December NPD: Sales Slide 22%, Black Ops II Rules All Of 2012

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You'll never guess what the top-selling video game of 2012 was. Not in a million years. ...okay, that's probably not true.

The NPD Group released the sales results for both December and the full year, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II was the best-selling title in the US for both. It's the fourth consecutive year where a Call of Duty title led the yearly tallies. And MW3 was #8 in 2012, too.

The industry slid another 22% in December, though, down to $3.21 billion, and the entire year was down 22% as well, down to $13.26 billion from the $16.99 billion recorded in 2011. However, NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan reminded us that these stats only represent new physical retail sales of hardware, software and accessories, which is only about 50% of total consumer spending.

"When you consider our preliminary estimate for other physical format sales in December such as used and rentals at $217 million, and our estimate for digital format sales including full game and add-on content downloads including microtransactions, subscriptions, mobile apps and the consumer spend on social network games at $765 million, we would estimate the total consumer spend in December to be over $4.1 billion."

Microsoft reported 1.4 million Xbox 360 consoles sold in December, Nintendo moved 460,000 Wii U units during the month, and Wii U hardware sales generated $300 million, which is actually a little more than the original Wii did during that same span of time. But for the record, according to a recent IDC report, the PlayStation 3 has officially forged ahead of the 360 in terms of overall worldwide sales; 77 million to 76 million. And yes, the PS3 launched one year later, so...

One bright spot was the arrival of Far Cry 3 in December, which became the second-most successful December launch since the NPD began tracking sales back in 1995. In general, though, everything was down; hardware, software, and accessories. Let's hope that that aforementioned IDC prediction concerning a rebounding console market is true. Here are the top 10 games for December and for all of 2012:

TOP 10 GAMES FOR DECEMBER 2012

• 1. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (X360, PS3, Wii U, PC) - Activision Blizzard
• 2. Just Dance 4 (X360, Wii, Wii U, PS3) - Ubisoft
• 3. Halo 4 (X360) - Microsoft
• 4. Assassin's Creed III (X360, PS3, Wii U, PC) - Ubisoft
• 5. Madden NFL 13 (X360, PS3, Wii, PS Vita, Wii U) - Electronic Arts
• 6. Far Cry 3 (X360, PS3, PC) - Ubisoft
• 7. NBA 2K13 (X360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC) - Take-Two
• 8. Skylanders Giants (X360, Wii, PS3, 3DS, Wii U) - Activision
• 9. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) - Nintendo
• 10. FIFA Soccer 13 (X360, PS3, Wii, PS Vita, 3DS, Wii U, PSP) - Electronic Arts

TOP 10 GAMES FOR 2012

• 1. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (X360, PS3, Wii U, PC) - Activision Blizzard
• 2. Madden NFL 13 (X360, PS3, Wii, PS Vita, Wii U) - Electronic Arts
• 3. Halo 4 (X360) - Microsoft
• 4. Assassin's Creed III - (X360, PS3, PC, Wii U) - Ubisoft
• 5. Just Dance 4 (Wii, X360, Wii U, PS3) - Ubisoft
• 6. NBA 2K13 (X360, PS3, Wii, PSP, Wii U, PC) - Take-Two
• 7. Borderlands 2 (X360, PS3, PC) - Take-Two
• 8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (X360, PS3, Wii, PC) - Activision
• 9. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Wii, X360, DS, 3DS, PS3, PS Vita, PC) - Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• 10. FIFA Soccer 13 (X360, PS3, Wii, PS Vita, 3DS, Wii U, PSP) - Electronic Arts

Tags: video game sales, npd sales, december npd, annual npd sales

1/10/2013 11:14:14 PM Ben Dutka

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