Modern Warfare 2 makes November’s NPD numbers its bitch (Updated with bad news)

December 10, 2009 | by Paul Stachniak | Featured, NPD, Random Stuff

modern warfare 2 is rich bitch

To no one’s surprise, Modern Warfare 2 took November’s top spot in sales, moving well over 6 million units on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Likewise, New Super Mario Bros. Wii was no slouch, moving 1.4 million units since its launch. Noticeably absent from the software party was last months top sellers, Uncharted 2 and Borderlands. Oh, and the newly released Tony Hawk’s Ride. A game no one likes. Except Tony Hawk.

Likewise, hardware sales saw some healthy holiday-shopping-season-fueled growth as well. The DS took back its number one spot from the Wii this month. The Xbox 360 also enjoyed a healthy boost to third place (no doubt with help from Modern Warfare 2). Sony, despite coming in fourth, still moved well over 700,000 units – nearly doubling its already stellar performance from last month.

Update: You’d think the numbers below indicate a good month for the game industry. In fact, quite the opposite. We’ve just learned that overall software sales were down 7.6% from the same period last year. As for hardware sales – down a whopping 13%. Sadly, this makes November 2009 the 8th loss for the industry in the last 9 months. Let’s all blame Tony Hawk for this one.

Full software and hardware numbers after the break.

Hardware:
DS: 1.7 million (+262%)
Wii: 1.26 millon (+149%)
360: 820,000 (+228%)
PS3: 710,000 (+121%)
PSP: 294,000 (+78%)
PS2: 203,000 (+72%)

Software:
01. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360) – 4.20 million
02. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) – 1.9 million
03. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) – 1.4 million
04. Assassin’s Creed II (360) – 795,000
05. Left 4 Dead 2 (360) – 720,000
06. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) – 720,000
07. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) – 679,000
08. Assassin’s Creed II (PS3) – 448,000
09. Dragon Age: Origins (360) – 362,000
10. Mario Kart (Wii) – 315,000

via Joystiq and GameSpot