December NPD: Slowdown
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Jan 15th 2009 at 9:00PM }
It's not surprising to see that hardware sales rose significantly in December, but what is surprising is the comparatively small progress made by the Wii -- only a 5% increase from November, compared to some big gains for the competition. People who are paid a lot more than us predicted the Wii would smash the 3 million sales barrier, but nope. We're putting this down to a lack of holiday season supply, or November's figures simply being amazing.On the other hand, selling 2.15 million of anything in a single month isn't too shabby!
- DS: 3.04m
1.47m (94%)- Wii: 2.15m
110K (5%)- Xbox 360: 1.44m
604K (72%)- PSP: 1.02m
599K (142%)- PS3: 726K
348K (92%)- PS2: 410K
204K (99%)December's best-selling games are past the fold, along with 2008's top sellers. Spoiler: Nintendo software kicked ass.
Top 10 games of December 2008
1. Wii Play -- Wii -- Nintendo -- 1.46 million
2. Call of Duty: World at War -- Xbox 360 -- Activision -- 1.33 million*
3. Wii Fit -- Wii -- Nintendo -- 999K
4. Mario Kart Wii -- Wii -- Nintendo -- 979K
5. Guitar Hero: World Tour -- Wii -- Activision -- 850K*
6. Gears of War 2 -- Xbox 360 -- Microsoft -- 745K*
7. Left 4 Dead -- Xbox 360 -- Electronic Arts -- 629K
8. Mario Kart -- DS -- Nintendo -- 540K
9. Call of Duty: World at War -- PS3 -- Activision -- 533K
10. Animal Crossing: City Folk -- Wii -- Nintendo -- 497K*
Top 10 games of 2008
1. Wii Play -- Wii -- Nintendo -- 5.28 million
2. Mario Kart Wii -- Wii -- Nintendo -- 5.00 million
3. Wii Fit -- Wii -- Nintendo -- 4.53 million
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl -- Wii -- Nintendo -- 4.17 million
5. Grand Theft Auto IV -- Xbox 360 -- Take--Two -- 3.29 million*
6. Call of Duty: World at War -- Xbox 360 -- Activision -- 2.75 million*
7. Gears of War 2 -- Xbox 360 -- Microsoft -- 2.31 million*
8. Grand Theft Auto IV -- PS3 -- Take--Two -- 1.89 million*
9. Madden NFL '09 -- Xbox 360 -- Electronic Arts -- 1.87 million*
10. Mario Kart -- DS -- Nintendo -- 1.65 million
* Includes collector's, limited, and bundled editions.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Azsro @ Jan 15th 2009 9:17PM
You know what´s really funny? When nintendo haters start the same "Why is everybody buying the Wii? It aint fun! It has no games!" mantra.
Sure. For me, or you, reading everyday news, playing every (good) release, the wii may have its own game droughts...
But show the wii to a newcomer, somebody who dont play games since Doom II on the pc... this guy will have A LOT of great wii games to play right from the start.
intro94 @ Jan 15th 2009 9:21PM
well i think that there is a point where you cant keep increasing your sales constantle, after you pretty much reached all your potential customers and sales slow down .Some wii owners now are buying a bit of the other consoles so that makes sense.Particularly the price cuts for the 360 made it a lot more appealing for those who already own a wii.
esposch @ Jan 15th 2009 11:35PM
The problem with the 360 is that is was superseded 2 years ago.
il_duce620 @ Jan 15th 2009 10:01PM
I agree with Azsro...there are all kinds of good Wii games available, especially when you throw in all the Virtual Console options. Two other things:
1). When you think of the months of November and December combined, that's over 4 million Wiis sold...which is ridiculous... 5% increase or not, that's a lot of hardware.
2). 5 of the top 10 games sold in December were Wii games (or "games" if you don't want to count Wii Fit as a game). No games to buy for the Wii, indeed...
Chris Greenhough @ Jan 15th 2009 10:14PM
Yeesh, please don't take offense to this post, guys. :)
I totally agree with you -- 4.2m Wiis in 2 months is brilliant, and I don't think anyone is suggesting the Wii lacks games? I just thought the increase was quite interesting, and small enough (compared to the competition) to be worth noting.
Gloqwi @ Jan 15th 2009 10:31PM
It think the Virtual Console and SBCG4AP are the only reasons I haven't destroyed my Wii. I seriously burnt out on Brawl and who is to say that no one has been using the Wiimote to it's highest potential ever since Metroid Prime 3?
Everyone should.
hvnlysoldr @ Jan 15th 2009 10:41PM
Darn hardware shortages just at Christmas Day!
il_duce620 @ Jan 16th 2009 12:01AM
Dude, not taking offense at all... It was a small increase, and but it was a "small increase" after the highest November on record.
I'm sure it'll slow down even further for January!
But Madworld and The Conduit will reinvigorate sales, don't you worry :-)
(Gloqwi, if the initial impressions of The Conduit are any indication, it should succeed Metroid Prime 3 handily. Did you try CoD: W@W? How was that on the controls?)
TracerBullet @ Jan 16th 2009 4:39AM
I can see Nintendo facing a very hard decision: launch the DSi in the UsofA now, or wait? In one hand, it's a huge market; on the other hand, the DS is still going extremelly well.
Difficult call.
On another note, nice to see Animal Crossing and SSBB so well in their charts; that should put the "wii games just sell with add-ons" myth to rest.
BDR @ Jan 16th 2009 6:26AM
animal crossing was bundled with wii speak in a lot of places
SoshiKitai @ Jan 16th 2009 8:26AM
@BDR: Yet sadly, 90% of the people I know (online AND offline) were jipped by their local stores, as many of the stores claimed they had no idea that Wii Speak came with the game... selling it separately, or not even having it in stock at all.
intro94 @ Jan 16th 2009 5:19PM
well is not that hard, people will buy DSI if they want, and the sales will be strong enough to make nice revenue, the owners who dont want to change their lites wont have problems playing new games.Its a win-win situation for their pockets, and honestly, to the consumers as we will have the choice NON-mandatory to buy an upgraded system.
Jedi_Liz @ Jan 16th 2009 9:28AM
I bought WiiSpeak separately, a week after I bought AC:CF. Target didn't have the bundle, and I wasn't sure I'd be buying WiiSpeak at first.