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Exclusive: NPD Software Top 20 Reveals Nintendo Catalog Strength
by Matt Matthews
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February 13, 2009
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Newly-released sales data from the NPD Group shows American consumers purchasing several older software titles for Nintendo platforms in large numbers.
Specifically, the top 20 selling titles from last January included games across five years, from 2005 to 2009.
When the top 10 software list was released yesterday, NPD Analyst Anita Frazier observed that "only two of the top 10 games for the month were new releases". She suggested that consumers new to the industry were lifting sales of older titles.

The Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS appear to be the primary drivers of this sales trend. Three Wii titles took the top three spots: Wii Fit, Wii Play, and Mario Kart. Two of these titles are from the first half of 2008 (Wii Fit and Mario Kart) and the other, Wii Play, launched in February 2007 and has remained on the top 10 list since its debut.
Other older Wii titles can be found in the top 20, however. Both Guitar Hero: World Tour (#7) and Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum (#14) launched on the Wii in October 2008. Another pair for the Wii, Link's Crossbow Training (#15) and LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (#20) launched almost a year earlier in November 2007.
In fact, the newest Wii titles in the top 20 were My Fitness Coach (#16), which launched in December 2008, and Call of Duty: World at War (#19), which launched in November 2008. Two Nintendo DS titles placed in the top 10: New Super Mario Bros. at #8 and Mario Kart DS at #9. These are also quite old, by industry standards, as they launched in May 2006 and November 2005, respectively.
While Nintendo platforms claimed 11 slots in the top 20, the Xbox 360 took nine and the PlayStation 3 only one. The only two new titles in the top 20 this month were on Microsoft's console: Skate 2 at #6 and Lord of the Rings: Conquest at #10. All other Xbox 360 titles were from 2008: Call of Duty: World at War at #5, Gears of War 2 at #12, Fallout 3 at #13, Rock Band 2 at #17 and Guitar Hero: World Tour at #18.
For comparison to the older software that is charting for the Wii, the oldest game in the top 20 for the Xbox 360 in January 2009 was Rock Band 2, which launched exclusively on that platform in September 2008. The lone PlayStation 3 title in the top 20 was Call of Duty: World at War which fell just below the top 10 at #11.
No PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, nor Game Boy Advance titles placed in the top 20 in January 2009.
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I also expect Wii owners are more starved for great new software so in lieu they tend to buy older gems they might not already own.
Ah, bitter ;-) You are thinking that current owners are buying old software. Let's apply a twist: new owners (of which there were 600k during January) are buying games which are new for them, but are old for us. Remember, most are not savvy players, they are families and people not used at having a console, and they won't care if a game was released yesterday or three years ago.
Good point. No bitterness intended. I do not own a Wii but I enjoy playing it. I was observing that the Wii market has been different from console markets before it and other than Nintendo and a few really high profile AAA titles (GH/RB/COD) no other publisher has been able to enjoy much of that success despite a slew of titles (admittedly far too many ported franchises from 360/PS3). Clearly Wii owners are still buying Nintendo products.
Clearly only Nintendo addresses their constituents with quality product. The rest of the development community is suffering from an appalling case of HD prejudice. So much so, that they are like the a sports franchise that refuses to integrate racially, as was the case decades ago in this country (US). These companies believe that if it is not an HD game, it is not worth their time. Despite the fact that much of their very best work was NOT in HD and was VERY successful. Such a franchise would not be competitive (or even in existence) today. Unfortunately, many of our developers are headed the same direction... . You must embrace all, and show true appreciation for all the platforms to survive in this economic environment. Now is not the time for snobbery or prejudice.
Or, to put it another way: new people are buying what old people have already bought; old people aren't buying anything new...
Elsewhere, it's interesting to see that Call of Duty: World At War occupies 3 of the 20 slots (Wii/PS3/X360), and it's somewhat surprising to see the "Jillian fitness" item at #14 - on one hand this makes use of the Balance Board, on the other hand the reviews on Amazon make it clear that this release is a poster child for the shovelware generation - with 250 reviews, it's rated at 2 stars, and approx. 60% of said reviews have left one-star feedback!
Nintendo may not care too much (yet), but the overall picture doesn't look great from where I'm sitting: . It'll be interesting to see what happens if/when Nintendo release sequels to Wii Play/Wii Sports/Wii Fit: will people rush out again, or will they be happy with what they've already got?
@gstarr: take a look at vgchartz sometime - it may not be accurate, but it does show trends, and the key one for the Wii is that most games simply don't sell enough: brand-names (e.g. Harry Potter, Spyro, SSX) appear to have shifted less than 400k copies apiece, and even licenced media (Cars, Ratatoullie, Harry Potter) achieve better sales on the DS and PS2(!) than on the Wii.
It's not so much a case of developers ignoring the Wii, but more a case of the Wii market ignoring traditional titles...
The third party games that do deserve to sell well are not even known to much of the user base. If core gamers that visit gaming sites daily don’t know about deadly creatures, de blob or even cod:waw being on the Wii what chance do new gamers have at knowing about the title.
The Wii market does not ignore good games that are known by the market. Third parties just don’t do a good job getting the word out and well know brands are on systems the user already own already.