April Hardware NPDs: What Happened to Sony and Microsoft?
I’m at a loss to really explain what happened in April; if you’re anything other than a Nintendo fan, you’re not going to be pleased with the hardware sales figures. Not a single system other than Nintendo’s duo managed to crack 200,000 units for the month of April in the US, according to the NPD Group.
April 2008 Hardware Sales (March numbers in parentheses):
Nintendo Wii - 714,200 (721,000)
Nintendo DS - 414,800 (698,000)
PlayStation Portable - 192,700 (297,000)
Xbox 360 - 188,000 (262,000)
PlayStation 3 - 187,100 (257,000)
PlayStation 2 - 124,400 (216,000)
Talk about a 50-50 split for the PS3 and 360 here in the US; just 900 units separated the two systems. Oddly enough, the rankings turned out to be exactly the same as in March, which is, in a way, good if you’re in the market for a Wii as Michael Pachter’s prediction that the Wii shortage would be resolving itself seems to have come true. Nearly 1.5 million consoles sold in two months means the system is out there in fairly large quantities.
Unfortunately, my archrival’s other predictions weren’t quite so accurate. The 360 and PS3 sold roughly 90k and 100k less, respectively, than he thought. But really, who would have thought the numbers would be so low this month?
---Related Articles at Gaming Today:January Hardware NPDs: PlayStation 3 Outsells All But WiiMicrosoft’s Spin on the September NPD FiguresOctober Hardware NPDs: Wii Remains Dominant, PS3 IdleNintendo’s Spin on the March NPDs is More of a Victory LapFebruary Hardware NPDs: Nintendo Dominates, PS3 Outsells 360 Again
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