 679K1.47m (-68%)-DS: 511K2.5m (-82%)-Xbox 360: 309K1.1m (-76%)-PS3: 203K523K (-72%)-PSP: 172K848K (-83%)-PS2: 101K309K (-75%)Check out the software sales chart after the break.
Namco Bandai drums up Japanese sales for 12/8 - 12/14
Japanese gamers evidently don't want to work; they just want to bang on the virtual drum all day. Or, more specifically, the Wii release of Namco's Taiko no Tatsujin, which barely eked out a first-place spot over Animal Crossing: City Folk in Media Create's Japanese software sales charts for December 8 through 14. In all, four Wii titles and six DS games comprised the top 10. Taiko no Tatsujin (Wii): 106K Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii): 98K Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe (DS): 95K Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode (DS): 63K Penguin no Mondai: Saikyou Penguin Densetsu! (DS): 59K Professor Layton and the Final Time Journey (DS): 58K Pokémon Platinum (DS): 58K Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS): 45K Wii Fit (Wii): 43K Mario Kart Wii (Wii): 34K
Data shows Wii games discounted fastest
Not all that waggles on Wii is gold. It turns out there's a reason we've been seeing so many Wii games in bargain bins: they're twice as likely to under-perform at retail than PS3 or 360 titles.Blend Games has obtained a new report from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) which claims that 15.1 percent of Wii titles are reduced in wholesale price by their publishers (termed "price protection") after only a short time on sale, versus 7.5% on 360 and 9.09% on PS3. EEDAR analyst, Jesse Divnich, suggests that the larger volume of mainstream and casual titles hitting simultaneously on Wii is part of the problem. "Most publishers typically avoid releasing their big triple-A core targeted titles against other triple-A titles, whereas it is common to see many mainstream/casual titles, targeting similar markets, released in the same week," Divnich explained.So, release lots of crappy games and more crappy games will end up yellow-tagged. Got it. But do publishers? Hopefully they will, sooner rather than later.[Via CasualGaming.biz]
Fable 2 slays Far Cry 2 in UK sales charts
More appropriately, we should probably say, "Fable 2 slayed Far Cry 2, then farted on it, did a heroic pose for the crowd, brought it a shoddy necklace, bought it a house to live in and invited it to unprotected group sex with three random villagers." Peter Molyneux's farcical epic debuted at the top of Chart-Track's UK sales chart, followed by Ubisoft's African-based shooter at number two. Can somebody get Pete a tissue?Other fun facts about Fable 2's launch: It was Microsoft's first All Formats #1 since Halo 3. It outsold the first Fable's launch by a margin of 3.8 to 1 It was the 5th fastest selling Xbox 360 game in the UK, behind Grand Theft Auto IV, Halo 3, FIFA 09 and Call of Duty 4. European's virtual football sensation FIFA09 dropped down to number three, followed by Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 and Saints Row 2. Full top ten list after the break.
NYTimes looks at Wii's software sales problem
Despite consistently strong hardware sales, the Wii has thus far lagged behind its competitors when it comes to the all important software tie ratio. The New York Times looked into the problem today, with an article highlighting Wii owners' reluctance to buy games at the usual rapid pace.On average, Wii owners only buy 3.7 games a year, compared to 4.7 and 4.6 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively. "These new gamers are content with the games they have, often going no further than the Wii Sports game that comes with the machine," the Times author states. "They don't buy new games with the fervor of a traditional gamer who is constantly seeking new stimulation."Analysts say fixing the problem will require changing the way third parties market their games to the new audience of casual Wii gamers. "Advertising on Game Informer and 1up.com just isn't reaching this audience," Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter said. Advertising on Joystiq.com, though? Always a great idea!
NPD: March sales put Xbox 360 in passenger seat
After falling to third place in hardware sales for the months of January and February, Microsoft's Xbox 360 inched out the PlayStation 3 to land in their familiar second place spot behind the Nintendo Wii. After dropping 9.3% in sales versus February 2008, the PlayStation 3 ended the month selling 257,000 units against Microsoft's 262,000 units for a small gain of 2.8%.With the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV console sales are expected to rise and the data from the next few months should indicate how the market will trend well into the Summer as the Rockstar title gains steam at retail.- Wii: 721K 289K (40%) - DS: 698K 110.4K (15.8%) - PSP: 297K 53.9K (18.1%) - Xbox 360: 262K 7.4K (2.8%) - PS3: 257K 23.8K (9.3%)- PS2: 216K 135.8K (62.9%)[via Joystiq]
Crysis goes platinum
In yesterday's investor call, Electronic Arts confirmed that sales of Crysis have gone platinum, meaning that over 1 million units had been sold since its launch. That figure marks a drastic improvement over earlier indications that consumer interest in the game was, well, in crisis. At this month's GDC, developer CryTek will be showing off a console version of CryEngine 2, although a console version of Crysis itself has not been announced. Of course, EA could pull a "surprise" announcement -- dun dun dun! [Via inCrysis; thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
December NPD: hardware sales push industry to new heights
The latest numbers escaping from poorly guarded NPD holding cells indicate that the gaming industry enjoyed a 27.8% sales increase in the month most closely associated with holidays and reckless spending. Strong hardware sales in December helped push the industry up to an annual $12.5 billion, a sizable increase compared to last year's $10.5 billion.Contrary to the figures cited in a CNBC report earlier this month, the console winner of Christmas 2006 was not the Xbox 360, but the Playstation 2. Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo DS reigned supreme in the portable arena, as well as in overall sales.NPD console sales for December 2006 DS: 1.6 million (9.2 million life-to-date) PlayStation 2: 1.4 million (37.1 million life-to-date) Xbox 360: 1.1 million (4.5 million life-to-date) PSP: 953.2k (6.7 million life-to-date) Game Boy Advance: 850.7k (35.1 million life-to-date) Wii: 604.2k (1.1 million life-to-date) PS3: 490.7k (687.3k life-to-date) The top-selling game for December was Microsoft's Gears of War, followed closely by Guitar Hero II. Rounding out the top five are Madden NFL '07 (PS2) and both versions of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Interestingly, the waggle-free version of Link's latest adventure sold around 13,000 more copies. Check out the full Gamedaily Biz article for further details, numbers and invaluable fanboy ammunition.
Japanese software sales chart - Aug. 21-27: Our darkest hour
We all knew something had to give with the pending release of Final Fantasy III. One of the games in the top 10 had to go, and unfortunately, that game just so happened to be Gundam, which was the only PSP game in the top 10.1. Final Fantasy III (DS) - 503,051 / *NEW2. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) - 65,556 / 2,901,2643. Rune Factory (DS) - 42,210 / *NEW4. Brain Age 2 (DS) - 41,784 / 3,073,1955. Cooking Navi (DS) - 37,326 / 384,0456. Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop 2 (DS) - 30,504 / 430,9347. Mario Hoops 3 on 3 (DS) - 30, 355 / 233,7628. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS) - 30,023 / 3,149,1309. Brain Training for Adults (DS) - 22,866 / 2,736,15010. English Training (DS) - 17,465 / 1,401,669Yeah fellas, you read that right; every single damn game is for the Nintendo DS. Where does the PSP go from here, I don't know. But I'll stress it again, Sony absolutely has to get some software out that will compete with what Nintendo is putting out an an alarmingly regular rate. (Via GAF)
