Wii dominates Amazon's video game best sellers of 2009

by Mike Schramm on Dec 31st 2009 11:35PM

Online retailer Amazon has tallied up sales in its Video Games category for the year 2009, and the results are overwhelmingly in favor of the Nintendo Wii, with nine out of the top ten spots going to Nintendo's console, various official accessories, and games. The best-selling game on the list is New Super Mario Bros. Wii at spot number 5, a feat made even more impressive by the fact that the game came out in November -- selling more copies in under two months than most games sold all year. But above that it's all Wii gear, from the Nunchuk and the MotionPlus addon to the console itself at the top.

Modern Warfare 2 is the only non-Nintendo title in the top ten, and it's specifically the Xbox 360 version, while the PS3 version comes in at number 13. There are only two titles exclusive to another console on the list: Halo 3: ODST for Microsoft at 16, and Uncharted 2 for Sony at 18. But that's not much to cheer about: even the Wii Wheel beat them both. It's fair to say Nintendo can declare Wii-ctory on Amazon in 2009. See the full list below.

[Via Kotaku]

01. Wii
02. Wii Remote controller
03. Wii MotionPlus
04. Wii Nunchuk controller
05. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)

06. Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
07. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
08. Wii Fit (Wii)
09. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
10. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)

11. PlayStation 3 Dualshock 3 controller
12. Wii Play (Wii)
13. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
14. Wii Wheel
15. Assassin's Creed II (Xbox 360)

16. Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360)
17. PlayStation 3 120 GB
18. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
19. EA Sports Active (Wii)
20. Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360)

21. Blu-ray Disc Remote (PS3)
22. Wii Fit Plus game (Wii)
23. Xbox 360 Live 12 Month gold card (Xbox 360)
24. The Sims 3 (PC)
25. Scribblenauts (DS)

Source

Tags: 2009, amazon, amazon.com, best-selling, end-of-year-2009, halo-3-odst, Microsoft, modern-warfare-2, motionplus, new-super-mario-bros-wii, Nintendo, sales, titles, top-ten, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (103)

Well, now that everyone and their dog has a Wii, what will be the fad for the next decade?

VITALITY SENSOR. THE NEW DECADE'S PHENOMENON!

Sad thing is, you're probably right.

Indeed, it's sad. I'm still hoping for a Matrix styled gaming experience, but maybe I'm thinking a little too far ahead.

Something that doesn't suck hopefully.

Prinny plushies, dood.

No, it's probably gonna be Guitar Hero 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.

You're all wrong. It's gonna be skeletons dressed up as pilots in Pearl Jam music videos.

Technically its not a new decade since there was never a year zero the first decade ever would've gone year 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10: this decade will go as 2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010, the next decade will start with 2011

we've been through this, there was a year 0, this is a new decade

No there was no "year zero": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_zero

Jesus was born in year 1 AD, the before that year was 1 BC.

Actually Jesus was more likely born in 4 or 5 BC. Just saying.

Yeah, i had heard Christ was born in 6 BC, but that's just an inaccuracy of the original dating system.

Why is Mr. Green downvoted? He's right.

There are a few possible dates for the birth of Jesus because the gospels seem to disagree as to when he was actually born.

I got 3

Both for my dog and cat.

ok look, there was no year 0.

but no one cares, because there was a year 2000.

when we mention the 80's we don't talk about 81-90. we talk about 80-89 because it's easier and makes sense and isn't loosely based around some dude's birthday 2000 and some years ago.

we are now in the '10s because it is the year 2010. It is the new decade, live with it you anal bastard.

How is the ds not on top?

Simple. We're not Japan.

@ Kenoji
I think this time you're allowed to say "FIRST".

*sex joke here*

Yes, Kenoji deserves it!

this list just confirms what ive always already known, there is more mom's than there is gamers....

At least Uncharted 2 made 18. Considering how popular the Wii is, and it's sold 2x as much as the PS3, it's good to Naughty Dog getting some recognition.

So we have the Wii on the list, the PS3 on the list...one has to wonder where the Xbox 360 is.

PS3 probably made it because of the huge Slim demand. And does that include that spectacular bundle they had for Black Friday?

*spectacular BUNDLES
Unlike Microsoft, who offered just the family pack.

Darth I could have sworn the 360 beat the PS3 for the month of November, and the slim hasn't been out that long.

It did beat ps3 last month, by about 100k in America. I also believe they beat them over the whole year, but I'm not positive about that.

Slim's been in the upper part of the Amazon sales charts since it launched in September.

Don't forget, NPD doesn't include Wal-Mart (who had the great TDK Infamous/Arkham bundle) or Amazon sales.

As for yearly sales, it's going to be damn close. Microsoft probably had a lead throughout most of the year, but given the high sales of the Slim, if the difference is between 100k units for the year I'll be surprised.

NPD does include shops such as Walmart...they just do it through estimation...not direct mesurement. So when we see NPD numbers it includes Walmart et al.

http://kotaku.com/229825/npd-how-it-works

Here's my thought on this....

We're talking about Amazon sales, which are internet only.

As far as the Wii is concerned, they're selling, if I'm not mistaken, the same SKU since it was originally introduced, and it has always sold exceptionally well.

A new PS3 model was introduced this year which was in high demand and a price point that agreed with customers, and that SKU sold exceptionally well.

The Xbox 360 has seen a couple of different SKUs this year, one of which was discountined, and one or two were limited editions, and as an example, right now you have the Lego Batman/Pure "Winter" bundle (as an example), which probably sold well, but not better individually at Amazon than did the Wii or PS3 Slim SKUs.

I would imagine if you were to look at sales (across all SKUs/models/bundles) for Wii, 360, and PS3, as a whole at Amazon their rankings are probably Wii first, Xbox second, and PS3 third.

At any rate, we should have a better idea of sales for the year when NPD releases their numbers, followed by the inevitable claims of victory by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony.

Well, I guess it's at least reassuring to see NSMB Wii ahead of Wii Fit/Play/Sports Resort :\

I bought it. I don't feel... THAT guilty.

CASUAAAAAAAAAAAALS!

I congratulate Nintendo at succeeding in by passing the market and their huge financial come back from their disappointing GameCube years.

Nintendo, now that you have come back and have loads of cash now, will you please bring us back to a quality gaming console much like the N64 and Gamecube days?

Bring us a high end gaming console and bring us the quality Nintendo games we all love and want.

(Not saying Metroid Prime 3, Mario galaxy, Twilight [GCN], or the Pokemon games were bad. Just come out with more and don't let your console get diluted with crap.

But until you rethinking your hardware strategy, I will remain mostly to PC gaming on my high end machine playing Valve shooters.

- Drybones5
a die hard Nintendo fan who pities the foo

nintendo is an awful company that's pandering to the lowest common denominator and actively encouraging shovelware for their massively underpowered console

- larry davis,
star and creator of curd your bamboozleasm

@larry davis

Yeah they do have an under powered console.

But they usually have the top tier in consoles.

It was Gamecube where they said in themselves to stop having good hardware, they are not selling enough.

I blame the masses for ignoring Nintendo for their transition to this new market strategy.

You can blame Nintendo all you want but like any company, they are a business aimed for money and they needed it. So like a company should, they changed up strategy. And they succeeded even if the core gamers like it or not.

I'd rather have them go backto the SNES days, but really anything would do.

although many disagree with me, the way i see it is that Nintendo is recovering from the blow(s) that were dealt by SONY during the PSX, N64 era's as well s the NGC and PS2 era's. i mean if you think about it Nintendo (as a company) suffered a MASSIVE blow to their wallets (their bank's, come on people don't act like yo don't know what i mean. quit being smart asses) and were BARELY hanging by a thread. which would explain why the Wii costs so little to develop. why? well maybe (JUST MAYBE) it was all they could afford at the moment and they had to plan carefully. it's like having a small amount of cash until your next pay check. sure you could spend all willy nilly OR you can be smart and spend it wisely. plus (if you think back quite a bit) Nintendo's ALWAYS had games that appeal to the casual market! it's just that the casual market is more involved with gaming a hell of alot more then they were in the past. i REALLY don' think Nintendo's going to go all "CASUAL GAMING IS THE FUTURE OF GAMING AND THERE WILL NO LONGER BE 'CORE' GAMES IN DEVELOPMENT BY ANY COMPANY MUH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!". as i said before Nintendo has ALWAYS made casual game's, its just that casual gamer's are getting more and more involved. Nintendo saw that and, as a company in dire need of money to continue their dreams of making game's, said "hey!!!!! this is our chance to make money again and insure that we make it into the next generation of consoles". sorry for the rant guys. just wanted to get that off of my chest.

Nintendo has always maintained a profitable business, even during the Gamecube days. They have never made a loss on any gaming console and have always had end year profit margins.

I agree with you for the most part, drybones, but the fact is that Nintendo is not the only one to blame . In fact, the real problem with the Wii is/was the lack of consistently good third party games. When Nintendo first announced the Wii, most of the third parties dismissed it as a fad and got their AAA teams working on titles for the Ps3 and 360. And so, when the Wii turned out to be profitable, the only good games on the console were Ninty's first party ones (for the first year or so anyway). Sure, there were a few good third party games released (No More Heroes, etc.), but for the most part third parties released shovelware instead of the awesome games we were used to from the Gamecube era. Nowadays, games like Muramasa, Little King's Story, and Monster Hunter Tri are finally being released, but they aren't doing so well. The third parties claim that this is due to an absence of support by the big N, and while that may be partially true, the real truth is that they were the ones who abandoned Nintendo in the first place. If the third parties had focused on releasing quality games or sequels to some of their good Gamecube games instead of flooding the market with worthless shovelware, the casual gamers who Nintendo now caters to might not be so casual.

Their console being diluted with crap isn't really their fault, though. The peculiarities of this generation meant that Wii gets all the shovelware of a market-leader, without the top-tier 3rd party games, because the 3rd parties had already invested in HD development long before it became apparent that Wii would be the far easier platform to make money on.

Nintendo could have been more aggressive from the outset in terms of securing 3rd party exclusives, but as has been said, hindsight is 20/20

I agree, the Wii is a pretty underwhelming console. I know I just got one, and I certainly have enough games to play, it's just most of these games are just ok and not great. I've played all 14 of my wii games at least once, and not one of them gives me that great feeling of not wanting to put it down like games on 360/ps3 do.

Again, not saying they're bad games, they just don't really make me want to keep playing them. I don't really want to use the word "bored", but honestly that's probably the best word to use. I think a big reason why I feel like that is because most of these games are stuck in the past.

Like Mario Galaxy is a good game, but it feels like a prettier Mario 64, and in 2009 (or 2007 rather) that's not good enough. Where's the voice acting, the epic story, the modern gameplay elements...everything that AAA games in this generation have. I know mario's never really had those and it would be awkward to have them now but in order to feel like a current gen game it needs current gen elements. If it can't do that, then I guess the best thing to do would be to kill it off and establish something that is more current gen. I just used galaxy as an example, really all of nintendo's first party franchises needs the same overhaul.

Tmac, it's Mario, not Mass Effect. While he could probably use an update, an epic story isn't it.

just curious, what is a "modern gameplay element?"

They do have that massive install base after all. I'm wondering what Nintendo will do to counter Natal and the Motion controllers.

Man oh man... Well congrats to Nintendo to appealing to the mass market.

Shit Sells

| 1 | 2 | 3 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments

Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.

Breaking News

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days

Vita 'UMD Passport' won't be offered in US 220 comments
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review: A tempting fate 153 comments
David Jaffe leaves Eat Sleep Play, layoffs hit developer [Update] 108 comments
Don't call it a remake: Final Fantasy X is a 'remaster,' to be clear 95 comments
Battleship movie adapted into FPS by Double Helix 93 comments

Wii dominates Amazon's video game best sellers of 2009

Reader Comments (103)

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:39PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:43PM Shadowbender said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:44PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:46PM Shadowbender said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:54AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 2:19AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 1:28AM I AM IRONHIDE said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 2:13AM Scratchcard said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 3:09AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 3:42AM BrianH said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 8:57AM slimshady said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 11:19AM mrmobius said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 11:31AM Mr Khan said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 11:33AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:58PM dogmaticatheist said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 8:41PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 2nd 2010 11:47AM eat it said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:41PM Rhamsey said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:00AM Kenoji said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:07AM Special Agent Steve said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:25AM ch3burashka said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:44AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 1:05PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:43PM Special Agent Steve said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:45PM Shadowbender said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:47PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:49PM Special Agent Steve said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:50PM Rhamsey said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:54PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:54PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:57PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:12AM kspraydad said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:44AM Starcade said

Posted: Dec 31st 2009 11:52PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:03AM Special Agent Steve said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:15AM DeadpooI said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:40AM Drybones5 said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 1:01AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 1:06AM Drybones5 said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 3:34AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 8:44AM GennosukeSama said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 11:28AM mrmobius said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 11:31AM Junebug said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 11:40AM Mr Khan said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 11:54AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:44PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:52PM Mr Khan said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:43AM finnith said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:45AM GamerKingFaiz said

Posted: Jan 1st 2010 12:51AM (Unverified) said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

Double Fine Kickstarter passes $1 million in under 24 hours, breaking yet another record

Featured Stories

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier brings information warfare to the front

Rhythm Heaven Fever review: Crazy into you

Remedy not done with Alan Wake

The most popular postsin the last 7 days

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days