February NPD

PlayStation 2 131K
PlayStation 3 276K
PSP 199K
Xbox 360 391K
Wii 753K
Nintendo DS 588K

Wii Fit w/ Balance Board NINTENDO OF AMERICA WII 644K
Street Fighter IV* CAPCOM USA 360 446K
Street Fighter IV* CAPCOM USA PS3 403K
Wii Play w/ Remote NINTENDO OF AMERICA WII 386K
Killzone 2 SONY PS3 323K
Wii Mario Kart with wheel NINTENDO OF AMERICA WII 263K
Call of Duty: World at War* ACTIVISION BLIZZARD 360 193K
Mario Kart DS NINTENDO OF AMERICA NDS 145K
New Super Mario Bros NINTENDO OF AMERICA NDS 144K
Guitar HeroWorld Tour* ACTIVISION BLIZZARD WII 136K


Every single month, Wii and DS sell more consoles than they had the previous year. This is usually true of 360 as well.

For one console, this isn't the case. For one console, the good times - which were pretty dismal to begin with - have come to an end. PS3 peaked in the summer of '08, since then, Sony has been selling fewer of it's "better than real" "4D" "Cell powered" black behemoth year over year. Will February make it a 4th month straight of sinking year over year sales? Some hope that the Killzone 2 hype will help, and today we will learn the truth.

Sony apologists point to the economy as an explanation for the PS3's past months, but they're forgetting something: the video game industry is booming. Sales are up as a whole, as they have been every month this generation. More people are playing games, more games and consoles are being sold, more game companies are hiring right now than at any point in history.

Let me repeat that: The game industry is making more right now that at any point in the Earth's history.

And yet, Sony (and developers supporting Sony) are failing. Yesterday, for the first time in company history, Sony put a freeze on all employee wages.
http://kotaku.com/5174363/sony-freezing-cutting-employee-wages
This is at a time when the industry as a whole looks to set record sales again this month.

What accounts for PS3's failure? Is it because they marketed the console as a graphic powerhouse, while it's unable to run many titles in HD (including big titles SFIV, RE5, GTA IV) , while the cheapest console this gen outperforms it graphically in nearly every multiplatform game?
http://misterslimm.wordpress.com/360-vs-ps3/xbox-360-vs-ps3-head-to-head-face-off-results/
That would certainly send a mixed signal to consumers.

Of course, I have my own opinion on why Sony is struggling, but I'll leave that for another article. Today is all about sales.

What? What is that I hear? You in the back - speak up!
"who cares about sales, Fryfat!"
Ah , the one question asked in every NPD thread since it became obvious PS3 wasn't going to repeat its predecessors.

Today we'll find out who cares about sales. As you might expect, just a bunch of boring suits from Bloomberg, who wrote this earlier in the week:
"Sony Corp. is under pressure from video-game publishers to cut the price of the PlayStation 3 console or risk seeing more development funds shift to Nintendo Co.'s Wii."
"If they can't meaningfully increase their install base, then you will likely see a capital reallocation"
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aLi3FF13LuVI

I hope that answers your question. Now when you hear news that EA is shifting out their unprofitable PS3 development to profitable, exciting Wii projects,
http://wii.ign.com/dor/articles/963279/peter-moore-interview/videos/moore_inv_p2_nintendo_031609.html
or that Valve is abandoning PS3 projects, or that Mass Effect 2 won't appear on PS3, it should now make sense.