NPD: GTA IV Fastest Selling Game Ever, Nintendo Still Bulldozes Competition

April can be the cruelest month, but not if you're Nintendo, which managed to sell 714,000 Wiis bolstered by hot-ticket games like Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros Brawl, and Wii Play. Also not if you're Rockstar, whose Grand Theft Auto IV rocked the slots to become the fastest selling video game in history.

On the whole, the video game market hauled in a whopping $1.23 billion, a 47 percent increase over the same period last year.

"The industry continues to set a blistering sales pace, and now shows a year-to-date increase of 31% over last year's record-setting revenues," commented NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "This is the first month in many that we've seen a decrease in portable hardware and software sales, but it's important to remember that this year, the Easter holiday fell in March as compared to April in 2007." Frazier added that April 2007 and March 2008 saw portable sales rise in part due to the holiday timing.

The numbers...

Hardware

714k - Wii
415k - DS
193k - PSP
188k - Xbox 360
187k - PlayStation 3
124k - PlayStation 2

What's important:

- NPD's Frazier expressed surprise that the 360 and PS3 sales of GTA IV weren't even higher. "It was surprising not to see bigger hardware sales for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 given the release of GTA IV," she said. "However, since the game was only in the market for 5 days during this reporting period, that sales lift could very well be evident in May data."

- Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo. Have you heard about these guys? Get ready to hear even more, with Rock Band and Wii Fit around the corner. "As retail supplies become more plentiful we're seeing continued sales strength of Wii hardware," said NPD's Frazier. "With a couple of blockbuster games already in the market this year, and with Wii Fit and Rock Band still to come in the next two months, the pipeline of content to continue to drive hardware acquisition looks very good."

Software

1.85m - GTA IV (360)
1.12m - Mario Kart (Wii)
1.00m - GTA IV (PS3)
360k - Wii Play (Wii)
326k - Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
224k - Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (PS3)
202k - Pokemon MD: Explorers of Darkness (DS)
202k - Pokemon MD: Explorers of Time (DS)
152k - Guitar Hero III (Wii)
141k - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360)

What's important:

- Sony finally has two titles in the top ten, Gran Turismo 5 and GTA IV, making April the first month in as long as I can remember that you can say Sony's hardware sales were probably predominantly software (as opposed to Blu-ray) driven

- We won't really know the full GTA IV story until next month, since the game went on sale April 29, and NPD's numbers only reflect two days worth of sales. But in just 48 hours, "GTA IV captured two of the three top game spots, realizing an attach rate of 20% to the combined Xbox 360 and PS3 install bases," said NPD's Frazier. "With only 5 days at retail during the reporting month, GTA IV is one of the fastest-selling titles in video games history." Clearly the 360 version soared out of the gate, and crucial retailers like GameStop have claimed something like 64 percent of GTA IV sales went to the 360 during the game's first week at bat. My guess is we'll see a 60/40 split, but -- importantly -- it may be a 60/40 split the other way when we look back at sales of the game to existing owners and sales to first time console buyers.

- Did you hear Nintendo released a new version of Mario Kart for the Wii? I know, the press pretty much ignored Nintendo's latest banana-peel-lobbing racer, but you certainly didn't. All 1.12 million of you, anyway, who helped Mario Kart go on to outsell GTA IV on the PS3. (How's "by 120,000" banana peels spin you, Sony?) Said NPD's Frazier: "In a classic example of counter-programming, Mario Kart for the Wii captured the second-highest game sales for the month."

Re-Play

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