NPD: sales for December 2015 (United States), Wii U / 3DS Software sales

According to the NPD, sales of video games in the United States generated $3.22 million in December: that’s a 1% drop compared to the same month, last year ($3.26 billion). Once again, this was due to the aging previous-gen consoles, which have been on the way out for quite a while already. As for sales of accessories (including the Toys to Life segment), they grew by 10%.

For the full year, video game sales in the United States generated $13.1 billion, for the second year in a row. It looks like the strong performance of current gen platforms, while previous-gen platforms became less and less relevant.

Software

For the Wii U, December 2015 was the second best month ever for Software sales, according to the NPD. Nintendo revealed that Super Mario Maker had sold over 1 million united in the United States alone, making it the 6th Wii U game to do so.

Here are the 6 million sellers on Wii U in the United States:

• Super Mario Maker
• Mario Kart 8
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
• Super Mario 3D World
• New Super Mario Bros. U
• Splatoon

Next, here’s some sales data for games released in December (warning: those come from unverified, but trusted, sources):

• Xenoblade Chronicles X: around 200 000 units
• Devil’s Third: around 3 000 units

Finally, here’s some LTD sales data (warning: those come from unverified, but trusted, sources):

• [Wii U] Super Mario Maker – ~944 000 units
• [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D – ~942 000 units
• [Wii U] Splatoon – ~849 000 units
• [Wii U] Mario Party 10 – ~633 000 units
• [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate – ~458 000 units
• [Wii U] Yoshi’s Woolly World – 457 000 units
• [3DS] Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon – ~352 000 units
• [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes – 312 000 units
• [3DS] Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer – 270 000 units
• [3DS] Yo-kai Watch – ~195 000 units
• [Wii U] Kirby and the Rainbow Curse – 193 000 units
• [3DS] Xenoblade Chronicles 3D – ~147 000 units
• [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition – ~103 000 units
• [3DS] Fossil Fighters Frontier – ~93 000 units
• [Wii U] Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash – ~67 000 units
• [Wii U] Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival – ~63 000 units
• [3DS] Chibi Robo! Zip Lash – ~57 000 units
• [3DS] Code Name S.T.E.A.M. – ~ 50 000 units
• [3DS] Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden – ~48 000 units
• [3DS] Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX – ~45 000 units
• [3DS] Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 – Record Breaker – ~42 000 units
• [3DS] Little Battlers eXperience – ~33 000 units
• [3DS] The Legend of Legacy – 31 000 units
• [3DS] Shovel Knight – ~27 000 units
• [Wii U] Shovel Knight – ~23 000 units
• [3DS] Etrian Mystery Dungeon – ~20 000 units
• [3DS] Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight – ~19 000 units
• [3DS] Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson – ~16 000 units
• [3DS] Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+ – ~9 000 units

NB: those sales number do not include bundle sales (but Limited Editions are included), or digital sales.

Top 10 – December (does not include bundles)

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Activision Blizzard) (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
2. Star Wars: Battlefront (Electronic Arts) (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
3. Fallout 4 (Bethesda Softworks) (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
4. Madden NFL 16 (Electronic Arts) (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
5. NBA 2K16 (Take-Two) (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
6. Grand Theft Auto V (Take-Two ) (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
7. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft) (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
8. Minecraft (Microsoft) (360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3)
9. Minecraft: Story Mode: A Telltale Game Series (Microsoft/TellTale) (360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3)
10. FIFA 16 (Electronic Arts) (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)

Top 10 – 2015 (does not include bundles)

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Activision Blizzard) (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
2. Madden NFL 16 (Electronic Arts) (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
3. Fallout 4 (Bethesda Softworks) (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
4. Star Wars: Battlefront (Electronic Arts) (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
5. Grand Theft Auto V (Take-Two) (PS4, Xbox One) 360, PS3, PC)
6. NBA 2K16 (Take-Two) (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
7. Minecraft (Microsoft) (360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4)
8. FIFA 16 (Electronic Arts) (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
9. Mortal Kombat X (Warner Bros) (PS4, Xbox One)
10. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Activision Blizzard) (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)

Hardware

In December, sales of new consoles were down by 6% in the United States. This is actually due to the Wii, the PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360: the drop for those three consoles together is 70%! Unfortunately, sales of handhelds are also down by 32%. Sales of current-gen platforms are up by 4%, which is not enough to compensate for the decline of previous-gen platforms and handhelds.

Source: NPD
Via: Venturebeat (1 / 2 / 3) / NeoGAF