January NPDs: Oh Snap, PS3!

January NPDs were released not too long ago with some shocking numbers as follows:

Hardware Numbers

1. Nintendo Wii – 274,000 
2. PLAYSTATION 3 – 269,000
3. PlayStation 2 – 264,000
4. Nintendo DS – 251,000 
5. Xbox 360 – 230,000
6. PlayStation Portable – 230,000

Software Numbers

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) – 330,900
2. Wii Play (Wii) – 298,100
3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii) – 239,600
4. Rock Band (Xbox 360) – 183,800
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360) – 182,700
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) – 172,000
7. Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360) – 144,100
8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3) – 140,000
9. Mario Party DS (DS) – 138,500
10. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS) – 133,000

My comments and amateur analysis below.

Hardware numbers were surprising for the PS3 at face value, but there are possible explanations:

• Unexplainable, but predictable Wii shortages
• Surprising and incompetant XBOX 360 shortages
• Apparent NDS shortages
• Possible effect of the Warner Brothers Blu-ray announcement
• The PS2 sales are very impressive. Especially since the damn console still hasn’t reached the $99 MSRP point yet.

In the end, I’m impressed and surprised that the PS3 beat out the XBOX 360 for the first time ever in the United States market. I don’t believe it will continue the trend next month, though.

Software sales were surprising for me with the following:

• Super Mario Galaxy still in the top 10; I thought this title would have dropped off by now, but I guess new Wii owners are indeed buying awesome games.
• Burnout: Paradise did not debut as strongly as I thought it would, but maybe it has something to do with the fact that it debuted on January 22nd. Or perhaps the demo scared people off.
• Mario Party DS and Mario vs Sonic at the Olympic games should not have been that high. Curse the mini-games!
• PS3 software sales have not caught been great. The same goes with PSP software sales. Disappointing.
• XBOX 360 still very strong