MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Much like its dominance in the hardware sector, Nintendo has also emerged as the big victor in 2009’s American software charts according to the latest data from NPD – though Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 emerged as the year’s most popular title.
In doing so MW2 becomes the fourth best-selling video game of all time I the region, mirroring the success it has enjoyed here in the UK.
The best-selling game of December was New Super Mario Bros Wii, which also captures the third spot on the annual top 10 list for 2009,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier stated.
Madden NFL 10 had a big month selling 1.5m units across all platforms, besting last December’s performance of the ’09 game. December’s sales made up some of the lost ground realized out the gate when the title came to market in August.
Software sales in December were more concentrated among the top games this year than last. This year, 20 per cent of sales came from the top SKUs, whereas last December it was just 12 per cent.
Six of the top ten games totalling 20.8m units for the year were on the Wii platform as compared to four last year at 19m units.”
In addition, contrary to the widespread belief that the music genre is in turmoil, over the year it actually emerged as the second most popular game type behind first person shooters and won December outright.
Here are the top retail titles for 2009:
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360)
2. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
4. Wii Fit (Wii)
5. Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
6. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
7. Wii Play (Wii)
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
9. Halo 3: ODST (360)
10. Pokemon Platinum (DS)
