The month of April 2010 was brutal for the video game industry. Overall sales were down 26 percent year over year, while hardware sales declined a much steeper 37 percent. Wedbush’s Michael Pachter rang the alarm bells. “It’s easy to blame the lineup, which was quite light (Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Conviction was the only AAA title, and it was an Xbox 360 exclusive), but the results suggest something is terribly wrong,” Pachter said.
The Nintendo DS led the month with a modest 440k units. This was followed by Nintendo’s other system, the Wii console, which continues its decline in sales at under 300k units. The PS3 and Xbox 360 fought hard for third place with less than a 5,000 unit differential between the two systems. Rounding out the console sales for the month was the beleaguered PSP, which only managed to shift 65k units. It is fair to now say that the PSP Go is a resounding failure.
1. Nintendo DS – 440,800
2. Wii – 277,200
3. Xbox 360 – 185,400
4. PS3 – 180,800
5. PSP – 65,500
Splinter Cell: Conviction was the only major release in April. Despite nearly a year’s worth of hype and built up marketing, the game sold a disappointingly low number with fewer than half a million shifted. Two Pokemon games for the Nintendo DS, SoulSilver and HeartGold, placed second and fourth, respectively. New Super Mario Bros. Wii continued in strong fashion at over 200k units nearly six months after launch. Rounding out the top 5 is March’s God of War III, which won critical praise from Game Freaks 365 and was the top selling game of that month. NPD is now only reporting the sales for the top five games, although rankings are still provided for the top 10.
1. Splinter Cell: Conviction (Xbox 360) – 486,100
2. Pokemon SoulSilver (DS) – 242,900
3. New Super Mario Bros. (Wii) – 200,300
4. Pokemon HeartGold (DS) – 192,600
5. God of War III (PS3) – 180,300
6. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
7. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Xbox 360)
8. Wii Fit Plus w/ Balance Board (Wii)
9. Just Dance (Wii)
10. Super Street Fighter IV (PS3)
