NPD: Nintendo and GOWIII Dominate March 2010 Sales

Game Rant

By GR Staff

Published Apr 16, 2010

NPD's March sales numbers for North America have been released and there were few surprises. On the software side, God of War III had a strong debut with 1.10 million units sold. Not to be outdone, the Nintendo DS had two Pokemon titles in the top five with Pokemon SoulSilver selling over a million copies, and Pokemon HeartGold moving 761,000 units. Looks like the Pokemon brand is still a license to print money. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 also sold well, but failed to come close to the sales numbers of its main competitor, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The Xbox 360 continued to be the favorite platform for first-person shooters as Bad Company 2 sold at almost a 2 to 1 ratio in favor of the Xbox 360, despite the exclusive beta previously released for the PlayStation 3. However, Sony's long-standing association with the Final Fantasy franchise saw Final Fantasy XIII sell at a much higher clip on the PS3 and the console had one of its best months overall in software sales. Lastly, NPD analyst Anita Frazier stated that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has now become the number 2 best-selling game of all time, after Nintendo's Wii Play.

On the hardware side, the DS took the top spot again and the Nintendo Wii reclaimed the number 2 spot. Apparently, God of War III's success did not translate to a major increase in sales for the PS3 as it actually saw a decrease from February of almost 50,000 units, and the Xbox 360 still, albeit barely, outsold it. However, Sony has to be pleased to see that the PlayStation 2 is still very popular as it sold 118,300 units. Not bad for a system that is almost 10 years old. For the full list and numbers, see below:

Top 10 Games Sold at Retail, March 2010

1. God of War III (PS3), 1.10 million

2. Pokemon SoulSilver (DS), 1.02 million

3. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3), 828,200

4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Xbox 360), 825,500

5. Pokemon HeartGold (DS), 761,200

6. Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360), 493,900

7. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii), 457,400

8. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3), 451,200

9. Wii Fit Plus w/ Balance Board (Wii), 429,600

10. MLB 10: The Show (PS3), 349,200

Top Retail Hardware Sales, March 2010