NPD: Wii Play is best selling 'game' of all time in the US

by David Hinkle on Jan 20th 2010 2:00PM

If there's a statistic measuring how well a game sold, you're likely to find Wii Play lingering in it somewhere. It's not only been the best-selling game of 2009, but also just recently made itself known as the top seller for the last decade. Now, according to NPD data (via GameSpot), the software-hardware hybrid has claimed another throne: top-selling non-PC US game ever.

It's a pretty prestigious list and while no exact figures are listed (save for the bundle's October performance, selling a whopping 11.1 million units in that month alone), the other games listed should give you an indication of just how many homes Wii Play has invaded. Taking second place is Guitar Hero III, the first game to earn $1 billion in revenue, followed by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The others in the top ten are generally expected, including Activision's other $1 billion earner, Modern Warfare 2 (notable because, damn, that was fast!), along with a pair of other Call of Duty games. Head over to GameSpot for the full list.

Source

Reader Comments (85)

Wii would like to take your money.

Mario, your a good game, and ima let you sell, but WiiPlay is the best selling game of all time!

Sorry

Well the good news is it can't ever get worse than this, so we can only go up in the future.

Bad news is...well, this. On behalf of all of America I apologize to the rest of the world. We fucked up.

I think it would be worse if mass effect 2 outsold it, because that would help cement the idea that all gamers are super-nerds that only enjoy science fiction.

I would gladly take that blow to see ME2 be the best selling game ever.

Shit, I'd take that blow for just about any game to beat Wii Play.

Surely you would rather have wiiplay beat out Barbie Horze Advensurez?

Ehh that's one of those "whoever wins we all lose" situations. Pretty much this is the lowest of the low, we can only tie it in the future.

I mean the only way we can top this, is if Nintendo literally gets Miyamoto to shit in a box, mass produce it, and sell it which at this point I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo did that...and succeeded. I would probably have to kill myself after that though, just out of fear for my species.

Didn't that already happen?

Shit you're right, I forgot about Wii Music.

*kills self*

@space

science fiction... like modern warfare, mario, Gran turismo, gta series... or in other words, some of the best selling franchises in gaming history, which aren't science fiction? (albeit, they may not be history books, but by definition they aren't sci-fi)

What is this, tmac upvoted? Whats going on?

Ooh, I see! Nice one, joystiq readers.

Okay, I've been holding this in for awhile...

Tmac, Fuck you.

If you're this worked up about a game selling well, going to a legendary game company...then you have problems.

Now to counter anyone who says I'm getting "worked up" over someone on the internet, this isn't worked up. Just annoyed.

You're getting too worked up.

Now you people know how every half decent, not completely blinded by hype person feels whenever Halo 2 or Modern Warfare 2 came out. Not to say that they are bad games, but compared to older games they aren't that good and DARE I SAY dumbed down (kind of like these Wii games, and no that's not a direct comparison, but it is definitely evident that older FPS games like Quake and CS were much less user friendly and generally had more depth to them).

That, and the fact that this sold so well doesn't effect anything. "hardcore" or whatever gamers aren't ever going to be ignored.

I've always felt that is total B.S. when the game COMES WITH THE CONSOLE and it counts as a "sale".

It doesn't come with the console. Wii SPORTS does

It does, however, come with a remote... which is why I imagine it sells so well. It's the only reason I got it.

We're definitely not inviting Prox to the next "name that shovelware" game.

This is the game that comes packaged with a Wiimote. Basically, people going to buy a Wiimote see Wii Play for $10 bucks more and buy that instead figuring spending the extra $10 to get a game is worth it.

wii sports came with the wii. wii play is like 40 bucks and only worth it for the wii remote it comes with

its only $5 more

@ Tony

It's the only reason I did. I can count on one finger the number of times I've played it.

I saved the extra $5-$10 and just got a controller, as that was the most logical thing to do.

Wii Play isn't shovelware tmac you fool!

Touché, gentlemen; I stand corrected. All that shovelware looks the same to me.

So, when Guitar Hero releases a bundle with instruments it shouldn't count towards the total sale? If Wii play was a 10 dollar title - it wouldn't count? The box doesn't say "Controller plus wii play game!" It is wiiplay.

Get over it.

S'like a game you don't like selling well means your prostates die or something.

Who the hell would buy GH just for the controllers? Thats not similar to the Wii Play bundle at all.

@Eh people like me who see a guitar hero world tour bundle on sale with a wireless guitar for 30 bucks, so I can round out my rock band set.

Just sayin'

I needed a guitar for my Rockband 2 as well - and bought a one sale world tour guitar/game bundle. In the end Guitar Hero collects dust, and once a week I crack out RockBand to play around.

Did they bundle every version of Namco Museum ever made to make it into the ten spot?

Yeah, they did. It even has DC listed next to it for the Dreamcast version. Yay for Dreamcast!

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Usually I get annoyed by that, but this is arguably the best and most appropriate place for this to ever be.

I've seen the Picard one, but who is this?

Looks like Reagan to me?

Picard should be in this guys stead.

I think it's supposed to be Will Riker or Al Borelain, but I'm not sure.

Well, whoever he is, he sort of looks like he's rubbing his forehead where he's been smacked by a Wii remote. The Picard one looks a little more authentic as far as expressing the sentiment, though this still gets the job done.

It's Reggie! REGGIE! It isn't that hard! Jesus!

ex-fucking-actly.

So it's the best selling controller of all time

I'm somewhat ashamed to be one of those sales. That said, the price difference between a standalone wiimote and the wiiplay bundle was so insignificant, why not get the bundle?

One good thing could come from this: letting Microsoft and Sony know that local multiplayer is a money spinner. Everyone I know who has a Wii bought Wii Play for the extra remote so they could do Wii Sports with their friends and family.

I know the 360 and PS3 don't exactly target the same audience (well, until Natal maybe), but it'd be nice if this encouraged developers to include local multiplayer in more games. It's demoralising seeing 'Online Co-op only' for most games. I want to play with my brother damnit!

I don't want to play with my brother, but I do want to see a return to splitscreen sometime soon.

YES! That's why I have a Wii. My xbox doesn't provide many games that I can play with other people around. Pretty much all my Wii games (not shovelware!) have a splitscreen focus and a pick-up-and-play funness to it. Its great.

Is it amazing that I've never heard of this game before? And I own a Wii (my family has had one since October). Are you sure they're not talking about Wii Sports or something? wtf

ha ha ha oh what

Pretty amazing since every wii comes with it (or they did in my local stores)

Its also the worst game on this list.

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NPD: Wii Play is best selling 'game' of all time in the US

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