Wii Play tops 2008 multiformat US chart

By Robert Purchese Published 21 January, 2009

Trumps Madden, GTA and Call of Duty.

Even by counting newly-released PC numbers and combining multiformat sales, Wii Play remains the best selling US game of 2008. But not by much.

Wii Play, which comes bundled with a Wiimote, sold 5.28 million units last year and easily topped the platform-specific chart.

But combined, Madden NFL '09 made up serious ground, falling just short with 5.25 million sales, according to MTV Multiplayer. That NPD figure, however, was calculated from performances of 11 SKUs; XX Years Collector's Editions and Spanish Editions pushing the tally up.

That might explain why favourite Grand Theft Auto IV was ever so slightly off the pace with 5.22 million sales.

Mario Kart Wii comes next with 5 million sales, followed by the increasingly popular Call of Duty series and fifth instalment World at War, which posted 4.63 million sales.

Nintendo should be rather pleased.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (7) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • spekkeh #1 3 years ago

    Seeing as the development cost couldn't have been more than $100 for a single programmer and some pizzas, they should be rather pleased.

  • beckyh #2 3 years ago

    Well the only reason it was No1 in the charts was because of the bundled wii-mote? That doesn't take anything away from Nintendos success, they are clearly the generation winner at the moment. Its just a shame they don't have many games that I like, but we cannot have it all and no game is going to please everybody.
    Nintendo lost out on the last generation. I support them as the winner of this generation but they really do need to start bringing out some wider ranging games.

  • jonsaan #3 3 years ago

    Ah the Generation game:

    Nice to see you.....to seeyouuu..

  • Les #4 3 years ago

    "Nintendo lost out on the last generation. I support them as the winner of this generation but they really do need to start bringing out some wider ranging games."

    They'll only do so if that's the best application of their resources. Currently, it clearly isn't. It might be further down the road though as the market becomes more saturated.

  • IneptPercy #5 3 years ago

    As mentioned, people are buying it because if you shop around you can get Wii-play for the same amount as a remote, if not its a couple of quid more.

    Basically if you want a second remote then its a case of 'I might aswell get...'

  • smoison #6 3 years ago

    The Pong and Tanks game are worth £10 each IMHO. So I can easily understand why it did soo good.

  • secombe #7 3 years ago

    ^^^ I agree, people are quick to dismiss Wii Play as a remote with a disc, but some of the mini games are beautifully executed. Tanks! and Laser Hockey are my two favourites, and yet again it's some good old high score gaming to get your teeth into (my best is 17 points against a computer on Laser Hockey, btw), I wouldn't like to think how long I've actually spent playing Tanks.