December NPD: All Hail King Nintendo

December’s NPD numbers are in, and the holiday season was good to Nintendo. Very good. There were more Wiis sold than 360s and PS3s combined, same with the Nintendo DS. New Super Mario Bros. Wii stands tall at the top of the software heap, with a solid 2.82 million units sold. Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort also leapfrogged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to claim the second and third positions.

For the month of December, the video game industry grossed $5.53 billion, up four percent from December 2008’s $5.32 billion. Software alone was down to $2.58 billion from 2008’s 2.77 billion, but hardware was up seven percent from 2008’s $1.89 billion, coming in at $2.19 billion. Overall, 2009 experienced an 11 percent decline from 2008.

Hardware Sales:

Wii: 3.81 million
Nintendo DS: 3.31 million
PS3: 1.36 million
360: 1.31 million
PSP: 654,700

Top 10 Software:

New Super Mario Bros. Wii 2.82 million (Wii)
Wii Fit Plus: 2.41 million (Wii)
Wii Sports Resort: 1.79 million (Wii)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: 1.63 million (360)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: 1.12 million (PS3)
Wii Play: 1.01 million (Wii)
Mario Kart: 936,100 (Wii)
Assassin’s Creed II: 783,100 (360)
Left 4 Dead 2: 728,500 (360)
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story: 656,700 (DS)


Nintendo and Modern Warfare 2’s continuing domination of the chart isn’t a complete surprise. Assassin’s Creed II and Left 4 Dead 2’s ability to hang in there is a heartening example of less established brands holding their own among the juggernauts.

Anybody surprised by these results?