April NPD: Sales Rise, Gamers Love Mortal Kombat
Mortal KombatCheck it out: the gaming world still loves Mortal Kombat.
The NPD Group has released their findings for the month of April and there's good news all around: sales are up across the board, starting with overall industry retail sales hitting $961.2 million, which is a 20% jump over last year's April haul.
Software sales were up 24% and NetherRealm's Mortal Kombat reboot led the charge with around 900,000 copies sold. Valve's excellent Portal 2 came in second on the charts, followed by LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars and the ever-present Call of Duty: Black Ops. Now, as a side note, the NPD says SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs would've cracked the top 10 if they counted sales of the PlayStation Move bundle that includes Zipper Interactive's latest. Overall, five games topped the 250,000 sales mark, as opposed to only two in April 2010.
Hardware sales were also up, with non-PC sales of game systems rising 21% to $279.9 million. Microsoft's Xbox 360 led the way with 297,000 units sold and in a statement by SCEA Sr. Director of Corporate Communications Patrick Seybold, we learn PlayStation 3 sales were up 13%:
"NPD reported that the PlayStation 3 continues to see double-digit hardware growth. PS3 hardware sales are up nearly 13% and our PS3 software sales showed a 40% increase year-over-year. We continue to see a lot of great momentum at the retail level, and appreciate the support we've received from our partners, retailers and customers since the criminal attack on the PlayStation Network. We hope to have services restored as soon as we can."
Tags: npd, april npd, npd sales, mortal kombat
5/12/2011 8:43:33 PM Ben Dutka
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Comments (36 posts)
Bloodysilence19
Thursday, May 12, 2011 @ 10:11:38 PM
Reply
1 up, 3 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, May 12, 2011 @ 10:33:27 PM
The quick onset of boringness in fighters is why I'm resolved to always wait to buy them. I'll still get MK, and SCV, but it's hard to ever justify more than $40 for a fighter.
I'd probably get a PS3 DOA on day one though... we all have our weaknesses.
5 up, 1 down
kraygen
Thursday, May 12, 2011 @ 10:43:33 PM
I enjoy a good fighter every now and then, but I'm an rpg man at heart.
2 up, 1 down
Scarecrow
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 3:47:21 AM
If you suck at them you spend a week or two on them.
It's a matter of how good or not you are.
Last edited by Scarecrow on 5/13/2011 3:47:37 AM
3 up, 3 down
Fane1024
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 4:45:45 AM
If you spend a week or two on them, you suck at them.
It's a matter of how good or not they are (at holding your attention).
3 up, 1 down
slugga_status
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 8:49:08 AM
If a fighter doesn't have enough depth as far as game modes then anybody will get bored with it. Which was the case for me with SCIV.
MK is pretty deep and don't see how you could get bored with it. But everybody has their own gaming taste..
1 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 9:09:11 AM
2 up, 2 down
slugga_status
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 11:35:32 AM
That can be said about any game you play
0 up, 1 down
Scarecrow
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 12:04:21 PM
Last edited by Scarecrow on 5/13/2011 12:04:31 PM
0 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 2:49:12 PM
2 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, May 12, 2011 @ 10:31:31 PM
Reply
I was thinking about Socom 4 today and, while I have no stake in the game nor am I interested in it, I found myself considering how us PS3 fans often find ourselves complaining when our exclusives don't get their just dues. But nobody is doing that about Socom 4. What I see is people being perfectly reasonable, saying "Yeah it isn't great but it's fun" or "It's a love it or hate it type of game"
Kind of tosses those Sony fanboy arguments out the window that crop up when games like Killzone 3 get raped in reviews.
9 up, 3 down
Aura7541
Thursday, May 12, 2011 @ 11:02:12 PM
Also, the articles say that only about half of the people who trade in their PS3's purchase a 360 afterwards.
4 up, 0 down
PorkChopGamer
Thursday, May 12, 2011 @ 11:11:01 PM
5 up, 0 down
Temjin001
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 1:08:57 AM
Oh yes, 3 a week in contrast of the tens of millions of PS3 owners.
The story should be spun as.. CoD addicts need their fix and will EVEN sell their PS3 for an older game system to have it.
See. We just have to clump "those" gamers within another category altogether.
4 up, 0 down
Fane1024
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 4:48:31 AM
I met him on the set of a beer commercial.
2 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 9:13:58 AM
We're uh, experiencing technical difficulties right now but haven't been hacked and will get back on updates very soon :)
@Porkchop nice use of a Seinfeld quote.
0 up, 1 down
Temjin001
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 9:19:24 AM
Well, Sasquatch is alive. He shaved off all of his hair and went to work as the CEO of MS.
Steve Balmer. Look at his brow ridge. See. Sasquatch'y
2 up, 0 down
Underdog15
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 10:17:58 AM
1 up, 0 down
kraygen
Thursday, May 12, 2011 @ 10:50:12 PM
Reply
Sure it still wouldn't have matched Cod sales, I guess I'm just stating the obvious, NPD is practically useless.
5 up, 0 down
Excelsior1
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 3:21:26 AM
Reply
as far as ps3 trade ins go...it's hard to say anything without solid numbers behind it. i did witness 1 such trade in myself at my local gamestop.
Last edited by Excelsior1 on 5/13/2011 3:22:15 AM
1 up, 1 down
Scarecrow
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 3:48:16 AM
Reply
Fighter of the year!
2 up, 0 down
___________
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 4:15:46 AM
Reply
i wish netherelm studios would give us deception 2, or that fire and ice game they canned.
fire and ice preferably, i mean who does not want to play as scorpion and sub zero in a shaolin monks styled game!?
0 up, 0 down
Miggy
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 8:06:16 AM
0 up, 0 down
tridon
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 9:23:06 AM
As for Fire & Ice, I'm sure something will come along such as that. If you think about it, each generation has at least one action/adventure MK game. PS1 had Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Special Forces and the PS2 had Shaolin Monks. Personally, I'd love to see an action/adventure prequel featuring Raiden and Shang Tsung. That'd be sweet.
0 up, 0 down
___________
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 9:50:53 AM
konquest was the bomb!
i enjoyed the puzzle and chess modes too.
best part was the 3 style fighting moves though, it was so much fun racking up 100+s combos!
i remember getting to sparky in the conquest mode for raiden, took me ages to finally get it.
hardest combo, was so freaking long i had no skin left once i finished it!
as for fire and ice, to be honest i cant see it happening.
shaolin monks was not exactly the most popular MK game, and there not exactly in a position to take risks like that now.
maybe later down the track, but i honestly cant see a shaolin monks game releasing.
i wish they would bring back the features of MK V DC universe.
you know the close combat, falling combat, all the new things it brought to the series.
thats the only thing i have always hated about MK, every title they bring in something new, everyone loves it, so the first thing they do for the sequel is remove it!
what the?
i thought you were suppose to keep things fans loved, not remove them!
0 up, 1 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 9:21:02 AM
Other than that, fighters are great for gamers who want to master intricate fighting styles and look damn good doing it. It is also much more satisfying to beat your opponent to death for many versus putting a bullet in them from a great distance. It's a challenging genre that takes skills and gives great satisfaction.
That said, I think the basic content of fighters (while things like MK's Tower challenges are very much appreciated) pale in comparison to what is being offered today in the likes of other AAA titles.
They are very straight forward games.
1 up, 0 down
Nas Is Like
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 9:18:47 AM
Reply
0 up, 1 down
tridon
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 9:26:44 AM
1 up, 0 down
slugga_status
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 10:13:34 AM
I agree the 3D is worlds better then when MK4 came out and you had to actually hit R2 and L2 to step into a different plane.
I think that 2D was the simpler way to go to appeal to the masses. Especially after what SFIV did
0 up, 2 down
Zen_Zarab
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 11:59:02 AM
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1 up, 0 down
Danny007
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 1:51:29 PM
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1 up, 0 down
PharaohJR
Friday, May 13, 2011 @ 2:23:51 PM
Reply
the MK webepisodes i give it a solid 10 for the quality & delivery i havent been entertained by shows in so long. its nothing i can really say the show lacks the actors i think they got to act the characters is 95% LEGIT. so yall check it out if u like RAW ACTION or just enjoy MK.
0 up, 0 down
Miggy
Reply
Thursday, May 12, 2011 @ 9:39:04 PM