The NPD Group released US game sales numbers for the month of November, showing a $102 million sales improvement over the same period last year. The Nintendo DS dominated the sales list while the PS2 and GBA also showed strong results.
Despite their efforts to ship 400,000 PS3’s at launch, Sony only managed 197,000 total for the month of November according to NPD. These numbers do not include Canada, who tend to get much smaller shipments. The Wii fared better with 476,000 sold during the same period, suggesting that Canada bought 124,000 systems if Nintendo’s own “600,000 sold in North America” number is accurate.
The Xbox 360 sold 511,000 units, bringing the US total up to 3.8 million units so far. Gears of War encouraged sales, selling over one million copies for the month of November, despite the $60 US premium price on the game.
While the new consoles have sold everything they could produce, it was the portables and older systems that made the biggest impact. The Nintendo DS sold a remarkable 918,000 units during the month, bringing the total sales to 8.1 million units in the US. The PS2 took second with 664,000 units, followed by the GBA selling 641,000 systems. The PSP brought up the rear with 412,000 systems, almost matching the Xbox 360 and surpassing the PS3.
Gears of War was the top seller this month, followed by Final Fantasy XII with 896,000 sold. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess sold 412,000 copies along with the Wii, showing a strong tie-in rate with the new system. Guitar Hero 2 sold 356,000 systems (many with the guitar peripheral), taking the fourth spot.
Total year-to-date sales for the industry are $9.4 billion. Once the December numbers come in, some analysts believe the industry will have cleared $13 billion in sales for 2006.
Source: Next-Gen
Published: Dec 8, 2006 02:24 pm