February 2009 NPD Sales Report: Portable Style
by Carter Dotson
It's that time of the month. Fanboy time.
If you’ve ever visited a video game forum in the middle of the month, you know of the exciting, entertaining, and level-headed discussion that appears when the NPD sales numbers come out for the previous month. If you haven’t, then I don’t suggest starting now. However, if you still have a thirst for the knowledge of video game sales, then you have come to the right place!
First off, a look at the February system sales for the DS and PSP:
- DS: 698,000 (up 15.7% from Feb 2008)
- PSP: 297,000 (up 18.1% from Feb 2008)
Despite the PSP’s seemingly horrible performance compared to the DS, it still managed to outsell the 360 and PS3 for the month. Sony’s at least doing something right with the PSP to keep moving units, despite the fact that no one’s buying software, or at least not at the rate that DS users are buying them, as seen in the top 10 sellers for DS, PSP, and among handheld systems overall (iPhone excluded):
Top 10 Nintendo DS Games
- Mario Kart DS
- New Super Mario Bros.
- Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force
- Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
- Super Mario 64 DS
- Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
- Mario Party DS
- Kirby Super Star Ultra
- Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
- Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day
Top 10 PSP Games
- Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
- Midnight Club: LA Remix
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
- Iron Man
- LocoRoco 2
- Madden NFL 2009
- WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2008
- Lego Batman
- WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2009
- Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Top 10 Portable Games Overall
- Mario Kart DS (NDS)
- New Super Mario Bros. (NDS)
- Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (NDS)
- Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (NDS)
- Super Mario 64 DS (NDS)
- Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (NDS)
- Mario Party DS (NDS)
- Kirby Super Star Ultra (NDS)
- Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (NDS)
- Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (NDS)
Yes, still.
Yes. That’s right. Despite selling just under 300k systems for the month, Sony can’t even get one entry on to the overall portable games chart. And it’s not even as if the DS just swamped the PSP with new releases – it’s full of evergreen titles (games that continue to sell well long after their release date – for Nintendo, think anything with Mario, Pokemon, or Brain Age on the cover) and only one new release – Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon .
The PSP chart does feature its own variation of evergreen titles with the GTA games, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 outselling the 2009 version (likely due to 2008 being $20 cheaper), and an appearance from Crisis Core, but nothing from launch like Super Mario 64 DS still selling even to this day! Is it just that DS gamers overwhelm the chart because they have such a lead over the PSP, or is it that Sony has been unable to spur PSP software sales at all, or is it due to the PSP’s media functions that people buy the system?
Whatever the cause, it’s something that Sony needs to reverse, and the release of titles like Resistance Retribution and the big announcements they put out earlier should help the system at least be competitive against Nintendo’s money printers.
I'd love to know what the attach rate is for a new DS purchase. Plus, I bet that at least half of all new DS owners purchase a mario title with it, just by default. Only explanation for their constant existence in the top 10 lists.