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in: Video game sales, 2008

2008 in video games

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See also: NPD 2008 in review

Results, surprises and story lines from 2008.

Questions for 2008[]

  • How will video games in 2008 fare compared to 2007's record breaking year?
  • What effect will Blu-Ray's success have on the PS3?
  • How much longer will the Wii suffer from shortages?
  • Can gamers expect a price cut for PS2, PS3, 360 this year?
  • Will third-parties embrace the Wii after its unexpected success?
  • Will the Wii lose momentum in 2008?
  • Will Grand Theft Auto 4, Gran Turismo, LittleBigPlanet or Metal Gear Solid 4 spark PS3 sales?
  • Will the Xbox 360 release a Blu-Ray add-on?


Sales milestones[]

2008 console sales from around the world
Console Worldwide (shipped) (as of Dec 31, 2008) United States[1] Japan [2] United Kingdom [3] Canada (as of Nov 2008)[4] France[5] Italy (as of Nov 2008)[6]
Wii 24,820,000 [7] 10,151,000 2,908,342 2,900,000 695,000 1,600,000 526,500
Xbox 360 10,800,000 [8] 4,735,400 317,859 1,400,000 343,000 566,000 292,000
PlayStation 3 10,780,000[9] 3,544,900 991,303 1,000,000 326,000 708,000 347,500
Nintendo DS 31,840,000 [10] 9,951,100 4,029,804 3,400,000 717,000 2,250,000 1,101,000
PSP 15,400,000 [11] 3,829,600 3,543,171 600,000 483,000
PS2 8,920,000[12] 2,502,300 480,664

In Europe, the Nintendo sold 11.2 million DS units and 8.3 million for the Wii.[13]

2008 u s hardware sales

2008 U.S. hardware sales

2007 and 2008 US NPD console sales

U.S. console sales for 2008

 

Best selling games in 2008 (source)[]

Platform Video game Total sales US retail Japan retail UK retail
Wii Mario Kart Wii 8.94 5.00 2.00 1.94
Wii Wii Fit 8.31 4.55 2.15 1.61
PS3/X360 Grand Theft Auto IV 7.29 5.18 0.25 1.85
Wii Super Smash Bros. Brawl 6.32 4.17 1.75 0.40
PS3/X360 Call of Duty: World at War 5.89 4.46 0 1.43

United States[]

Top 10 best selling games of 2008

  1. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii – Nintendo – 5.28 million
  2. Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel – Wii – Nintendo – 5.00 million
  3. Wii Fit w/ balance board – Wii – Nintendo – 4.53 million
  4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Wii – Nintendo – 4.17 million
  5. Grand Theft Auto IV - Xbox 360 – Take-Two – 3.29 million*
  6. Call of Duty: World at War - Xbox 360 – Activision – 2.75 million*
  7. Gears of War 2 - Xbox 360 – Microsoft – 2.31 million*
  8. Grand Theft Auto IV - PS3 – Take-Two – 1.89 million*
  9. Madden NFL 09 - Xbox 360 – Electronic Arts – 1.87 million*
  10. Mario Kart - DS – Nintendo – 1.65 million

United Kingdom[]

See also: Chart-Track sales data
Best selling games in the UK[14]

Individual SKU

  1. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) Nintendo
  2. Wii Fit (Wii) Nintendo
  3. Wii Play (Wii) Nintendo
  4. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS) Nintendo
  5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) Sega
  6. GTA IV (360) Rockstar
  7. GTA IV (PS3) Rockstar
  8. Call of Duty: World at War (360) Activision
  9. Carnival Funfair (Wii) 2K
  10. FIFA 09 (360) EA

All formats

  1. FIFA 09 EA
  2. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
  3. GTA IV (Rockstar)
  4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega)
  5. Wii Fit (Nintendo)
  6. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision)
  7. Wii Play (Nintendo)
  8. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo)
  9. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts)
  10. Carnival Funfair (2K)

Japan[]

Famitsu-software-2008-YTD-103 december

Japan Famitsu software total (as of Nov 2008) (courtesy of ChartGet!)

Best selling games in Japan (Famitsu)[2]
  1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom) – PSP (2,452,111)
  2. Pokemon Platinum (Pokemon Company) – DS (2,187,337)
  3. Wii Fit (Nintendo) – Wii (2,149,131)
  4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) – Wii (2,003,315)
  5. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Nintendo) – Wii (1,747,113)
  6. Rhythm Heaven (Nintendo) – DS (1,350,671)
  7. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (Square Enix) – DS (1,176,082)
  8. Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) – Wii (895,302)
  9. Kirby Super Star Ultra (Nintendo) – DS (855,427
  10. Wii Sports (Nintendo) – Wii (841,736)

Software unit sales by platform (2007 numbers in brackets)

  • Nintendo DS – 28,260,498 (39,130,595)
  • PSP – 9,745,758 (6,750,169)
  • Wii – 13,802,220 (11,665,679)
  • PS3 – 5,155,082 (2,951,390)
  • PS2 – 7,111,971 (13,262,872)
  • 360 – 1,770,034 (1,480,551)
  • Other – 210,100 (612,905)

Worldwide[]

NPD 2008 hardware sales

U.S. hardware sales for 2008

  • Microsoft sells 10 million Xbox 360s in the United States, the first to do so. (May)
  • Nintendo sells 10 million Wii systems in the U.S. (June)
  • 100 million NDS games sold.[15]
  • The Sims reaches 100 million units sold, including expansions and spinoffs.
  • Gran Turismo series reaches 50 million units shipped.
  • Wii reaches one million in Canada.[16]
  • Microsoft's Xbox 360 reaches 6 million in Europe.[17]
  • Xbox 360 breaks 25 million mark worldwide.[18]
  • Xbox 360 sells 10.3 million units worldwide in 2008.[19]

Happenings[]

January to June 2008[]

  • PSP is the Japan's top seller and outsells DS 2:1 consistently during first half of 2008. Monster Hunter sells millions.
  • Last generation's PS2 outsells PS3 and Xbox 360 in NPD February 2008 and outsells 360 in NPD January 2008 possibly caused by $99 PS2 weekly sale from Target.
  • The Blu-ray becomes the format of choice over HD-DVD. Sony PS3 sales do not significantly improve.
  • Xbox 360 suffers from surprising shortages in January, February, and March according to Microsoft.
  • GTA IV sells 3,6 million copies day one, 6 million on the PS3/360 worldwide in first week and 8,5 million copies by the end of May. However, no visible hardware bump is seen.
  • In March, Wii surpasses Microsoft's Xbox 360 with lifetime sales of 813,000 units.[1]
  • Wii Fit becomes a major success in Japan with over 2 million units sold and with solid sales in the UK and the United States.
  • PS3 and Xbox 360 sales are neck and neck with only a difference of 60K from January to May.
  • Three of the top five games in NPD May 2008 include an accessory.
  • Limbo of the Lost, a point and click PC adventure game steals level designs and artwork from several games (Oblivion, Diablo, others) [2]
  • Metal Gear Solid 4 ships 3 million units in 2 weeks and lists the PS3 to 75,311 weekly sales in Japan.[3]

July to December 2008[]

  • Capcom surprises everyone by announcing the long-awaited sequel Mega-Man 9 for WiiWare, XBLA, PlayStation Store and the game being in 8-bit. Fan reaction is mostly positive.
  • Nintendo owns the top 10 slots during UK week 30 sales, according to Chart-Track. 7 Wii, 3 DS, 9 exclusives. [4]
  • In mid-August, the release of Tales of Vesperia propels 360 sales in Japan to 24,962 units, according to Media Create sales data. The following week, Microsoft announces widespread system shortages in Japan.[5]
  • In August, NPD, Enterbrain, GfK form a global alliance and set to release a monthly reports from North America, Japan, and United Kingdom.[6]
  • Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training passes Tomb Raider in the UK for the most weeks (80) in the All-Formats top ten.[7]
  • Star Wars: Force Unleashed for XBLA is downloaded one million times in eight days, a new record.[8]
  • September: According to Enterbrain (Famitsu), Xbox 360 outsold both PlayStation 3 and Wii, though Media Create's figures show it was just shy of Wii's total. MC's numbers says it sold 28,188 for the week ending Sept 14. This increase was due to Infinite Undiscovery, a price cut, and renewed stock.[9] This increase in sales continued through October.
  • PS3 reaches its lowest point in Japan, selling only 4100 units in the 3rd week of October.
  • LittleBigPlanet is delayed a short period due to some controversial lyrics in the game music.
  • PSP-3000 was launched worldwide in October and the Nintendo DSi was launched on November 1 in Japan.
  • In November, Microsoft releases a new version of Xbox 360's motherboard, named Jasper, that seeks to remedy Red Ring of Death hardware problems.
  • The Xbox 360 sees its biggest European sales month in November and experiences a surge in sales during the holidays.[10]
  • There were 306 games released for Wii in 2008, compared to 264 for X360, 201 for PS3[11]
  • Nintendo increases supply and sells over 2 million consoles in the U.S. for November NPD. The month also has two titles selling over a million for the Xbox 360.
  • Sony is pleased with sales of 1.3 million for LittleBigPlanet in 2008.[12]

Delays[]

Games that were delayed to 2009

Notable releases[]

Hardware
Software

Major announcements[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ↑ http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/NPD_2008_in_review
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.mcvuk.com/interviews/403/JAPANESE-2008-MARKET-REPORT
  3. ↑ http://www.edge-online.com/news/consoles-hit-22m-uk
  4. ↑ http://www.simcoereformer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1347912
  5. ↑ http://www.lsa.fr/exclusif-lsa-nintendo-france-a-vendu-38-millions-de-consoles-en-2008,102674?xtor=RSS-7
  6. ↑ http://vgchartz.com/forum/post.php?id=1650115
  7. ↑ http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Wii#Wii_sales_figures
  8. ↑ http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Xbox_360#Xbox_360_sales
  9. ↑ http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/PlayStation_3#PlayStation_3_sales
  10. ↑ http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Nintendo_DS#Nintendo_DS_sales
  11. ↑ http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/PlayStation_Portable
  12. ↑ http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/PlayStation_2
  13. ↑ http://www.edge-online.com/news/ds-and-wii-break-euro-sales-records
  14. ↑ http://www.mcvuk.com/news/32897/Revealed-UKs-best-selling-games-of-2008
  15. ↑ http://ds.ign.com/articles/867/867314p1.html
  16. ↑ Wii surpasses mark of one million consoles sold in Canada
  17. ↑ http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/xbox-360-hits-six-million-sales-in-europe
  18. ↑ http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/xbox-360-to-break-25-million-barrier-soon
  19. ↑ http://www.edge-online.com/news/ms-360-life-date-sales-hit-28m

External links[]

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