After defying the financial climate with steady increases year-over-year until now, but this March sales dropped 17 per cent compared to March 2008. It can partially be explained with the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the fact that Easter occurred in March last year, but it will be interesting to see if this is the start of a trend.
The big winner was Capcom's Resident Evil 5 that saw an impressive 1.5 million units sold across two platforms. Pokémon Platinum also debuted strongly, while Killzone 2 managed a good second month of sales. Halo Wars did well for a console strategy title, but it cannot be compared to the numbers Halo 3 did naturally.
All hardware platforms except for Xbox 360 sold less in March 2009 than in March 2008.
A notable absentee is GTA: Chinatown Wars that reportedly only managed an abysmal 90,000 units in its first month. A far cry from other GTA titles.
Software:
1. Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360) 938,000
2. Pokémon Platinum (DS) 805,000
3. Halo Wars (Xbox 360) 639,000
4. Resident Evil 5 (PS3) 585,000
5. Wii Fit (Wii) 541,000
6. MLB '09: The Show (PS3) 305,000
7. Killzone 2 (PS3) 296,000
8. Wii Play (Wii) 281,000
9. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) 278,00
10. Major League Baseball 2K9 (Xbox 360) 205,000
Hardware:
1. Nintendo Wii 601,000
2. Nintendo DS 563,000
3. Xbox 360 330,000
4. Playstation 3 218,000
5. PSP 168,000
6. Playstation 2 112,000
Source: NPD