For whatever reason the current economic crisis didn’t smack around the game industry like other industries, instead it flourished. Across the three main global gaming markets there was an overall sales increase. The U.S. saw an increase of 15 percent while the U.K. had an increase of 26 percent. The Japanese market didn’t fare as well, declining 13 percent. Still, the three markets totaled 409.9 million units in 2008 or an 11 percent increase. Not too shabby.
The global sales list was compiled by totalling the numbers from NPD, GfK Chart-Track and Enterbrain, the three main stat trackers from each region. Before you take a peek at the list, guess which game took the top spot? I said no peeking!
- Mario Kart Wii – 8.94 million
- Wii Fit - 8.31 million
- Grand Theft Auto IV – 7.29 million
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 6.32 million
- Call of Duty: World at War – 5.89 million
I bet you didn’t see that coming. Nintendo owns three of the top five spots on the list, all of which are first-party titles. Grand Theft Auto IV and Call of Duty: World at War both benefit from being multi-platform titles. Makes a person wonder.
Any guesses on which game will lead next year’s global sales list?
[Via Joystiq]
Of those five, I only have Brawl and GTA IV.
wii fit in my opinion can’t really be called a game. more like a virtual exersize program, and a fairly useless one at that. but i shouldn’t talk much about the wii because i have a very low opinion of it as an actual this gen console
I bought 4 of them and rented 1.
nintendo is still a major producer of innovative and fun games
Just broke the addiction to Call of Duty. Spent almost 48 hrs straight playing that thing. Having trouble seeing straight at this point.