April NPD: Mortal Kombat beats Portal 2

The NPD Group released its retail-only sales data for April 2011 last night, and it shows some positives signs for the industry. Physical software sales grew in both units and dollars for the first time since November.

Portal 2, SOCOM 4

Mortal Kombat took the top spot with 900,000 units, edging out Portal 2. It's worth noting, of course, that Portal 2 probably saw more than a few purchases through Steam, which isn't tracked by NPD and may never be.

Though NPD hasn't brought back detailed sales numbers, it points out that five games sold more than 250,000 units this April, as opposed to only two last April. Finally, NPD claims that if the Move accessory bundle for SOCOM 4 had been counted in its software sales, the game would have ranked in the top ten. The Full Deployment Bundle, which included the Sharpshooter, Move, and game, was the top new accessory for the month.

The Xbox 360 was again the top-selling hardware in terms of unit sales, followed by the Nintendo DS. Sales of hardware were up over last year, but only by 3%. NPD didn't share the sales spot for the 3DS, so we're left to wonder how interest has waxed or waned after its launch month.

Top 10 US physical retail games - April 3 to April 30, 2011

1. Mortal Kombat 2011 (PS3, 360)

2. Portal 2 (360, PS3, PC)

3. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii, NDS, 360, 3DS, PS3, PC)

4. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, NDS, Wii, PC)

5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (360, PS3, Wii)

6. Crysis 2 (360, PS3, PC)

7. Just Dance 2 (Wii)

8. Michael Jackson The Experience (360, Wii, PS3, NDS, PSP)

9. Pokemon White Version (NDS)

10. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, PC)