September NPDs: PS3 is Top Console, ODST Dominates

Sorry that these numbers are a little bit late side, but I think we can be forgiven, since it seems like Hell may have indeed frozen over – PlayStation 3 was the best selling home console for the month of September.

Mind you, this doesn’t exactly come as a huge surprise, since the recent price cut was fully expected to drive more hardware into consumer hands, but it’s still a bit of a shock to see PS3 sitting above the Wii on the sales charts. These are strange, strange times we live in.

It remains to be seen if Sony can maintain console dominance over Nintendo come October, which will be the first full month with Wii’s price drop in effect. Still, overall console sales were up 87% over last month even if total sales dollars were down by 5% versus September of last year, in part due to discounted hardware prices.

On the software side, Halo 3: ODST steamrolled everything else, smashing its way to the top of the list with 1.52 million copies sold. Despite this big win, software is still down year-to-date, even as it showed a small increase over last September’s numbers. Other noteworthy events were Wii Fit finally dropping out of the top ten after 15 months, though that may be rapidly replaced by the new Wii Fit Plus. Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3 shows that it has some legs, hanging in at number eight, just below the premiere of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 on 360. Lastly, The Beatles: Rock Band claimed two spots in the top ten – numbers five and ten for the 360 and Wii versions, respectively - while Guitar Hero 5 only appeared once, edging out the Fab Four on Wii for number nine by about 2,000 copies

Is this the beginning of seeing the industry pull out of the slump it’s been in all year or is it just a bright spot of false hope before a potentially dismal holiday season? We’ll see if the trend continues next month. For now, check out the specific numbers below and look for some more NPD related musings to follow today.

September 2009 Software Sales