Xbox 360 Outsells Wii, Claims Top Spot
PrintIn what ranked as a poor month in overall console sales, analyst group NPD reports Microsoft's Xbox 360 outsold Nintendo's Wii console in February. In doing so, the Xbox 360 claimed the top spot in U.S. monthly sales, a feat it hasn't achieved in over two years.
Despite Microsoft's strong showing, it was a pretty bad month for consoles. Combined sales for software, hardware, and peripherals came out to $1.26 billion, with console sales slumping 20 percent to $426 million.
"Honestly, I had expected the industry to perform somewhat better this month," said Anita Frazier, a games analyst at NPD.
Not surprisingly, Nintendo's DS dominated the handheld gaming space, selling 613,200 units compared to Sony selling 133,400 PlayStation Portable units.
As for the games people are playing, Take 2's "Bioshock 2" topped the sales chart with 750,000 copies across all platforms, and 562,900 for the Xbox 360. "New Super Mario Bros." came in second with 555,600 units, and "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" slipped into third place with 667,100 units, now the third best selling game of all time with lifetime sales approaching 10 million units.
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LatiosXT
March 13, 2010 at 9:57am
I sort of laugh when people are going "yay, a 'real' console has taken over" because really, everyone and their mother has a Wii, so it's no surprise that sales would start to drop. What is surprising is that the Wii claimed the #1 spot for this long to begin with. Well anyway, the 360 still has to sell double the amount that it has now to catch up.
And I guess to jab at the 360, how many of those sales were actual first time buyers? One can claim the PS2 was the best selling console of all time, but how many of those were first time buyers?
satanforaday
March 13, 2010 at 8:57am
Where are the Numbers for the PS3... I know they are at least putting up a fight
knexkid
March 12, 2010 at 1:18pm
Seems like sooner or later every household will have a Wii, meaning no more sales. At least with xBox's they have made better models and they seem to break easily which probably help their sales.
prince_david
March 12, 2010 at 11:58am
This is most likely because of low Wii supplies. You could not order them on Amazon in February or find them in stores too easily.
nmanguy
March 12, 2010 at 11:21am
Damn, when is Steam going to start releasing sales figures? I know that SOMEONE had to have bought Bioshock 2 for the PC that way. The figures can't be that lopsided towards the 360.
Also, when are we going to be able to use Firefox's spellcheck feature on the comments section? I almost submitted this with comment with typos like "Stema" and "SOMENE".
mesiah
March 13, 2010 at 3:58am
My firefox spell check has always worked, its just turned off by default now. Just right click anywhere in the comment box and select check spelling from the context menu. Then firefox will underline any misspelled words.
gendoikari1
March 12, 2010 at 2:15pm
I dunno, but Opera's spellcheck works.
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violian
March 12, 2010 at 11:01am
Not really surprising. The Wii is more of a niche product - especially considering that most of its games are Nintendo games such as Mario, Zelda, etc. The Xbox360 has a vast library of games from all publishers, and therefore would have a larger audience. I think most of the niche consumers for the Wii have, by this time, already bought the Wii system - hence the declining sales.
Atomike
March 12, 2010 at 12:38pm
A niche product...that has been selling wildly to all demographics. Young and old. Male and female. I don't think the work niche means what you think it means.
m1k3_flrs
March 12, 2010 at 10:27am
Wait, wait, if Bioshock sold 750,000 copies across all platforms, and 562,900 for the Xbox 360. "New Super Mario Bros." came in second with 555,600 units, and "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" slipped into third place with 667,100 units. How can it be in third place if the number of units sold is higher than the "new super mario bros"
Bilbert
March 12, 2010 at 10:43am
Maybe because "New Super Mario Bros" is an exclusive game as opposed to "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" which was released on three systems? other than that I don't know....
Joe D
March 16, 2010 at 12:35pm
It's about time a "real" gaming console is outselling the party-centric console. More power to you if you love the Wii but I personally hate the bland games that are made on there. Now I would love to see the PS3 take off and take over the top spot. Hey if we get lucky maybe PC sales will go through the roof when everyone startsto realize the amazing potential they have.
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