The NPD Group today sent over its latest industry sales figures for the month of March, once again revealing Nintendo as the clear victor. The platform holder sold a impressive combined total of 1.16 million Wii and Nintendo DS units. However, overall sales took a dive to the tune of 17 percent compared to hard data for last year.
Why such a dropoff? Consider this: last March saw the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which moved 1.4 million copies in its first week, cementing its status as the fastest Nintendo of America-published title ever. It's safe to say the lack of a heavy-hitter like Brawl did dampen the overall picture this time around. Although Capcom did enjoy brisk sales with the release of Resident Evil 5, which shifted 1.5 million units across both formats -- PS3 and Xbox 360. Additionally, Easter fell on March the previous year, which analysts speculate may have had a positive effect on consumer spending.
Follow the jump for the full listing of sales data.[blockquote2] Hardware Units
PlayStation 2 112K
PlayStation 3 218K
PSP 168K
Xbox 360 330K
Wii 601K
Nintendo DS 563K
Top 10 SKU's March 2009
RESIDENT EVIL 5* CAPCOM USA 360 1 938K
POKEMON PLATINUM VERSION NINTENDO OF AMERICA NDS 2 805K
HALO WARS* MICROSOFT 360 3 639K
RESIDENT EVIL 5* CAPCOM USA PS3 4 585K
WII FIT W/BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA WII 5 541K
MLB '09: THE SHOW SONY PS3 6 305K
KILLZONE 2 SONY PS3 7 296K
WII PLAY W/REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA WII 8 281K
MARIO KART W/WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA WII 9 278K
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K9 TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE 360 10 205K
(*includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware) [/blockquote2]