The April NPD numbers are here, and once again the gaming industry performs as if recession meant every American had $600 burning a hole in their pocket and only games to spend it on. With multiple Guinness World Records in its honor, even with only five days worth of sales there was no question whatsoever as to which game would land on top of the April heap. We’re not even going to speak its hallowed name, lest we inflate Rockstar’s ego some more. Instead, let’s see how everything else held up in the juggernaut’s wake.
Item #1: While April’s overall game industry sales don’t match that of Super Smash March or even sequel-filled February they’re still cyclically smokin’ hot at $1.23 billion, a 47% increase from the same time last year… and as we’ll soon see, a huge part of that was software, which rose a whopping 68% to $654.7 million.
Item #2: Though Xbox 360 and PS3 continue to keep pace with one another, neither show any indication of the expected growth due to the-game-that-must-not-be-named. In fact, they’ve actually slowed down significantly compared to March, with each selling approximately 70,000 fewer units. But given that it only had five days, NPD analyst Anita Frazier believes we may see the GTA IV effect kick off off next month instead:
It was surprising not to see bigger hardware sales for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 given the release of GTA IV. However, since the game was only in the market for 5 days during this reporting period, that sales lift could very well be evident in May data.
Then again, hardware has slumped overall, and the poor PlayStation 2 in particular may be seeing the end of its lifecycle — it’s sloughed nearly 100K per month since February. The Wii remains ridiculously popular.
Wii — 714.2K (from 721K)
Nintendo DS — 414.8K (from 698K)
PSP — 192.7K (from 297K)
Xbox 360 — 188.0K (from 262K)
PlayStation 3 — 187.1K (from 257K)
PlayStation 2 — 124.4K (from 216K)
Item #3: Software rocked this month thanks to you-know what, but virtual NYC isn’t the only place that encourages drive-bys; the Mushroom Kingdom does a pretty good job as well, and so Mario Kart Wii managed to move over 1.1 million units this month. Super Smash Bros. Brawl clocked in another 326K, rounding off its U.S. totals at a cool 3 million sold. Last month’s PSP games vanished in favor of Pokemon’s respectable DS finish, and Activision’s bestsellers continued to slip down the chart. Wii Play remains evergreen at #4.
Grand Theft Auto IV - 360 - Take-Two - 1.85mm
Mario Kart Wii - Wii - Nintendo - 1.12mm
Grand Theft Auto IV - PS3 - Take-Two - 1.00mm
Wii Play - Wii - Nintendo - 360K
Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Wii - Nintendo - 326K
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue - PS3 - Sony - 224K
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness - DS - Nintendo - 202K
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time - DS - Nintendo - 202K
Guitar Hero III - Wii - Activision - 152K
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - 360 - Activision - 141K
Next month we’ll evaluate whether GTA IV can retain momentum, watch Wii Fit dominate, and see if any summer blockbusters or the critic-tested, Steven Spielberg-approved Boom Blox can crack the top 10.
Editor’s note: As always, if you were in any way offended by the use of the NPD logo, we strongly encourage you to take a relaxing bath and remember that you’re reading a game website.
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