14 DAY TRIAL // Media outlets insist on covering the so called "console war" between the Microsoft produced Xbox 360 and the Sony created PlayStation 3, especially now that GTA IV sales have become an easily recognizable battleground. But the real winner when it comes to console sales is Nintendo, which again managed to have an excellent April in North America, as the NPD numbers reveal.
When looking at the console sales chart it's pretty much impossible not to notice that Nintendo has a virtual choke hold on the market and does all this while claiming that the Wii is hit by supply issues. The family oriented console sold 714.2 thousand units in April, a little less than in March but still almost double the sales of its closest competitor, the Nintendo DS, which has seen sales of 414.8 thousand handhelds, on a rather sharp downturn from previous sales of 698 thousand units. The PlayStation Portable is on the third position sporting numbers of 192.7 thousand, also in sharp decrease from March.
The Xbox 360 managed to just edge out its main rival, the PlayStation 3, with sales of 188,000 beating sales of 187,100 units. The PlayStation 2 continues to sell, despite its old age and mainly because of its low price, pushing some 124,400 consoles to gamers in April.
Anita Frazier, who is an analyst from the NPD, stated "As retail supplies become more plentiful we're seeing continued sales strength of Wii hardware. With a couple of blockbuster games already in the market this year, and with Wii Fit and Rock Band still to come in the next two months, the pipeline of content to continue to drive hardware acquisition looks very good".
On the games market things looked as expected following the launch of GTA IV. First place is taken by the Xbox 360 version of the game, with sales of 1,85 million copies (and bear in mind that the game launched at the end of April). Third spot is taken by GTA IV, in its PS3 incarnation, with 1 million in sales. Mario Kart for the Wii also launched to strong sales, of more than 1.1 million units.
Overall the videogame sales for April went up by 68% and reached 654.7 million dollars, a figure usually reserved for the last months of the year and not for April.