I presume it is no wonder that in May Nintendo Wii topped
again the gaming hardware sales in the United States.
As usual, the NPD Group has released its figures for the
last month and Nintendo Wii is ruling the sales of the next-gen gaming consoles
with 675,100 units sold.
However, Nintendo Wii has failed to match the month of April,
despite the release of new games such as WiiFit and Mari Kart Wii. In April,
Nintendo sold 714,000 Wiis in the U.S.
It was expected that WiiFit, which was released in the United State
last month, will boost the sales of Nintendo Wii, but apparently, it failed to
drive Wii sales over the 1 million mark. It seems like WiiFit was affected by
shortages. Still, Nintendo Wii sold double the amount of Sony’s PS3 and
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 combined.
For May, Sony’s PS3 achieved a small victory, because it managed
to surpass the sales of Xbox 360. 208,700 PS3s were sold in May in the US compared to
only 186,600 units sold.
Surprisingly, GTA IV, the game that everyone expected to
boost the gaming hardware sales, has trumped the forecasts.
Despite being the best selling game for the second month in
a row, GTA IV failed to lure gamers into buying new consoles. Last month, the
NPD analysts predicted that GTA IV’s halo effect will be seen in May, because
the game was released on April 29.
Commenting on this issue, NPD analyst Anita Frazier noted
that maybe GTA IV would boost the sales in June.
In the gaming handheld market Nintendo DS has crushed again
its competitor, PSP, with 452,600 compared to only 182,300.
For the first time since 2000, The NPD Group did not release
the data about PS2 sales. GameSpot is quoting an NPD rep who said that the
company would focus from now only on the next-gen gaming platforms.
Overall the US
retail sales of video games, consoles and accessories reached $1.12 billion in
May, a 37 percent rise over the same month last year. The hardware segment of
the market increased with 34 percent compared to the same period of last year, reaching
$428.6M.
US
VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY - MAY 2008
Software: $536.9M (+41%)
Hardware: $428.6M (+34%)
Accessories: $150.8M (+30%)
Total Games: $1.12B (+37%)
TOP-SELLING HARDWARE - MAY 2008
Nintendo Wii - 675,100
Nintendo DS - 452,600
PlayStation Portable - 182,300
Xbox 360 - 186,600
PlayStation 3 - 208,700
TOP-SELLING SOFTWARE - MAY 2008
1) Grand Theft Auto IV (X360) / Take-Two / 360 / 871,300
2) Mario Kart Wii w/ Wheel (WII) / Nintendo / 787,400
3) Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (WII) / Nintendo / 687,700
4) Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) / Take-Two / 442,900
5) Wii Play w/ Remote (WII) / Nintendo / 294,600
6) Super Smash Bros. Brawl (WII) / Nintendo / 171,100
7) Iron Man (PS2) / Sega / 130,600
8) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ Guitar (WII) /
Activision / 116,800
9) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (DS) /
Nintendo / 107,000
10) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (DS) /
Nintendo / 102,000
