NPD: DJ Hero best-selling new IP of '09, by revenue only
Activision has announced that DJ Hero was "the #1 new intellectual property by revenue in the U.S. and Europe for calendar 2009, according to the NPD Group." Lest you sped through that proclamation, take note of the two key words: "by revenue" -- in other words, the total amount of money spent by consumers. Considering DJ Hero debuted at $120 for the standard turntable bundle and $200 for the Renegade Edition, it's no wonder that it managed to bring in the most money (though not necessarily the most profit, and certainly not the most units sold for a new franchise).
NPD representative Anita Frazier clarified for Joystiq the performance of last year's new IPs in terms of actual unit sales. As you might have guessed, DJ Hero wasn't quite #1 in that category, but managed a respectable 789,000 units in U.S. sales. Still, it was soundly outsold by other new IPs, including Borderlands and Dragon Age: Origins, which sold 1.11 million and 1.14 million units, respectively. Besting them all, however, was EA Sports Active, which amassed 1.2 million units sold.
And get this, if we consider new IPs that launched before 2009, then Wii Play and Wii Fit were technically the best-selling new IPs in 2009 in terms of unit sales and revenue, according to the NPD.
Finally, we should point out -- as did Frazier -- that NPD data only covers the U.S., despite Activision's claim that the group provided European sales data regarding DJ Hero.
