March NPD US results: hardware and software sales skyrocket, Nintendo brawls its way to the top

It’s been around a month since the last NPD Group sales data were reported, and the new results are in for the month of March. According to the report, Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl, proved to be a “smash” hit.

That’s not the only game that did well last month, though. More on the statistics in the full article after the jump.

If you’ve been wondering how video game industry has been doing lately in terms of sales, wonder no more. The NPD Group has released its sales data for the month of March. In general, both the hardware and software fronts have seen jumps in sales.

According to the NPD Group, these are the top 10 selling games and consoles (ranked by units) for March:

Software

1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl: 2.7 million
2. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Xbox 360): 752.3K
3. Army of Two (Xbox 360): 606.1K
4. Wii Play w/ remote: 409.8K
5. God of War: Chains of Olympus: 340.5K
6. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII: 301.6K
7. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii): 264.1K
8. Major League Baseball 2K8 (Xbox 360): 237.1K
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360):  237K
10. Army of Two (PS3):  224.9K

Hardware

1. Nintendo Wii: 721K
2. Nintendo DS: 698K
3. Sony PSP: 297K
4. Microsoft Xbox 360: 262K
5. Sony PS3: 257K
6. Sony PS2: 216K

The NPD Group noted Nintendo’s domination in the hardware scene – the Wii and the DS sold 721,000 and 698,000 units, respectively. The Sony PSP sold 297,000 units, while Microsoft’s Xbox 360 edged out the PS3 just slightly, 262,000 vs. the PS3’s 257,000. Sony’s PS2 sold another 216K.

All in all, total industry sales amounted to US$ 1.7 billion. Software sales totaled US$ 945.6 million, while hardware sales amounted to US$ 551.3 million. Even game-related accessories did really well last month, totaling US$ 220 million.