npd Mass Effect 3 Tops Charts

[Muhammad Farrukh]

NPD: Mass Effect 3 Tops Charts

Xbox 360 remains best-selling hardware; game sales down compared to 2011.

The NPD Group has revealed the top ten best selling games in the United States for the month of March.

The best selling titles of the month, in order, are:

1. Mass Effect 3 (360, PS3, PC)**

2. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (360, PS3)**

3. MLB 12: The Show (PS3, Vita)

4. NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PC, PS2)

5. SSX (360, PS3)

6. Street Fighter x Tekken (360, PS3)**

7. Mario Party 9 (Wii)

8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC)**

9. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations (360, PS3)

10. Major League Baseball 2K12 (360, PS3, Wii, NDS, PSP, PC, PS2)

**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)

While exact sales numbers have not been made publicly available, NPD analyst Anita Frazier notes that "Mass Effect 3 sold more than twice as much as did Mass Effect 2 during its introductory month in January 2010." Update: Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg reports that Mass Effect 3 sold 943,000 units on Xbox 360, outselling the PlayStation 3 version 4 to 1.

In terms of overall sales, Frazier notes that it was a "disappointing month, and first quarter, for new physical retail sales of video games hardware, software and accessories." However, software sales on high definition platforms remained on par with sales compared to last year rather than declining, which Frazier calls "a bright spot in this month's reporting. "

The NPD Group combines overall sales across all platforms, adding together the sales of a single title on every platform for which it's available. Frazier notes that if the group tracked sales of titles on individual platforms, "3DS Kids Icarus Uprising would have been among the top selling individual SKU's for the month of March." She adds that "Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure was the 15th best-selling title for the month" and that "the accessory items are selling phenomenally well."

Three Skylander character packs were among the top ten best-selling accessories of the month. "Interestingly," Frazier commented, "among the top ten accessory SKU's for the month, only three were 'traditional' accessories while the remainder were either point or subscription cards, or Skylanders character packs."

On the hardware front, system sales are down compared to 2011. Xbox 360 remains the best-selling hardware, and Frazier notes that Microsoft's console "is the best-selling console system for the last 15, and the best-selling hardware platform overall for the past eight months." According to Microsoft, Xbox 360 holds 42% of current-generation console sales and sold 371,000 units in March. In the month of March, the total amount of money spent on Xbox 360 at retail stores ($430 million) was more than the amount spent on PlayStation 3 and Wii systems combined.

Sony didn't provide exact sales figures, but notes "impressive hardware, software, and peripherals sales" for Vita in retail stores. The company added that the Vita is performing well in digital sales, which aren't tracked by NPD. "We are seeing strong digital downloads across the board, including full digital-only purchases and extremely high conversion rates for digital demos to full game purchases with titles such as Unit 13," Sony said in a statement."

Nintendo notes several "noteworthy milestones" in March. Mario Party 9 sold more than 230,000 units in the United States, while Kid Icarus Uprising sold more than 135,000. Mario Kart 7 sold 118,000 units in March (with 1.58 million sold since its release last year), and Super Mario 3D Land sold 100,000 units in March, putting overall sales at 1.98 million.

Nintendo added that more than 225,000 3DS systems were sold in March, in addition to nearly 175,000 Wii systems. In addition, the Just Dance franchise has now passed more than 15 million total units sold on Wii.