BioShock Infinite bests Tomb Raider as March's top-selling in the US
UPDATE: BioShock Infinite sold 878,000 units on console during the month.
UPDATE: BioShock Infinite sold 878,000 units on console during the month, analyst firm Cowen announced. This figure does not include digital sales - on Steam, for example.
Cowen expects the Irrational-developed shooter will end up selling around 4.5 million units in the first year - including retail and digital.
Elsewhere, Cowen said sales of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct were "surprisingly strong".
ORIGINAL STORY: The data analysts at NPD have released this months sales figures for the US, in which BioShock Infinite came out on top with Tomb Raider in second and Gears of War: Judgment and God of War: Ascension in spots three and four respectively.
It's worth noting that BioShock Infinite and Tomb Raider had a better launch month than any other game in their respective franchises. This suggests that people want more reboots (or whatever the hell you call BioShock Infinite) and fewer prequels.
Bear in mind that NPD only tracks physical sales, so digital sales of games like BioShock Infinite don't show up on this particular radar. That being said, the software market declined 10 per cent from $1.1 billion in March 2012 to $992.5 million in March 2013.
Unsurprisingly, hardware sales have been drastically declining in the last year, dropping 32 per cent from $324.7 million to $221.6 million.
NPD also noted that this March had 20 per cent fewer game launches than March 2012, but "March 2013 launches generated close to 70 per cent more dollar sales per SKU than last year."
3DS software sales also increased by roughly 50 per cent with games like Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate leading the pack.
Elsewhere, despite Capcom's push to popularise Monster Hunter in the west, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate failed to crack the top 10, which is especially worrisome when the critical chamber pot The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct made the list. [Editor's note: I've checked with NPD and the Wii U and 3DS versions of Monster Hunter were in fact grouped together and it still failed to outsell Survival Instinct.]
The full top 10 list for physical March 2013 sales in the US is as follows:
- Bioshock Infinite (360, PS3, PC)
- Tomb Raider (360, PS3)
- Gears of War: Judgment (360)
- God of War: Ascension (PS3)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
- Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
- MLB 13: The Show (PS3, PSV)
- NBA 2k13 (360, PS3, WII, Wii U, PSP, PC)
- The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (360, PS3, Wii U)
- Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 (360, PS3)