Nintendo sold over 3 million DS Lite consoles in the U.S. in December 2008, the first time in history that any piece of game hardware has sold over 3 million units in a single month, the NPD Group said Thursday.
The previous record was held by Sony's PlayStation 2, which sold 2.7 million units in December of 2002.
The news comes as a mild surprise: Yes, many industry watchers predicted the record would be broken this month -- but by the Wii, not the DS. Supply constraints kept Wii sales for the month to 2.15 million units.
Here are the rankings for December:
- Nintendo DS 3.04 million
- Wii 2.15 million
- Xbox 360 1.44 million
- PlayStation Portable 1.02 million
- PlayStation 3 726K
- PlayStation 2 410K
Top 10 software sales for December 2008 and the entire year of 2008 follow, as well as analysis from NPD.
__Top Selling Games, December 2008 __
- WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA 1.46 million
- 360 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR ACTIVISION BLIZZARD (CORP) 1.33 million
- WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA 999K
- WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA 979K
- WII GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR ACTIVISION BLIZZARD 850K
- 360 GEARS OF WAR 2 MICROSOFT (CORP) 745K
- 360 LEFT 4 DEAD ELECTRONIC ARTS 629K
- NDS MARIO KART NINTENDO OF AMERICA 540K
- PS3 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR ACTIVISION BLIZZARD (CORP) 533K
- WII ANIMAL CROSSING: CITY FOLK NINTENDO OF AMERICA 497K
__Top Selling Games, Annual 2008 __
- WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA 5.28 million
- WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA 5.00 million
- WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA 4.53 million
- WII SUPER SMASH BROS: BRAWL NINTENDO OF AMERICA 4.17 million
- 360 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP) 3.29 million
- 360 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR ACTIVISION BLIZZARD (CORP) 2.75 million
- 360 GEARS OF WAR 2 MICROSOFT (CORP) 2.31 million
- PS3 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP) 1.89 million
- 360 MADDEN NFL 09 ELECTRONIC ARTS 1.87 million
- NDS MARIO KART NINTENDO OF AMERICA 1.65 million
Some scattered thoughts:
- Not to sound like a broken record, but look at the only music game SKU in the top 10.
- Where in the hell did Mario Kart DS come from, all of a sudden?
- Oh, PS3.
All in all, the U.S. video game industry enjoyed a record-setting year in 2008, with over $21.33 billion in total sales, a 19% growth over 2007. But, said NPD analyst Anita Frazier, that didn't translate to good times for everyone.
"We get asked a lot why there are so many layoffs and studio closings occuring in the industry when it has just realized another record-breaking year. This is not a case of the rising tide lifting all boats. The increases are not being enjoyed equally by all manufacturers and publishers," she said.
Image courtesy Nintendo
