14 DAY TRIAL // As part of its reports for December, the NPD Group has also done a bit of math to see which game sold the most in 2008 and came up with a top ten offering few surprises but a lot of space for thought.
Unsurprisingly, given the domination of the Nintendo Wii in all hardware charts, the best sold videogame of 2008 was Wii Play, the game created by Nintendo, which has become inseparable from the console. It sold 5.28 million units in one year, more than a quarter of a million more than the second placed title, Mario Kart Wii. Nintendo completed the domination of the podium by having Wii Fit, selling bundled with a balance board, at number three, with 4.53 million units in one year.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is at number four in the chart, followed by the first non Nintendo game in the top, Grand Theft Auto IV, made by Rockstar and distributed by Take Two. It sold 3.29 million for the Xbox 360 units since its launch early in 2008, while Call of Duty: World at War from Treyarch and Activision, launched significantly later in the year, still managed to move 2.75 million copies in North America.
Gears of War 2 for the Xbox 360 is just ahead of the first PlayStation 3 title in the chart, GTA IV, which sold 1.89 million units. Electronic Arts makes its entry in the top ten with Madden NFL 09 for the Xbox 360 that moved 1.87 million units, while another Nintendo title, Mario Kart DS, is at number ten.
Analyst Anita Frazier commented on the absence of music simulators from the top ten, saying that Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2 both had their best month in December, even though they were selling less than expected.
She also said that “Software sales reached nearly $11B, which is more than total industry revenues were in 2005.”