NPD: Wii Fit, Street Fighter IV Drive Industry to $1.47 Billion in February

GameDaily BIZ has received the NPD video game sales data for February, showing that games continue to perform well despite a very rough economy. Total sales climbed 10 percent to $1.47 billion, while hardware was up 11 percent to $532.7 million and software was up nine percent to $733.5 million. Dollar sales would have been even higher since unit sales were way up, but average pricing has fallen, NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier explained: "Consumers picked up nearly 20 million units of video game software in February, a 14% increase over February 2008. The average retail price for games is 4% lower than last year, which is why the dollar sales increase is not quite keeping in pace with the increase in unit sales."

Accessories actually saw the most growth in February, rising 13 percent to $207.1 million. Frazier told us, "With all the hardware systems realizing an increase over last month, accessory sales will usually follow along. The items in the top 10 for the month include Wii controllers, the PS3 Dual Shock controller, and Xbox Live point cards."

Overall, Nintendo has shown no signs of slowing down. The Wii and DS platforms easily outsold all other platforms and six of the top 10 selling games were for either the Wii or DS. It's Nintendo's world; the rest of the industry is just visiting.

The Wii sold another 753K units while the DS sold 588K units. Microsoft's Xbox 360 had a very solid showing with 391K units sold. The PS3 sold over 100 fewer at 276K units. Sony's PSP and PS2 rounded out hardware with 199K units and 131K units, respectively.

In terms of software, Wii Fit continues to excel, taking the top spot with 644K units sold. Combining SKUs for Capcom's Street Fighter IV, however, produces nearly 850K units sold. After all these years and iterations, Street Fighter clearly still resonates with fans. Frazier said the game's success "is a testament to the power of carefully cultivating evergreen properties."

Here's the top 10 software chart from NPD (ranked by units):

1. Wii Fit w/ balance board - Wii – Nintendo – 644K
2. Street Fighter IV - Xbox 360 – Capcom – 446K*
3. Street Fighter IV - PS3 – Capcom – 403K*
4. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii – Nintendo – 386K
5. Killzone 2 - PS3 – Sony – 323K
6. Wii Mario Kart w/ wheel - Wii – Nintendo – 263K
7. Call of Duty: World at War - Xbox 360 – Activision – 193K*
8. Mario Kart DS - DS – Nintendo – 145K
9. New Super Mario Bros. - DS – Nintendo – 144K
10. Guitar Hero World Tour - Wii – Activision – 136K*

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

It's obviously quite early in 2009 still, but so far total sales are tracking ahead 11 percent this year, which is quite encouraging.

Frazier commented to GameDaily BIZ, "I think the performance in the industry in Q4 when the economic downturn really accelerated, combined with the performance so far this year when gift-giving isn't really instigating purchases for the most part are clear signs that the foundation of the industry is strong - there are more people gaming and bringing new people into the industry. This will help the industry continue to post gains even if at the individual level folks are spending a bit less. As long as the industry keeps up the innovation that brings new folks into gaming - and keep in mind it's far from saturated because there is still only 61% of the U.S. population ages 2+ involved in gaming - that will help offset anything that belt-tightening at the individual level might do."

While Nintendo remains the big winner, Frazier was also impressed by Microsoft's surge: "When I first looked at the numbers, nothing really surprised me except perhaps the big increase the Xbox 360 hardware sales generated over last year. While I expected the price cuts they made and the high-value bundles they're offering at retail to generate strong interest from consumers, the increase was very substantial. I think consumers are showing that they're responding to value propositions."

Frazier expects March to be another great month for the industry, considering the quality of releases: "March should be another great month for software sales between Pokemon Platinum, GTA: Chinatown Wars, Halo Wars, the two MLB titles and of course, Resident Evil 5, just to name a few of the key drivers. The sheer quantity of great content coming to market early in the year should keep industry sales humming throughout 2009."