April’s come to a close and now, under the cold, hard light of math, three things are becoming clear. First, people freaking love Nintendo games. Sure, we already knew that, but over a million people bought Mario Kart for Wii in less than a week. Second, people freaking love Grand Theft Auto. Nearly two million people bought that in even less time. Third, our access to new videogames is going to change dramatically in the very near future. While these numbers may just look like numbers to us, to the people who publish videogames, the people who control when we get to engage these creations, the math is saying that 2008 is different. Tradition dictates that high profile, big hype games are held in reserve for the holiday push from late September through December and the rest of the year is just a slow trickle of quality goods. The math of March and April 2008 says that people will buy many, many games throughout the year, not just around Christmas. What happens now? Going forward, we’re going to see more games, more often. At least, until digital distribution destroys physical media and the whole issue becomes moot.
While the gigantic March sales numbers didn’t keep their drive through April, even with five days of juggernaut sales from Grand Theft Auto 4, all the players put in impressive showings. Wii sales kept pace, down to just 714K units from 721K, but Nintendo DS sales saw a more precipitous decline, down to 414K units from a powerful 698K despite the healthy software debut for both Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon SKUs. GTA4 moved the huge numbers expected, selling 1.85 million units with only days left in the reporting period but it failed to make an impact on HD console sales. Microsoft and Sony saw sales of their home consoles drop below the 200K mark but both companies can expect bigger sales through May thanks to GTA4 momentum and anticipation of marquee June titles Metal Gear Solid 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2. Software sales were cool on the whole. GTA4 and Mario Kart Wii dominated, but no third party was able to replicate the success Ubisoft and EA had in March with the debuts of Rainbox Six Vegas 2 and Army of Two.
Hardware Sales
Wii - 714,200
Nintendo DS - 414,800
PSP - 192,000
Xbox 360 - 188,000
PlayStation 3 - 187,100
PlayStation 2 - 124,400
Software Sales
GTA IV (360) – 1,850,000
Mario Kart Wii -1,120,000
GTA IV (PS3) – 1,000,000
Wii Play – 360,000
Super Smash Bros. Brawl – 326,000
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue – 224,000
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness – 202,000
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time – 202,000
Guitar Hero III – 152,000
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) -141,000
Out thanks to both Next-Gen and Kotaku for their coverage.