June NPDs – MGS4 On Top and Sells PS3s. Wii wins war?

I was looking forward to this month. Looking forward to how much of a hardware pusher Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots was. I even participated in NeoGAF’s June NPD prediction thread.

These were my predictions for June 2008:

[360] 210K
[NDS] 490K
[PS2] 135K
[PS3] 320K
[PSP] 200K
[WII] 660K

Let’s see how I did:

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 783K
2. Nintendo Wii – 666.7K
3. Sony PlayStation 3 – 405.5K
4. Sony PlayStation Portable – 337.4K
5. Microsoft Xbox 360 – 219.8K
6. PlayStation 2 – 188.8k

Software

1. PS3 – Metal Gear Solid 4, Konami, 6/08 – 774.6K
2. NDS – Guitar Hero On Tour, Activision, 6/08 – 422.3K
3. 360 – Ninja Gaiden II, Microsoft, 6/08 – 372.7K
4. Wii Fit with Balance Board, NOA, 5/08 – 372.7K
5. Wii Play with Remote, NOA, 2/07 – 359.1K
6. 360 – Battlefield: Bad Company, EA, 6/08 – 346.8K
7. Wii – Mario Kart with Wheel, NOA, 4/08 – 322.4K
8. Wii – LEGO Indiana Jones, LucasArts, 6/08 – 294.5K
9. NDS – LEGO Indiana Jones, LucasArts, 6/08 – 267.8K
10. PS2 LEGO Indiana Jones, LucasArts, 6/08 – 260.3K

* (includes collector’s edition and bundles but not software bundled with console hardware)

I was pretty much spot on with the 360 and Wii numbers, but I was way off with everything else. I underestimated the NDS and PSP’s selling power. I should have factored in folks buying portable devices for vacations and such. Even if I did factor vacation sales, I would never have guessed 780K worth of hardware — that’s just ludicrous! I also underestimated the power of MGS4 for the PS3. That moved a lot more hardware than I expected.

The Xbox 360 comes in second last with 220K and was outsold by the PS3 for the second month in a row. However, that small tidbit is nothing compared to the fact that the Wii has officially overtaken the Xbox 360 in the U.S market. Congrats Nintendo. You’re number #1 and you managed to do it launching a year later.

Software wise, MGS4 sales were very impressive, but I doubt it’ll repeat for the month of July. Ninja Gaiden 2 did respectable numbers as well and I definitely know that won’t repeat the same numbers next month. What’s particularly interesting is how Lego Indiana Jones for HD consoles did not break the top 10. The PS2 version of Lego Indiana Jones sales numbers just goes to show how the PS2 is still relevant and worth developing for.

P.S – What the hell happened to GTAIV? It’s out of the top 10 after two months?!