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NPD Sales Results for March 2009

Ok... please excuse the wall of stats. I'm having a fairly boring afternoon and I figured with all the talk of game sales, time on sale install base etc etc it might be interesting to see how most of the successful games on the 360 / PS3 have done in their first NPD sales period.

Below are the numbers for all PS3 / 360 games that have managed to do 200k or more in their opening sales period. Those games that were only on sale for less than a week in their first period have had their second month included too... where the numbers are available. LTD shown are the NPD total sales figures for the console as of the start of the month when the game went on sale. If the game sales are over two periods then the install base number is as of the start of the second month. (These games are marked with * )

All numbers are from http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/NPD_sales_figures and the launch date for each game is taken from the game's Wikipedia page. Figures are only taken for games released in / after November 2006 as that's when we started getting reliable NPD data.

360 Games
Code:
[b]Game			Sales	Days	360 LTD   Attach Rate[/b]		
Halo 3			3300k	 12	 6.19m       53.3%		
GTA IV			2721k	 33	10.05m       27.1% *	
Call of Duty 4		1570k	 26	 7.09m       22.1%		
Gears of War 2		1560k	 23	11.58m       13.5%		
Call of Duty WaW	1410k	 19	11.58m	     12.2%		
Gears of War		1000k	 17	 2.89m	     34.6%		
Madden 09		1000k	 19	10.66m	      9.4%		
Assassin's Creed	 980k	 18	 7.09m	     13.8%		
Resident Evil 5		 938k	 23	14.55m	      6.4%
Madden NFL 08		 897k	 19	 5.92m	     15.2%		
Fable II		 790k	 12	11.21m	      7.0%		
Rainbow Six Vegas 2	 752k	 19	 9.60m	      7.8%		
Halo Wars		 639k	 33	14.55m	      4.4%		
Star Wars TFU		 610k	 19	10.86m	      5.6%		
Army of Two		 606k	 33	 9.60m	      6.3%		
BioShock		 491k	 12	 5.92m	      8.3%		
Guitar Hero 2		 488k	 33	 5.39m	      9.1% *	
Mass Effect		 473k	 12	 7.09m	      6.7%		
Street Fighter IV	 446k	 12	14.16m	      3.1%		
Crackdown		 427k	 12	 4.79m	      8.9%		
Forza Motorsport 2	 414k	 40	 5.55m	      7.5% *	
Left 4 Dead		 410k	 12	11.58m	      3.5%		
Lost Planet		 408k	 23	 4.50m	      9.1%		
NCAA Football 09	 398k	 19	10.46m	      3.8%		
NCAA Football 08	 397k	 19	 5.75m	      6.9%		
GRAW 2			 394k	 33	 5.02m	      7.8%		
Soul Calibur IV		 393k	 33	10.66m	      3.7% *	
Guitar Hero III		 383k	  7	 6.72m	      5.7%		
Ninja Gaiden II		 373k	 33	10.24m	      3.6%		
Rock Band 2		 363k	 21	10.86m	      3.3%		
BF: Bad Company		 347k	 13	10.24m	      3.4%		
Call of Duty 3		 333k	 19	 2.89m	     11.5%		
Rock Band		 312k	 12	 7.09m	      4.4%		
Mercenaries 2		 297k	 35	10.86m	      2.7%
Devil May Cry 4		 295k	 26	 9.35m	      3.2%		
Saints Row 2		 270k	 19	11.21m	      2.4%		
The Orange Box		 238k	 25	 6.72m	      3.5%		
MLB 2K8			 237k	 33	 9.60m	      2.5%		
Lost Odyssey		 204k	 19	 9.35m	      2.2%		
NBA 2K9			 202k	 26	11.21m	      1.8%		
Fallout 3		  ??k	 33	11.21m	      ???% *

PS3 Games
Code:
[b]Game			Sales	Days	PS3 LTD   Attach Rate[/b]
GTA IV			1443k	 33	 4.21m       34.3% *
MGS4			 775k	 24	 4.42m       17.5%	
Madden 09		 643k	 19	 5.05m       12.7%	
Killzone 2		 619k	 37	 7.24m        8.5% *
Call of Duty WaW	 597k	 19	 5.65m       10.6%	
Resident Evil 5		 585k	 23	 7.24m        8.1%	
Call of Duty 4		 444k	 26	 1.98m       22.4%	
Street Fighter IV	 403k	 12	 6.96m        5.8%	
Resistance 2		 385k	 26	 5.65m        6.8%	
Assassin's Creed	 377k	 18	 1.98m       19.0%	
Little Big Planet	 356k	 34	 5.65m        6.3% *
Madden 08		 336k	 19	 1.61m       20.9%	
Star Wars TFU		 325k	 19	 5.23m        6.2%	
MLB '09: The Show	 305k	 33	 7.24m        4.2%	
NCAA Football 09	 243k	 19	 4.82m        5.0%	
Devil May Cry 4		 234k	 26	 3.48m        6.7%	
Socom Confrontation	 231k	 19	 5.46m        4.2%	
Army of Two		 225k	 33	 3.76m        6.0%	
GT5 Prologue		 224k	 19	 4.02m        5.6%

Fallout 3 is shown with ??k sales in the 360 list because I can't find accurate numbers for them it over the appropriate two periods. It sold 375k in October 08 (5 days) and between 184k - 297k in November 08.

Oh, and please let me know if you think I missed anything or got anything wrong. I'm only human. :D
 
donny2112 said:
Nah. Numbers are good. Now tell us what you found interesting about the numbers in relation to KZ2 or whatever. :)
That's best left alone methinks. There are all sorts of interesting conclusions / comparisons that can be made... but it appears to be an emotive subject rather than something sales-agers can mull over.
 
Here are the attach rates for the multiplatform games that appear on both of Psychotext's lists:

Code:
Game	          360 attach	PS3 attach
GTA IV	           27.1%	          34.3%
Call of Duty 4	  22.1%	          22.4%
Madden 08	           15.2%	          20.9%
Assassin's Creed	  13.8%	          19.0%
Call of Duty WaW	  12.2%	          10.6%
Madden 09	            9.4%	          12.7%
Resident Evil 5	   6.4%	           8.1%
Army of Two	   6.3%	           6.0%
Star Wars: TFU	   5.6%	           6.2%
NCAA Football 09	   3.8%	           5.0%
Devil May Cry 4	   3.2%	           6.7%
Street Fighter IV	   3.1%	           5.8%

Totally as expected: essentially the same, with PS3 mildly higher across the board due to its smaller installed base.* I'd like to think this would kill the "What's the matter with PS3 gamers? Why don't they buy all these good games?!" nonsense that gets tossed around, but I know that's expecting too much.

*Edit: No idea why the exception for World at War (and, marginally, Army of Two). My previous thoughts about off-the-charts growth doesn't apply, as Psychotext's post below explains.
 
All those numbers are only the first x days of sales. No sales past the first month (or second where appropriate) would have any bearing on the numbers.
 

Rolf NB

Member
You have some numbers there I've been searching for for quite a while. Say, The Orange Box. You sure those are all public stuff that already appeared in NPD threads?
 
the thoroughbred said:
Are those numbers real? Some of them seem unusually high.
You got me, I faked them all...

...which numbers seem high? I can double check them for you (or you can search for "game name" NPD in google and you'll probably get the result).
 
So we just got a big box of Sony brochures (sorry for the photo, don't have a scanner at the moment). They advertise the PS2 at $99 and show off the Fall line-up. If these are like last year's pamphlet they intend us to use these through the Fall. I'd still like to hold out hope that E3 could bring a price drop:
358tfyw.jpg

^Ugh at the chart.
 

jeremy1456

Junior Member
a Master Ninja said:
So we just got a big box of Sony brochures (sorry for the photo, don't have a scanner at the moment). They advertise the PS2 at $99 and show off the Fall line-up. If these are like last year's pamphlet they intend us to use these through the Fall. I'd still like to hold out hope that E3 could bring a price drop:

^Ugh at the chart.

That chart is so far from accurate.

They didn't even include the Dead Rising poster in the 360 section.
 
a Master Ninja said:
So we just got a big box of Sony brochures (sorry for the photo, don't have a scanner at the moment). They advertise the PS2 at $99 and show off the Fall line-up. If these are like last year's pamphlet they intend us to use these through the Fall. I'd still like to hold out hope that E3 could bring a price drop:

I still find the text "Not available in earlier models" hilarious. Who cares what was or was not in earlier models since some how... it's missing from the Wifi section on the PS3. Where did it go?
 
V

Vilix

Unconfirmed Member
a Master Ninja said:
^^Ugh at the chart.

Pachter said it best when he said what good are all the options in the world when a consumer doesn't need/want them?
 

donny2112

Member
Scrubking said:

Awesome. Nobody seemed to watch it, though.

Crib notes:

* If Moon/Dementium had sold 90K in their first month/two months/six months, they'd be ecstatic declaring "We arrived! We made it!" All development costs would've been more than covered.
* If Rockstar expected a whole lot more than 90K, they should reevaluate how they interpret the market, as 90K is a great sales number for the DS.
* If Rockstar are happy with that number, great, they should be.
* Everyone else who's reacting negatively, "I think you're insane."

TheGreatDave said:
Online gaming service - limited.

They took out the Backwards Compatibility line, this time. They should've left it in. It only would've increased the PS3 cost by $100 (i.e. buy a PS2) bringing it inline with the 360 for much better BC.
 
The row : $399 ; $199 ; $249 is the most important row of the chart to a good margin of consumers. Obviously, the wii being only 50 bucks more then the 360 isn't a factor for Nintendo, but Sony makes themselves look ridiculous with that 400 dollar price point, nitpicking features to justify a 200 dollar difference.

It really just advertises Microsoft's argument/philosophy for having the 200 dollar, feature-lite, arcade sku. Microsoft offering various choices with various prices versus a pretty much all or nothing on Sony's console.

And why isn't backwards compatibility shown?
 

Alcibiades

Member
Liara T'Soni said:
The row : $399 ; $199 ; $249 is the most important row of the chart to a good margin of consumers.
when I first glanced at it didn't even occur to me that the lowest-price versions were listed... not sure anyone even pays attention to store brochures, but it's completely conceivable that some parents will look at that and then make it a decision between the Wii and 360...
 

Nocebo

Member
Alcibiades said:
when I first glanced at it didn't even occur to me that the lowest-price versions were listed... not sure anyone even pays attention to store brochures, but it's completely conceivable that some parents will look at that and then make it a decision between the Wii and 360...
Or maybe these random parents will go: "Err what's a wi-fi? Hard-drive what? I have one in my pc... I think, I know I have something that's hard in there... Hmm online? I don't want to throw my little timmy into the pedo pit anyway. Bluray? We have the limited extended edition platinum box set of barneys the purple dinosaurs adventures on dvd and our dvd player is just fine for that." etc. :lol
Seriously though, I'm still not sure who they're trying to catch with that chart.
 

Stink

Member
OldJadedGamer said:
I still find the text "Not available in earlier models" hilarious. Who cares what was or was not in earlier models since some how... it's missing from the Wifi section on the PS3. Where did it go?

Especially when they specifically write 'Arcade'. The 360 Arcade has always had HDMI.
 

Nolan.

Member
a Master Ninja said:
So we just got a big box of Sony brochures (sorry for the photo, don't have a scanner at the moment). They advertise the PS2 at $99 and show off the Fall line-up. If these are like last year's pamphlet they intend us to use these through the Fall. I'd still like to hold out hope that E3 could bring a price drop:
358tfyw.jpg

^Ugh at the chart.

They forgot backwards com... oh never mind.
 

DMeisterJ

Banned
Psychotext said:
Nope, all arcade models had HDMI. They were all either Zephyr or Falcon motherboards at the time.

Correct. Only the Pro changed from Non-HDMI to HDMI in mid-2007. Elite always had it, and Arcade always had it. Arcade came out after Pro HDMI came out.
 

vanguardian1

poor, homeless and tasteless
DMeisterJ said:
Correct. Only the Pro changed from Non-HDMI to HDMI in mid-2007. Elite always had it, and Arcade always had it. Arcade came out after Pro HDMI came out.

Probably why I got mixed up, sry.
 

Gwanatu T

Junior Member
Glad to hear about Madworld vs. Godhand numbers. I finally went out and bought it (not quite out of pity because I still wanted it) and I like it quite a bit. I've only played the first level
beat Little Eddy
and it was a blast. Never played Godhand but always wanted to; this seems like a spiritual successor judging by the videos I've seen of Godhand though.

donny2112 said:
Makes perfect sense. All those 20 million U.S. Wii owners are just the same 20 million U.S. GCN owners, so it follows that the buying habits are all the same, too. Thanks for clearing that up. :)

I think I can sense the sarcasm, but just in case anyone took it seriously, Gamecube LTD worldwide is 21,740,000.
 

andthebeatgoeson

Junior Member
AniHawk said:
And then next gen we can count the amount of third parties on one hand. It'll be much easier to keep track of EA Ubisoft, Square Enix Sega Sammy, Konami Capcom, Activision Blizzard Namco Bandai, and Take Two.
EYE C WAT JOO DIDZ DER!
 
skinnyrattler said:
What happens when you pony up for a 360 and, well, you know...things break?

This generation sucks.
Be like a lot of other people on gaf buy another one when the more "reliable" model comes out, rinse and repeat:lol
 

andthebeatgoeson

Junior Member
DeaconKnowledge said:
This is what I don't understand about your argument.

On one hand, you handwave the 360 version, saying that it had bugs and sound issues. Erm, may I point your attention to # 10 on this months NPD, which is an absolute buggy mess of a baseball game that doesn't recognize when you've hit the ball when the bat contacts it directly, and still managed to get into the top 10?

Second, how does the "developers shouldn't bother with Wii" point get destroyed when you admitted the sales are better than you thought (read: paid any attention to). This argument gets bandied about all the time and it doesn't make sense. Publishers don't look at games and say "this game DID WELL but wasn't as successful as it was on the HD consoles, axe it". If I were a publisher, as you so deftly asked, I would say "hey, why aren't we juicing these Wii customers for all they're worth? They bought a game that we downported, undershipped and didn't even bother advertising until its second month!" This is all without mentioning that the insanely popular prequel to the game, which aided in installing the popularity on the HD consoles, didn't even get a Wii version. If pubs acted by your logic, COD4 would have never seen a PS3 release, as the Wii version of three outsold it.
I would give up listening to Speculawyer. I mean, he's a lawyer right? And he advised us to buy a used 360? WTF, that's the worse advise ever.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=15522710&postcount=2057
speculawyer said:
Exactly. And you can pick up a 360 arcade or a used/refurbed 360 for pretty damn cheap. Stop asking for games on the 360/PS3 to come to the Wii, just buy a damn 360 or PS3.

License revoked.
 
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