Culture

NPD June 2009: <cite>Prototype</cite> Wins, But Only On 360

In case anyone was still wondering, the great inFamous/Prototype battle has been settled by the NPD Group’s release of the U.S. sales figures for the month of June. You might have thought that the battle over which open-world super-powers game was superior was in fact settled by The Escapist’s Yahtzee, who said that the superior […]
Image Sucker Punch

In case anyone was still wondering, the great inFamous/Prototype battle has been settled by the NPD Group's release of the U.S. sales figures for the month of June.

You might have thought that the battle over which open-world super-powers game was superior was in fact settled by The Escapist's Yahtzee, who said that the superior game would be the one whose developers did the best illustration of the other game's character wearing ladies' underwear. Of course, Sucker Punch and inFamous won (above), but the sales tell a different story: Although the PlayStation 3 version of Prototype was outsold by the Sony-exclusive inFamous, the Xbox 360 version, with no competition, came in first place this month with 420,000 copies sold.

Then again, talking about the largely invented battle between these two games only serves to distract us from the real story this month, which is that this month's sales were down a whopping 31 percent from June 2008. To put this in perspective, NPD says that it's the biggest year-over-year drop since September 2000.

"The impact of the economy is clearly reflected in the sales numbers," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier in a statement. Consumers might be reluctant to spend until they are compelled to by a big event like the launch of new must-have game or a hardware price cut, she said.

Hardware and top 10 software sales are below.

Top 10 Hardware Sales, June 2009

  1. Nintendo DS 766.5K
  2. Wii 361.7K
  3. Xbox 360 240.6K
  4. PlayStation 3 164.7K
  5. PSP 163.5K
  6. PlayStation 2 152.7K

Top 10 Software Sales, June 2009

  1. PROTOTYPE 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD 419.9K
  2. UFC 2009: UNDISPUTED 360 THQ 338.3K
  3. EA SPORTS ACTIVE BUNDLE WII ELECTRONIC ARTS 289.1K
  4. TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 10* WII ELECTRONIC ARTS 272.4K
  5. WII FIT WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA 271.6K
  6. FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS 260.8K
  7. FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4 PS3 ELECTRONIC ARTS 210.3K
  8. MARIO KART W/WHEEL WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA 202.1K
  9. RED FACTION:GUERRILLA 360 THQ 199.4K
  10. INFAMOUS PS3 SONY 192.7K

Notes:

  • NPD points out that Wii Play fell out of the top 10 this month after a ridiculous 29-month streak. Will this record ever be broken, or is Wii Play the Cy Young of videogames?
  • Interesting that, as near as we can figure with the data we have, inFamous really did have an effect on Prototype's sales on PS3.
  • I'm three days into my EA Sports Active 30-day challenge. It is much more intense than Wii Fit, but I don't know if it'll have the long-term selling power.

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