Top Global Reports, a joint venture between gaming retail monitors Enterbrain (Japan), Gfk Chart Track (UK) and NPD (US), has today announced its findings for the entirety of 2008.  The report found that total games sales had increased 11% from 367.7 million units to 409.9 million.

Across individual regions the US experienced a sales growth of 15% and the UK an increase of 26%.  Japan’s total sales figures declined by 13%.  The figure for Japan is slightly misleading however, as the report points out the decline was mainly due to a 46% decrease in the number of Playstation 2 games sold.

In terms of individual game sales it was Nintendo that came up the big winner, with three of the top five games coming from the mega-publisher/developer/manufacturer.  Mario Kart Wii managed to stay ahead of Wii Fit to claim the number one spot while Super Smash Bros. Brawl came in as the fourth best selling title of 2008.  Rockstar’s GTA 4 was the best performing Western made title, coming in at third, with Call of Duty: World at War rounding up the top performers in fifth – despite not being released in Japan.

Global top 5 selling games in 2008:

Game (Publisher) Total units sold / US units / Japanese units / UK units

1. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) 8.94 mil / 5 mil / 2 mil / 1.94 mil
2. Wii Fit (Nintendo) 8.31 mil / 4.55 mil / 2.15 mil / 1.61 mil
3. Grand Theft Auto 4 (Take 2) 7.29 mil / 5.18 mil / 256 k / 1.85 mil
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo) 6.32 mil / 4.17 mil / 1.75 mil / 404 k
5. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision) 5.89 mil / 4.46 mil / 0 / 1.43 mil