Top Global Markets Reveals Top Games of Q3 2008; Madden, Wii Fit, Star Wars Rank High
- Madden NFL 09 (EA Tiburon / PS2, PS3, 360, Wii, NDS, PSP) - 2.99M
(2.95M US, 25K UK, 1K Japan) - Wii Fit (Wii / Nintendo) - 2.08M
(1.28M US, 460K UK, 346K Japan) - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed * - 1.73M
(1.41M US, 321K UK, Not Yet Released in Japan) - Pokemon Platinum (DS / Game Freak) - 1.48M
(1.48M Japan, Not Yet Released in the UK or US) - Mario Kart Wii (Wii / Nintendo) - 1.46M
(856K US, 394K UK, 218K Japan)
In all, the "three largest game markets" grew an average 1% in the three months between July and September 2008. The UK was up 15%, though the report noted this is "skewed" as console software saw a 26% gain while portable software was down 1%. During the same time last year, the UK saw a 34% overall growth.
"Taking into consideration the marked differences between the 3 territories, the UK market in particular is gearing up for a best-ever Q4 performance overall, even under the well-documented financial climate," noted GfK Chart-Track Limited business group director Dorian Bloch.
The United States was the only market to see an increase over Q3 2007, growing 8% in Q3 2008 versus 5% in Q3 2007. Console software grew 6% in the US, with portable software growing 10%.
Japan, meanwhile, was down 21% over last year, when it saw a 27% growth. Console software was down 33%, with portable software down 13%. Enterbrain global marketing analyst Ricky Tanimoto said that "overall video game sales in Japan this holiday season will not be greatly affected by the the world financial crisis."
Tanimoto blamed lack of anticipated titles in Q3 2008, referring to Q3 2007 as a "banner year" for Japan, and noted that games "generally have stronger launch sales in Japan, which represent a large percentage of the total sales in Japan compared to the US and UK."
Created earlier this year, the Top Global Markets report is said to be "a single source for sales data" for the "the largest games markets in the world," but does not include all global markets, such as Canada.
*(PS2, PS3, 360, Wii, DS, PSP / LucasArts, Krome, n-Space)
-
manlyman
replyNothing here surprises me. I would even go the Microsoft route and not even acknowledge Wii sales, it really is in a league of its own. Now that I have had a Wii since launch I can understand. Nintendo did well at first and released a ton of good games at first, Mario Galaxy, Zelda:TP, Metroid 3, etc. to appease me, but it seems the only reason why they were able to do that is because they were building these games off the same Gamecube technology and had an easy transition to their new console. However, since they need to start from scratch on new iterations for these beloved franchises we are back at square one where we were with the Gamecube, waiting years upon years for a new Mario or Zelda. My Wii has not had any action since Mario Kart Wii was released, but not for long since it just did not hold my attention like Mario Kart DS did. Its been a year since we had any great games from Nintendo and I doubt that drought will end. Third party games are still hard to come by, de Blob being the only good third party game to be released this year. For casual gamers the Wii is a haven for fun, but for those who have stuck with Nintendo for so long, its the same old song and dance, waiting and waiting.
-
I don't get what you even mentioned any of that.
-
why*
-
-
