Wii Fit, Sims 3 top console, PC games of '09...so far

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Jul 22, 2009 4:19 pm PT

ChartSpot: NPD's rankings of US game sales from January to June show EA's sim sequel edging out WOW expansion on PC charts with over 820K sold; Nintendo takes half of non-PC top 10.

Just under a week after it published a worse-than-expected US monthly game sales report, the NPD Group has released its top 10 best-seller charts for the year so far. The rankings were based on unit sales figures, which were themselves not made public--for the most part (see below).

Americans preferred limber Miis...

The leading industry-research group found that, in the first six months of 2009, Nintendo dominated the domestic non-PC games market, occupying six of the top 10 slots. Wii Fit came in first, followed by Pokemon Platinum (DS), the Wii Remote pack-in Wii Play, and Wii Mario Kart, which is bundled with the Wii wheel. The last two positions on the top 10 were taken by some venerable DS holdovers--New Super Mario Bros., released in May 2006, and Mario Kart DS, first released in November 2005.

Sandwiched between the Mii yoginis and pocket-sized plumbers were three Xbox 360 games--Capcom's Resident Evil 5 (fifth), THQ's UFC 2009 Undisputed (sixth), and Activision's 2008 hit Call of Duty: World at War (seventh). The sole PlayStation 3 title to crack the top 20 was the long-awaited--and critically praised--first-party shooter Killzone 2, which fought its way into eighth place.

On the PC charts--much like in the real world--Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard fought it out for supremacy. From January to July, the former's Sims 3 was a double threat, with the regular edition being the top game and the $70 collector's edition coming in eighth. According to NPD, the game has sold over 820,000 units in June, the month it was released. Despite competing against its own sequel, The Sims 2: Double Deluxe was the six-month period's bronze-medal winner, with The Sims 2: Apartment Life expansion taking 10th place. EA also scored with Spore, the half-year's seventh-place PC title.

...and happy sims during the first half of 2009.

Activision Blizzard's showing wasn't too shabby, with the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion coming in second, and the $40 World of Warcraft: Battle Chest Bundle--which consists of the original game and the Burning Crusade expansion--coming in fourth. The original World of Warcraft, which was released over four and a half years ago, remained a best seller in sixth place. Rounding out the top 10 US PC games from January to June were fifth-place finisher Empire: Total War from Sega and ninth-place game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II from THQ.

TOP NON-PC US GAMES: JAN.-JUNE 2009
1) Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (Wii) - Nintendo
2) Pokemon Platinum (DS) - Nintendo
3) Wii Play w/ Remote (Wii) - Nintendo
4) Wii Mario Kart w/ Wheel (Wii) - Nintendo
5) Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360) - Capcom
6) UFC 2009 Undisputed (Xbox 360) - THQ
7) Call of Duty: World at War (Xbox 360) - Activision Blizzard
8) Killzone 2 (PlayStation 3) - SCEA
9) Mario Kart DS (DS) - Nintendo
10) New Super Mario Bros. (DS) - Nintendo

TOP PC US GAMES: JAN.-JUNE 2009
1) The Sims 3 - Electronic Arts
2) World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Activision Blizzard
3) The Sims 2: Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
4) World of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Activision Blizzard
5) Empire: Total War - Sega
6) World of Warcraft - Activision Blizzard
7) Spore - Electronic Arts
8) The Sims 3: Collector's Edition - Electronic Arts
9) Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - THQ
10) The Sims 2: Apartment Life - Electronic Arts

99 Comments

  • Blade8Aus

    Posted Oct 10, 2009 3:08 am PT

    wow spore is selling well?

  • Blade8Aus

    Posted Oct 10, 2009 2:34 am PT

    @ronnieo54
    you are correct...maybe they can =P
    i am pretty damn certain the server closed a few years ago or something (a time close to then)

  • lilkimy

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 12:44 pm PT

    JCASHUFL-You go get a life, you internet troll. You're a joke with little rank.

  • JCASHUFL

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 5:12 pm PT

    Sims.. what a joke.. get a life, people

  • ronnieo54

    Posted Jul 26, 2009 1:56 pm PT

    To fallout guy: they did make a sims mmo. It was called the sims online. Came out a few years ago. I don't know if it is still up and running but I'm sure one of our fellow readers can enlighten youto is status and quality.

  • lightwarrior179

    Posted Jul 25, 2009 5:51 am PT

    It would be wrong to say that Wii Fit isn't a game.
    Also,it doesn't come as a surprise since Sims 3 and Wii Fit are the kinds of games whose popularity extends even beyond the usual gaming crowd.

  • MagicOneUp

    Posted Jul 24, 2009 6:24 pm PT

    well done for Ninty again and again for chart topping with wii -fit. guess there are more over weigh people than initially though. For whom said wii fit is not a game, must have fat in their brain. what is considered a game? for me its an interaction between a player and the on screen action, eg, press a button or have an input of command. most games are different on how you play. but after all Nintendo got top position thats all that matters.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Jul 24, 2009 7:41 am PT

    @doktron, I have been PC gaming for 20 plus years and have 600+PC games - and I agree with you totally! It is the end of PC gaming as we know it. But at least for both of us,the advent of DOSBox means we have plenty of great PC gaming ahead of us regardless! I am currently getting stuck into Dagger and finishing off my latest X-Com campaign!

  • doktron

    Posted Jul 24, 2009 6:55 am PT

    I am a hardcore PC gamer (I own over200 PC games,bought in the last 10 yrs,which averages 20 games a yr., and have played them all)) and I find this list of top 10 games sad.I bought only 1 game on this list(Warhammer40000-DOW2).Most of the games on this list are not for us hardcore gamers but casuel gamers that may buy only 1 or 2 games a yr.,if that!(the SIMS, 4 of them on this list,which I dont play and are not real games as far as I m concerned!)) I used to buy 1 or 2 games every month but this yr. so far I ve bought only 3 games,and I dont consider any of them classics(call of duty-waw,FEAR 2, and Warhammer40000-DOW2).I hope the next 5 months are better and they dont screw up the upcoming PC games.Maybe if they produced better PC games their profits would be better, instead of producing crappy console ports that should have originally been made for the PC.

  • COD2-The_Pope

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 6:19 pm PT

    right on cyborg, the PC is far more advanced than any of the consoles, there's just better video cards, processors, faster internet, free DLC packs, u can download full games for free, tonnes of free online games, HD capabilities, etc. All of that just plus all of what cyborg said is why the PC will always remain on top, unless all console companies combine to create some kind of rediculasly advanced system lol

  • cyborg100000

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 4:06 pm PT

    "Meh, maybe developers are giving up on the PC cuz they know that all people buy nowadays is WoW and The Sims. I miss the days when the top selling PC games had variety. Heck, I miss the days when the PC wasn't last on a developers mind.

    Good to see Empire and Warhammer weasling their way into that chart though."

    Fallout 3, Half Life, Crysis, Bioshock, WoW, Total War, CoD, Sims, C&C, upcoming Star Wars MMO, Serious Sam 3, TF2, Starcraft, Diablo, potentially superior graphics to consoles, mods and literally unlimited amount of free mini games.

    The PC is anything but dead and the day I switch over to average-assed console games with no mods, the limit of a controller and rarely a good title to buy that doesn't come out for PC with little support from DLC or patches is the day I stop gaming.

  • daabulls23

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 2:07 pm PT

    I'm actually a little surprised to see Empire: Total War at number 5, but it's pretty sweet! Heck, 7 out of the 10 PC titles have "Sim" or "Warcraft" in it.

  • sun_rider95

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 1:11 pm PT

    cool........hate it

  • jamesAboy19

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 12:17 pm PT

    @ the_danny
    yes....1 ps3 game.....1 ps3 exclusive, im asuming you an xbox fanboy by putting this in which case stfu because all the xbox games were multi-plat, so congratulations on not having any exclusives to boast about!

    on topic. im glad the xbox had little else out as its probably helped the other mulitplatform games get alot more sales, so every cloud has a silver lining
    as for killzone 2 im very happy to see it make the top 10! and i hope the Killzone 2 community gets alot bigger (because i looooove killzone 2)
    and congrants to nintendo for selling millions of coppies of such a gimiky game (wii fit) and making yourselfs a trabajillion dollars. NIntendo.....your geniuses! (and probably filthy rich)

  • zaphod_b

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 11:49 am PT

    The Wii Fit should not be considered a game on these game charts. You might as well say that running shoes outsold Resident Evil.

  • plm3d_basic

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 11:12 am PT

    When will people realize that nobody has actually lost weight with Wii Fit? You're better off doing pilates, using free weights, performing hardcore calisthenics, or jogging. The same idiots who buy this to lose weight are the same ones who buy that electric belt that makes your stomach twitches while they are laying on the couch and stuff their faces with chips watching tv.

  • mtwmaster

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 11:01 am PT

    Yay Empire!!!

  • Geek12

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 10:24 am PT

    Good to see that there is still competition in the PC game world. (not being sarcastic, i really am glad to see that the PC game market still matters.)

  • janderdarkmoon

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 10:18 am PT

    Ahhh WiiFit number one, yet still so many fatties. go for a jog tubby!

  • kbaily

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 9:55 am PT

    It still amazes me the way NSMB continues to sell when so many other core titles fall off after a couple weeks.
    Wonder if we will expect the same performance from NSMBWii?

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