Official October sales numbers (Wii barrels ahead, 360 still strong)

[Dire]

Hardware Unit Sales - Changes over September in parenthesis

Wii 519K (+18k)
Nintendo DS 458k (-37.8k)
Xbox 360 366k (-161.8k)
PlayStation Portable 286k (+1.5k)
PlayStation 2 184k (-31k)
PlayStation 3 121k (+1.6k)

Software Sales

1. 360 HALO 3 433.8K
2. 360 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK W/ GUITAR 383.2K
3. WII GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK W/ GUITAR 286.3K
4. PS2 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK W/ GUITAR 271.1K
5. NDS LEGEND OF ZELDA: PHANTOM HOURGLASS 262.8K
6. WII PLAY W/ REMOTE 239.7K
7. 360 HALF LIFE 2: EPISODE 2 THE ORANGE BOX 238.4K
8. PS2 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK 231.7K
9. PS2 FIFA SOCCER 08 129.7K
10. NDS BRAIN AGE 2: MORE TRAINING IN MINUTES 116.9K

Additional software sales:

PS3 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock 105,800
PSP Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions 98,100
PS3 Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction 74,500
360 Project Gotham Racing 4 38,300

Numbers from NPD

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[Dire]

Another record month for the Wii. The 360 takes a step back from last month as the Halo 3 frenzy cools down. The PS3 seems to have gone stagnant, but the numbers don't tell the whole story. In the first 3 weeks of the month the PS3 sold a total of 45k units, setting pace for its worst month ever. However, the final week saw a suprising 75k units sold. ***(see edit)

Next month should see some of the biggest sales numbers for all consoles as we get closer to the holidays. The PS3 seems geared to make a surge. It will be a very important month for the 360 and the PS3. The Wii has been completely dominant in hardware sales, but continues to do poorly in software sales with only one actual game in the top 10. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues throughout the holiday months.

EDIT:

*** These week specific numbers are from Sony who have offered some creative numbers in the past. They claim to have been selling 30-40k units per week, prior to selling 75k units in the final week. No matter how you mix it, this doesn't add up to 121k total sales.

[Dudd]

Good blog if you're into the whole business aspect of video games

[Dire]

That is an interesting read. I'm most curious about the PS3 for next month. Sony has engaged in a MASSIVE advertising campaign. Every other commercial I see on channels like Spike is a PS3 advertisement, ending with "starting at $399". Not to mention their Assassin's Creed exclusive advertising bit. It's kind of frustrating that it'll be difficult to distinguish between typical holiday results and results related to the advertising.

I'd always thought advertising campaigns were generally about increasing the average perception of a product. But those advertisements seem explicitly targetted towards pushing units. I'm curious to see how it works out.

[Nicholasp27]

i don't think we'll find many wii games in top 10 even in the future

a) many purchasers are more casual, so buy less games
b) even when they do buy games, they aren't rushing out to get them on d1, or pre-ordering them...they will buy it when they see it...so games like mario party or big brain academy may sell >1million, but it'll be over several months, not all in the first month, as they'll buy it when they see it on shelves, not on release date

so games that 'gamers' like such as mario/smash/kart will make top 10, but top sellers like big brain, mario party, wario ware, etc may eventually sell more total copies than many monthly top-10 titles, but they won't hit a monthly top-10 list since their sales will be more spread out

[MrWookie]

Nich is right, but I think that Nintendo should still be pretty pleased w/ the implications of moving 286K GHIII games. That's not a bad showing, considering that the 360 has usually crushed when it came to crossplatform titles.

[4 High]

However Mario Galaxy far under performing Mario Sunshine in Japan probably has them very worried.

[gusmahler]

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i don't think we'll find many wii games in top 10 even in the future


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Isn't the hype for Rock Band pretty high?

[AceLuby]

Having the PS3 sales be stagnant is good for Sony IMO. Obviously they want to have a huge surge, but in the midst of the biggest game for 360 to date, having sales stay where they have been is not bad. Not good, but not bad. I would expect sales to climb huge for the PS3 this holiday season. Wii can't possibly do better, but with supplies still low, you never know. I really don't know what to expect for hardware sales of the 360. The huge surge from Halo could mean less holiday sales for hardware, but more for software, but on the other hand there are some other great titles coming out, so who knows.

[Nicholasp27]

mario galaxy hasn't been out a month yet; did it underperform in it's first week or two?

also, rock band isn't coming out for wii yet (maybe in future, tho)