Xbox 360 Outsold PS3, Wii in March, NPD Data Says

The Xbox 360 remained the best-selling home videogame console in the U.S. in March, outselling the PS3 and Wii, according to NPD data. Meanwhile, “just shy of 400,000” 3DS handheld systems were sold in the system’s first week in the market, Nintendo of America (NOA) said, citing NPD’s data. NPD stopped providing hardware sales data to reporters, but Microsoft and NOA announced sales for their systems, citing NPD’s data, and we were able to figure out March PS3 hardware sales based on data from an industry source who receives NPD’s monthly sales information.

About 433,000 Xbox 360s were sold in March, up from about 338,000 in March 2010 (CED April 19/10 p4), but down from about 535,000 in February this year (CED March 14 p4). The March sales boosted the 360’s U.S. installed base to about 26.8 million, Microsoft said.

PS3 sales grew to about 364,000 from about 314,000 in March 2010, but were down from the 403,000 sold in February this year. Its estimated U.S. installed base inched up to about 16 million -- still far behind the 360 and Wii.

The Wii was the only home console whose sales dipped from both prior periods, falling to about 290,000 from about 558,000 in March 2010 and about 455,000 in February this year. Its U.S. installed base grew to an estimated 35.3 million.

"The 3DS launch compares quite favorably to that of the best-selling dedicated handheld gaming platform of all time, the Nintendo DS,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. Although the 3DS sold about 100,000 units fewer than the DS did in its launch month, “we must consider that the DS launched in November and had holiday seasonality and a price differential of about $100,” she said. “Because of the price differential, the 3DS generated greater revenues than did the DS in its launch month in November 2004,” she said. The 3DS also “launched in an environment where there are more devices that can support the portable gaming experience such as tablets and smartphones,” she said.

NOA said combined sales of all DS systems except the 3DS “topped all home and portable video game systems in March, with more than 460,000 sold.” Demand for the platform was “propelled by sales of more than 1.3 million” copies of Nintendo’s DS game Pokemon White Version and “more than 1.1 million” copies of its Pokemon Black Version, NOA said.

The number of PSPs sold in March wasn’t immediately clear, but Frazier said PSP sales grew from about 120,000 in March 2010 as the system “benefitted from a $40/unit price reduction which occurred at the beginning of the reporting period."

Overall March U.S. game industry sales fell 4 percent from March 2010 to $1.53 billion, NPD said. The data included sales of all interactive games sold in the physical retail channel, including PC, console and portable titles, as well as hardware and accessories. Minus PC games, revenue fell 4 percent to $1.47 billion. Total videogame hardware sales grew 12 percent to $494.5 million. Overall physical game sales, including for PCs, slid 15 percent to $790.9 million. Videogame software sales, excluding PC games, dropped 16 percent to $735.4 million. Videogame accessory sales grew 13 percent to $241.3 million.

THQ’s Homefront for the 360, PS3 and PC was the No. 3 game title for March, behind the new Pokemon games, NPD said. Dragon Age II from Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and PC was No. 4. Activision’s multiplatform Call of Duty: Black Ops, February’s best-selling game, slipped to No. 5.

There was no 3DS-exclusive game in the top 10. The best-selling title for the system was Capcom’s Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, NPD said, but it didn’t say how many units were sold. NPD now reports on games only at “the title rather than SKU level” like it used to, Frazier said. Several individual SKUs “sold well and would have made the top 10 on a SKU unit sales ranking basis,” including Ubisoft’s Just Dance 2 for the Wii, Sony’s Killzone 3 for the PS3, and the Wii version of Majesco Entertainment’s Zumba Fitness, she said.

The month’s best-selling accessory SKU was the $20 PS3 Network Card, Frazier said. It was “the second time since its introduction in June ‘08 that it has ranked first,” she said, calling that “another indication of digital growth across consoles and how physical retailers are participating.” She didn’t say how many units of the accessory were sold.