Research firm NPD has released its findings for the console hardware and games sales in the US over the month of March.
Hardware Charts
Nintendo DS 700,800
Wii 557,500
Xbox 360 338,400
PlayStation 3 313,900
PSP 119,900
PlayStation 2 118,300
Software Charts
1. GOD OF WAR III (PS3) – 1.10M
2. POKEMON SOULSILVER VERSION (DS) – 1.02M
3. FINAL FANTASY XIII (PS3) – 828.2K
4. BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2 (360) – 825.5K
5. POKEMON HEARTGOLD VERSION (Wii) – 761.2K
6. FINAL FANTASY XIII (360) – 493.9K
7. NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII (Wii) – 457.4K
8. BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2 (PS3) – 451.2K
9. WII FIT PLUS W/ BALANCE BOARD (Wii) – 429.6K
10. MLB 10: THE SHOW (PS3) – 349.2K
Despite the Xbox 360’s supposed higher install base, Sony managed to outdo them in software sales over March, at least if we look at the top ten. Thanks to GOWIII which is a PS3 exclusive, and FFXIII which has a strong following on the PS3, Sony managed to take the first and third spots.
Bad Company 2 was the best selling Xbox 360 game for the month, showing up the PS3 version by 375,000 units. Relatively low BC2 sales on the PS3 can be partly attributed to the likes of GOWIII and FFXIII which were both strong contenders for PS3 gamers’ monthly gaming allowance.
However, it does further entrench the notion that the Xbox 360 is a better platform for FPS developers, a point which is further illustrated by the fact that Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 significantly outsold the PS3 version.
Hardware sales were a different story however, and it seems like no matter what Sony does, Microsoft continues to outsell it with hardware. 25,000 more Xbox 360s were sold than PS3s in March, although, we would be interested to know what these figures would look like if it were not for the Xbox 360’s higher failure rate, which many believe leads to increased hardware sales due to a relatively high percentage of users buying their second, third and even fourth Xbox 360s.
For more on recent console failure rate statistics, read “500,000 survey participants reveal console reliability stats”
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