Sales Chart US: Master Chief ran away... with US$1b

September Sales Figure

It's no secret that Master Chief is going to dominate the sales chart this month. Halo 3, an Xbox 360 exclusive title, has helped the US game industry to break the US$1 billion mark, to $1.3 billion.

Master Chief sold 3.3 million copies in September. The next best game is Wii Play, which sold a measly 282,000, which is just 3 million copies behind the first guy. The long waited Zelda didn't fare too bad, but Meriod Prime 3 managed less than 200K, a bit disappointed by Nintendo standard.

The best Sony game is still on the PS2, with Madden NFL 08. With Sony pulling the plug on backward compatibility in the new 40GB PS3, Sony would have no games worth buying anymore. Won't be surprised if next month's sales chart is dominated by Nintendo and Microsoft. Oh, sorry, they already are.

Top 10 games in US for September

1. Halo 3 - Xbox 360 (Microsoft) - 3.3 million
2. Wii Play - Wii (Nintendo) - 282,000
3. Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - DS (Nintendo) - 224,000
4. Madden NFL 08 - PS2 (EA) - 205,000
5. Skate - Xbox 360 (EA) - 175,000
6. Madden NFL 08 - Xbox 360 (EA) - 173,000
7. Metroid Prime 3 - Wii (Nintendo) - 167,000
8. BioShock - Xbox 360 (Take 2) - 150,000
9. Brain Age 2 - DS (Nintendo) - 141,000
10. Heavenly Sword - PS3 (Sony) - 139,000

Console War VII: Battle for America

With Master Chief taking charge, it's easy to see why the Xbox 360 took the lead in September. Followed closely by the Nintendo hardwares. The top 3 consoles sold close to or over half a million units each. The bottom 3 are all Sony (who else?). To their credit, PSP increased sales due to the PSP slim, but PS3 fell. PS2 is still selling in shitload. Almost a year on, and PS2 is still selling, hate to say this, Sony, but your black brick sucks.

Next month, it's likely Wii will take back the lead, or are they? Can Master Chief hold out another month and lead Xbox to the promised land?

Xbox 360 - 527,800
Wii - 501,000
Nintendo DS - 495,800
PlayStation Portable - 284,500
PlayStation 2 - 215,000
PlayStation 3 - 119,400

Market share for the month

DS vs PSP
63.54% vs 36.46%

Wii vs XB vs PS3
43.63% vs 45.97% vs 10.40%

Source: Gamasutra