NPD: GOW3 sells 25% more than GOW2 despite PS3 installed base

God of War III sold over one-million copies worldwide just a few days after release, but with the game’s US March sales now out, we can finally see how well it has done in comparison to its predecessors.

Following God of War III’s March 16th launch in the US, God of War III managed to surpass one-million units after just a few days on sale. Unit sales stood at around 700,000 in the US, with 400,000 in the rest of the world. Quite a feat, considering God of War II sold 400,000 fewer copies during its first week.

Now we have more solid numbers for the US, with NPD revealing that God of War III topped the software chart in the month of March with a massive 1.1 million units sales. That’s over 200,000 more than God of War II and 700,000 more than God of War I. This is despite the PlayStation 3’s installed base being around 30 million units less in the States compared to the PS2 at the time of God of War II’s release. Sadly God of War III’s sales didn’t dramatically impact hardware sales during the month, most likely due to continuing PS3 shortages.

Readers Comments (30)

  1. Damn, this could end up being the best-seller on the PS3.

  2. PS2 could be modded.

  3. Well I’ll be gosh darned. Good for Kratos

  4. Still disappointing…

  5. well of course…this is a system seller….

    though it still lost to SS and HG lol

  6. the title of this article can be explained in the fact that there arent that many other choices for good games to buy on the ps3. I love my ps3 dont get me wrong but not enough games to play, and this game is button smashing at its best…which I love so i bought it release date.

  7. Wow matta, that is the stupidest and most uneducated thing I have EVER heard on here. No other choices? LOL….no…..that is the reason 360 exclusives sell so well, because there’s no other choices. But in the months leading up to GoW3, PS3 has has a GIGANTIC arrary of amazing exclusive games to choose from. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, R&C, Demon’s Souls, Uncharted 2, MAG, White Knight, and Heavy Rain. And that is saying nothing about all the amazing cross-platform games that have come out as well.

    I’m sure what you meant to say was. “Wow, that is an amazing number of sales to get despite all the other amazing games that PS3 gamers have to choose from. Kudos to Santa Monica.” I’m sure that’s what you MEANT to say…….right?

  8. @matta, what are you talking about. You should not own a game console at all if you think the PS3 does not have any games. There is no console out there that has higher quality titles than the PS3. That is a fact, no one can say otherwise.

    Over 1 million copies sold in about 3 weeks is pretty good. Even games like Battlefield which is an FPS and usually sell insane amounts of copies just barely beat it out. So that is saying something about God of War.

  9. Moocows111111 April 15, 2010 @ 20:58

    Wow I don’t see how this is actually possible.

    “I love my ps3 dont get me wrong but not enough games to play”

    Cough cough Best Library by Kotaku Cough cough, no games ?

  10. Kotaku’s list of crap is nothing to be proud of. And the difference was 2% anyway.

  11. @ Mark:

    @ Mark: Please, shut up! You’ve done nothing but claim the PS3 is crap and 1.1mill in one region is disappointing. Give me a break.

    OT: That’s fantastic news. Just goes to show that installed base doesn’t always determine the final outcome.

  12. Never said the PS3 was crap, learn to read.

    These numbers for a franchise like GOW are disappointing, period.

  13. @Mark: For a 2 week period?. 1 million was the result of the game being 2 weeks on sale (March 16 -31). So yeah, impressive results in my opinion.

  14. @terrance: indeed, Mark said kotaku’s list ofs are crap

    but yeah, id say this is great seeing how the PS3’s install base is much smaller than the PS2’s….let it sold more than GoW2’s first month! thats not counting the GoWCollection!!!

    a great win for sony indeed

  15. Gears 2 did 2 million in a damn weekend. Halo 3 even more.

    Wanna keep going?

  16. Patrick Steen April 16, 2010 @ 03:03

    Hi Mark, there’s not doubt that those hardcore Xbox 360 games sell a lot. But that’s not the norm, and these numbers for GOWIII are extremely good. 1.1 million in the US would put GOWIII at over 2 million worldwide.

  17. hacker13sacker April 16, 2010 @ 07:09

    MARK THE XBOT…COMING TO A PS3 FORUM NEAR YOU!!!

  18. blacksharinganx April 16, 2010 @ 11:01

    @mark
    sure they did sale more mark, but your referring to games that have multiplayer modes, when god of war 3 doesnt have any, so if your going to make a comparison over multiplayer game with a single player one when gears sold 2 million, and god of war 3 sold 1.1 million, so 1 million of difference isnt bad considering it only has the single player experience dont you think?

  19. Noooo, you should never ask a troll for his opinion!. It’s like an open letter to war, lol

  20. Being single player only doesn’t matter, this was God of War 3. The conclusion of the trilogy and hyped exclusive for years.

    and LOL and crybabies calling me an Xbot, gtfo back to N4G where you belong with the other trash.

  21. By comparison Killzone 2 did 300k in its opening weekend, and took 2 months to just break 1 million.

    and that had MP.

  22. Xbox install base is nearly twice that of ps3 in the US.

  23. @ marks last message, not too bright? it sold two million for the year one million of it being in the first week.

  24. Moocows111111 April 16, 2010 @ 18:53

    What is 2% of 1,000,000,000 compared to 2% of 100 ? 2% can be a huge difference dude. Besides I don’t see Mark, selling 1,000,000 units of a product.

    And guys seriously stop bashing Mark, he is entitled to his own opinion.

  25. Well i say they are great sale figures and really dont care about the xbox sales of their games. The main thing is it is only on ps3 🙂

  26. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killzone_2#Reception_and_sales

    “On the 16th of April, Sony announced that sales of Killzone 2 had surpassed one million worldwide.[”

    Whos not too bright now?

  27. Moocows111111 April 17, 2010 @ 23:13

    ““On the 16th of April, Sony announced that sales of Killzone 2 had surpassed one million worldwide.[”

    Whos not too bright now?”

    Big deal, its not about the sales, you do know that games are for entertainment right? As long as those 1,000,000 or so people who bought Killzone 2 enjoyed it, then the winners are them XD

  28. Weak damage control

  29. @Mark did you buy GOW3? If not then STFU! I bought a copy and I enjoyed it. It was impressive for that amount in about half a month.

  30. @mark: seriously tho, Halo 3 and ODST sold like hotcakes, and they arent even good games

    and if you want to talk about sales, then why in the hell is the Wii and DS pwning everything else?

    just because Halo was kickass back then doesnt mean all its later iterations are good

    im not saying anything, im just saying

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