Surprise! A Lot of People Bought Black Ops (And Other Games in 2010)

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The NPD Group, the group responsible for tracking sales and revenue data for the video game industry in the United States, has expounded upon their earlier top 10 selling games of 2010 list by providing platform specific top ten lists for the past year. While no concrete sales numbers accompany the lists (The NPD Group sells this information) some interesting facts can be gleaned nonetheless.

Before we dive into the platform specific lists, lets take a look at the overall best sellers across all platforms in 2010 in the US:

  1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision-Blizzard) – Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC, DS
  2. Madden NFL 11 (EA) – Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP
  3. Halo: Reach (Microsoft) – Xbox 360
  4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo) – Wii
  5. Red Dead Redemption (Take-Two Interactive) – Xbox 360, PS3
  6. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo) – Wii
  7. Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft) – Wii
  8. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision-Blizzard) – Xbox 360, PS3, PC
  9. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft) – Xbox 360, PS3
  10. NBA 2K11 (Take-Two Interactive) – Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, PC

This list is pretty typical of what gamers should come to expect from the year-over-year top sellers. Also, good on Ubisoft for having both a casual, and a hardcore focused title in the top 10; Something no other publisher was able to accomplish.

With no real surprises on the combined platform list, lets take a gander at the handhelds:

2010 Nintendo DS Best Sellers (US)

  1. Pokemon SoulSilver (Nintendo)
  2. Pokemon HeartGold (Nintendo)
  3. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! (Nintendo)
  4. Super Scribblenauts (Warner Brothers)
  5. Toy Story 3 (Disney)
  6. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Warner Brothers)
  7. Zhu Zhu Pets (Activision-Blizzard)
  8. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Sky (Nintendo)
  9. Sonic Colors (Sega)
  10. Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs (Nintendo)

2010 Sony PSP Best Sellers (US)

  1. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (Square-Enix)
  2. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (Konami)
  3. Madden NFL 11 (EA)
  4. Toy Story 3 (Disney)
  5. MLB 10: The Show (Sony)
  6. NBA 2k11 (2k Sports)
  7. God of War: Ghost of Sparta (Sony)
  8. ModNation Racers (Sony)
  9. SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3 (Sony)
  10. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 (THQ)

Not to say that these lists should be discounted, but without worldwide sales numbers for both the DS and PSP, it is difficult to see the whole picture. What these lists say is that the PSP is dead (Kingdom Hearts was the only PSP game to top 300,000 units in the US), and the DS is dying (Both Pokemon titles were the only games to top 1,000,000 units in the US) – both statements that aren’t really indicative of the truth if you look with a broader global view in mind (Especially Japan).

So what do the home console specific lists have to say?

2010 Nintendo Wii Best Sellers (US)

  1. Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft)
  2. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo)
  3. Donkey Kong Country Returns (Nintendo)
  4. Disney Epic Mickey (Disney)
  5. Michael Jackson The Experience (Ubisoft)
  6. uDraw Studio (THQ)
  7. Wipeout: The Game (Activision-Blizzard)
  8. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Warner Brothers)
  9. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision-Blizzard)
  10. Wii Party (Nintendo)

2010 Sony PS3 Best Sellers (US)

  1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activison-Blizzard)
  2. Madden NFL 11 (EA)
  3. God of War III (Sony)
  4. Red Dead Redemption (Take-Two Interactive)
  5. Final Fantasy XIII (Square-Enix)
  6. NBA 2K11 (2k Sports)
  7. Gran Turismo 5 (Sony)
  8. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft)
  9. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (EA)
  10. Medal of Honor (EA)

2010 Microsoft Xbox 360 Best Sellers (US)

  1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activison-Blizzard)
  2. Halo: Reach (Microsoft)
  3. Madden NFL 11 (EA)
  4. Red Dead Redemption (Take-Two Interactive)
  5. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft)
  6. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (EA)
  7. Fable III (Microsoft)
  8. NBA 2K11 (2k Sports)
  9. Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda)
  10. Mass Effect 2 (EA)

Much like the top ten best sellers across all platforms, there aren’t too many surprises across these platform specific lists, aside from how well Just Dance 2 did (No third party game has ever captured the top position on the year end Wii Chart in the US, 06-09 were respectively Twilight Princess, Wii-Play, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Wii-Fit). These lists also do a poor job at showing the whole picture because they leave off games bundled with hardware, leaving Kinect and Move bundles off entirely. The NPD group did go onto mention that sales of accessories were up 13 percent from 2009, representing an almost 3 billion dollar market which encompasses the Move, Kinect, as well as the numerous Nintendo peripherals (Wii-Motion Plus, Wii-Fit).

The launch of the 3DS (and possibly the NGP) will add a little excitement to 2011′s lists,  but if the last few years have been indicative of consumer tastes in the US, it’s a safe bet that the next Call of Duty game will once again top the charts.

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