Nintendo in March: 720k Wiis / 700k DS / 2.7 Million SSBB Sold!!

[mugs]

Originally posted by: binister
I bought SSBB and played it all of 4 times. Definitely more hype than fun imho.

I don't think that's the case at all. It's not my kind of game, so I didn't buy it (because I didn't like SSB Melee). But a ton of people really, really like the game. I don't think it's hype, I think it's just different tastes.

 

[Queasy]

Nintendo layeth down the smack

NPD Reports Nintendo Finished March with Top Game, Top Hardware In March, Nintendo again defined industry momentum in both home and portable video games sales, according to the independent NPD Group, which monitors retail activity in the video game industry. More than 720,000 Wii? systems sold in March, representing the highest monthly sales total outside of holiday months (November or December) to date, while Nintendo DS? also sold through nearly 700,000 systems.

Nintendo also finished with the top-selling U.S. game of March. Super Smash Bros.® Brawl, which launched March 9, came in at No. 1 with 2.7 million units sold.

"Nintendo systems represented 58 percent of all video game hardware sold in March in the United States," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "We expect our momentum to continue with big upcoming game launches like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit."

Other March U.S. statistics, according to NPD, include:

* Three Wii games finished in the top 10, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl at No. 1, Wii Play? at No. 4, and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock at No. 7.

* Nintendo DS has now sold more than 19 million units in the United States alone since it launched in November 2004.

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Wow. All the analysts were predicting that the PS3 would outsell the 360 in March. 360 just edged the PS3 out.

It has in the world market. The PS3 has outsold the 360 every week this year so far.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: Queasy
Wow. All the analysts were predicting that the PS3 would outsell the 360 in March. 360 just edged the PS3 out.

It has in the world market. The PS3 has outsold the 360 every week this year so far.

Yes, I'm well aware of that. I was speaking specifically of the numbers for North America. Analysts had the PS3 outselling the 360 for the North American market. Pachter was probably the most off as he was predicting sales of something like 360k for the PS3 and 350k for the 360.

 

[Blayze]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: binister
I bought SSBB and played it all of 4 times. Definitely more hype than fun imho.

I don't think that's the case at all. It's not my kind of game, so I didn't buy it (because I didn't like SSB Melee). But a ton of people really, really like the game. I don't think it's hype, I think it's just different tastes.

I was a big fan of Melee, but Brawl just didn't work as well for me. Sure its a great game, but after awhile I got bored. A lot of that was the fact that it was so similar to Melee, that it felt like I was basically playing the same game a lot of time. I guess I played Melee to much. I don't know.

The big let down for me on Brawl was the online mode. Taking forever to find a random match is horrible.

 

[Beev]

I picked up a 360 and a PSP 2 weeks ago with my tax return.

I'm helping the numbers!

/nef

 

[RandomFool]

I read somewhere that Nintendo is diverting more Wiis to Europe now because the US dollar is blowing chunks.

SSBB is a ton of fun. It was hyped like crazy but pretty much lived up to most of it. The only real disappointments I have with it is how much more they could have added like characters, maps, voice chat.

I hope the competition between the PS3 and 360 keeps up like this. I'd like to see MS keep "winning" this generation because then Sony will have to work that much harder to keep up then I might feel better about buying one whenever I get around to needing a blu-ray player.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom
It has in the world market. The PS3 has outsold the 360 every week this year so far.

Yes, but we know that America is all that matters 😛.

/patriotism! :flagwave;

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: I4AT
Wow, those are insane numbers. I don't understand how the DS sells so well for so long, you'd think everyone would have one by now.

Well, I myself bought 2 original DSs at launch, one for me and one for my son, then when the DS Lite came out I bought a black one and gave my old one to my Niece, then when the red and black one came out I bought it and gave my son the black DS lite. So for me a total of 4 were bought. I am sure many people do what I do so I would say maybe 20-25% are people like me who update the DS when a new color or model comes out. 🙂

 

[RandomFool]

I'd probably buy a new DS revision provided it had some neat new feature like Wii integration or something. I'd just give my old one to my sister.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: I4AT
Wow, those are insane numbers. I don't understand how the DS sells so well for so long, you'd think everyone would have one by now.

Well, I myself bought 2 original DSs at launch, one for me and one for my son, then when the DS Lite came out I bought a black one and gave my old one to my Niece, then when the red and black one came out I bought it and gave my son the black DS lite. So for me a total of 4 were bought. I am sure many people do what I do so I would say maybe 20-25% are people like me who update the DS when a new color or model comes out. 🙂

Plus you have to figure that there are lots of kids getting old enough to have their first DS. Example: My sister is getting one for my nephew (he's currently using his Papa's) and I'll probably end up getting one for my daughter in the next year or so so she and her brother will stop fighting over the DS.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Holy crap!

 

[Queasy]

Console price cuts coming soonish? I think that's a given but the possibility of a price cut in conjunction with the GTA IV release doesn't sound like it is going to happen. Instead, MS and Sony will use GTA IV to sell systems at the current price point and then cut the prices when that dies down.

Consumers might be seeing price cuts for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 in the coming months, claimed analyst Jesse Divnich of research firm EEDAR in a report sent to Gamasutra following today's NPD sales figures for March.

Divnich pointed to the lower-than-expected sales of Xbox 360 and PS3 as evidence that the systems might be plateauing. "These hardware results would indicate that both systems have likely saturated their potential market at their current price points," he wrote. "If we do not see any price cuts in the coming weeks, we can likely expect some hardware cuts once GTA IV loses some steam (before July) or if the GTA IV release significantly drives hardware sales for one console over the other."

Still, he cautioned against being too expectant of an adjustment. "It would be erroneous to start shouting price cuts as we are only a few weeks away from one of the big releases in gaming (GTA IV)," he admitted. "March's hardware results could very well be the 'calm before the storm. '"

As for why the systems performed as they did, Divnich points to a lack of high-profile flagship releases. "In terms of the continued battle between the PS3 and Xbox 360 we were not surprised that both consoles fell relatively close to each other as neither system offered any significant first party releases or new promotions to sway the trends," he said.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: I4AT
Wow, those are insane numbers. I don't understand how the DS sells so well for so long, you'd think everyone would have one by now.

Well, I myself bought 2 original DSs at launch, one for me and one for my son, then when the DS Lite came out I bought a black one and gave my old one to my Niece, then when the red and black one came out I bought it and gave my son the black DS lite. So for me a total of 4 were bought. I am sure many people do what I do so I would say maybe 20-25% are people like me who update the DS when a new color or model comes out. 🙂

Plus you have to figure that there are lots of kids getting old enough to have their first DS. Example: My sister is getting one for my nephew (he's currently using his Papa's) and I'll probably end up getting one for my daughter in the next year or so so she and her brother will stop fighting over the DS.

This is true. I am thinking about getting my stepson a DS for Christmas because he is just getting to that age where it is appropriate.

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: R Nilla

Originally posted by: warcrow
1. Wii - 721,000
2. Nintendo DS - 698,000
3. Xbox 360 - 262,000
4. PSP - 297,000
5. PlayStation 3 - 257,000
6. PlayStation 2 - 216,000

Why is the PSP listed fourth?

Oops! Updated...

 

[Crafty35a]

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I read somewhere that Nintendo is diverting more Wiis to Europe now because the US dollar is blowing chunks.

Did you not even look at the NPD report? 720,000 units sold last month (the highest number ever outside of the holiday months) would seem to refute that.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Crafty35a

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I read somewhere that Nintendo is diverting more Wiis to Europe now because the US dollar is blowing chunks.

Did you not even look at the NPD report? 720,000 units sold last month (the highest number ever outside of the holiday months) would seem to refute that.

Well, Random is still technically correct. There was a report/rumor a week or more ago that Nintendo was sending more units to Europe because of the weakening dollar.

 

[rocadelpunk]

I don't think a day has gone by that my roommates and I haven't played smash.

 

[Genx87]

Good god

Software sales wise.

360 outsells the PS3 in the top 10 8:1
Wii outsells the PS3 in the top 10 by 15:1

 

[RandomFool]

Originally posted by: Crafty35a

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I read somewhere that Nintendo is diverting more Wiis to Europe now because the US dollar is blowing chunks.

Did you not even look at the NPD report? 720,000 units sold last month (the highest number ever outside of the holiday months) would seem to refute that.

I was trying to say that if the rumor was true then that number could have been even higher which is kind of crazy.

 

[Crafty35a]

Originally posted by: RandomFool

Originally posted by: Crafty35a

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I read somewhere that Nintendo is diverting more Wiis to Europe now because the US dollar is blowing chunks.

Did you not even look at the NPD report? 720,000 units sold last month (the highest number ever outside of the holiday months) would seem to refute that.

I was trying to say that if the rumor was true then that number could have been even higher which is kind of crazy.

Well, wii's have been sold out everywhere for months, so they must have sent more wii's to the US in march than in previous months.

Sounds to me like they've finally gotten production ramped up a bit, and more wii's are going everywhere. (So maybe the percentage of wii's that go to the US has gone down a bit, but the overall number has surely gone up)

 

[skace]

DS deserves all the love it gets. Just played some WIFI MKDS the other day, oh man.

 

[Baked]

SSBB is not a loner game, it's party game you play w/ your friends and family. We had a huge family gathering a couple weeks ago, the kids played SSBB, we had a blast.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Genx87
Good god

Software sales wise.

360 outsells the PS3 in the top 10 8:1
Wii outsells the PS3 in the top 10 by 15:1

Yes, in the top 10 and ignoring sales below it, but most PS3 titles won't be in the top 10 because of the current 2.5:1 ratio of 360s to PS3s in the US.

On the other hand, looking at Call of Duty 4:
In the US, 360 is ~4 million to PS3 ~1.4 million ( 2.9 : 1 )
Outside the US, 1.56 to 1.37 ( 1.13 : 1 )

Weekly software totals for 4-12:
US, 360 is ~837K, PS3 is ~414K ( 2 : 1 ) -- much closer than 8:1, and less than 2.5:1 install base
Outside, 360 is ~265K, PS3 is ~423K ( 1 : 1.5 ) - thanks to 132K copies of GT5: P

The weekly total sales numbers, with sales ratios better for it than the console unit ratios, seem to show:
- PS3 owners are buying games not just using it for blu-ray
- the larger 360 library isn't translating into larger (current) sales, otherwise the 360 total sales should be more than 2.5 : 1, not less than it.


(Edit: these are VGChartz numbers so not as accurate as NPD.)