The Lund Report: October 2009 NPD

Scribbled on November 12th, 2009 by Jordan Lund
Filed in Features, Game Genres, NPD, Platforms

Wii Mote, Innovation or Novelty? October, historically, has been a down month for gaming for a couple of reasons. First, September is typically front loaded with lots of new titles (my personal conspiracy theory is that they come out when all the college students have money they’re supposed to spend on books.) The other main reason is that reatilers and consumers are both holding their breath for the sales that begin in November.

NPD Hardware October, 2009:

Wii – 506,900
PS3 – 320,600
Xbox 360 – 249,700
PS2 – 117,800

NPD Handheld October, 2009:

NDS – 457,600
PSP – 174,600

As a result you get the numbers you see above, of the 6 hardware platforms, the Wii is the only one to gain from September to October. The Xbox 360 dropped 29.18% from the previous month, and the PS3, despite having a price cut and the #1 selling software title, dropped 34.81%.

The only bright spots on the chart are Nintendo’s meager 9.53% increase over last month and the PS3’s 68% increase over the incredibly pathetic 190,000 units they sold in October of ‘08.

Speaking of last years sales, only two machines so far have managed to outpace January to October, 2008:

Xbox 360: 7.43%
Wii: -24.11%
PS3: -7.24%
PS2: -33.01%

NDS: 15.62%
PSP: -35.22%

So what about the software chart?

1) UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES (PS3; Oct-09) 537,000
2) WII FIT PLUS* (WII; Oct-09) 441,000
3) BORDERLANDS (360; Oct-09) 418,000
4) WII SPORTS RESORT* (WII; Jul-09) 314,000
5) NBA 2K10* (360; Oct-09) 311,000
6) HALO 3: ODST (360; Sep-09) 271,000
7) NBA 2K10* (PS3; Oct-09) 213,000
8. FORZA MOTORSPORT 3 (360; Oct-09) 175,000
9) KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 DAYS (NDS; Sep-09) 169,000
10) FIFA SOCCER 10 (360; Oct-09) 156,000

It’s no surprise that Uncharted 2: Among Thieves tops the chart, but it seems that Sony can’t buy a break. Even with the price cut, a heavy advertising campaign and a new hit game, neither their hardware sales nor their software sales seem to be going anywhere.

That’s not to say Uncharted selling half a million is bad, but look at it this way: Halo 3: ODST was not anticipated to any degree, had no advertising and generally wasn’t liked that well by gamers, and it still managed to sell 1.5 million units last month and moved an extra 135,000 hardware units.

Cue the fanboy cries of “Buh, buh… there are more 360s than PS3s!” – which is true. However, if you look at 2009 sales both machines are just about equal, 2.6 million 360s sold compared to 2.2 million PS3s. So why is it that these millions of people flock to Halo 3 and not Uncharted? Uncharted is simply not the killer ap people make it out to be. Good game? Sure! Well reviewed? Absolutely. System seller? Uh, no.

I’m also kind of surprised to see Borderlands so high on the list, particularly for what’s apparently a B-list game (84 on Metacritic.) [Many people like it because it's a Diablo-type game during a time people are hungering for Diablo III. Torchlight is also getting a lot of fans. - Jonah Falcon] Halo 3: ODST managed to hang on for another month, also surprising considering fans were calling it “$60 for $30 worth of content” and “nothing more than a level pack.”

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