Xbox 360 Outsells PS3 in America

Video game industry continues to be healthy despite economic downturn

According to data from market research firmNPD, the Xbox 360 outsold the PS3 in September. Nintendo continued to lead sales charts with 687, 000 Wii and 537,000 DS systems sold. The Xbox 360 sold 347,000 consoles compared to the PlayStation 3’s 232,000 consoles. The PlayStation Portable sold 238,000 units and 173,000 PlayStation 2s were also sold as well.

The increase in Xbox 360 sales follows price cuts made in early September. Compared to September 2007, the overall video game market was down 7 percent according to a Reutersarticle that summarized the NPD statistics. Several factors contributed to this decline as last September was when the much anticipated Halo 3 was released which had a large impact on software and hardware sales. According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier Halo 3 generated a full 35 percent of software sales for all of 2007.

Frazier’s analysis of the NPD numbers were discussed in a Gamasutra article where it is mentioned that decline in prices of each of the videogame consoles also contributed to the overall decline. According to Frazier, “Hardware unit sales were flat versus last year so the decline in dollars is due to lower prices. The average retail price of hardware across all platforms declined 8% from last September.”

Despite the decline in September sales compared to the previous year, the video game industry continues to be healthy. Frazier states, “Overall, the health of the video games industry remains quite strong despite the rocky economic conditions. Tracking against typical industry seasonality, the U.S. video games industry is positioned to realize $22B or more in revenues for the year.”

Overall, the market is at $11.82 billion in sales for January to September 2008, compared to $9.38 billion in sales for the same period in 2007.

Nintendo Claims Victory in September with Wii and DS

Crediting the Wii and DS’ unique control schemes, Nintendo today claimed victory in September’s sales figures.  According to the latest NPD data, the Nintendo Wii sold almost 687,000 units in the month, while the DS finished second with almost 537,000 units sold.

The Wii also saw the biggest monthly sales increase with 234,000 more units sold over August’s numbers, while the system also saw a year-over-year increase of more than 37% versus September of last year.

Four games for Nintendo systems made the top 10, with Wii Fit at #2 (almost 518,000 copies sold), Mario Kart Wii at #4 (over 353,000 sold),Wii Play at #7 (almost 243,000 sold), and finally Star Wars: The Force Unleashed at #8 (more than 223,000 sold).

“The four Wii games in the top 10 all feature controls just not possible on other video game systems,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “The Wii Balance Board and Wii Wheel give players new ways to interact with their games, while the Wii Remote controller transforms into a pool cue, table tennis paddle or lightsaber. Consumers have truly responded to this variety of entertainment options.”