NPD Totals USA Video Game Revenue: Wii/DS at Record Pace for Dec.

Despite analyst fears to the contrary, NPD reported that USA video game revenue in December 2009 (the five weeks ending January 2, 2010) actually increased from December 2008 (another five week period) by 4%, thanks to unprecedented levels of hardware sales and strong accessory sales. With December up, 2009 video game revenue in the United States declined only 8% from record-setting 2008 levels. All in all the video game industry (excluding PC games) totalled $19.66b in 2009.

For the month of December 2009, Americans bought a staggering amount of video game hardware.

Wii - 3.81m (over 750,000 per week)

DS - 3.31m (over 660,000 per week)

PS3 - 1.36m (about 270,000 per week)

X360 - 1.31m (about 260,000 per week)

PSP - 654,700 (about 130,000 per week)

PS2 - 333,200 (almost 67,000 per week)

Year over year, Wii increased nearly 80%, PS3 increased nearly 90%, and DS increased 10% from December 2008 levels. The 3.04m DS systems sold in December 2008 had previously been the all time record for a system in a month. Even the PS2 had only sold about 2.7m in December 2002 for $200. Obviously in this December, Wii sold nearly 50% more units at $200. Sony's PS3 lift is fairly impressive as well - PS3 sales volume only had to be up by 25% to justify the $100 drop in MSRP for the main package. That is the good news.

The bad news? PSP declined 38%, X360 declined 9%, and PS2 declined 19% over December 2008. The massive increases for PS3 and Wii can be attributed to cheaper hardware pricing, better game lineups, the PS3 Slim, and much better supply of Wii. For DS, it is important to remember that the DSi model was not out last year - so the system is up in terms of volume and selling at a higher price point which just about offsets the damage Nintendo suffers from the strengthening of the Yen against the US dollar.

In 2009, hardware sales for the six systems were nearly as strong as in 2008 thanks to December.

DS - 11.19m

Wii - 9.59m

X360 - 4.77m

PS3 - 4.32m

PSP - 2.50m

PS2 - 1.80m

With the massive December, Wii is down less than 6% from its record setting 2008 (10.16m). DS increased 13% from 2008 (9.95m). X360 was just about flat from 2008 (4.74m). PS3 increased by 22% from 2008 levels (3.54m). PSP and PS2 dropped off rather sharply from much stronger 2008 levels - 3.83m (-35%) and 2.50m (-28%) respectively.

Lifetime to date hardware sales in the USA market stand at the following levels (through January 2, 2010).

PS2 - 45.13m

DS - 38.73m

Wii - 27.12m

X360 - 18.63m

PSP - 16.82m

PS3 - 11.12m

Depending on how quickly PS2 and DS decline in 2010, the DS may overtake the PS2 in the United States by December 2010. DS outsold PS2 by over 9m units in 2009 in the USA - and the distance between the two systems is about 6.4m at the moment.

NPD also totalled software figures for the United States for both December and all of 2009. Software sales remained strong for games on Nintendo's platforms as Nintendo itself published seven of the ten best selling games in the American video game industry .

Image from GameDaily

Nintendo also had six of the top ten games for the crucial month of December 2009. Note that the top ten cuts off at over 650,000 units - that means dozens and dozens of other games sold relevant volumes during December 2009.

Image from GameDaily

The top software in December 2008 actually wasn't entirely different from the top ten of December 2009. In December 2008 there were five Wii games, a DS game, and two Call of Duty skus. Sound familiar?

   Title                    Platform     Publisher        Dec 2008 NPD Sales

Wii Play                     Wii           Nintendo            1.46m

COD: WaW               X360        Acti-Blizz             1.33m

Wii Fit                        Wii            Nintendo            0.99m

MK Wii                       Wii            Nintendo             0.98m

GH: World Tour         Wii           Acti-Blizz              0.85m

Gears of War 2         X360        Microsoft              0.75m

Left 4 Dead               X360         EA                       0.63m

MK DS                        DS            Nintendo             0.54m

COD: WaW                PS3          Acti-Blizz              0.53m

Animal Crossing: CF   Wii          Nintendo              0.50m

Mario Kart Wii and Wii Play appeared in both top ten lists for December NPD data. With NSMB Wii, Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort just about confirmed as long-tailed sellers it will be interesting to see how Wii performs in late 2010. It is looking like 2010 will have a broader variety of software released than 2009, so perhaps by late 2010 three to five of the spots won't be reserved for long-selling games from Nintendo and Call of Duty.

Contact Vgchartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com

None

If you liked this story please support gamrFeed and send it out to others. Thanks!

Further Reading

Video Game Releases in Japan from Sept. 4th to Sept. 11th

Video Game Releases in Europe from Sept. 5th to Sept.12

Video Game Releases in America from Sept. 5th to Sept. 11th

NSMB Wii Is 3rd Home Console Game To Top 4m In Japan...Ever