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March 2008 NPD: Almost $1 Billion in Software Sales; Nintendo Wins March

April 18, 2008 in Industry News comments 8

March's NPD numbers are in, and boy are they a shocker. As always, many thanks to the NPD Group and sonycowboy at NeoGAF for reporting and the actual numbers.

The numbers can be found in the quote.

In regards to hardware sales, the Wii sales are astounding, taking into account that there was only one blockbuster release in March, that being Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Looking at the February NPD, the DS and the Wii both shot up from the previous month. The other systems kept relatively the same numbers from this month to last month, but keep in mind that March was a five-week tracking period, making it a drop in average weekly sales for the PlayStation family and the 360.

Software wise, Super Smash Bros. Brawl blowing the competition away was something to be expected, but probably not with an impressive showing of 2.7 million. Call of Duty 4 and Guitar Hero III, and Wii Play are still going strong on the charts, keeping their holds on the chart since their respective releases. The newcomers include Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Army of Two, MLB 2K8, and a pair of PSP games, God of War: Chains of Olympus and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

However, the biggest news is the $945.6 million in total software sales, a 63% increase over last year's number, and around a 50% increase from February's impressive software total. The industry is growing, people.

[February NPD]

Industry Sales
Mar-07 Mar-08 CHG
Total Video Games $1.1B $1.7B 57%
Video Games Hardware $377.9M $551.3M 46%
Video Games Software $579.1M $945.6M 63%
Video Game Accessories $139.5M $220M 58%

HW Sales

Hardware Mar-08
PlayStation 2 216K
PlayStation 3 257K
PlayStation Portable 297K
Xbox 360 262K
Nintendo DS 698K
Wii 721K

SW Sales
Top-Selling VG Software - March 2008

Platform Title Publisher Release Date March Units
WII SUPER SMASH BROS: BRAWL NINTENDO OF AMERICA Mar-08 2.7M
360 *TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS 2 UBISOFT Mar-08 752.3K
360 ARMY OF TWO ELECTRONIC ARTS Mar-08 606.1K
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA Feb-07 409.8K
PSP GOD OF WAR: CHAINS OF OLYMPUS SONY Mar-08 340.5K
PSP CRISIS CORE: FINAL FANTASY VII SQUARE ENIX INC Mar-08 301.6K
WII GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK ACTIVISION Oct-07 264.1K
360 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K8 TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE Mar-08 237.1K
360 *CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE ACTIVISION Nov-07 237K
PS3 ARMY OF TWO ELECTRONIC ARTS Mar-08 224.9K
Akira_EX via neogaf.com »
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  • 0
    Slumpy monkey Apr 18, 08
    360 out sold ps3? Good for Microsoft.
  • 0
    iLLmatic Apr 18, 08
    These numbers are ridiculous for the month of March. Unbelievable what kind of figures the industry has been putting up, and the biggest games of the year aren't even out yet. 2007 is already looking like a practice run.
    • 0
      Slumpy monkey Apr 18, 08
      What do you mean?????????
      • 2
        iLLmatic Apr 18, 08
        I mean its historically a slow time of year for gaming, but they have already posted billion dollar months this year. With games like GTA IV, Metal Gear Solid 4, Too Human, Gears of War 2, and Resistance 2 not even out yet, this year could blow up for games. Couple that with pretty much anything Nintendo does, and 2007 could very well become second place for the biggest year in games. Thats what I mean.
  • 0
    bbb7002004 Apr 18, 08
    Grand Theft Auto, Wii Fit, Smash Bros., MGS4...

    Yeah, 2008 is going to blow 2007 away.
  • 0
    Kazooieman Apr 19, 08
    Wii Play W/ Wii Remote is 4th! =O

    And I knew that Super Smash Bros. Brawl was gonna be popular but doesn't almost everybody have the game by now? I mean almost everybody on the Brawl forum had pre-ordered the game!
    • 0
      Slumpy monkey Apr 19, 08
      Its not out in Europe, yet. I think. I remember going to buy it but it wasn't there, So I got mario kart instead.

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