February 2012 NPD: Modern Warfare 3 assumes lead, PS Vita starts strong

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Sony's handheld moves 225K in US over four days, 1.2M since launch

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was last month's bestselling game in the US, according to the latest stats from retail analyst NPD. Infinity Ward's multiplatform shooter dominated February's top ten chart, which also included strong showings for Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIII-2, 38 Studio's debut Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning IP, and Sony's Twisted Metal reboot.

The full list is as follows:

PS Vita's Uncharted: Golden Abyss cracked the top 20 list, despite having only been on sale for four days during NPD's reporting period, which ran January 29 to February 25. As for Sony's new handheld itself, the PS Vita pulled some equally respectable numbers in that tiny window, selling 225K around its launch and earning $10 million in accessory sales.

“After months of anticipation, the U.S. launch of PlayStation Vita saw overwhelming enthusiasm amongst gamers, resulting in exceptional hardware, software and peripheral sales,” said Sony's corporate communication head Patrick Seybold. “As reported last week, more than 1.2M PS Vita units have been sold globally since launch.”

February was also a good month for Microsoft, with Xbox 360 celebrating its fourteenth month as the top selling console at 426K units. PlayStation 3 came second at 360K, while Nintendo's 3DS placed third with 262K.

All in all, it wasn't an earth shattering month for video games, but the appearance of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning bodes well for IPs. PS Vita's early US success must also come as a relief for Sony fans, although a truer indication of the handheld's success will be next month's numbers. Speaking of which, is it too early to predict a Mass Effect 3 sweep?

Matt Bradford

Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.