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God Of War And Pokemon Conquer March NPD Sales

It's the middle of the month! It's a Thursday! You know what that means: time for a nap. Also, time for a look at last month's video game sales courtesy of NPD. We've got the numbers for March 2010, and unsurprisingly, God Of War III, new versions of Pokemon, and Final Fantasy XIII dominated the software, while the Wii once again overtook the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on the hardware front.

March was a busy month for big new game releases, so this month's top 10 has a lot of debuts. God of War III nabbed the top slot, with Pokemon SoulSilver not far behind. According to NPD, hitting over 1 million in its first month puts God of War III at a 32% better first month than God of War II.

The PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIII took third place, handily outselling the 360 edition, which landed in sixth. With both platforms put together, this is the best launch of any game in the Final Fantasy franchise.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 also had a strong debut, with the 360 version getting fourth highest sales of the month and the PS3 version getting eighth. Bad Company 2 sales beat out the original's first-month sales by a staggering 170%.

And, hey, look at that! New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Fit are hanging onto top 10 slots, but there's no Wii Play, Wii Sports Resort, or Mario Kart Wii in sight. That's progress, folks! Wii mainstays are great and all, but it's nice seeing new software getting a chance to shine.

Also of note is the number 10 position, held by MLB 10: The Show. Competitor MLB 2K10 didn't make it onto the top 10 on any platform. Check out the full software list with numbers below:

1. God of War III (PS3) - Sony - 1,100,000 units sold
2. Pokemon SoulSilver (DS) - Nintendo - 1,020,000 units sold
3. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) - Square Enix - 828,200 units sold
4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (360) - EA - 825,500 units sold
5. Pokemon HeartGold (DS) - Nintendo - 761,200 units sold
6. Final Fantasy XIII (360) - Square Enix - 493,900 units sold
7. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - Nintendo - 457,400 units sold
8. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3) - EA - 451,200 units sold
9. Wii Fit w/Balance Board (Wii) - Nintendo - 429,600 units sold
10. MLB 10: The Show (PS3) - Sony - 349,200 units sold

Though the Wii's software showing was less impressive than usual this month, on the hardware side, Nintendo's picking up steam once more. After losing first place for home console to the Xbox 360 last month, the Wii is once again on top. Check it out:

1. Nintendo DS - 700,800 units sold
2. Wii - 557,500 units sold
3. Xbox 360 - 338,400 units sold
4. PlayStation 3 - 313,900 units sold
5. PSP - 119,900 units sold
6. PlayStation 2 - 118,300 units sold

Comments
  • Pokemon techincally won, then Final Fantasy, then Bad Company, then God of War which I think was to be expected. The two versions of each of those games certainly split the sales of each of them. I wonder how well Cave Story did, that game was great. I've got no predictions for next month, except DS will win but that's not much.

    I guess next month the battle for #1 will be between Splinter Cell and Super Street Fighter 4.

  • I'm sad to see that Metro 2033 couldn't crack the top 10. It's a shame because it's a really good game. I predict that it will be a cult classic.

  • Pokemon FTW

  • wouldnt those two pokey man games count as one

  • exactly how is the PS2 still selling?
  • It's a pity that heartgold is so much lower than soulsilver. I think Ho Oh is the best. better attack stats

  • Hey, who would win in a fight? Kratos of Pikachu?

    Ha! just playing. I know Pikachu would win. ha ha

    (In a different dimension, that could be true. That would suuuuuuck)
  • i think that if sony would have had the shelves stocked with PS3s when FF13 and God Of War3 came out that it wouldve sold way more consoles

    but nothn much to look for on the april sales charts for next month.....but i think the next time we will see outrageous sales figures for the NPD will be for may cause of Red Dead Redemption and lots of other big games comn that month

  • I think that it's weird that SoulSilver outsold HeartGold… considering that I'm the only one out of me and my friends who bought SoulSilver. All of my other friends bought HeartGold… not complaining though.

  • lets look at the top 3, and would you look at that, nothing for the 360

    i think we know what the inferior system is

  • Nintendo should be ashamed of themselves.

    That a big exclusive for their console like Red Steel 2 fails to place in the top 10 (or top 20 according to VGChartz - RS2 showed up at no.40! http://vgchartz.com/weekly.php). I mean, this is the console that has over TWICE the user base of the 360! Why did they completely give up on pushing this thing on gamers? Why do they only push non-games, at non-gamers? It's baffling and shameful.

    Reggie and his administration are, without a doubt, sending Nintendo down the worst path imaginable. I don't care that they want to exploit non-gamers everywhere and sell them cheaply/quickly made titles like Brain Age for profit. That's great and all, but it shouldn't become a focus. And surely not at the expense of promoting awareness for real, honest-to-good, well made titles like No More Heroes 2, Red Steel 2, Fragile Dreams and Tatsunoko VS Capcom.

    Both MS and Sony put out ads that show a variety of titles available for their systems - like Sony's "Ladies and Gentlemen - by Saliva" ads for PS3 that just showed off game footage from a bunch of varied titles -, but Nintendo hasn't done that literally since launch. With the "Wii would like to play" dudes. Coincidentally, one of the titles that they featured back at launch was Red Steel 1, which went on to become a million+ seller.

    If I was Ubi Soft, this lack of support from Nintendo would cause me to never release another game on Wii ever again. It's appalling. Why any third party puts anything on Wii anymore astounds me. How many failures will convince them that NOA doesn't care anymore?

    ...man, Nintendo gets me worked up sometimes. And I own all three consoles:) Thank god. But Nintendo's horrid behavior needs to be called out way more often. And more Nintendo fans need to come to their senses and stop defending them and their stupid, cheap/greedy decisions. I mean, christ - take some of that "Wii Fit Plus" money you've got and spend it on some *** ads! Spread awareness - not just for your console's lineup, but for your digital storefront!

    Thanks to your bullsh*t, the gamers THAT do use Virtual Console and Wiiware - the few of us that remain - don't get much in the way of options these days. Thanks to bad digital sales and publishers dropping support for stuff over there because of it. If more of your non-gamer buddies knew of the hundreds of old-school games they could merely download for cheap (games that only use 2-3 buttons! Even your Nintendog players could play stuff like Golden Axe, ***!), you'd make even more undeserved millions!

    Get your sh*t together, NOA! Fire Reggie, get some new management and GET TO IT!
  • That's pitiful...how can the PS2 be selling only 1,700 less units per month than the PSP? That's really telling Sony something about their handheld industry...

  • Why are people still buying PS2's when there is the PS3? I mean, seriously what's the reason?

  • @andrew haha for sure, HO-OH is my favorite bird poke'mon!

    and yeah poke'mon and FFXIII win.

  • I can't believe people haven't gotten tired of Pokemon, yet. I mean, I was still in junior high when it's popularity peaked, yet it still has strong sales in 2010. Whoever is in charge of that franchise should get a cookie!

  • im completely surprised that pokemon lost to god of war...both amazing games in their own right of course, no one is debating that. i played through god of war and it took me around 7-8 hours or so straight through.  im STILL playing pokemon and it came out around 4 weeks ago. I have a lot of hours logged on that little game and im going to keep logging a good amount of hours on it. god of war has a lot less replay value. please dont leave me a lot of hateful comments because god of war 3 is utterly fantastic and im ecstatic it did so well.  just surprised it beat a game like pokemon with such a massive fan base and a specific amount of replay value

  • Ps3 is picking up on 360 tho lol

  • Some people dont have enough to buy a PS3 or an Xbox360 so they buy a PS2. I Have a PS3 and i bought a PS2 for my girlfriend so she can play Gran Turismo 4 at her house (she is a fan of GT). And now the new PS3 cannot play old PS and PS2 games. Im lucky my PS3 is one of the first released in 2006. The 20gig PS3 that can read all PS and PS2 games and im happy with it. If i see an original nintendo console or a sega console i would buy it.

  • I am happy Pokemon sold as many copies as it did!

  • bummer Red Steel 2 didn't make it in the top ten :*(.  still, I heard it still sold over 100,000, which is acutually pretty decent for a harcore wii game.  I seriously hope sales for it continue.  go buy it people!

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