April 2010 will go down as one of the harshest ones yet during the financial downturn for the games industry as total numbers are down 26 per cent for the U.S. retail according to NPD. It is a particularly hard comparison to April 2009 since Eastern fell in April that year, and the Easter sales are estimated to account for the lion part of the decline. NPD also noted that the big releases of March had a bigger drop off in 2010 than they had in 2009 (Final Fantasy XIII fits into that statement). Hardware dollars were down a whopping 37%, but both PS3 and Xbox 360 actually more units this year than last year in April. Software was weak across the line with Splinter Cell: Conviction claiming top honours.
This month only sales number for the top 5 games were released by NPD, and they have also stopped releasing hardware numbers for Playstation 2.
Software:
1. Splinter Cell: Conviction / Xbox 360 486100
2. Pokémon SoulSilver / DS 242900
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii / Wii 200300
4. Pokémon HeartGold / DS 192600
5. God of War III / PS3 180300
6. Wii Sports Resort / Wii 179000 *
7. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 / Xbox 360 166000 **
8. Wii Fit Plys / Wii
9. Just Dance / Wii 144000
10. Super Street Fighter IV / PS3 143000 ***
* - number released by Nintendo
** - number released by Microsoft
*** - number released by Sony
(note: Super Street Fighter IV on Xbox 360 sold 108000)
Hardware:
1. Nintendo DS 440800
2. Wii 277200
3. Xbox 360 185400
4. Playstation 3 180800
5. PSP 65500