The Stupid Gamer

Thanks to Gamasutra we have the top ten selling games of 2009 for the United States. As expected, Modern Warfare 2 took the top spot. Here is the full list.

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward, Activision), Xbox 360
2. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo), Wii
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo), Wii
4. Wii Fit (Nintendo), Wii
5. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo), Wii
6. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), Wii
7. Wii Play (Nintendo), Wii
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward, Activision), PlayStation 3
9. Halo 3: ODST (Bungie, Microsoft), Xbox 360
10. Pokemon Platinum Version (Nintendo), NDS

Nintendo took seven of the top 10 positions, which is amazing considering that some of the titles didn’t even come out in 2009 that made that list. With two different versions of Modern Warfare outselling Halo 3: ODST, I think it’s safe to say that Modern Warfare has taken the crown from Halo as king of FPS franchises for the time being. We’ll have to see what sort of numbers Halo Reach can put up, but it’s doubtful that it’s going to do the same sort of quantity of sales as Modern Warfare 2, though still entirely possible. One thing is certain, however, the Wii games developed by Nintendo are sales juggernauts and software sales for the system are quite healthy.

Everybody’s favorite month to track the NPD sales is November due to the craziness of Black Friday and the kickoff of holiday shopping. Going into the month most people were predicting that the PS3 would be the big winner in hardware with Modern Warfare 2 cleaning up the software battle. See below to see how it all played out.

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 1,700,000
2. Nintendo Wii – 1,260,000
3. Xbox 360 – 819,000
4. PlayStation 3 – 710,400
5. Sony PSP – 293,900
6. PlayStation 2 – 203,100

Software

1. 360 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 4,200,000
2. PS3 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 1,870,000
3. Wii – New Super Mario Bros. Wii – 1,390,000
4. 360 – Assassin’s Creed 2 – 794,700
5. 360 – Left 4 Dead 2 – 744,000
6. Wii – Wii Sports Resort – 720,200
7. Wii – Wii Fit Plus – 679,000
8. PS3 – Assassin’s Creed 2 – 448,400
9. 360 – Dragon’s Age: Origins – 362,100
10. Wii – Mario Kart Wii – 315,000

360 (4), Wii (4), PS3 (2)

So the Wii and DS just put up insane numbers. It seems that they most definitely have not hit critical mass at this point. The big surprise, however, was that the 360 outsold the PS3 by over 100,000 units and the dismal performance of the PSP platform, which includes newcomer PSPgo in the mix. Now it’s not all doom and gloom for Sony, but they definitely failed to make up ground on the competition despite price drops, some very slick ad campaigns, and some key releases. December might tell a different story, but really it’s November that is the key month for holiday sales figures.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is just crazy. I can’t think of a time when any game sold over 6 million units in a single month, and by all accounts the number is already over a million units higher when factoring in December. Remember, this is only the United States and does not factor in European, Japanese, or other region’s sales. Simply put, Modern Warfare 2 a beast like we’ve never seen before.

October is the last month of the year before the big holiday pushes begin, and it’s often an indicator of where people are leaning going into the holidays. October did see some good game releases, including a valid GOTY contender in Uncharted 2 and a possible dark horse runner with Borderlands. Here are the charts.

Hardware

1. Nintendo Wii – 506,900
2. Nintendo DS – 457,600
3. PlayStation 3 – 320,600
4. Xbox 360 – 249,700
5. Sony PSP – 174,600
6. PlayStation 2 – 117,800

Software

1. PS3 – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – 537,000
2. Wii – Wii Fit Plus – 441,000
3. 360 – Borderlands – 418,000
4. Wii – Wii Sports Resort – 314,000
5. 360 – NBA 2k10 – 311,000
6. 360 – Halo 3: ODST – 271,000
7. PS3 – NBA 2k10 – 213,000
8. 360 – Forza Motorsport 3 – 175,000
9. NDS – Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days – 169,000
10. 360 – FIFA 10 – 156,000

Hey, some actual changes in the NPDs this month! Sony is riding high on the strength of the recent PlayStation 3 price drop, finally taking a convincing victory in the charts on the console front. Check out the numbers below.

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 524,200
2. PlayStation 3 – 491,800
3. Nintendo Wii – 462,800
4. Xbox 360 – 352,600
5. Sony PSP – 190,400
6. PlayStation 2 – 146,000

Software

1. 360 – Halo 3: ODST – 1,520,000
2. Wii – Wii Sports Resort – 442,900
3. 360 – Madden NFL 10 – 289,600
4. NDS – Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story – 258,100
5. 360 – The Beatles: Rock Band – 254,000
6. PS3 – Madden NFL 10 – 246,500
7. 360 – Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 – 236,000
8. PS3 – Batman: Arkham Asylum – 212,500
9. 360 – Guitar Hero 5 – 210,800
10. Wii – The Beatles: Rock Band – 208,600

360 – 5, Wii – 2, PS3 – 2, NDS – 1

Hardware sales are in a big slump right now. It could be the slow summer months, or it could finally be America’s recession making deep cuts in sales, but these numbers are down quite a bit. As expected, Wii Sports: Resort was the top seller in software. Here are the numbers.

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 538,900
2. Nintendo Wii – 252,200
3. Xbox 360 – 202,900
4. Sony PSP – 122,800
5. PlayStation 3 – 121,800
6. PlayStation 2 – 108,000

Software

1. Wii – Wii Sports: Resort – 508,200
2. 360 – NCAA Football 10 – 376,500
3. PS3 – NCAA Football 10 – 237,400
4. Wii – Wii Fit – 164,300
5. Wii – Mario Kart Wii – 156,600
6. DS – Mario Kart DS – 132,200
7. DS – Pokemon Platinum – 116,400
8. 360 – Fight Night: Round 4 – 116,400
9. DS – New Super Mario Bros. – 101,800
10. Wii – EA Sports Active – 96,800

Top Ten Share

1. Wii – 4
2. DS – 3
3. 360 – 2
4. PS3 – 1

So, here are the sales of June 2009. It’s the first time in 29 months that Wii Play didn’t chart in the top 10, so people can stop complaining about it being in there (for now). It’s a bummer to see The Conduit fail to hit the top 10, hopefully that game has legs. inFamous holding onto a top 10 spot is nice.

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 766,500
2. Nintendo Wii – 361,700
3. Xbox 360 – 240,600
4. PlayStation 3 – 164,700
5. Sony PSP – 163,500
6. PlayStation 2 – 152,700

Software

1. 360 – Prototype – 419,900
2. 360 – UFC: Undisputed – 338,300
3. Wii – EA Sports Active – 289,100
4. Wii – Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – 272,400
5. Wii – Wii Fit – 271,600
6. 360 – Fight Night Round 4 – 260,800
7. PS3 – Fight Night Round 4 – 210,300
8. Wii – Mario Kart Wii – 202,100
9. 360 – Red Faction: Guerrilla – 199,400
10. PS3 – inFamous – 192,700

It looks like with the DSi is selling quite well, so Nintendo’s latest hardware revamp appears to be a success so far. Those numbers are combined DSi and DS Lite, however. Other than the DS, sales are starting to suffer that summer slump; but that’s pretty common to see. EA has to be pretty happy this month, as four of the top ten games belong to them.

The hype of E3 is still going strong, so the NPDs slipped out today and they nearly went unnoticed. Here are the results from last month’s sales in the United States.

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 633,500
2. Nintendo Wii – 289,500
3. Xbox 360 – 175,000
4. PlayStation 3 – 131,000
5. PlayStation 2 – 117,000
6. Sony PSP – 100,400

Software

1. 360 – UFC 2009 Undisputed – 679,600
2. Wii – Wii Fit w/ Balance Board – 352,800
3. Wii – EA Sports Active – 345,800
4. PS3 – UFC 2009 Undisputed – 334,400
5. PS3 – inFamous – 175,900
6. NDS – Pokemon Platinum – 168,900
7. Wii – Mario Kart Wii – 158,300
8. Wii – Punch-Out!! – 156,900
9. 360 – X-Men Origins: Wolverine – 120,700
10. Wii – Wii Play w/ Remote – 109,800

Wii – 5, PS3 2, 360 2, DS 1

Nintendo took six of the top ten games this month and Sony split the remaining four with Microsoft. It’s been a while since the 360 has had such a bad month in the top ten, but its top title alone did put up more numbers than the PS3 was able to between its two. The Wii is really just rolling with the software sales. Wii Play nearly dropped from the top ten…fanboys the world over almost had reason to rejoice. I would have liked to have seen both Punch-Out!! and inFamous put up better numbers, however. Hopefully they hang on in the charts next month, but it’s going to be tough.

Have you seen those Redbox DVD rental machines all over the place? Well, it looks like Wal*Mart is starting to use similar machines in order to accept used games from gamers. NeoCrisis has the earliest details and firsthand experience, so check out the link to see what he thought. It seems that the experience was a bit glitchy, but I’m sure with time all the wrinkles will get ironed out.

Wal*Mart is huge. If this program works for them and they roll it out in all their stores, it’s going to have a huge impact on the second-hand games industry. Gamestop can’t be very happy about this, and publishers who are trying hard to kill used games sales have to be facing some sleepless nights. It’s not like publishers could really pressure Wal*Mart into giving up their used game sales, because publishers absolutely need the sales volume that Wal*Mart provides them. This is a case where if the program is successful, developers and publishers are basically just going to have to grin and bear it.

Another month, another round of sales numbers! Here are the sales figures for April 2o09 in the United States.

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 1,040,000
2. Nintendo Wii – 340,000
3. Xbox 360 – 175,000
4. PlayStation 2 – 172,000
5. PlayStation 3 – 127,000
6. Sony PSP – 116,000

Software Top Ten

1. Wii – Wii Fit w/ Balance Board – 471,000
2. DS – Pokemon Platinum – 433,000
3. Wii – Mario Kart Wii – 210,000
4. Wii – Wii Play – 170,000
5. 360 – The Godfather II – 155,000
6. 360 – Resident Evil 5 – 122,000
7. DS – New Super Mario Bros. – 119,000
8. DS – Mario Kart DS – 112,000
9. 360 – Guitar Hero: Aerosmith – 110,000
10. PS3 – The Godfather II – 91,000

Totals:  Wii (3), DS (3), 360 (3), PS3 (1)

Looks like the DSi caused a big boost in DS hardware sales along with software. Nintendo is going to be downright obnoxious at E3 with their chest thumping about sales, I’m calling it right now. They sort of deserve it though. It looks like GH: Aerosmith dropping to $10 managed to put it into the top ten again, imagine that. Hey developers, price drops are good, okay?

Numbers finally come back down to earth in March, but they’re still strong overall. Resident Evil 5 was the biggest seller of the month; which I think most of us predicted. Looks like tank controls can’t hold a good series down, right? Here are the numbers.

Hardware

1. Nintendo Wii – 601,000
2. Nintendo DS – 563,000
3. Xbox 360 – 330,000
4. PlayStation 3 – 218,000
5. Sony PSP – 168,000
6. PlayStation 2 – 112,000

Software

1. 360 – Resident Evil 5 – 938,000
2. DS – Pokemon Platinum Version – 805,000
3. 360 – Halo Wars – 639,000
4. PS3 – Resident Evil 5 – 585,000
5. Wii – Wii Fit with Balance Board – 541,000
6. PS3 – MLB ‘09: The Show – 305,000
7. PS3 – Killzone 2 – 296,000
8. Wii – Wii Play – 281,000
9. Wii – Mario Kart Wii – 278,000
10. 360 – MLB 2k9 – 205,000

360 (3) – Wii (3) – PS3 (3) – DS (1)

Again, no real surprises from last month’s sales. I guess it’s a mild surprise that Halo Wars beat out Resident Evil 5 on the PS3, but that’s debatable. Next month’s NPDs will include the DSi sales, so that should shuffle things up a bit.