Yesterday we reported that the NPD Group is changing the way they report monthly video game sales figures, and today we get our first view of this new style. As was expected, we now know a lot less about what games sold how much last month, and we have limited hardware results. Nevertheless, check out what games won out in September below.
Here's the list of the top 10 best-selling games (no longer platform-specific) for the month of September:
1. Halo Reach (360)
2. Madden NFL 11 (360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP)
3. Dead Rising 2 (360, PS3, PC)
4. NHL 11 (360, PS3)
5. FIFA Soccer 11 (360, PS3, PS2, PSP, DS)
6. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP)
7. Mafia II (360, PS3, PC)
8. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (PS3, 360, DS, Wii)
9. Metroid: Other M (Wii)
10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360, PS3, PC)
Though we don't have specific numbers for most games on the list, there are a few things we can note. First off, NPD analyst Anita Frazier did share the impressive Halo Reach sales figure: 3.3 million. Reach, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, and Metroid: Other M, must have done particularly well to make it onto a multi-platform top ten list despite being single-platform titles.
Frazier helpfully noted that if the top 10 were ranked by SKU, New Super Mario Bros. Wii would have cracked the top 10, as usual.
On the hardware side, Frazier said that sales for all consoles except the Xbox 360 were down compared to September of last year. The PS3 and PSP are up on a sales-per-week basis compared to last month. The actual price of hardware sold has increased this month thanks to an Xbox 360 Halo Reach bundle and a PlayStation 3 move bundle.
Again, we have no specific numbers on accessories sold, but Frazier says that each of the three PS3 Move SKUs made it onto the accessories top 10 list.
The industry as a whole is down 8 percent compared to September 2009.