EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: april

April’s NPD numbers are in and as usual it did not take long for the big guns to spin the numbers there way.

Microsoft reiterated that the Xbox 360 was the first current generation gaming console to cross the 10 million sales mark in the US. It has sold 10.1 million units in the US to be exact and 19 million units globally.

Microsoft describes the Xbox 360 as the “most significant contributor to industry spending and growth” with NPD figures showing that 188 000 units were sold in April. In addition the Xbox 360 has the “highest attach rate in history for a console at this point in its lifestyle” recording an attach rate of 7.6 games per console.

The NPD data shows that consumers have spent over $9.7 billion on the “Xbox 360 experience” with Xbox 360 titles accounting for $186 million or 53% of third party games sales this generation. It was also quick to point out that three Xbox 360 titles made an appearance in the top ten software for April, with Grand Theft Auto IV taking first place with 1.8 million units (outselling the PS3 version by almost 2:1) and doubling Xbox Live memberships to over 12 million.

According to Microsoft sales data GTA IV lifted the Xbox 360 by 54% week-over-week which could be attributed to internal data showing that roughly four out of 10 gamers would bought an Xbox 360 also bought a copy of GTA IV. Microsoft also pointed out that GTA IV episodes will be available exclusively to Xbox Live this fall.

The latest NPD figures show that US video game sales totaled $1.23 million in April, up from $838.6 million in April 2007. Software sales reached $654.7 million, up 68% from the previous year while hardware saw an increase of 26% to $426.2 million.

The boost in software sales was largely attributed to Rockstars’ Grand Theft Auto IV. Released at the end of April, GTA IV sold 2.85 million copies on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in its first five days of release. The Xbox 360 version of GTA IV sold 1.85 million copies to secure the number 1 position on the software chart, trailed by the PS3 version which finished third with 1 million copies.

Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii separated the two GTA IV games in second place, selling 1.12 million copies, while Nintendo’s Wii Play continues to perform well in fourth with 360 000 copies. Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl is at number 5 with 326 000 copies followed by Sony’s Gran Turismo 5: Prologue with 224 000 copies.

Nintendo’s Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games for the DS occupied numbers 7 and 8 with 202 000 copies each followed by Activision’s Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 4 at numbers 9 and 10 with 152 000 and 141 000 copies respectively.

The hardware side of things looked much the same as March’s results. The Wii was the best-selling console with 714 000 units followed by the Nintendo DS which experienced a sales drop from last month’s 698 000 units to 415 000 units. The PSP sold 193 000 units, the Xbox 360 188 000 and the PS3 187 000 units. Next month GTA IV will no doubt boost the hardware sales of both the Xbox 360 and PS3.

If you missed it, make sure you check out the NPD results for March.

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