In a tumultuous holiday season, how did Nintendo fare? Also check out the best-selling games all year!
Hardware
NDS – 2,500,000
Wii – 2,360,000
360 – 1,860,000
PS3 – 1,210,000
Software – December 2010
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops*
2. Just Dance 2
3. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm – 1,500,000
4. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
5. Donkey Kong Country Returns
6. Disney Epic Mickey – 1,320,000*
7. Madden NFL 11
8. Michael Jackson the Experience*
9. NBA 2K11
10. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit – 906,400*
Software – All of 2010
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops*
2. Madden NFL 11
3. Halo: Reach*
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
5. Red Dead Redemption
6. Wii Fit Plus*
7. Just Dance 2
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2*
9. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood*
10. NBA 2K11
*Includes all versions except those bundled with hardware.
^The numbers to the right are units sold. Bolded items are exclusive to Nintendo systems.
Thus ends another exciting year of game sales, and Nintendo has a very impressive showing. The Nintendo DS and Wii were the best-selling consoles of all of 2010, selling 8.5 million and 7 million, respectively. The Nintendo DS is now more widespread than the PlayStation 2. In fact, over the last ten years, there have been 250 million game consoles sold, and more than half of them were Nintendo systems.
This month had no shortage of powerful titles, either. NPD doesn’t report individual SKU numbers to the public anymore, but Nintendo has those numbers for themselves, and they are good. In fact, Just Dance 2 was the #1 SKU across all systems this month, while Donkey Kong Country Returns was #3 and Disney Epic Mickey made it to #4. There’s no stopping Nintendo during the holiday season, clearly.
Year-to-date, the top three winners were a given, but Nintendo’s mainstay games still have a stranglehold on the market. Wii Fit Plus continues to have strong sales, New Super Mario Bros. Wii took the nation by storm, and Just Dance 2 was an incredible breakout hit. Nintendo may have had slowing sales over the past year, but they still know what audiences want to play – and with the 3DS on the horizon, we may see another period of utter dominance. Who’s to say?
