GTA Stays On Top In May NPD, PS3 Pulls Ahead of 360

Grand Theft Auto IV has again dominated NPD's May North American sales figures in its first full month with combined sales of 1.3 million units, as Wii Fit debuts at number 3, and the PlayStation 3 again ranks ahead of the Xbox 360 in hardware sales. Overall, the entire video game market -- both hardware and software -- accounted for $1.12 billion in May, up 37 percent from the year prior. Said NPD analyst Anita Frazier, "The U.S. video games industry has generated $6.6 billion in sales so far this year, which exceeds total 1997 annual revenues. The industry is on pace to achieve revenues in the $21-$23 billion range for 2008." May Hardware Hardware numbers were up 34 percent to $428.6 million, as the PlayStation 3 again pulls ahead of the Xbox 360. The Wii continues to lead, though slightly behind its numbers the month prior, as the DS regains some momentum and jumps some 40,000 units. No PlayStation 2 sales were given in NPD's initial report. The full charts are as follows: Wii - 675.1K (from 714K) Nintendo DS - 452.6K (from 415K) PlayStation 3 - 208.7K (from 187K) Xbox 360 - 186.6K (from 188K) PSP - 182.3K (from 193K) Frazier noted that the "Nintendo Wii and DS have captured the top two spots in terms of hardware sales for the fourth consecutive month," but added, "The continued success of GTA IV is not translating into big hardware sales for either the PS3 or the 360 but there may yet to be a lift in June due to gift-giving for Father's Day and graduations." May Software On the software side, May sales were up 41 percent to $536.9 million, as Grand Theft Auto IV continued its chart topping success with a combined 1.3 million units sold - following 2.85 million units sold in its brief April debut. The Xbox 360 version of the game continued its near-double lead over the PlayStation 3 version. Elsewhere, Mario Kart continued to take the second best-selling slot, followed by the debut of Wii Fit, which managed 677,000 units in its first month. The PlayStation 2 version of Sega's movie tie-in Iron Man debuted at number 7, as the latest DS Pokemon titles rounded off the charts at 9 and 10. The full rundown is as follows: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360, Take-Two) - 871.3K 2. Mario Kart (Wii, Nintendo) - 787.4K 3. Wii Fit w/balance board (Wii, Nintendo) - 687.7K 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, Take-Two) - 442.9K 5. Wii Play w/remote (Wii, Nintendo) - 294.6K 6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii, Nintendo) - 171.1K 7. Iron Man (PS2, Sega) - 130.6K 8. Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock w/guitar (Wii, Activision) - 116.8K 9. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (DS, Nintendo) - 107K 10. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (DS, Nintendo) - 102K Frazier added that Namco's Wii Fit balance-board enabled We Ski debuted at number 12 on the charts, and "was able to captilize on Wii Fit's cross-promotions in circulars and at retail." She also noted that "GTA IV has now generated combined sales of 4.2 million units, making it the top-selling title of the year." Finally, said Frazier, "A lot of folks are interested in the battle of the bands. Year-to-date, Guitar Hero III has sold 2.5 million units compared to Rock Band's 1.3 million which lands them both in the top 10 titles for the year so far."