December’s American video game sales data from the NPD is in, and like almost any month in the past years, it shows an unchanged result: A Nintendo system on top, this time the DS outsold all other systems, it also marked the first time any hardware system has sold over 3 million units in one month! Previously that record belonged to the PS2, which sold 2.7 million units in December 2002.
NPD analyst, Anita Frazier, had this to say: “While industry growth has not continued at the blistering pace we saw during the second and third quarters, December’s 9% increase over last December brings the year in 19% ahead of last year, and sets a new record for total industry sales. This month marks the first time that industry revenue has topped $5 billion in any single month. In 1997, annual revenues were $5.1 billion, and now a single month has realized that level of sales.”
Video game hardware overview:
1. Nintendo DS — 3.04 million
2. Nintendo Wii — 2.15 million
3. Xbox 360 — 1.44 million
4. PlayStation Portable — 1.02 million
5. PlayStation 3 — 726,000
6. PlayStation 2 — 410,000
Wii-exclusive Wii Play keeps going strong as Wii Remote and mini-game demand is still high with over 1.46 million sales in the U.S. alone the past month. The NPD mentions that “Software sales reached nearly $11 billion, which is more than total industry revenues were in 2005. The variety of content on the top 10 list shows just how viable non-traditional content has become. Not only can these games succeed, they can end up on the top 10 list for the year.”
Video game software top 10 December 2008:
1. Wii Play (Wii) — 1.46 million
2. Call of Duty: World At War (Xbox 360) — 1.33 million*
3. Wii Fit (Wii) — 999,000
4. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) — 878,000
5. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Wii) — 859,000*
6. Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) — 745,000*
7. Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360) — 629,000
8. Mario Kart DS (DS) — 540,000
9. Call of Duty: World At War (PS3) — 533,000
10. Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii) — 497,000*
Video game software top 10 of 2008:
1. Wii Play (Wii) — 5.28 million
2. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) — 5 million
3. Wii Fit (Wii) — 4.53 million
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl — 4.17 million
5. Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360) — 3.29 million*
6. Call of Duty: World At War (Xbox 360) — 2.75 million*
7. Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) — 2.31 million*
8. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) — 1.89 million*
9. Madden NFL 09 (Xbox 360) — 1.87 million*
10. Mario Kart DS (DS) — 1.65 million
* Includes Collector’s, Limited, Legendary, and Bundled Editions.