Kotaku
January's NPD sales saw a bit of a shake up, as the post holiday hardware hangover hit Nintendo and Microsoft particularly hard. That lead to an atypical second place finish for the PlayStation 3, which outsold the Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS. February, however, sees a return to form, with the DS and Wii nabbing spots one and two, respectively, absolutely killing the competition. Just imagine if they could keep some of these things in stock...
Fortunately for Sony, the PlayStation 2 picked up the slack, selling an extremely impressive 351,800 units. As expected, and forewarned by Microsoft, the Xbox 360 trailed it's console competition, showing in second-to-last place. The full hardware numbers are after this.
- Nintendo DS - 587,600
- Wii - 432,000
- PlayStation 2 - 351,800
- PlayStation 3 - 280,800
- Xbox 360 - 254,600
- PSP - 243,000
Total hardware sales for February were at $480 million, up from the previous year which saw $402 million for the month.
NPD analyst Anita Frazier says, "I was most surprised by the PS2 hardware sales numbers this month. While it certainly has earned its spot among the now-gen slate of console systems because of it staying power in the marketplace, the fact that it realized such significant growth this month is really a testament to its broad adoption and the response of consumers to promotional activity at retail."
Word. That's totally what I was going to say but got distracted by this shiny gum wrapper. So shiny...
Comments
Doesn't Nintendo win every month? I'd say the bigger news is how much PS3's sold compared to the 360. Last month the difference wasn't so big. That is huge for Sony
wow @ ps2
Wow at the Wii and PS2 sales. The PS3 outsold the 360 again. Nice.
Congrats DS and Wii. Gee, i wonder why the Wii is selling so well..................................?
Good for the PS3. Considering nothing came out during the past two months for the system, that's a pretty good number.
PSP trailing a bit. Should make a huge jump in March for GoW.
WII FOR THE WORLD!!
16 months and 20m plus consoles later & some people will probably still label the wii a fad.
Hey look at that, Xbots hiding in shame and crying tears of anger.
All I ask is for one picture of Reggie Fils-Aime that doesn't scare the shit out of me.
So far it seems like a war of "who could push more product".
@LittleBigPlaneteer:
I should correct myself. I saw the PS2 sales as the PS3 sales. I didn't think for a second that the PS2 would have sold that much this month. Holy shit!
And now we know why MS came out with that bullshit "supply problem" excuse. Damn will the Wii ever stop? Now with Brawl out I'd go ahead and give them March too. Plus the fact that Sony beat MS on their own turf should at a little salt to that wound.
Good numbers for all though! Especially with nothing major other then Brawl out right now.
Now come on PSP you know you're better then that!
It's funny because recent hardware sales from Japan had PSP in the top spot, where as here it's bringing up the rear.
@Indy_aka_Rex:
Ouch. =P
@Balance_In_Life (PSN): God of War + Patapon = Huge March sales.
And despite the PS2's staying power Sony still refuses to acknowledge the value and importance of BC.
Uggggggg.
PS2 is insane. I know they had a few 99 dollar deals this month at places. Makes me wonder what sales will be if they really did a price drop. Good sales all around for everyone.
THE PS2 SOLD THAT MUCH?
Holy mother of all that is...holy. That is just insane. Man, it's gotta stop. Buy PS3's instead! Seriously! :(
Then again, it's nice to see the 360 below the PS3 yet again. I guess the analysts and McWhertor were right, sort of :P
I don't mean to say anything bad about the 360 but...I just like my PS3 too much to not be happy about this.
Nintendo and Sony sold a lot of hardware last month. Those damn shortages, a Microsoft. lol
@Indy_aka_Rex:
Yes I'm crying, the 360 sold less units...
>_>
I really could care less about MS's sales numbers, as long as I enjoy playing games on my 360, I'm happy.
@ShaggE:
you sir ask too much, might as well ask for world peace while you're at it.
Too bad MS's bogus defense takes all the fun out of it
Wow for the PS2, and a respectable beating of 25k units of the ps3 over the 360, good show. String together a year of that and Sony will be kicking some arse. Wonder how that GOD PSP red bundle will affect sales totals?
Good sales all around, though it's a little weird to see the 360 kissing the bottom of the NPDs. That's usually a Japan only thing.
@mishakoz: Yeah, Patapon will get me to buy a PSP this month. I've heard nothing good things.
Sony shot themselves in the foot a few times (once in the knee even) when releasing the PS3. I figured they were hooped. They've turned things around really quick. The PS3 is looking a lot better then the 360 to me.
And naturally, Nintendo makes them both seem somewhat foolish.
@TaggarT6:
Oh they recognize its importance. But this is their priority:
PS3 software sales > PS2 BC
Can you really blame them? If the lack of PS2 BC helps much more PS3 sales, then it's good for developers and its good for Sony. I don't agree totally with this as a PS2 owner but I can see why they did it.
@TaggarT6:
Everyone has a PS2, that's why backward compatibility is not that big of an issue with 130 million PS2's sold worldwide. Now, im not defending Sony and i love my 60gb launch PS3, but i can understand their point of view. Besides, for most people Backward compatibility is just $99 bucks away and you get an extremely portable DVD player.
The console (PS2) that just kept going and going
Now waiting for software sales.
@AJamal: The only thing that sales numbers should mean to the everyday gamer is that maybe an exclusive that was on one system will come over to the other because it's selling so well. Now if you own stocks that is TOTALLY different.
Wow, just wow, the Ps2 is just invincible!. I wonder if there'll be supply problems for the 360 in March too, I think Alberta must be some kind of weird exception because everywhere here seems full to the brim with 360's, maybe they should take some back and ship em to them poor 360 starved regions. Kinda reminds me of the Wii, supply starved since the November it launched, if only Nintendo had got those supply issues solved, well maybe it would still be around today.
I can't help but wonder what the PS3 numbers will be in MGS4 bundle month.
@Seiryuu:
Microsoft already said they'll have shortages in March too thus covering their bases if they are outsold that month too. Eventually they'll have to come up with new excuses.
Were Wii sales depressed in January by needing to devote inventory to fulfilling GameStop's rainchecks?
Over 130 Million units and the PS2 is still selling this much. Sony handled the PS2 well, very well.
And its going to get better for PS3 from now on Microsoft should just quit and stick with software.
Wowzer, PS2 keeps on keeping on - I am going to pick up a DS this month - so I'll be helping the Sony sales!
Except I am in Australia and no one gives 2 fucks about our sales....
@LittleBigPlaneteer:
march, april, may, june...need I go on? If they don't fix these "shortages" by GTA I think there'll be a magic solution by GoW2
ps2 beats ps3.......ironic
@Ryosukekun21: /fanboy
@11redder: Um...actually that would give more power to the theory of a fad in a way. Most fads generated large numbers in extremely short periods of time, generally reaching out to a broad spectrum of people for no real reason other than it's happening.
There really isn't a reason for the Wii to be doing so well. It just is. Usually that signals a fad. Unless Wii goes the way of DS then it's still entirely possible. Some fads lasted years before falling off the map.
@syl1985: Hmmm I meant PSP.... FREEKING LACK OF EDIT BUTTON
On a side note, I will then have all the consoles... muhahaha :D
@_Ted_:
Why is that ironic? It's 300 less and has thousands more games.
@mishakoz: The psp will do great this month Crisis Core is coming....
Patapon and God of War already out, then there is Crisis Core: FFVII coming soon.
March is gonna be one hella month for the PSP. :)
{people still buy the DS? I thought everyone had one who wanted one by now.
@Black-Dog-Howls: So the 360 is also a fad cause it has around 20 million or less units sold...
@McWhetor: "That lead to an atypical second place finish for the PlayStation 3, which outsold the Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS."
Huh? 1. DS, 2. Wii, 3. PS2, 4. PS3 is the order.
I hate to say it (again)(as a big fan of Sony's goods), but these numbers are NOT good for Sony's PS3 hopes in the US.
Come on people, the 360 has been out over a year longer and already has a huge US install base. The fact that the PS3 has beat it (only just) two months in a row is big news is very bad for Sony. Yes, I know that America is big 360 country but I don't care: at this rate the PS3 will not catch up; not in TEN years.
I mean, where is the Blu-ray bounce? GT5 and GTAIV are also imminent.
When the PS3 does more than 50% of the 360s numbers then we can start talking about a PS3 fightback. Let's hope MGS4 does that. LBP too.
@Amazon_Chris: Maybe the number of people who want them increased.
I was expecting the difference in 360/PS3 sales much bigger ... pretty close considering all the MS excuses.
I sort of get the impression that Sony is using the PS2 to fight the Wii. Any one know how software sales for the PS2 are looking?
PS3 is sucking hind wind, but SCE is doing fine with more than 875,000 units between three platforms. Ninty is really still unbelievable how many units they move. MS says hardware constrained- maybe they're switching to a better motherboard? Would be nice.
@darthmole12:
Read the sentence again but instead put "led" instead of "lead". He's talking about January's NPD numbers:
[kotaku.com]
@darthmole12:
He was talking about January's figures. These are February's.
@Ryosukekun21: Hmm if they did that last generation we'd be stuck with the assy online services of PS2 and GC generation. Hell the Wii might have not even bothered with online however shitty it may be, I mean I do recall them saying that they didn't think online was the future. God I think I must hate Sony fanboys as much as you seem to hate Microsoft, all gettin up in the messageboards i frequent, all actin hella tough. Trust me the PS3 would suck much, much harder if it weren't for MS making them have to try. And without the PS3 the next XBox would prolly suck more than it will, so for now yay Sony?
Wow, I can't believe the Xbox 360 has been in last place on every major global market for two months straight. What the heck is causing this drop? Microsoft must be seriously hardware constrained.
And double wow for PS2! I seriously wish whoever is buying these machine would invest in a PS3 or Xbox 360. Let's move on to the next generation already. 351,800 units is a seriously compliment to the PS2s staying power.
Also, good to see Nintendomination happening again. I just wish the Wii would actually get some quality games!
Fuck "Next-Gen"...
It's exciting that the PS3 is beating the 360 for the second straight month but I'm worried about game sales.
@Jopan: Forgot that one, thanks.
PSP is gonna have a great month. Hopefully the PSP store will hit soon...
Do people believe Microsoft has bigger shortage problems than the Wii? If not, how do they explain the Wii outselling the 360? If there's more 360's out there than Wii's (which there are) then shortages have nothing to do with these lower than normal sales over the past 2 months or so.
Microsoft has to face the fact that the demand for a 360 has decreased a bit, while the PS3 has increased.
@PaulHunter: You know, when the PS3 launched, Sony blamed the low sales on too few hardware shipments as well.
Tell you what, it was bollocks then and it's bollocks now. The Xbox360 simply doesn't have too much going for it this year.
And with Blu-Ray declared winner, nobody wants a BR-player that will be outdated in a couple of months when a new profile is released - but will want Blu-Ray playback on their new HDTV that has been marketed to them as the ubertechnology of this age. Thus, they buy a PS3. :)