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March NPD: Nintendo Rules the Universe

Apr. 24 3:02 AM by Lynxara

I try not to look at NPD sales figures too hard, or too often. Oh, sure, you need to generally know which console's sales are rocking and which are generally lagging, but if you study games sales numbers in depth, you can only leave knowing one horrible lesson: for the most part, good games don't and won't sell. Crappy games based on G-rated flicks like Happy Feet sell. Franchises and sequels sell. Knockoffs of other things that sell sometimes sell even better. If you like to think you're doing some sort of favor for the world by recommending the best and most interesting games, NPD numbers are a depressing bucket of cold water in the face.

That said: in March, it happened that Nintendo sold. Sold like freaking crazy. So just this once, I'm going to take a look at Next Gen's NPD numbers round-up, by alliterative video game statistics guy Matt Matthews. Check behind the cut for a synopsis of the Nintendo-relevant facts n' figures, since the actual piece is quite long and talks about all kinds of things we don't care about here.

This graph from page two basically says everything that needs to be said about Wii sales in March. Spring was once considered one of the slowest times of year for gaming, but for the past few years each spring has brought major titles hitting on all systems. Demand for the Wii is always high, but the prospect of hosting Brawl parties clearly inspired a lot more people than usual to get out, call around, and make sure they got their system.

I'm embedding this lovely chart graphic of the top ten selling software titles from page four largely to give an impression of how ridiculously huge Brawl's sales are when compared to everything else that came out that month. It's also the only "new" Wii game charting, with the other slots taken up by perennial evergreen sellers Wii Play and Guitar Hero III. Brawl effectively moved four times as many copies as its nearest competitor, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (which isn't bad, if uninspired), which is ridiculously strong sales by any standard.

Brawl's exceptional sales merited this chart from page five, putting Brawl's lifetime sales as of the March NPD period vs. lifetime sales for the previous two entires in the Super Smash Bros. series. As you can see, Brawl has already eclipsed lifetime sales for the first Smash Bros. and has done roughly 70% of Melee's sales. This prompted a few paragraphs from Matthews on the current state of Nintendo, and they're worth thinking about very carefully.

Many have commented on the state of the U.S. economy and the robustness of the videogame industry. If in fact some sector of the videogame-buying population is feeling economic uncertainty or even constraints, it seems possible that the Wii would benefit in such an environment. That is, when weighing a system purchase in the face of a recession, the Wii stands out as far more attractive simply on the basis of price if nothing else. If consumers look further to consider the price of software, the Wii begins to look even more affordable, since all new Wii software, except for Guitar Hero III (and soon Wii Fit), tops out at $50. Nintendo has always priced its hardware for the cost-conscious consumer, and that custom may serve it especially well during an economic downturn.

Another point about Nintendo and its software strategy: it appears dedicated to providing a steady stream of reasonably high quality titles to drive the Wii software market. Consider that it launched with a Zelda game in November 2006, then followed up with WarioWare Smooth Moves (January 2007), Super Paper Mario (April 2007), Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (August 2007), Super Mario Galaxy (November 2007), and now Super Smash Bros. Brawl (March 2008). Given the regularity with which Nintendo is providing its big name software, it would be interesting to know how third-parties plan the publication of their products.

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