NPD: Wii leads video game industry to 'biggest sales month ever'
By Donald Melanson 
posted January 15th 2010 1:31PM
posted January 15th 2010 1:31PM
Well, what a difference a couple of months and a holiday season can make. Just after finding that the video game console market shrunk by a fifth in October, NPD is now back with a new report that finds that December was the video game industry's "biggest sales month ever." Specifically, the group found that console sales jumped 4% compared to last December, with the Nintendo Wii unsurprisingly leading the way with 3.81 million units moved (up from 2.15 million the previous year). That's followed by the collective DS offerings at 3.31 million and, somewhat surprisingly, the PlayStation 3, which racked up sales of 1.36 million (its first time cracking the one million mark) compared to the Xbox 360's 1.31 million. Of course, no one's expecting sales to stay at quite that lofty level, but NPD says that the spike in December sales might well indicate that 2010 could be a recovery year.
I bought a PS3 this Xmas too. I love it! Games looks fantastic, online play is free and I can stream to my HDTV from my PC.
cheaper=more sales
I am glad the stuff from business school hasn't changed.
A) The Gamecube was also cheaper than rival systems.
B) The Xbox 360 Arcade currently sells for the same price.
@Plothole 360 arcade is a partial console so do u think that might be why it sells less?
Partial console? Err, for someone that just wants to play 360 games it is perfectly capable. Sure compared to the old "Pro" it's missing the hard drive, component cables and headset, but it's not like the Wii comes with any of these things either. And it somewhat makes up for the first by including 512MB of flash memory (same as the Wii).
Oh, and actually even the current "Elite" models no longer include a component cable.
Great for the Wii. Now SOMEBODY needs to make some games that aren't "StairMaster Derby" or "My Fluffy Pet Unicorn". My iPod Touch has a more compelling game selection. (And I'm not into FPS's or Sports games either.)
The N64 and Gamecube didn't have this problem. About the only game coming down the pike I can see myself buying this year is Mario Galaxy 2.
@StalkyTheFish I would recommend these Wii games coming down the pike soon: No More Heroes 2, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Monster Hunter Tri, Epic Mickey, Endless Ocean: Blue World and Sin & Punishment 2.
@StalkyTheFish
exactly! I like how u think. Nintendo can't seem to loose it's "baby" name. Don't u agree that all the games should have gc controller optional. Like games such as Conduit, it's great but the controls just plain suck.
Great job CPD, you basically inferred that santa claus comes 4 times every year. One for each time microsoft, sony, nintendo, activison and ea releases quarterly earnings.
But doesn't the NPD say this every month?
Give me HDMI and i'd be happy!
My Wii is collecting dust for a couple years now.
What point would there be to that? The Wii's maximum output resolution is 480p!
@Plothole
Well of course they would need to release a new Wii v2 that is capable of new hardware to output 1080p :) hehe
You know, I really really really wish the Wii would stop doing so well in sales. I want a hardware refresh, as well as more Zelda and Metroid.
Nintendo has no incentive to produce anything of real substance if they can still move this much hardware with generic titles and low end hardware.
I know we all want to see some Radeon 5000 series powered Wii with some new gorgeous titles!
Btw, has anyone else rekindled interest in PC gaming? There's some good stuff out there, and even good console games on PC, where you can play at graphics setting a cut above anything you can get on console. Fun times.
Wii would be good if I made it with my ideas. Don't force motion controls on us. Have the option of gc controller for ALL games (mabe except wii sports).