Wii Play drops out of the top ten software list for the first time since releasing 29 months ago. By Chris Pereira, 07/16/2009
After a month in
May where console sales were down -- with the exception of the 360, which remained at the same figure, and the PS3, which saw a 4,000 unit increase over
April -- and only four titles sold more than 200,000 units, June was a much kinder month to the industry, thanks in large part to being a five-week reporting period versus May's four-week period. The DS by far saw the biggest increase on the hardware side, selling 133,000 more systems in June than in May, totaling for more than twice as many sales as the next best selling platform, the Wii. What's perhaps most notable is the fact that the PS3's 164,700 units sold is its best month since March, which is the last time it sold more than 200,000 systems. As we make our way towards the end of the year's third quarter, it's becoming more and more difficult to not believe the rumors of a forthcoming PS3 price cut.
Compared with last year things continue to look grim. "The video games industry realized a significant decline when compared to June 2008, the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year declines," wrote NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "The first half of the year has been tough largely due to comparisons against a stellar first half performance last year, but still, this level of decline is certainly going to cause some pain and reflection in the industry." Frazier added, "The Xbox 360 is the only platform to have realized a unit sales increase over last June. [Year-to-date], both the 360 and [DS] have generated an increase in unit sales."
June 2009 Hardware Sales
- Nintendo DS -- 766,500
- Wii -- 361,700
- Xbox 360 -- 240,600
- PlayStation 3 -- 164,700
- PlayStation Portable -- 163,500
- PlayStation 2 -- 152,700
May 2009 Hardware Sales- Nintendo DS -- 633,500
- Wii -- 289,500
- Xbox 360 -- 175,000
- PlayStation 3 -- 131,000
- PlayStation 2 -- 117,000
- PlayStation Portable -- 100,400
Not only were hardware sales up for every platform, but all but two games crossed the 200,000 sales mark -- twice as many as in May. The 360 version of
Prototype proved to be a strong seller, as did the 360 iteration of
UFC 2009, which fell only one spot while the PS3 version fell out of the top ten altogether.
Infamous, the PS3-only, open-world action game sold better in its first full month on store shelves after releasing near the end of May. Top ten mainstays
Wii Fit and
Mario Kart found a way to remain on the list even with three EA sports games --
Tiger Woods on Wii (no doubt thanks in part to its bundle with Wii Motion Plus, which NPD reports sold 169,000 units on its own) and
Fight Night Round 4 on both PS3 and 360 -- making a hard push, but for the first time since its launch 29 months ago, Wii Play didn't make the top ten list, NPD reports.
Red Faction: Guerrilla only charting at number nine is somewhat surprising given that it had nearly a full month at retail and the usual success of shooters on 360 -- it'll be interesting to see if it can manage to reappear in the less-crowded (as far as game releases go) month of July.
June 2009 Software Sales
- Prototype (360) -- 419,900
- UFC 2009: Undisputed (360) -- 338,300
- EA Sports Active (Wii) -- 289,100
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (Wii) -- 272,400
- Wii Fit (Wii) -- 271,600
- Fight Night Round 4 (360) -- 260,800
- Fight Night Round 4 (PS3) -- 210,300
- Mario Kart Wii (Wii) -- 202,100
- Red Faction: Guerrilla (360) -- 199,400
- Infamous (PS3) -- 192,700
May 2009 Software Sales- UFC 2009: Undisputed (360) -- 679,600
- Wii Fit (Wii) -- 352,800
- EA Sports Active (Wii) -- 345,800
- UFC 2009: Undisputed (PS3) -- 334,400
- Infamous (PS3) -- 175,900
- Pokemon Platinum (DS) -- 168,900
- Mario Kart Wii (Wii) -- 158,300
- Punch-Out!! (Wii) -- 156,900
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (360) -- 120,700
- Wii Play (Wii) -- 109,800
