14 DAY TRIAL // In the general madness that is E3, the NPD numbers, which track the sales of gaming hardware and videogames on the North American market, might be easily overlooked. But since June holds interesting data and might show interesting trends, we've decided to take a closer look.
Overall, the game industry is on an upwards trend, even if the American economy is still struggling. Hardware and software sales combined amounted to more than 1.69 billion dollars in revenue, which means a 53% increase over the same period of 2007.
On the hardware side, the Nintendo Wii is no longer the best selling console in the United States, even though sales have been slowing down in June. The number one position is still held by Nintendo, as the Nintendo DS handheld managed to almost double its number to reach 783,000 units sold, up from 453,000 the previous month. The Wii comes in second, outselling its next gen rivals by a large margin, even if it only managed to deliver 666,700 consoles.
The PlayStation 3 made a big jump, its numbers being nearly double than those of the previous month. The Sony made gaming consoles sold 405,000 units with the PlayStation Portable also going strong, at 337,000 units sold in one month. The Xbox 360 from Microsoft is down in fifth place, with 40,000 units in its posted numbers. The PlayStation 2 managed to deliver 188,000 consoles to customers.
NPD analyst Anita Frazier stated that "Platform-exclusive content usually fuels hardware system purchases, and PS3 sales certainly reflect the impact of Metal Gear Solid 4. PS3 unit sales were the highest of any month outside of that recorded during previous November/December holiday timeframes".
Metal Gear Solid 4 holds the first place in videogames sales, with more than three quarters of a million games sold in one month, followed by Guitar Hero On Tour, the title that fueled increased sales for the Nintendo DS, which sold around 422,000 copies. Ninja Gaiden II holds the third spot, just ahead of Wii Fit and of Wii Play from Nintendo.
It will be interesting to see whether the high sales of the Nintendo DS and those of the PlayStation 3 will continue or not and if the Nintendo Wii claims again the top spot in hardware sales in July.