NPD: Third-Parties Led New Wii, DS Game Sales For The U.S. In 2010

Author: by Eric Caoili, Matt Mathews

Exclusive charts provided to Gamasutra by the NPD Group reveal that third-party games like Just Dance 2 and Epic Mickey were the top sellers among new Wii games last year, while the DS also saw several surprising hits. Contrasting arguments that games from other companies don't sell on Nintendo systems, seven titles filled NPD's top ten list for the biggest-selling new Wii releases at retail in 2010 -- the chart excluded Nintendo's evergreen products like Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit Plus. Just Dance 2, Ubisoft's follow-up to its hit dancing game from the previous year, outsold all other new Wii titles last year, moving over 5 million units. Disney's Epic Mickey and Ubisoft's Michael Jackson The Experience also sold at least a million copies in 2010. THQ's surprise hit uDraw Studio, which came bundled with a GameTablet, also made NPD's top ten sales list, as did Activision-Blizzard's unassuming game show license Wipeout: The Game and Warner Bros.' Lego Harry Potter: Years 1 - 4. Activision's Wii edition for Call of Duty: Black Ops appeared on the chart, indicating there's more life for the series beyond its record-selling Xbox 360, PS3, and PC versions. The publisher's Goldeneye 007 reboot, though, strangely failed to crack the top ten despite its pedigree. Nintendo managed to release two titles that sold over a million copies last year: Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Donkey Kong Country Returns. Its minigame collection Wii Party also performed nicely with more than half a million units moved. On the DS side, Nintendo took five spots on the NPD's chart for the system's bestselling new games -- Pokemon SoulSilver and HeartGold were the two biggest titles in 2010 after selling a combined three million copies. No other releases reached sales of more than 1 million units. Another Nintendo title, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem, was the third most popular new DS game last year, followed by Warner Bros.' Super Scribblenauts, Disney's Toy Story 3, Warner Bros.' Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4, and Activision-Blizzard's Zhu Zhu Pets. Nintendo took over publishing duties for Dragon Quest IX from Square Enix, and its marketing for the RPG made it the eighth top-selling new DS game in 2010, ahead of Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs and Sega's Sonic Colors. Additional system-specific sales charts for new 2010 games provided by the NPD Group can be found in this Gamasutra article.