NPD Video Game Sales Figures Show Second-Best November Ever

Market research firm NPD Group released this afternoon the highlights from its full November 2009 video game sales report. As anticipated, Modern Warfare 2 and Nintendo hardware posted figures dwarfing all competition in their respective categories. Those tremendous sales numbers were not enough to offset the softer sales the rest of the video game industry continues to endure. NPD analyst Anita Frazier sees 2009 as a strong year despite the decline relative to last and says, "I think we all have to realize the incredible year that was 2008."

On the software front Microsoft's Xbox 360 made a strong statement of its position relative to the PS3 on multiplatform titles. Their strong marketing tie to Modern Warfare 2 paid off with sales falling more than 2:1 to the 360 (4.2M to 1.87M). For Assassin's Creed 2, which featured PS3 predominantly in its marketing program, the needle did move back toward Sony and wasn't quite 2:1 but the advantage remained sizable at 795K to 449K. Yes, some of this directly relates to the larger installed base of the Microsoft platform but particularly in the case of Assassin's Creed 2 there was potential for a closer margin. Rounding out the strong 360 software sales were Left 4 Dead 2 and Dragon Age: Origins.

November Software Sales:

1. Modern Warfare 2 (360) -- 4.20M

2. Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) -- 1.87M

3. New Super Mario Brothers (Wii) -- 1.39M

4. Assassin's Creed 2 (360) -- 794.7K

5. Left 4 Dead 2 (360) -- 744.0K

6. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) -- 720.2K

7. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) -- 679.0K

8. Assassin's Creed 2 (PS3) -- 448.4K

9. Dragon Age: Origins (360) -- 362.1K

10. Mario Kart w/Wheel (Wii) -- 315.0K

Overall Nintendo continues its dominance across the board. Four of the top ten games are theirs, including a strong third place showing by New Super Mario Bros Wii. In hardware both the Wii and Ds moved well in excess of a million sold.

As for the rest of the pack, PS3 enjoyed its third best hardware sales month since launch selling just over 710K units. The Xbox 360, almost certainly buoyed by the strength of Modern Warfare, still managed to edge it out, though; posting nearly 820K sold. Meanwhile, despite the new Go model, PSP only managed 294K sold. And PS2 continues merrily along prompting Frazer to say, "I was impressed by the performance of the PS2, which after 109 months in market is still experiencing strong sales (Nov'09 unit sales of over 200K -- only a small decline from last November)."

November Hardware Sales:

1. Nintendo DS -- 1.70M

2. Nintendo Wii -- 1.26M

3. Microsoft Xbox 360 -- 819.5K

4. Sony PS3 -- 710.4K

5. Sony PSP -- 293.9K

6. Sony PS2 -- 203.1K