Call of Duty: World at War couldn't win the battle against the Wii in December, selling 150,000 units shy of Wii Play's staggering 1.46 million copies. Yes, that's a lot of Wii Remotes.
The mini-game compilation and NPD top ten mainstay fought off the Xbox 360 version of the latest Call of Duty handily. Factoring in PlayStation 3 sales of the title, World at War sold a combined total of 1.86 million copies, making it the best multi-platform seller in December and bringing 2008 sales of the shooter to over 3.8 million.
The rest of the list is filled with Wii regulars and Xbox 360 blockbusters, including Wii Fit, Mario Kart and Gears of War 2. The full top ten is after this.
01. Wii Play (Wii) - 1,460,000
02. Call of Duty: World at War (Xbox 360) - 1,330,000
03. Wii Fit (Wii) - 999,000
04. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 979,000
05. Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii) - 850,000
06. Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) - 745,000
07. Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360) - 629,000
08. Mario Kart DS (DS) - 540,000
09. Call of Duty: World At War (PS3) - 533,000
10. Animal Crossing City Folk (Wii) - 497,000
U.S. consumers spent $2.75 billion on games during the month of December, bringing annual sales to nearly $11 billion. According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, that's more than total industry revenues from 2005.
She adds: "While some have wondered if the popularity of Guitar Hero and Rock Band is waning, both properties realized their best month yet in dollar sales, and combined represent 16% of total software dollar sales this month."
Thanks again to the NPD Group for providing us with monthly data.