Nintendo games dominate software sales in US

via Games Industry


Nintendo titles dominated software sales in the US during 2008, with the top four biggest games in the region all exclusive to the Wii.

Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii sold more than 5 million copies each, while Wii Fit and Super Smash Bros. Brawl racked up sales of over 4 million units apiece.

Closest to Nintendo's top four was the Xbox 360 version of Take-Two's multiformat Grand Theft Auto IV, which sold over 3.2 million units, ahead of Activision's Call of Duty: World at War on 360 and Microsoft's Gears of War 2.

The only handheld title in the top ten was Mario Kart DS, once again from Nintendo.

During the December month, Nintendo's Wii Play was the best-selling game in the US, 22 months after it was first released in the region in February 2007. The company also had five top titles during the month, including Animal Crossing: City Folk.

Other noticeable hit titles during December include Activision's Guitar Hero: World Tour which sold 850,000 units, and Valve's new IP Left 4 Dead, which shifted 629,000 copies.


Full year sales for 2008:

01. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) - 5.28 million
02. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) - 5.00 million
03. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) - 4.53 million
04. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo, Wii) - 4.17 million
05. Grand Theft Auto IV (Take-Two, Xbox 360) - 3.29 million
06. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision, Xbox 360) - 2.75 million
07. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft, Xbox 360) - 2.31 million
08. Grand Theft Auto IV (Take-Two, PS3) - 1.89 million
09. Madden NFL 09 (EA, Xbox 360) - 1.87 million
10. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo, NDS) - 1.65 million

Sales for December 2008:

01. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) - 1.46 million
02. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision, Xbox 360) - 1.33 million
03. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) - 999,000
04. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) - 979,000
05. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Activision, Wii) - 850,000
06. Gears of War 2 Microsoft, Xbox 360) - 745,000
07. Left 4 Dead (EA, Xbox 360) - 629,000
08. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo, NDS) - 540,000
09. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision, PS3) - 533,000
10. Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo, Wii) - 497,000