Microsoft Xbox 360 Becomes U.S.’ Most Popular Game Console in September – NPD

by Anton Shilov
10/18/2007 | 05:42 PM

Following the release of the massively popular Halo 3 game title, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game conole managed not only to outsell Sony’s PlayStation 3 game console, but also left behind the absolute leader of previous months, Nintendo Wii.

According to NPD Group, Microsoft Xbox 360 game console was acquired by two times more gamers compared to the previous month, or 527.8 thousand of gamers across the U.S. Nintendo’s Wii also managed to attain a new record for itself: about 501 thousand units were bought in September, a generally regular month. Unsurprisingly, with no new popular game releases and with anticipation of massive price-cuts, Sony’s PlayStation 3 dropped to 119.4 thousand in September.

In general, the market of non-portable game consoles was up about 34% sequentially in September with both Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo 360 enjoying sales increase, whereas the others being considerably behind.

In the meantime, the market of portable game consoles skyrocketed substantially with 855.3 thousand game consoles sold. Nintendo sustains its leadership in the field with 495.8 thousand of Nintendo DS sold through and 75 thousand of Game Boy Advance bought by gamers in the USA. Sales of Sony PlayStation Portable also increased to 284.5 thousand of devices.

The success of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 should be mainly attributed to the release of the Halo 3 and considered as something extraordinary. Meanwhile, Nintendo Wii continues to be a successful game console without incredibly popular titles.