NPD: DS top but PS3 and 360 impress

The mighty DS once again emerged as the best selling console in North America for the month of September, but the numbers gave each platform holder a chance to celebrate.

DS was the best selling machine for the sixth month on the trot with sales of 524k, though this was followed by PS3 whose sales hit 492k thanks to the success of the recently launched PS3 Slim.

Wii was next up (463k), followed by Xbox 360 (353k), PSP (190k) and PS2 (146k).

However, Xbox 360 remained the single biggest contributor to the overall health of the games sector in the region.

Across all categories, the Xbox 360 platform contributed the most to industry unit and dollar sales as sales of 360 hardware, software and accessories comprised 32 per cent of the month’s revenues,” NPD’s Anita Frazier noted.

All three console manufacturers enjoyed the impact of lower prices on unit sales as the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 realized an increase over August of 87 per cent, 33 per cent and 31 per cent respectively, on an average sales per week basis.

Compared to last September, the PS3 was the big winner, more than doubling last year’s sales. This portrays a very strong consumer reaction to the price decrease as August and September both realized a lift of more than 70 per cent over the prior month. This is the first month that the PS3 has captured the top spot in console hardware sales.”