Hidden away in the depths of Nintendo’s latest NPD press release is news regarding the DSi’s performance in the United States. According to the company, 435,000 units were sold in just one week. The DS Lite did not disappear with the release of the DSi, as 226,300 systems were sold in the same time span. Earlier this month, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata stated that 300,000 DSi units were moved in the United States and UK during launch weekend.
Initial NPD sales data reports are in for two hardcore Nintendo titles: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and MadWorld. Unfortunately, neither title seemed to have sold particularly well. Analysts were predicting a fairly huge month for Chinatown Wars, anticipating up to 450,000 units sold. In actuality, the game’s true performance was the complete opposite. GTA on the DS managed to move an estimated 88,704 copies. More disappointing news comes from the first sales data numbers on the ultra hardcore Wii title MadWorld. The title apparently sold less than 70,000 units. While NPD accounts for sales only in North America, it will be interesting to see how third-parties react to both of these latest figures.
Nintendo News
Nintendo Systems Account for 58.4% of Video Game Hardware Sold in March
Nintendo’s Wii™ home console and the Nintendo DS™ portable video game system comfortably led U.S. sales in March, according to data from the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. Pokémon™ Platinum Version for Nintendo DS emerged as the No. 2 video game of the month, with nearly 805,000 units sold.
Wii tallied sales of nearly 601,000 in March, while Nintendo DS sold more than half a million, even in advance of the April 5 launch of the new Nintendo DSi™ system. Both Wii and Nintendo DS extended their lead as the best-selling video game systems of this generation.
VC
* Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars (Master System | 500pts) (17 April 2009)
* Secret Command (Master System | 500pts) (17 April 2009)
DSiWare
* Mixed Messages (Activision | 500pts) (17 April 2009)
Hardware sales
PlayStation 2 112K
PlayStation 3 218K
PSP 168K
Xbox 360 330K
Wii 601K
Nintendo DS 563K
Software sales
RESIDENT EVIL 5* CAPCOM USA 360 1 938K
POKEMON PLATINUM VERSION NINTENDO OF AMERICA NDS 2 805K
HALO WARS* MICROSOFT 360 3 639K
RESIDENT EVIL 5* CAPCOM USA PS3 4 585K
WII FIT W/BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA WII 5 541K
MLB ’09: THE SHOW SONY PS3 6 305K
KILLZONE 2 SONY PS3 7 296K
WII PLAY W/REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA WII 8 281K
MARIO KART W/WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA WII 9 278K
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K9 TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE 360 10 205K
