November has come and gone, but we know it benefitted from what Activision deemed the finest product launch yet for both gaming and digital entertainment through Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The NPD Group confirms as much in their latest industry breakdown for the month of November. Unfortunately, for all of MW2's bravado not even its combined software unit sales could save the gaming industry itself from posting yet another year-on-year decline for the 2009 calendar year.
November 2009 Industry Summary
Total: $2.69 billion USD
Console software: $1.41 billion USD
Console hardware: $1.05 billion USD
Console accessories: $242.2 million USD
Platform Unit Sales Year-to-Date Lifetime-to-Date
1. Nintendo DS 1,700,000 7,875,400 35,416,600
2. Nintendo Wii 1,260,000 5,784,000 23,323,800
3. Microsoft Xbox 360 819,500 3,460,700 17,520,900
4. Sony PlayStation 3 710,400 2,974,500 9,768,300
5. Sony PlayStation Portable 293,900 1,841,100 15,181,900
6. Sony PlayStation 2 203,100 1,466,700
We can imagine the Black Friday shopping weekend madness had its part to play in boosting hardware sales figures across the board. The DS and Wii continue to prove themselves as a winning combination for Nintendo on the console hardware front. Both platforms sold in excess of 1.2 million units last month, a huge leap from their figures back in October. Microsoft followed with hardware sales of over 800,000 units for its Xbox 360. The PlayStation 3 meanwhile trailed behind its competition, but remained the best-selling Sony console after being overshadowed by the PlayStation Portable for the longest time.
November 2009 US Top Ten Software SalesTitle Platform Publisher Release Unit Sales
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 360 Activision 11/2009 4,200,000
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 PS3 Activision 11/2009 1,870,000
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii Wii Nintendo 11/2009 1,390,000
4. Assassin's Creed II 360 Ubisoft 11/2009 794,700
5. Left 4 Dead 2 360 Electronic Arts 11/2009 744,000
6. Wii Sports Resort Wii Nintendo 07/2009 720,200
7. Wii Fit Plus Wii Nintendo 10/2009 679,000
8. Assassin's Creed II PS3 Ubisoft 11/2009 448,400
9. Dragon Age: Origins 360 Electronic Arts 11/2009 362,100
10. Mario Kart Wii Wii Nintendo 04/2008 315,000
The really juicy stories for November's NPD update will be on the software side of things, not least of these being Activision's MW2. Everyone expected MW2 to be a hit thanks in no small part to Activision's own gloating, and now the NPD Group confirms that the game's launch was indeed monstrous. MW2's combined software sales of over 6 million units easily made it the top title on NPD's top ten software sales chart last month. Just over 69 percent of MW2's console sales were attributed to the 360 version.
Many other new titles occupy the NPD Group's list of top-selling games for November. Assassin's Creed II also made an admirable showing, with both its console editions landing in the software top ten for November. As with MW2, the 360 version of ACII proved to be more popular at retail, making up over 64 percent of ACII's total November unit sales. ACII's combined sales of 1.2 million units couldn't quite toppleNew Super Mario Bros. Wii's numbers, however. To be sure, ACII launched just a little after both MW2 and NSMB Wii did, so it had fewer days on the market during the NPD Group's November reporting period.
Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins barely nudged into the software top ten, but only the 360 version had the stones to succeed, squeezing just ahead of Mario Kart Wii. Published by Electronic Arts, DA:O would succeed in selling over 360,000 units on the 360. Electronic Arts secured another top ten spot through the 360 release of Left 4 Dead 2.
Nintendo has banked on NSMB Wii, and from November's figures the game has most certainly done the company proud. So high is their faith in the Mushroom Kingdom's finest that Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime boasted that NSMB Wii would outsell at least one of the console releases of MW2 by January 2010.
Assuming MSMB Wii has the legs to carry it through the coming months, that just might end up being the PS3 version. Indeed, sales for the 360 flavor of MW2 are just too far ahead of everything at this point, comprising of not only a vast majority of MW2's console sales, but November's total software sales in general.
Source:GameGrep
Sections:Microsoft Consoles, Console Games, PC Games, Sony Consoles, Nintendo Consoles
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