NPD December 2008

[RobertR1]

It's getting ridiculous folks.....

Top 10 Games of December 2008

1. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii – Nintendo – 1.46 million
2. Call of Duty: World at War - Xbox 360 – Activision – 1.33 million*
3. Wii Fit w/ balance board – Wii – Nintendo – 999K
4. Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel – Wii – Nintendo – 979K
5. Guitar Hero: World Tour - Wii – Activision – 850K*
6. Gears of War 2 - Xbox 360 – Microsoft – 745K*
7. Left 4 Dead - Xbox 360 – Electronic Arts – 629K
8. Mario Kart - DS – Nintendo – 540K
9. Call of Duty: World at War - PS3 – Activision – 533K
10. Animal Crossing: City Folk - Wii – Nintendo – 497K*

* Includes Collector's, Limited, Legendary, and Bundled Editions

Top 10 Games of Calendar Year 2008

1. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii – Nintendo – 5.28 million
2. Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel – Wii – Nintendo – 5.00 million
3. Wii Fit w/ balance board – Wii – Nintendo – 4.53 million
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Wii – Nintendo – 4.17 million
5. Grand Theft Auto IV - Xbox 360 – Take-Two – 3.29 million*
6. Call of Duty: World at War - Xbox 360 – Activision – 2.75 million*
7. Gears of War 2 - Xbox 360 – Microsoft – 2.31 million*
8. Grand Theft Auto IV - PS3 – Take-Two – 1.89 million*
9. Madden NFL '09 - Xbox 360 – Electronic Arts – 1.87 million*
10. Mario Kart - DS – Nintendo – 1.65 million

DS - 3.04 million
Wii - 2.15 Million
360 - 1.44 million
PSP - 1.02 million
PS3 - 726k
PS2 - 410k

 

[Zassk]

DS is in a class by itself, it's just getting silly.

 

[tirminyl]

I was not expecting DS numbers to be like that. Wow.

 

[AlNom]

Let me guess... supply limited Wii? :| Very nice sales for GH:WT on Wii (yay for 3rd party!).

I wonder just how much WaW is riding off of CoD4 popularity...

 

[woundingchaney]

lol

Oh Nintendo how I love to hate thee.

None the less a good showing for the industry in times of a recession.

 

[obonicus]

Very impressive for WaW, but there's actually a good amount of word of mouth for it, that I can tell.

 

[RobertR1]

I wonder just how much WaW is riding off of CoD4 popularity...

Tons and tons. It's an automatic buy for many. Also, it was $35 for a bit (that how much I paid for it) along with $40 deals so that certainly helped.

btw. Really happy with Left4Dead sales. Over 1mil in the US alone. Fantastic!

 

[RobertR1]

I hope we get a top 20 this month also. Would like to see what 10-20 looks like. And here's hoping to more numbers in PR.

 

[tirminyl]

2008:

DS 9.951 mil
PSP 3.829 mil
360 4.735 mil
PS3 3.544 mil
Wii 10.171 mil

LTD:

DS 27.541 mil
PSP 14.341 mil
360 13.860 mil
PS3 6.794 mil
Wii 17.54 mil

I hope we get a top 20 this month also. Would like to see what 10-20 looks like. And here's hoping to more numbers in PR.

So do I. I really like seeing the titles that track outside the chart. Typically you can expect to see certain titles in the top 10.

 

[obonicus]

How's Left 4 Dead 360 doing compared to the Orange Box 360?

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Nice 360 numbers, too... and PS3 is worse then last year??

 

[zed]

sorry about missing the last couple of months (been busy)

numbers in line with what I expected (I dont know why some ppl thought wii was gonna do 3+million)

I think we can officially say now COD is the number1 shooter franchise (+ not halo/resistence/killzone/gears of war etc)

I cant wait for the spin (the best part of the NPD numbers)
the last couple of months, sony have dethroned MS as the number one crap talker a position I can see them holding for a few more months at least

 

[AlNom]

I hope we get a top 20 this month also. Would like to see what 10-20 looks like. And here's hoping to more numbers in PR.

As much as Wii is relevant.... I actually wouldn't *mind* a separate top 10/20 for each of the three platforms. The domination of Nintendo titles has become more an "in-your-face" statement (to me) rather than being particularly useful as far as gauging results of numerous publishers.

 

[obonicus]

As much as Wii is relevant.... I actually wouldn't mind a separate top 10/20 for each of the three platforms. The domination of Nintendo titles has become more an "in-your-face" statement (to me) rather than being particularly useful as far as gauging results of numerous publishers.

Sort of like how NY Times' bestseller list has Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children's and Advice. Advice would otherwise clobber every other non-fiction title.

 

[djskribbles]

Nice 360 numbers, too... and PS3 is worse then last year??

Not really surprising. The PS3 is at the same price as it was last year, whereas the 360 is considerably cheaper.

 

[obonicus]

At least we know what Tretton meant when he said that PS3 sales were up. He was referring to November 2008 like we were guessing, haha.

 

[AlNom]

Sort of like how NY Times' bestseller list has Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children's and Advice. Advice would otherwise clobber every other non-fiction title.

Exactly! Looking at everything is one thing, but we are usually more interested in details that can give way to the general picture anyway.

 

[obonicus]

Gears of War 2 is doing pretty close to GeoW1, isn't it? More front-loaded, it seems.

 

[PARANOiA]

Not really surprising. The PS3 is at the same price as it was last year, whereas the 360 is considerably cheaper.

Come off it... it's hugely surprising, and must be a significant blow to Sony. After publicly shouting "2008 will be the year of the PS3", and launching as many high profile games as they did (Resistance 2, MGS4, LBP all hailed as tentpole releases) and they are doing worse than during the disaster that was their 2007.

I'd like to see a quote from you dated from the first half of the year saying PS3 would do worse in December 2008 than December 2007. Or anyone for that matter.

 

[woundingchaney]

Technically the YTD PS3 numbers are up a rather hefty percentage. Though much of it can be associated with the fact that the PS3 in 2007 spent the majority of the year at 600usd (the 500usd launch unit was extremely limited) with a 500usd and 400usd price tags in the latter portion of 2007 after price cuts. These cuts were made primarily because the PS3 was simply sitting on store shelves at the 600usd and 500usd prices. The 400usd console was in limited supply as the 500usd console was the main production line. Now the 400usd console is the main production line with the 500usd console being supplied less. From Jan 2007- Dec 2008 the PS3 has dropped 200usd - 100usd.

The primary reason why we are seeing a higher PS3 number this year was due to the victory of BD that launched high PS3 sales from January to Sept in addition to the release of MGS4 in the summer. Since the 360 price cuts the PS3 has sold considerably worse than the 360 in NA (and sold less throughout much of the PAL territories).

This is why there has been a growth of the PS3 on YTD figures in 2007 and 2008. Though holiday numbers at "similar" prices are not encouraging in the least.


The 360 hasnt seen very impressive growth on a YTD basis. I believe it is up 3% over last year.