Mario Kart Wii tops global charts for 2008
Nintendo first-party games dominate.
Mario Kart Wii was the biggest selling game across the UK, US and Japan last year, shifting nearly 9 million copies.
That's according to a Top Global Markets report - a collaboration between GfK Chart-Track (UK), NPD (US) and Enterbrain (Japan).
Wii Fit came a close second, followed by GTAIV, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and COD: World at War.
Grand Theft Auto IV led the pack back in August, when the only other change had been Guitar Hero III in place of Call of Duty: World at War.
Sales across all regions were up 11 per cent on 2007, with the UK market in particular noting a dramatic increase of 26 per cent. Japan, however, dipped by 13 per cent.
"Because of this amazing growth and coupled with the downturn currently being experienced in Japan, the UK market has for the first time overtaken Japan as the number two world market," said GfK Chart-Track's Dorian Bloch in a statement.
Bizarrely, Wii Play doesn't feature, despite topping US multiformat sales for the year.
| Title | Platform | Total sales | US sales | Japan sales | UK sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mario Kart Wii | Wii | 8.94 million | 5 million | 2 million | 1.94 million |
| Wii Fit | Wii | 8.31 million | 4.55 million | 2.15 million | 1.61 million |
| Grand Theft Auto IV | PC, Xbox 360, PS3 | 7.29 million | 5.18 million | 256,000 | 1.85 million |
| Super Smash Bros. Brawl | Wii | 6.32 million | 4.17 million | 1.75 million | 404,000 |
| Call of Duty: World at War | PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS | 5.89 million | 4.46 million | N/A | 1.43 million |