Top 10 Best Selling Games of 2009 Are...

[sevin0seven]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the Xbox 360 has been announced as the best selling game of the year, according to new NPD figures. The news is pretty stunning considering Modern Warfare 2 just came out recently. Below are the top 10 best selling games of 2009 (the figures obviously don't include December)...

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) -- 4,200,000
2. Wii Fit w/ balance board (Wii) -- 3,500,000
3. Wii Sports Resort w/ MotionPlus (Wii) -- 2,400,000
4. Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel (Wii) -- 2,200,000
5. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) -- 2,100,000
6. Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360) -- 2,000,000
7. Pokemon Platinum (DS) -- 1,900,000
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)-- 1,900,000
9. Madden NFL 10 (Xbox 360) -- 1,500,000
10. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) -- 1,400,000

ok, so 7 nintendo games. 2 xbox360 games and 1 freakin sony game. Woooooo!

sony must be pretty upset by those numbers...

[Niode]

Sounds about on par with Sony's usual track record. They never have many games in the top 10. It's always (and I mean always) been dominated by Nintendo for the last 5 years or so.

[J T]

This is just a theory, but I think Nintendo comes out on top so frequently because they make games that are not male-centric. Games like Wii-Fit or Sports Resort can appeal to both genders. Most video games these days tend to target men. Nintendo makes games that target men, women, and they usually make them non-threatening enough to appeal children (or at least to the parents that buy the games for those children). This provides them an instantly larger demographic to pool revenue from.

Modern Warfare 2 though, I see as a male-centric game and it's obviously doing very well. I think that is a testament to the strength of Modern Warfare 1 though.

Of course, these are sweeping generalizations I'm making. There will be a group of women that play the manly games, and not everyone likes Wii even if its designed for the everyman. I just think that Xbox 360 and PS3 don't have many games in their libraries that would appeal to women, and are therefore missing out on a large portion of potential consumers.

[enderfall]

I think it's important to point out that ALL 10 are established franchises. Sony's Achilles heel has always been their lack of a signature franchise (a la: Mario, Sonic, Master Chief, etc.). I don't think that Sony truly expects to compete with the monsters on the software sales until they get to that point. It'll be interesting to see how God of War III fares in 2010 since it's the closest thing Sony has to a signature franchise at the moment. Further, the list is expected to be dominated Wii titles since they are the leaders in hardware sales.

[t0yrobo]

Other than being for a wider audience, the thing with Nintendo games is that they sell well for a long time. If the sales for MW2 don't totally suck now, they will soon. While all the Nintendo games on that list will continue to sell moderately for another 6 months to a year or more.

[fastbilly1]

Wii Play, still that high after 2 and a half years, and I still dont own a copy...Mario Kart Wii is doing pretty good for a 2008 game aswell.

Reminds me of Mario Kart DS being on the Japanese top 25 sales charts earlier this year (four years after it came out).

[MrPopo]

Other than being for a wider audience, the thing with Nintendo games is that they sell well for a long time. If the sales for MW2 don't totally suck now, they will soon. While all the Nintendo games on that list will continue to sell moderately for another 6 months to a year.

Hit the nail on the head. Let's examine the Nintendo games on the list with their release dates:

2. Wii Fit w/ balance board (Wii) -- 3,500,000 - 5/21/08
3. Wii Sports Resort w/ MotionPlus (Wii) -- 2,400,000 - 6/26/09
4. Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel (Wii) -- 2,200,000 - 4/27/08
5. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) -- 2,100,000 - 2/12/07
7. Pokemon Platinum (DS) -- 1,900,000 - 3/22/09
10. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) -- 1,400,000 - 11/15/09

Three of the six games came out this year. Two came out in the first half of 08, and one came out at the beginning of 07. That's a hell of a sales curve. Most games sell awesome in the first month and then massively taper off. Not the first party Nintendo stuff.

[RCBH928]

The highest selling games means nothing,
it means profit in the business world, thats about it.
No longer is the game that has higher sales is the better game.

We see Wii Fit at #2,
and Wii Fit is not a game is an exercise program.

Long ago, when games were made for all people to play(ex.Sonic , Mario, Pac-man) highest selling game means best game because it appeals to everyone. Now the market is segmented into casual, hardcore, children, 65+(Brain Age?), Family, female, male it just doesn't stop.
So basically the largest segment(Say there are 50 million casual gamers) obviously will win.

Its like 50 million people watches WWE, but only 1 million watches UFC. That doesn't mean that WWE is better product.

Now I see sales list to know how popular a game is and how much money the company made, it doesn't mean its the best game any more.

I know I said I hated Nintendo's Wii, and I do for the most part, but I am glad to see the company comeback as the family's main console and its a nice return after the big financial difficulties since '96 N64 era.

[corn619]

Its unfortunate units sold doesn't equal a good game. People have really bad taste these days. Its sad that the best game on that list in last place. I know I'll probably get burned for saying this but, Call of Duty is nothing but overhyped garbage. A game these days that can be beaten in less than 5 hours shouldn't be $60.00. Yeah I know its all about the multiplayer but I'd rather have a robust single player over multiplayer anyday.

I gave it a chance and walked away very hungry. I felt that I was served only appetizers but was charged for a full course meal. It was VERY short, the graphics were not that good, the multiplayer felt unpolished if you ask me. The game as a whole just wasn't fun to me and felt I've done this 1000 times before.

I played games like Killzone 2, Uncharted 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 and felt like I ate 2 full course meals with seconds on desert. I also never understood the hype behind Halo. I think the alien design sucks and its very kiddy looking, the weapons blow and the landscape is very generic. I won't even start on the Wii sports, fit, Pokemon and Madden crap. I thought Mario Kart was ok, but was far behind the DS entry.

I just don't understand peoples lack of taste when it comes to games these days. I can think of at least 15 other titles that are vastly more innovative, fun and original that deserve to be on that list. I have a feeling fun, daring and original games are soon to be extinct on store shelves. Its a shame good original games don't get the marketing hype like Call of Duty did. I know many will fell differently, but I think games, music and movies are very getting generic these days and the whole entertainment industry is in need of a full refresh. Fell free to ignore my ranting ramblings.

[Limewater]

No longer is the game that has higher sales is the better game.

I'm not sure that higher sales have ever meant a better game. There is definitely a correlation, but I'm not sure how strong it is.