Modern Warfare 2 Easily 2009's Top Game

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Modern Warfare 2 Easily 2009's Top Game



Infinity Ward's monstrous Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Modern-Warfare-Xbox-360/dp/B00269QLI8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278694263&sr=1-1] was far and away the top-selling game of 2009, but Nintendo may have had the last laugh after all.

The official numbers for the Global Video Game Market Analysis 2009 [http://www.mcvuk.com/features/636/Global-Video-Game-Market-Analysis-2009] are in, and - surprising absolutely nobody - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the best-selling game of last year, raking in a staggering 11.86 million sales worldwide.

While the combined numbers of NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Limited and Enterbrain, Inc give CoD MewTwo a healthy lead on the competition, it may be Nintendo who won the biggest of all in calendar year '09. MW2 may top the list seen here, but numbers two through five? Yep, you guessed it: all Nintendo, all the time. Wii Fit [http://www.amazon.com/Wii-Sports-Resort-Nintendo/dp/B001COQW14/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280162155&sr=1-1], 5.80 mil to 5.44 mil.

The breakdown is interesting - despite stomping the competition quite handily in the US and UK, Modern Warfare 2 sold a measly 237,500 units in Japan. In Japan, DS sales carried the market with games like SoulSilver [http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Quest-IX-Sentinels-Nintendo-DS/dp/B002I0EH6I/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280162264&sr=1-1][/I], though portable title sales were down 1% overall. Still, that minuscule drop in portable sales in Japan was small compared to the 8% decline in the US or the severe 25% year-over-year downturn in sales in the UK.

Sales overall were down in 2009 from 2008, despite an increase in newly released titles. "[W]hile there has been no noticeable slow down in the number of titles launched each year," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier, "we do see some evidence of a converse relationship between the number of titles launched and the average unit sales of a title. When looking back at the past 7 years, we see that 2004 had the lowest number of titles launched, yet the highest average unit sales. On the other hand, 2009 had the most titles launched and average unit sales were lower than they've been since 2005."

In other words, the fewer games that come out, the better the sales are for each individual game. Gee, it's almost like consumers have finite resources to spend on these things or something.

There's some really interesting information in the report if you're interested in the state of the industry, so check it out over at MCV UK [http://www.mcvuk.com/features/636/Global-Video-Game-Market-Analysis-2009].

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Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Hm...Some intresting numbers there, So really, IW may have had the biggest seller...but overall game sales goes to those people in Japan! lol
 

Sparrow

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Feb 22, 2009
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200k in Japan? I suppose that's not suprising. I can't say I know of many Japan made FPS's myself.

Unless you count MGS, that is.
 

Kris015

Some kind of Monster
Feb 21, 2009
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Kinda funny when everyone was gonna boycott and so many were complaining about it..
 

That's Funny

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Jul 20, 2009
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Well I think that this shows that Japanese gamers obiviously have different tastes than others, that or they hate Bobby Kotick and decided to boycott it after the whole non-dedicated severs fiasco, or does that not apply to Japan?
 

JRCB

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Jan 11, 2009
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And in other news, the sun is incredibly bright.

Not surprised by the MW2 numbers, and the Wii bit isn't that surprising either.
 

rockingnic

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May 6, 2009
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These numbers only give you how many wanted it before it came out. They don't, however, tell you how many traded back/sold their game or tell you how many still play. Like what my economics teacher says, they're numbers but what do they mean?
 

Duraji

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Aug 14, 2008
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Not only did Nintendo outsell CoD:MW2 with the combination of those top four products, but Nintendo tends to keep selling their products well after initial launch. Just look at how many people are STILL buying New Super Mario Bros. for DS, and Mario Kart Wii.

I think Reggie will be right, that lifetime sales for New Super Mario Bros. Wii could be higher than Modern Warfare 2. Most people who want MW2 have it now, but NSMBW had a shortage, and there are so many Wii owners who simply aren't game-savvy enough to know when a cool game comes out, so it'll be in great demand even a year from now, just like how you couldn't find Mario Kart Wii during Christmas in 2008 despite it being easy to find at launch.
 

Tiamat666

Level 80 Legendary Postlord
Dec 4, 2007
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Modern Warfare is too straightforward for Japan. If you want to sell in Japan you need to put more bright colors, blinking lights, plastic boobs, men wearing miniskirts and underage girls into your game.
 

Chunklin

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Dec 16, 2009
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Meh, it's not as good as the sales make out.

Less killstreaks, less balance issues, longer single player, and not using 'Prestige' to lengthen the game, and we might have had a winner.
 

teisjm

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Mar 3, 2009
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Chunklin said:
Meh, it's not as good as the sales make out.

Less killstreaks, less balance issues, longer single player, and not using 'Prestige' to lengthen the game, and we might have had a winner.
How does prestige "lengthen" the game, in a genre we're the multiplayer part is usually just shoot-n00bs-till-the-game-bores-you?
Which FPS games have "longer" online multiplayer? and how so?
I mean, how would you determine length of online multiplayer? it's not like theres a final boss you beat and then you're done or anything.

As for the balance, half of it is actual issues, the other half is simply group-whining. I mean, every other weapon/tactic is OP/imba/n00b according to the people who die to it.

Cold blooded takes care of most kill streaks.

Haven't played SP yet, but i trust everyone when they say it's very short.
 

Wandrecanada

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Oct 3, 2008
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It's almost like economists don't understand general ecology. If they did maybe the morons running large companies and investors in said companies would understand why inflation happens, what it means and why no company can ever grow indefinitely.

Closed system is closed.
 

Pingieking

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Sep 19, 2009
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Umm... perhaps there is some sub-par statistics going on here. 7 years of data isn't a whole lot to go on, and it can be argued that a large part of the lower sales of 2009 is due to the economic climate rather than the number of new titles being released.

Not saying that their analysis is completely wrong, just saying that there's not enough data there to make those kind of claims.