DVDGuy’s Blog @ Digital Digest

March is a huge month for gaming software, particularly for the PS3, with the release of the much anticipated God of War III, plus the first truly current-gen Final Fantasy game (always a big draw for the PS3, although this time, it’s no longer a platform exclusive). The PS3 has never dominated software sales, particularly the top 10, so March is an excellent opportunity for Sony to achieve this. The Xbox 360 was also the best selling home based console in February, but both Nintendo and Sony blamed stock shortages for the low hardware numbers, and it will be interesting to see if the Xbox 360 continues to hold top spot this month. The figures are from NPD, a marketing research firm that releases games console sale data every month.

The figures for US sales in March 2010 are below, ranked in order of number of sales (March 2009 figures also shown, including percentage change):

• DS: 700,800 (Total: 41.2 million; February 2009: 563,000 – up 24%)
• Wii: 557,500 (Total: 28.6 million; February 2009: 601,000 – down 7%)
• Xbox 360: 338,400 (Total: 19.7 million; February 2009: 331,000 – up 2%)
• PS3: 313,900 (Total: 12.1 million; February 2009: 218,000 – up 44%)
• PSP: 119,900 (Total: 17.2 million; February 2009: 168,000 – down 29%)
• PS2: 118,300 (Total: 45.5 million; February 2009: 112,000 – up 6%)

NPD March 2010 Game Console US Sales Figures

NPD Game Console Total US Sales Figures (as of March 2010)

My prediction from last month was:

I find it hard to make one for hardware sales because of the stock shortage issue, but if I had to go out on a limb, then I say the PS3 is second, behind the DS, and above the Wii and Xbox 360. I think the Xbox 360 will come fourth, with the Wii recovering a bit. The reason I say the PS3 is going to top the other home consoles is because of two things. One is called Final Fantasy XIII, the other is called God of War III. Having two huge releases in the same month should help hardware sales, but I wonder if it isn’t better to separate these two titles, which might get into each other’s way in terms of vying for gamers’ pocket money. But what do I know. In any case, there aren’t too many new releases for either the Xbox 360 or the Wii, so Sony could really clean up in March.

So the PS3 didn’t come second, but the Wii did outsell the Xbox 360, and the two PS3 titles I mentioned did do rather well in the top 10 charts. Sony says the PS3 hardware numbers are still low due to stock shortage issues, which is a shame because they knew these two top titles were coming out and yet didn’t prepare enough hardware stock to meet demands. The Xbox 360 still managed to outsell the PS3, but it’s hard to know how much of it is due to stock shortages. And Sony did clean up in terms of software, if not in hardware.

The more cynical might say that the PS3 stock shortage will end as soon as it manages to beat the Xbox 360. But looking at the current Amazon charts, the previously sold out PS3 120GB is currently the top seller, so it might very well beat the Xbox 360, and maybe even the Wii. Certainly off the backs of two monster software releases, you’d expect the console to do well. March was a good month for Sony, more evident when we get to the software numbers, with even the PS2 recording a year-on-year sales growth. Unfortunately, PSP sales continues to slide.

For Nintendo, the Wii continues to sell poorly based on a year-on-year comparison, but there was only a 7% drop in sales, much better than the usual 40+%. The “less bad” results may also be indicative of a slight bump due to stock shortage issues being addressed. The DS continues to steamroller past all other consoles, and it had a huge title in the software charts as well, so the Nintendo eco-system is still doing well.

For Microsoft, the Xbox 360 recorded yet another monthly figure that was higher than a year ago, albeit a somewhat diminutive 2%. The console has a few exclusives to be released in the next few months, but nothing like the titles on the PS3, and so it could very well be just a matter of limping on until Project Natal is released just before the holidays. The rumour that Project Natal will be available as a bundle with the same price point as the current Elite console could very well make it a holiday time winner, especially when up against the comparatively expensive PlayStation Move (which in order to get the best experience,  requires a PS3 Eye, plus 2 Move controllers and the required nunchuck, now called the Navigation Controller). For now, if Microsoft can keep up with the year-on-year growth, then I think they will be relatively happy, even if relegated to being the least popular of the home consoles.

Moving on to software. Sony stole the show with 40% of the top 10 in terms of units sold, and having 4 titles in the top 10, both of which are records. If not for the Pokemon DS titles, the PS3 games would have dominated even more. The PS3 exclusive God of War III is finally selling like an exclusive, winning the month as the most popular title. Previous exclusives, even as recently as Heavy Rain in last month, did relatively poorly considering the number of consoles out there. Speaking of Heavy Rain, it disappeared from the top 10 altogether, which again suggests that had Sony released it earlier in February, as opposed to the very very end, then it might have had a chance to place much higher in the charts. The second big PS3 title was Final Fantasy XIII, which despite no longer being a platform exclusive, still managed to outsell the Xbox 360 version by almost two to one. With Final Fantasy being very much a PlayStation franchise, and with the PS3’s Blu-ray disc offering better quality pre-recorded visuals than the Xbox 360 version, it all goes on to explain why the Xbox 360 version didn’t sell better. The Xbox 360 did win one multi-platform war, in that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on the Xbox 360 managed to outsell the PS3 version by almost two to one as well. There was room for one more PS3 exclusive, MLB 10:  The Show, which occupied the last spot. For the Wii, there were only two listings in the top 10, New Super Mario Bros. and Wii Fit making a return. Overall, the PS3 had 40.63% of the top 10, the Xbox 360 with 19.64% and the Wii in last place with 13.21%, the Pokemon DS titles claimed the rest.

Here’s the complete list of the top 10 software sales:

1. God of War III (PS3, Sony) – 1,100,000
2. Pokemon SoulSilver (DS, Nintendo) – 1,020,000
3. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Square Enix) – 828,200
4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Xbox 360, EA) – 825,500
5. Pokemon HeartGold (DS, Nintendo) – 761,200
6. Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360, Square Enix) – 493,900
7. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii, Nintendo) – 457,400
8. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3, EA) – 451,200
9. Wii Fit Plus w/Balance Board (Wii, Nintendo) – 224,700
10. MLB 10: The Show (PS3, Sony) – 349,200

So prediction time. I think the PS3 will outsell the Wii, in April. This is based on the strong software numbers for March, plus the stock shortage issue being resolved finally which will give the PS3 a bump in sales. While there’s no new major PS3 exclusive in April, Super Street Fighter IV will be available, and based on the non Super version of the fighting game, the PS3 version should outsell the Xbox 360 version as well. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction, which is a console only exclusive for the Xbox 360 (there’s also a PC version), should do well, and God of War III should still be charting. So another good month for the PS3, with better hardware numbers, but probably slightly lesser software domination, for April.

See you next month.