The DS, not the Wii, breaks the PS2's hardware sales record and a game released in 2005 returns to the top ten.
Given the astonishing 2.04 million Wiis sold in November, many sales watchers were wondering if the Wii would break the PS2's record for units sold in the month of December: 2.7 million units sold in 2002. It didn't. However, the Nintendo DS did.
December 2008 U.S. Hardware Sales
DS – 3.04m
Wii – 2.15m
XBox 360 – 1.44m
PSP – 1.02m
PS3 – 726k
PS2 – 410k
Holiday sales are always explosive, and Nintendo's 3.04 million DS units sold and 2.15 million Wii units sold are proof enough of that. In December 2007, they sold 2.47 million and 1.35 million units respectively, meaning this year both consoles made remarkable gains. The Wii managed to maintain, but not exceed, its November 2008 month totals, but failed to post the numbers that many expected. Whether or not this was because of a limited supply of the perennially hot console will be a topic of discussion in the coming weeks. Instead, it was the four-year-old Nintendo DS that broke the PS2's sales record, proving that the handheld is still extremely strong in America.
The performance of both the Wii and Nintendo DS seem to validate Nintendo's efforts to reach new consumers via their hardware's innovative control methods and a range of unique, approachable software. There have been concerns over whether these consumers, often new to videogames, would somehow lessen their purchases in the current economic climate, but so far Nintendo's continued performance in both hardware and software (more on that later) suggests otherwise.
Microsoft also performed admirably last month, improving on last year's December Xbox 360 sales by a little less than 200,000 units. Aside from a strong lineup of holiday titles, these sales have also been aided by recent price drops (a budget-version of the Xbox 360 costs $50 less than the Wii) and holiday specials that offered free pack-in games with the purchase of a console.
Sony, however, saw some worrisome trends in December. Their flagship PS3 more than doubled its November 2007 sales performance but, at just 726,000 units sold for the month, it amounted to roughly half of the Xbox 360's sales, and about a quarter of the Wii's sales. Last generation's sales champion, the PS2, is still on the charts with 410,000 units sold, but is already in a decline: it sold 1.1 million units in December 2007. The PSP, however, showed no decline compared to last year's December sales. In fact, despite the PSP's flat year-over-year performance, it has already proven itself as the most successful challenger to Nintendo's handheld market dominance yet.
Approximate Lifetime-to-Date U.S. Hardware Sales
PS2 – 42.35m
DS – 27.5m
Wii – 17.54m
PSP – 14.24m
XBox360 – 13.88m
PS3 – 6.47m
With surging sales, the DS may be within striking distance of the PS2's lifetime U.S. hardware sales within a little over a year. The Wii, however, still has a very large hill to climb if it ever wants to catch up to either the DS or the PS2. However, a closer target is 50% of the next-generation console market in the U.S. Combining the install bases of the Xbox 360 and the PS3 yields a target of 20.35 million units sold, a target that Nintendo's Wii is trailing by a little under 3 million units.
December 2008 U.S. Top Ten Software Sales
Wii Play (Wii) – 1.46m
Call of Duty: World at War (X360) – 1.33m*
Wii Fit (Wii) – 999k
Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 878k
Guitar Hero: World Tour (Wii) – 859k*
Gears of War 2 (X360) – 745k*
Left 4 Dead (X360) – 629k
Mario Kart DS (DS) – 540k
Call of Duty: World at War (PS3) – 533k
Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii) – 497k*
*includes collector's, limited, legendary, and bundled editions
Approximate Lifetime-to-Date U.S. Software Sales
Wii Play – 9.38m
Mario Kart Wii – 4.88m
Wii Fit – 4.54m
Mario Kart DS – 4.3m
Guitar Hero: World Tour (Wii) – more than 1.33m (October sales unknown)
Wii Music – 865k
Rock Band 2 – more than 150k
Of the top ten games sold in the U.S. market for the month of December 2008, six are on Nintendo platforms.
Unsurprisingly, Wii Play took the top sales spot. Since its release in Feburary 2007, the title has simply refused to leave the sales charts. That staying power may come from its unique value proposition for consumers since the game costs $50 and includes a Wii Remote controller (which costs $39.99 sold separately). Wii Play enjoys a more than 50% tie-ratio with Wii hardware. So, as long as the Wii keeps selling, Wii Play will keep selling.
Wii Fit took the third top sales spot. Despite a price tag of $89.99 due to the bundled Wii Balance Board, Wii Fit sold just shy of a million units in December. Wii Fit has also been a common sight in sales charts since its release last May, and has sold 4.54 million units in America alone so far.
Charting fourth is Nintendo's Mario Kart Wii, which has also exhibited constant sales since its release a month prior to Wii Fit. This speaks to the significant accomplishments of both Nintendo's brand and their development efforts. That so many can still be interested in a game more than half-a-year old that Mario Kart Wii enjoyed sales of 878,000 units in a highly competitive holiday season is astounding.
After three Nintendo-published successes, it's nice to know that third parties can also chart blockbuster sales on the Wii. Activision's Guitar Hero: World Tour released on many platforms in October, but it's only ever charted in the top ten in its Wii form. Although NPD data for October is missing, the Wii version of World Tour has sold more than 1.3 million units just in the months of November and December. What makes this an undisputed Wii third party success story is that, since no other single version of World Tour has yet charted in the top ten, NPD data suggests that the game has so far only crossed the million mark on Nintendo's console.
Another surprise is a game claiming a top sales spot three years after it's been released. Mario Kart DS represented the Nintendo DS on the software charts despite the fact that it was released in America in 2005. With 540,000 units sold last month, this is a key example of how new purchases of hardware can create long-lasting sales of back-catalog titles. Nintendo can certainly thank December's new DS owners, of which there were more than 3 million, for not forgetting a title that was hot in 2005. According to the Nintendo's NPD press release, the game has sold 4.3 million units in the 38 months it's been on the market.
The last Nintendo platform title in the top ten for December was Nintendo's Animal Crossing: City Folk for Wii. The game sold almost half a million units in December, a number which includes versions of the title bundled with the new Wii Speak microphone accessory. Animal Crossing: City Folk failed to chart during its release month of November and has often been criticized for not improving enough on its N64, GC, and DS predecessors. It will be interesting to see if the game can exhibit a long-term sales strategy that has garnered impressive numbers for so many other Nintendo titles.
Nintendo also provided some information that extended beyond the top ten games. According to their press release, Wii Music has sold a total of 865,000 units since its October release, well on its way to sell over a million copies in America. Nintendo also claimed that of the top 30 titles of December, 20 of them were for Nintendo systems. Nintendo made sure to point out that "more 3rd party units were sold for Wii than any other home consoles in December for the 2nd consecutive month."
Speaking of other home consoles, the multiplatform Call of Duty: World at War took both the second highest-selling position (Xbox 360 version) and the ninth (PS3). Versions of World at War have also been released on the Wii, DS, and PS2, but none of these titles have shown up on NPD's charts.
This will only serve to further fuel discussion over the viability of the first-person shooter genre on the Nintendo Wii, especially with Wii-exclusive The Conduit scheduled for release in spring 2009. In contrast to the genre's questionable representation on Nintendo platforms, every Xbox 360 and PS3 title in the NPD top 10 are shooters, including the Xbox 360's Gears of War 2 (sixth place) and Left 4 Dead (seventh place).
This report contains information from the NeoGAF Official NPD thread, as well as reports from IGN, and Nintendo's Official December NPD Press Release.