NPD: Kratos conquers March

Sony’s God of War III emerged as the March software champion in the US, shifting 1.1m units and bettering the performance of predecessor God of War II by 32 per cent.

The sales mirror its similar achievement in the UK.

The success is all the more impressive considering that God of War II arrived late on in the PS2’s lifespan when its installed user base was far higher than that currently enjoyed by PS3.

On the flipside, of course, the PS3 had already arrived by the time Kratos’ second outing hit retail, negating its potential market impact.

However, if you combine the March sales in the US of multiformat releases then Nintendo’s Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver emerges as the champ with sales of 1.81m units. Next up would be Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII (1.32m) and EA’s battlefield: Bad Company 2 (1.28m).

For the first time since its launch in the US, the PS3 has four titles in the Top 10, and was also the leader in console software sales,” NPD’s Anita Frazier added.

Here’s the full list:
1. God of War III (PS3) – 1.1m
2. Pokemon Soul Silver (DS) – 1.02m
3. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) – 828.2k
4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Xbox 360) – 825.5k
5. Pokemon Heart Gold (DS) – 761.2k
6. Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360) – 493.9k
7. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) – 457.4k
8. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3) – 451.2k
9. Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board (Wii) – 429.6k
10. MLB 10: The Show (PS3) – 349.2k