Friday 16 May 2008 - 08:36
According to NPD data released Thursday, Nintendo sold an incredible 714,000 Wiis last month, in what is typically a slower spring season. The impressive figure is more than all other non-Nintendo platforms combined, including Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and PSP.
The Nintendo DS finished second on the month with 415,000 systems sold, followed by the PSP with 193,000 units sold, the Xbox 360 with 188,000 sold, the PS3 at 187,000 units, and the PS2 bringing up the year with 124,000 units sold.
Expectedly, Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV was the best selling game last month with 1.85 million units sold on Xbox 360. Mario Kart Wii took the second spot with 1.12 million copies sold, followed by the PS3 version of GTA IV in the third spot with 1 million sold.
Wii Play, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (separate DS versions), Guitar Hero III (Wii), and Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360) rounded out the top 10 selling games in that order.
"It was surprising not to see bigger hardware sales for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 given the release of GTA IV," commented NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "However, since the game was only in the market for 5 days during this reporting period, that sales lift could very well be evident in May data."
Interestingly, lifetime sales of Wii have now reached more than 9.5 million according to NPD data, a mere 500,000 fewer than the Xbox 360 which launched a year earlier.
On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 was the first console to achieve 10 million in U.S. sales, going as far to suggest that the hardcore-friendly system was on track to "win" the console war despite the faster rate at which the Wii sells.
For more information see the Nintendo Web site.
GamePro staff
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