Courtesy of ChartTrack and ELSPA
March proved to be a major month for video game releases, with the likes of Rainbow Six Vegas, Army of Two, Bully and Gran Turismo 5 leading the charge. Christopher Dring goes as mad as a March hare...
ALL FORMATS TOP 50: MARCH
01. Mario & Sonic and the Olympic Games (Wii 167k, DS 99k) Sega [266,000]
02. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (360 149k, PS3) Ubisoft
03. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training (DS 134k) Nintendo [134,000]
04. Army of Two (360 77k, PS3) EA
05. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (PS3 108k) SCE [108,000]
06. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, DS) Activision
07. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP, DS, PC ) Konami
08. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, PS2, Wii, PS3, PC) Activision
09. Carnival: Funfair Games (Wii 66k) Take Two [66,000]
10. Bully: Scholarship Edition (Xbox 360, Wii) Rockstar
11. FIFA ’08 (PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS, PC) EA
12. Frontlines: Fuel of War (Xbox 360, PC) THQ
13. Cooking Mama 2 (DS 55k) 505 Games [55,000]
14. Game Party (Wii 55k) Midway [55,000]
15. More Brain Training (DS 53k) Nintendo [53,000]
16. Lost: The Videogame (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) Ubisoft
17. Wii Play (Wii) Nintendo
18. Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360) Microsoft
19. FIFA Street 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, DS) EA
20. Ratatouille (Wii, DS, PS2, PSP, PS3, Xbox 360, PC) THQ
21. The Simpsons Game (PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, DS, Wii) EA
22. The Sims 2: Freetime (PC) EA
23. Sight Training (DS) Nintendo
24. Ben 10: Protector of Earth (PS2, DS, PSP, Wii) D3P
25. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) Nintendo
26. Assassin’s Creed (PS3, Xbox 360) Ubisoft
27. Need for Speed: ProStreet (PSP, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, DS, PC) EA
28. Professor Kagayama’s Maths Training (DS) Nintendo
29. Burnout Paradise (PS3, Xbox 360) EA
30. Sega Superstars Tennis (Wii, DS, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2) Sega
31. MX Vs ATV Untamed (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, DS, Wii) THQ
32. Warhammer: 40,000: Dawn of War Soulstorm (PC) THQ
33. Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’08 (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, DS, PC) EA
34. Devil May Cry 4 (Xbox 360, PS3) Capcom
35. WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2008 (PS2, Wii, PSP, DS, Xbox 360, PS3) THQ
36. 42 All Time Classics (DS) Nintendo
37. Football Manager 2008 (PC, PSP, Xbox 360) Sega
38. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (DS, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360) LucasArts
39. Unreal Tournament III (PS3, PC) Midway
40. Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii) Sega
41. PDC World Championship Darts (Wii, PS2, PC) Oxygen
42. Turok (Xbox 360, PS3) Disney
43. Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (Wii, PS2) Sega
44. Big Brain Academy (Wii) Nintendo
45. Cooking Mama (DS, Wii) 505 Games
46. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3) SCE
47. Mario Kart DS (DS) Nintendo
48. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) Microsoft
49. Imagine: Babies (DS) THQ
50. Mysims (Wii, DS) EA
TOTAL SOFTWARE BY LABEL (units)
Nintendo - 10.4%
Sega - 9.5%
EA Games - 8.9%
THQ - 6.6%
SCE - 5%
Ubisoft - 4.9%
Microsoft - 3.8%
Red Storm - 3.7%
Activision - 3.6%
EA Sports - 2.9%
TOTAL SOFTWARE BY LABEL (value)
Sega - 10.7%
EA Games - 10.1%
Nintendo - 9.5%
Microsoft - 7.2%
THQ - 6.3%
Red Storm - 5.7%
Ubisoft - 4.4%
SCE - 4.4%
Activision - 4.2%
Sega has finally made it to the top of the Total Software by Label (value) charts, and is snapping at the heels of Nintendo in terms of units too. These sales have been driven primarily by the continued presence of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games in the All Formats Charts, which is number one for the month of March. Sega can be found elsewhere in the charts too, with Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sega Superstars Tennis, Football Manager 2008 and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity all charting this month.
Also new for March is Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy label Red Storm, which returned following the massive success of Tom Clancy’s: Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Sony has also jumped back into the label charts with its speedy, realistic racer Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. Activision’s place in the charts has taken a battering however, with the company slipping four places. This is in spite of the fact that Call of Duty 4 and Guitar Hero III continued to perform well all month.
TOTAL SOFTWARE BY COMPANY (units)
Electronic Arts - 12.2%
Ubisoft - 11.9%
Nintendo - 10.5%
Sega - 9.9%
THQ - 7.1%
SCE - 5.2%
Activision - 5.1%
Take Two - 4.3%
Microsoft - 4%
Symantec - 2.5%
TOTAL SOFTWARE BY COMPANY (value)
Electronic Arts - 14%
Ubisoft - 12.2%
Sega - 10.8%
Nintendo - 9.6%
Microsoft - 7.2%
THQ - 6.5%
Activision - 5.7%
SCE - 4.5%
Take Two - 3.6%
Symantec - 3.3%
Electronic Arts has reclaimed the top spot from Nintendo this month despite losing market share in terms of both units and value. Army of Two was a big winner for EA, charting at four in All Formats Top 50, whereas FIFA 2008 continued to perform well at eight. FIFA Street 3, The Sims 2: Freetime and The Simpson Game also performed well for the publisher.
However, Ubisoft saw the biggest change during February, boasting a four per cent market increase with the release of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2. The game reached second in the All Formats Top 50, which is all the more remarkable when you consider it was only released towards the back end of the month.
Sony’s return to the Total Software by Company charts, combined with an improved performance for Take Two, has marked an end for Capcom and Disney’s stay. Both publishers had done well in February, with the release of Devil May Cry 4 and Turok. And finally, Nintendo’s market share has dipped, dropping as they do to third.
FULL PRICE FORMAT SHARE (units)
Xbox 360 - 23.1%
Wii - 18.5%
PC - 17.1%
DS - 16.7%
PS3 - 16.4%
PSP - 4.2%
PS2 - 3.8%
Apple Mac - 0.2%
FULL PRICE FORMATS SHARE (value)
Xbox 360 - 25.6%
Wii - 18.5%
PC - 18.5%
PS3 - 18.3%
DS - 12.9%
PS2 - 2.7%
PSP - 3%
Apple Mac - 0.5%
Microsoft’s machine is back at the top of the Full Price Formats Share chart at the expense of the Wii. Aside from Rockstar’s Bully: Scholarship Edition, Nintendo’s platform saw very little in the form of new releases, with many big games such as Wii Fit and Mario Kart released this month.
The Xbox 360’s success is down to a host of multiformat releases. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 was released on PS3 as well, however 77 per cent of sales were on Microsoft’s format. New releases such as Army of Two, Bully and Frontlines: Fuel of War also helped increase Microsoft’s full price market share for March, as did the continued success of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Interestingly, PS3’s full price share dropped this month, despite a large spike in hardware sales. This is also in contrast to the budget chart (see right), which saw the PS3 make an impact for the first time. The Nintendo DS also fell this month with few new releases for the handheld machine. And there’s good news for PC, which saw a slight increase over February in terms of market share.
BUDGET FORMAT SHARE (units)
DS - 30.6%
PC - 21%
Wii - 16.7%
PS2 - 12.3%
PSP - 7.3%
Xbox 360 - 6.2%
PS3 - 5.6%
Others - 0.3%
BUDGET FORMAT SHARE (value)
DS - 35.9%
Wii - 19.4%
PC - 11.4%
PS2 - 11.6%
PS3 - 7.5%
Xbox 360 - 7.2%
PSP - 6.8%
Others - 0.1%
The biggest change in the Budget Formats Share chart is the inclusion of the PlayStation 3. This is all down to the release of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, which was priced at just £25, with many retailers only charging £20. Retailers also offered a series of good PS3 bundle deals, reducing the value of many PlayStation 3 games.
The Wii has also increased its market share in the budget market, with many Wii budget games featured in the All Formats Top 50. These include the likes of Carnival Funfair Games and Game Party, as well as Wii Play, which is treated as a budget game because of the Wii Remote that comes bundled with it.
March also saw a further dip for PC, which had controlled the budget charts in previous months. The PC suffered a 2.7 per cent market share drop in terms of units and and a drop of 2 per cent in terms of value, despite a constant flow of budget PC games. This is primarily down to the increased share from the Nintendo DS, which continued its hold on the top spot due to the likes of Brain Training, which is sitting in fourth in the All Format Top 50.
