John-ShepardIt was a darn good month for the industry, which saw God of War III , Final Fantasy XIII and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 top 1 million copies sold, another dogfight between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and another month of growth for the PS3.
The latest NPD numbers for March are in, and as noted by NPD analyst Anita Frazier, "in terms of total revenue, March 2010 is the third best non-holiday month on record behind March 2008 and June 2008." Only hardware sales fell – down 4% to $440.5 million – but software sales shot up last month, rising 10% overall to $795 million. God of War III hit #1 on the top 10 list with 1.1 million units sold, and the combined PS3 and 360 sales of Final Fantasy XIII hit 1.322 million (the top 10 list doesn't combine SKUs for multiplatform titles). But not surprisingly, the PS3 version sold much better in comparison to the 360 version; 828,000 to 493,900. The following are the official numbers:
Overall Dollar Sales
Hardware Sales
As for Sony's response, they wanted to bring your attention to the following facts: the PS3 is still the only console to see double digit growth both year-over-year (44%) and year-to-date (36%), four of the top ten software titles were on the PS3, and PS3 software/hardware/peripheral sales comprised 26% of the total video game dollar share in March, the highest of any console. Their official statement from Patrick Seybold, SCEA Senior Director of Corporate Communications:
"The huge appetite for PS3 content and gaming experiences has never been stronger as we continue to bring out great games like God of War III which was the #1 software title in March with more than 1.1 million units sold in less than 3 weeks. We also remain the only console to see double digit growth of 44% when compared to last March and are up 36% at this point in the calendar year. It's no surprise, consumer demand remains incredibly high and PS3 supply will continue to be tight across our retail channels in the next few months. We're experiencing healthy momentum from an already blockbuster lineup of games such as MAG, Heavy Rain, White Knight Chronicles, MLB 10 The Show, and God of War III in just the past 3 months — which some would call a great year, but for us it represents just the first quarter of many anticipated games like ModNation Racers, Gran Turismo 5, and others we have yet to announce this year."
Can you imagine a Final Fantasy 13 Jeff Butler Sony commercial if the games stayed exclusive?
Square-enix, that right there would've been your 1 million and a half copies sold.
Understand where your loyalties and true success lie Square-enix.
Stick with Sony…
Love that the momentum is continuing to build and build for Sony and Playstation. I just want to see the Playstation 3 pass the 300+ monthly units sold already and top the 360 permanently. In due time I know, in due time.
Rock on Gamers, Gamers rock on.
thats a surprise?
both games could contain a goat hanging a sh*t and both would sell like grandmas underpants!
i really hope stig decides to release all the cut content from GOW3 as DLC, i really want to play the E3 level they cut out!
PS3 isn't going to top the Xbox 360 in sales in the U.S. this generation. Sadly, I think I'm beginning to come to this conclusion, as I am an older gamer who grew up on PlayStation products.
It might have a chance to catch up worldwide, but that would be years from now; possibly after the launch of the next generation of consoles.
One thing the data shows is that Sony has a lot of positive momentum for itself right now. The fans, like most of us here at PSX, are pretty hardcore and we put our money where our mouths are. Sony has done an excellent job over the last 18 months in particular, giving us many reasons to spend our hard earned cash.
I just hope that Sony improves on the decisions that hurt them this gen. Namely not allowing the competition to have a full year to be the only one with their next-gen out and constructing a system that is able to hold an attractive price tag.
Unfortunately, Sony just can't rely on the minority that will buy a PS4 regardless of the price the put on it.
I'm happy for God of war 3. Sony keep up the good job.
Why does the PS2 still exist and who is buying them?…I don't mean that in a bad way. I still have my PS2 for 2001 and it doesn't work that good, but I would love to play San Andreas again. But seriously, sony should cut it from production and maybe sale figures all around we grow. I personally don't care about sale figures because I am a gamer, I leave the business to the businessman, but I can't help but notice this. Thumbs up if you agree
It really dont know what square enix was thinking when they made FF13 multiplatform. I mean the 2/3 of the people who bought FF13 for the ps3 are a lock already. those were the people who will buy final fantasy 13 because its a final fantasy. They wont really loose out on anything if they made it exclusive. I mean, those 1/3 customers who bought ff13 on the 360 (morons!) wouldve been convince to buy a ps3 just for ff13 if they made it as amazing as it shouldve been. I mean, the final fantasy franchise is just that big. It is a system seller and being amazed by a game that meets final fantasy expectations, not 13, will be more than enough to cover what they made right now from the 360 crowd.
although i just thought about final fantasy 13's "streamlined" combat system, those 360 sales were probably from twitch gamers, not fans. Either way, FF13 couldve shifted a few more software and hardware if it stayed exclusive. oh, and one last thing. concerning decisions like this, sony, get your head out of your a$$e$!!
Could've sony intervened to sway square-enix? It is said through the land that MS more capital to dispose of than Sony.
I/m sure SE found it difficult to refuse MS's money offer.
I was seeing 360 above PS3 on the sales charts and I thought that was weird, but then I realized… holy hell the ps2 is still moving systems. That amazes me. Good to see people still appreciate quality.
Read this with a fake French accent*
You Americans do not know the best console.
End accent*
hey! That French guy's right, most of you don't. Being loyal to your country and buying things like consoles when you're not informed isn't a smart thing to do.
just Sayin'
"hey! That French guy's right" ROFL!!!
It would be nice if you acknowledged world-wide Hardware sales. I could understand a xbox site wanting to focus only on American.
Agreed 100%.
Look at that PS2, still chuggin' along. I still play mine almost every day. Just bought another game for it yesterday.
It just has so many great games…
So many games I still need to get for it 🙁
In my opinion, probably the best system ever. And in ten years, if enough people take off their rose-tinted glasses while looking at the NES, I think it will be widely recognized as such. It just did EVERYTHING SO WELL. Groundbreaking genres, terrific graphics — Metal Gear Solid 3, the God of Wars, and quite a few others are holding up remarkably well in terms of visuals AND gameplay even as we delve further into the HD gaming age — a veritable Sh*t Ton of super high-quality games, high watermark software acheivements that reinvented the game industry… you just can't say enough about it.
i found a copy of makai kingdom (finally) the other day, and have been jammin on my ps2 for the past few days. as a hardcore nintendo nut growing up, now moved on to sony since 1996, i have no qualms in saying PS2 is the most prolific system of all time. "best" is subjective, but it would be hard to make a case against it.
i dont understand, the 360 still managed to sell 338,400 units vs PS3's 313,900 units, 20,000+ more units than the PS3. Wut damn games do they have these days on the 360? and with the release of Heavy Rain, FF13, GOW3, Demon's Souls, Uncharted 2 etc and $299 price, the PS3 is still behind the 360 sales in absolute number of units, I just dont get it.
I think the FF13 multiplat contributed to 360 a bit too, and also the multiplat games like Dante's Inferno, Bayonetta, AC2, Darksiders… helped 360 loyalist. But I just do not get it, for the multiplat titles, why would anyone want to buy a 360 version rather than a PS3 version copy.
This does not make sense, and if this continues, I dont see when and how the PS3 total number of units sold can surpass that of the 360.
for me, i bought a 360 two years ago, because that time, there were no JRPGs on PS3, and I have to play Lost Odyssey, Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean 4, Blue Dragon, Last Remnant, Magna Carter 2 etc, but that was all, I did not buy a single 360 title since last year, and dont think I will buy another one in the near future on 360. and for multiplat games, i get the PS3 version, and for PS3 exclusives…. u know the logic.
I am just a bit discouraged after seeing the figure from one of the best months of PS3, still behind 360. sigh …
Last edited by BigBoss4ever on 4/16/2010 12:44:48 PM
This is only a US figure. PS3 owns in every other country. Also people have a boner for xbox live for some reason and want to play COD and battlefield bad company on it. Eventually PS3 will surpass in America.
dude, relax, it's just existing customers replacing their exploded xboxes. 🙂
what's perturbing me is that xbox gimped ff13, and for what? 400,000 units? it's enough to give a ragdoll the runs.they cut out half the game for that? lol wtf SquareEnix, you used to be cool…