March NPD shows big results for PS3 software

Software sales for the PlayStation 3 dominated its competitors, bringing in 40 per cent of the top ten’s dosh and topping the charts with God of War III. It was actually PS3 software that helped the US video games market see a 6 per cent increase in revenue year-over-year — software revenue was up 10 per cent, compared to a 4 per cent decline in hardware.

Even though Sony’s PlayStation 3 continued its besting of last year’s hardware performance – eight months straight selling more than the year previous – hardware sales for the console were still in third place. This is despite the chart topper God of War III shifting 1.1 million units – higher than both God of War and God of War II. In fact, Final Fantasy XIII also shined on the system, selling 828,200 units, compared to the Xbox 360’s 493,900. It looks as though Microsoft’s crowd was enjoying Battlefield Bad Company 2, which sold 825,500 on the Xbox 360 compared to 451,200 on the PlayStation 3.

The questionable hardware performance from the PS3 could, and most certainly is, still due to console shortages, showing Sony’s lack of foresight when it comes to the stocking of the system. A change to the PS3’s hardware, including a die-shrinkage to the console’s RSX GPU, presumably resulted in problems ramping up production. There’s also no doubt that there was a larger than expected demand for the console. You can find the full NPD hardware and software sales for the month of March below.

NPD Hardware March 2010

Wii – 557.5K
Xbox 360 – 338.4K
PlayStation 3 –  313.9K
PlayStation 2 – 118.3K
Nintendo DS – 700.8K
PSP – 119.9K

NPD Software March 2010

GOD OF WAR III PS3 – 1.10M
POKEMON SOULSILVER VERSION NDS – 1.02M
FINAL FANTASY XIII PS3 – 828.2K
BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2 360 – 825.5K 4
POKEMON HEARTGOLD VERSION NDS – 761.2K 5
FINAL FANTASY XIII 360 – 493.9K 6
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII WII – 457.4K 7
BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2 PS3 – 451.2K 8
WII FIT PLUS W/ BALANCE BOARD WII – 429.6K 9
MLB 10: THE SHOW PS3 – 349.2K 10

Readers Comments (15)

  1. Not surprised that it is a shooter which sells better on the xbox. at least us ps3 owners desire abit more variety.

  2. I agree Scottspeed.

  3. @scottspeed Why would you bring that up? It’s irrelevant and just a dumb thing to say.

  4. Wow, PS3 is doing surprisingly well.

  5. Sony has never been able to stock consoles properly… It’s a shame too, because I have afeeling they could be besting the Wii/360 right now in hardware sales.

    Youk now what happens when a kid goes to 3 GameStops trying to buy a PS3?! Chances are he’ll leave the 3rd GameStop with a 360. Sad, but true.

    My friend and I went looking for a Slim for him before FFXIII came out… And the stores were cleaned out. After 4 or 5 stores, he was about to buy a 360 Elite and say “fuck it”. I reminded him how much better the PS3 version will be… And we went to the last Wal-Mart on our list… They had 2 250GB Slims left. Lucky find, but if they weren’t there… Microsoft would have had another bitch.. er, I mean “customer”.

  6. @TRF Maybe cause most of the X-Box 360 fanbase play shooters alot.

  7. @#5 I remember when I first wanted the ps1 and I was looking everywhere for it and I ended up buying a Nintendo64 instead.

  8. Interesting, and it’s true. Most of the times that customers struggle to find the console or game they want, they end up with their second option (A wii or 360).

  9. its the temptation which leads a gamer to Wii or a 360, it happens when u have the money u cant wait to buy the console but as we have options we give into temptation and our wants. It did happen with one of my friends who went to buy PS3 but he came back with 360 as there were no PS3 available at that time. I heard him say that both of the system have almost the same games. Now he is kicking himself after watching me playing God of War 3, which is also on top of the list. YAY……..PS3 is the winner.

  10. Moocows111111 April 17, 2010 @ 23:06

    If only Sony had the right planning to mass produce ps3’s when Gow 3 came out.

    Btw Gow 3 is second on the list because:
    POKEMON SOULSILVER VERSION and POKEMON HEARTGOLD VERSION
    Are really part of the same game. Just slightly different.

    But in terms of each individual game, Gow 3 is top XD

  11. You know… it’s great that PS3 exclusives are selling like this, but I can’t help but notice PS3 exclusives US sales are lower than 360 exclusives in the first month, and yet the worldwide sales (1st month) are actually pretty close.

    It seems that PS3 games sales are more spread out worldwide, and 360 games are more successful in the US but not the rest of the world.

  12. @moocows: thus HG and SS are together….but actually some people bought both versions lol. GoW3 still did really well tho so kudos to them

    @taus90: from what i seem to be hearing is that the PS3 seems to be catching up to the 360 quite with the ferocity of 12 tigers (outside of the US at least).

    its also nice to see MLB the show to be in 10th 😀

  13. Moocows111111 April 18, 2010 @ 12:12

    “@moocows: thus HG and SS are together….but actually some people bought both versions lol. GoW3 still did really well tho so kudos to them”

    True, but from a sales standpoint Pokemon Heart/Soul is clearly ontop. Gow3 did really good though XD.

    “It seems that PS3 games sales are more spread out worldwide, and 360 games are more successful in the US but not the rest of the world.”

    360 owners like Fps, its clear that the games that sell really well on the 360 are Shooters, TPS’ or FPS’

  14. 30NIGHTCRAWLER30 April 18, 2010 @ 18:44

    Go Go PlayStation 3. Fail Fail Xbox 360. LOL! kidding.

  15. and i just noticed…..HG and SS actually beat XIII……O.M.G.

    so SE’s game which took what? around 5 years to make? lost to a damn remake LOL

    and im pretty sure SE poured a crap load of money into that LoL. oh well, SE has been pulling quite a few d**k moves lately so meh

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