NPD reports 17% decline in video game sales

Video game industry sales as a whole slip 17% in March.

NPD reports 17% decline in video game sales

Resident Evil 5 fights off the competition in March according to NPD

According to the leading global market research company NPD Group, video game sales dipped 17% in the month of March to $1.43 billion. This is the first reported decline in overall sales since September 2008.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier says, "While it might be tempting to jump to the conclusion that the sky is starting to fall on the video games industry given this month's results, it's important to remember that two very big things are different this year than last. First, Easter fell in March last year whereas it fell in April this year, and last March included the release of Super Smash Bros: Brawl, which went on to become the fourth best-selling game in 2008."

Overall, hardware sales slid 18% to $4.55 million, with Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS leading the pack. Software sales were down 17 percent to $792.83 million, with Resident Evil 5 topping sales across the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

Here is the official number breakdown for hardware and software sales from NPD:

Hardware

Wii - 601,000
DS - 563,000
Xbox 360 - 330,000
PS3 - 218,000
PSP - 168,000
PS2 - 112,000

Software

1. Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, Xbox 360) - 938K
2. Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo, DS) - 805K
3. Halo Wars (Microsoft, Xbox 360) - 639K
4. Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, PS3) - 585K
5. Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (Nintendo, Wii) - 541K
6. MLB '09: The Show (Sony, PS3) - 305K
7. Killzone 2 - (Sony, PS3) - 296K
8. Wii Play w/ Remote (Nintendo, Wii) - 281K
9. Mario Kart w/ Wheel (Nintendo, Wii) - 278K
10. MLB 2K9 (Take-Two, Xbox 360) - 205K

Comments [22]

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ViciousSid

PS3 is really starting to creep onto these sales charts....good to see Halo Wars kicking ass, too. Fun game.

ManginaX

Demarius_b wrote:

Halo Wars outsold Killzone 2... WOWIE!! That was unexpected

no it wasn't

ChokaDaChicken

The recession is really starting to set. It was bad before, but now it's just terrible. Unless I'm a die hard fan of a game, or I've done mad research. I'm not going to buy too
much. I did get a Dsi for my daughter tho.

MizzouMafia

Wow those are not good numbers for Sony. And what happened to those record amounts of preorders for Killzone 2? 1.5 million in Europe alone, and US equal to or more according to David Reeves. Did people get turned off by the demo? It was a bit disappointing but I still bought it. Oh well, what can u do?

Halo Wars and Resident Evil 5 WOW!!! People lol @ the notion of Halo Wars launching head to head with K2 but look who is laughing now.

hiphophippy27

Cool RE5 sold a bunch.

Honestly didn't expect Halo Wars to sell that much though. I wonder how many people bought it just because of the 'Halo' brand on it (no offense)

But WTF?! MLB 09 The Show sold like 300K? Wii Fit 541k? MLB 2K9 205k? Jesus, what are people buying these days?

Donny007

OFF TOPIC:
What game do you think is going to win game of the year 2009 at the VGA?
Killzone 2, Halo Wars, Halo 3 ODST, God Of War 3, Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Resident Evil 5?
Am I missing any possible choices? Please reply I'd like to hear your opinion.

Donny007

OFF TOPIC:
What game do you think is going to win game of the year 2009 at the VGA?
Killzone 2, Halo Wars, Halo 3 ODST, God Of War 3, Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Resident Evil 5?
Am I missing any possible choices? Please reply I'd like to hear your opinion.

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