April US game sales up 47% to $1.23 billion

Despite the fact that Grand Theft Auto IV launched only two days before the end of the month, the title was far and away the best-selling game in the US for April.

According to sales data released today by the NPD Group, the Xbox 360 version sold 1,850,000 copies to take first place on the charts. The PlayStation 3 version sold 1,000,000 copies - in a normal month, that would easily be the best-selling game, but in April, that number only placed the title in third.

The second best-selling game for April was Mario Kart Wii, with 1,120,000 copies sold.

"It's unusual for three games to exceed the 1-million mark in a non-holiday month which just goes to prove that great content can succeed regardless of when it is launched," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

Overall, game sales totaled USD 1.23 billion in April - a 47 per cent increase over the same period of the prior year.

The Top Ten best-selling games in the US for the month of April were:

• 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360) - 1,850,000
• 2. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo Wii) - 1,120,000
• 3. Grand Theft Auto IV (PlayStation 3) - 1,000,000
• 4. Wii Play (Wii) - 360,000
• 5. Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii) - 326,000
• 6. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3) - 224,000
• 7. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Darkness (DS) - 202,000
• 8. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time (DS) - 202,000
• 9. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii) - 152,000
• 10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) - 141,000