14 DAY TRIAL // The NPD Group sales figures, which track both videogames and hardware sold in the United States for each month, showed the PlayStation 3 was in fourth place in the chart, with 276,900 console moved to gamers, less than the Nintendo DS, the Wii and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft. Still, the console saw quite a good increase over the numbers registered over the same period of 2009.
When it comes to videogames, things were even worse for Sony. The only PlayStation 3 title to get into the top ten was Modern Warfare 2 but its Xbox 360 version charted two places higher. Microsoft can also point to the performance of Darksiders and Army of Two: The 40th Day as a sign that gamers are picking up more titles for its platform.
Jack Trenton, who is the Chief Executive Officer and the president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, posted on the official PlayStation blog that “We’re nowhere near slowing down in the new year as today’s NPD numbers show a 36% sales increase on PS3 hardware when compared to last January. This is truly remarkable given the tight inventory we’ve been experiencing as a result of high consumer demand since last Fall.”
Trenton has also highlighted the performance of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, which is closing in on three million copies sold and has surpassed the original Drake's Fortune, and that of the newly released MAG, the multiplayer shooter that has already seen 270,000 matches played.
Sony is also hoping that upcoming exclusive titles, like God of War III and Heavy Rain, will attract more gamers to the PlayStation 3 platform and allow it to sell better than the Xbox 360. The official has highlighted the increase in revenue generated by the PlayStation Network, which the Japanese giant is aiming to turn into a much improved distribution channel in 2010.