EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: march

With the March NPD figures hot off the press, the big three of the video game industry have had their say about the March numbers.

Nintendo

Nintendo emerged as the clear victor in March, dominating both the hardware and software side of things with over 720 000 Wii units, almost 700 000 DS units and 2.7 million copies of Super Smash Bros. Brawl sold. According to Nintendo the amount of Wiis sold in March represents the “highest monthly sales total outside of holiday months (November or December) to date.”

“Nintendo systems represented 58 percent of all video game hardware sold in March in the United States,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “We expect our momentum to continue with big upcoming game launches like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit.”

Nintendo boasted three Wii games in the software Top 10, Super Smash Bros. Brawl at number 1, Wii Play at number 4 and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock at number 7. The latest NPD figures show that the Nintendo DS has sold over 19 million units in the US since its launch in November 2004.

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The latest NPD figures show that almost $1 billion in video game software was sold across North America in March, up 63% year-on-year to 945.6 million. The US video game industry recorded a 57% increase from March 2007, racking up $1.7 billion in sales for hardware, software and accessories combined.

Hardware also enjoyed a 46% increase to record $551.3 million in sales. The Wii was the best-selling console for the month, selling 721 000 units. The Mario factory also took second place with the Nintendo DS selling 698 000 units. The PSP sold 297 000 units to secure third place while the Xbox 360 sold 262 000 units to just beat the PS3 which sold 257 000 units. The PS2 sold 216 000 units.

Turning to the software side of things, Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl topped software sales with 2.7 million copies. Mario’s galactic adventure was well ahead of the pack, with the nearest competitor roughly 1.9 million copies behind it. Ubisoft’s Xbox 360 version of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 sold 752 300 copies to take second place while EA’s Army of Two for the Xbox 360 followed with 606 100 copies.

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