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April NPD: Grand Theft Auto IV, Nintendo The Big Winners

By Alex Petraglia on Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 10:55 PM EST  

NPD sales chart release day is always a magical time for the gaming industry. Most of last month’s industry sales figures should surprise no one, but a few select facts are rather shocking.

Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360 was the most purchased game last month, moving 1.85 million units. The PlayStation 3 version ranked third, with about 1 million copies, just behind Mario Kart Wii with 1.12 million.

Wii Play and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, both Wii-exclusives, ranked fourth and fifth, with 360,000 and 326,000 copies sold, respectively.

Amazingly, Call of Duty 4 is still within the top ten, with over 140,000 copies sold last month, a half-year after the game’s debut.

Total gaming software sales in the United States last month, across all platforms, topped $654.7M.

The hardware front had a few surprises in store. As always, Nintendo was the big winner: 714,200 Wii and 414,800 DS were sold. The PSP ranked third, with 192,700 units. The Xbox 360 just managed the edge by the PlayStation 3: 188,000 to 187,100. Including the PlayStation 2, 1,969,800 consoles were sold in the U.S. in April.

All sales figures take into account special editions and bundles.

The Big Three were in full-spin mode, right on cue.

Microsoft stuck to the hard facts:

The Xbox 360 has sold 10.1 million units in the U.S., making it the first current generation gaming console to break the 10 million barrier in the U.S. (Not including the Wii…-Ed.) and contributing to global sales of over 19 million.

By the numbers:
-188,000 Xbox 360 consoles were sold in April
-Xbox 360 has a record-setting attach rate of 7.6 games per console, the highest attach rate in history for a console at this point in its lifecycle
-Consumers have spent more than $9.7 billion on the Xbox 360 experience
-Xbox 360 titles accounted for $186 million of all third party game sales this generation, or 53% of share
-Xbox 360 games accounted for three of the top ten games in April, and secured the #1 spot with “Grand Theft Auto IV”
-Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox 360 snags top spot in April, boosts LIVE memberships to over 12 million
-In its first five days on the market, the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV sold 1.8 million units, outselling the other platform’s version by nearly 2:1 in the U.S., and making it the top selling game in April

SCEA CEO and president Jack Tretton had this to say:

“The PlayStation 3 momentum is fueled by enthusiasm for Blu-ray…and the PS3 remains on pace for a breakthrough year…The tremendous legacy of Grand Theft Auto on PlayStation, combined with the blockbuster launch of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue packed a one-two punch with consumers at retail this month.”

And finally, Nintendo VP of marketing Cammie Dunaway weighed in:

“Our belief in appealing to a broad, diverse audience of players continues to resonate with consumers, and we look forward to continuing our outreach to an expanded audience with the launch of Wii Fit next week.”

Until next month!

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