GTA 4, Smash Bros. Are 2008's Best Selling Games; Sales-tracking Global Supergroup Formed

Sales-tracking firms NPD, Chart-Track and Enterbrain today announced that they will be releasing a monthly Top Global Markets Report, which will provide a glimpse of the retail game sales in the US, UK and Japan.

The report is said to be "a single source for sales data" for the "the largest games markets in the world."

Below are the results of the first report, detailing sales from January to July:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, 360 / Rockstar North) - 6.29M

   (4.71M US, 1.58M UK, Not yet released in Japan)

2. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii / Nintendo) - 5.43M

   (3.53M US, 213K UK, 1.68M Japan)

3. Mario Kart Wii (Wii / Nintendo) - 4.69M

   (2.4M US, 687K UK, 1.6M Japan)

4. Wii Fit (Wii / Nintendo) - 3.6M

   (1.43M US, 624K UK, 1.54M Japan)

5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock * - 3.47M

   (3.03M US, 412K UK, 26K Japan)

While Grand Theft Auto IV publisher Take-Two claimed the game had sold 8.5 million units, and shipped 11 million back in June, NPD analyst David Riley explained Top Global's missing 2.21M as a result of sales outside the US and UK.

"To be clear, [the report] is not a global product. It covers only the top global markets--US, UK and Japan," he explained. "Global is coming but let's not put the cart before the horse."

*(PS2, PS3, 360, Wii / Budcat, Neversoft, Vicarious Visions)