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Market research group NPD has released a summary of U.S. video game sales figures for the month of November 2009. There are not too many surprises here, as everyone seems to have maintained status quo relative to most of the year.
Starting off with hardware sales for the month, Nintendo maintains its position in the top spot with its two consoles taking the top two spots. Nintendo DS lead the November hardware sales with a total of 1.7 million units sold– following closely in the second spot is Nintendo Wii that saw 1.26 million units sold. Perhaps the only bit of surprise in last month’s sales data is that Xbox 360 took the number three spot; as many were half-expecting PS3 to best Xbox 360 owing to stronger performance during Black Friday. Microsoft seems to have benefited from working closely with third party publishers, especially Activision in this case. Microsoft reportedly sold 819.5 thousand units in the month of November, followed by PlayStation 3 which takes the number four spot by moving 710.4 thousand units. In the number 5 spot we find Sony PlayStation Portable, which seems to have underperformed despite the recent launch of PSP Go, selling a total of 293.9 thousand units. PSP was followed by PlayStation 2, which has surprised some people in the industry with its market and selling a total of 203.1 thousand units last month.
1. Nintendo DS — 1.70M
2. Nintendo Wii — 1.26M
3. Microsoft Xbox 360 — 819.5K
4. Sony PS3 — 710.4K
5. Sony PSP — 293.9K
6. Sony PS2 — 203.1K
At the top of the software sales chart, unsurprisingly we have Activision with Modern Warfare 2 bringing in combined sales of over 6 million units. Between X box 360 and PS3, Modern Warfare performed far better on the Microsoft’s platform by selling 4.20 million units compared to 1.87 million units sold on the PlayStation 3. This could perhaps be attributed to the strong marketing tie-in between Microsoft and Activision, combined with higher install base of Xbox 360. Coming in at number three spot with 1.39 million units, we have everyone’s favourite Italian plumber in New Super Mario Brothers. Since this November’s top ten software sales chart is dominated by third-party publishers, Nintendo has the distinction of being the only platform owner to figure in this chart. This is followed by Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 2 which sold 794.7 thousand units on the Xbox 360; whereas its performance on the PlayStation 3 with 448.4 thousand units saw it take the number eight spot. Valve’s zombie shooter Left 4 Dead 2 took the number five spot by selling 744 thousand units on the Xbox 360. Nintendo figured in three other spots with Wii Sports Resort at number six, followed by Wii Fit Plus and lastly Mario Kart figuring at the tails end of the chart. Another third party publisher on the top-ten chart is Electronic Arts selling 362.1 thousand units of Dragon Age: Origins on Xbox 360.
1. Modern Warfare 2 (360) — 4.20M
2. Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) — 1.87M
3. New Super Mario Brothers (Wii) — 1.39M
4. Assassin’s Creed 2 (360) — 794.7K
5. Left 4 Dead 2 (360) — 744.0K
6. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) — 720.2K
7. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) — 679.0K
8. Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) — 448.4K
9. Dragon Age: Origins (360) — 362.1K
10. Mario Kart w/Wheel (Wii) — 315.0K
Analyst working with NPD Group, Anita Frazier shared her take on November sales numbers and what she thinks is in store for the industry in the future. She mentioned that despite this November sales dropped by 7.6% as opposed to last year, this is still a very good performance as 2008 was an exceptional year for the industry. She also expressed hope that December will see even better sales numbers owing to various factors like positive economic news, holiday season combined with that she refers to as ‘frugal fatigue’. She further goes on to add that marketing push by publishers this holiday season appears to have worked better for hardware sales as compared to performance of software.