News
Top Ten Games Sold In US In 2008
These Numbers Just Don't Add Up.
by 00.19
The NPD Group revealed their “Top Selling Games Annual 2008,” and while many of the games on this list are to be expected, the actual way these guys crunch their numbers has me a little confused. Before we get into that, take a gander at this list to get an idea of what I’m talking about.
1. Wii Play (Wii) - 5,280,000
2. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 5,000,000
3. Wii Fit (Wii) - 4,530,000
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 4,170,000
5. Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360) - 3,290,000
6. Call of Duty: World at War (Xbox 360) - 2,750,000
7. Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) - 2,310,000
8. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) - 1,890,000
9. Madden NFL 09 (XBox 360) - 1,870,000
10. Mario Kart DS (DS) - 1,650,000
So if you were just to look at the names, and not the numbers, you’d probably not put too much thought into it, and accept this list as truth. The only problem is, the NPD lists the actual sales numbers, and for some reason divides the games up by system. While that’s not necessarily a problem for something like Wii Play, which is only available on one console, multi-platform games like GTA IV and Madden are at a distinct disadvantage (the list for some reason also doesn’t include PC or Mac games, but that’s an issue for another day). You see, when you add up the PS3 and 360 GTA IV totals, Wii Play only ends up outselling the game by 100K (again, not including the PC version, which for all intents and purposes would push GTA IV to the number one spot).
As far as I’m concerned, regardless of how many consoles it appears on games like GTA IV, or Madden, or Call of Duty, should count as one game, not multiple entries. Instead of getting a list that truly tells us which game sold the most, we get a list of which games sold the most on a particular console as long as it wasn’t on a PC or Mac. Despite the way the list was put together, the numbers are still valid. I just hope that one day, the NPD group changes their practice so we can get an actual idea of just how many millions Wii Play outsold all the real games by.
[Source]
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Comments
yeah, thats like saying every household has a Wii and none of the other platforms XD
weird... i never would have guessed that order
Well, if they didn't seeprate them, then people would complain that we wouldn't know how much of each version sold. You can't please everybody.
And I don't understand why this is such an issue. They're just sales numbers. It's not like they're indicative of quality or anything. They're just about how many units were purchased.