NPD Analysis: November 2009 Software Sales -- Modern Warfare 2 Sells 6 Million

We knew it was going to be a big month for Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. How big? The NPD Group numbers are officially in for November: Modern Warfare 2 sold 6,070,000 copies across both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 last month. PC numbers aren't available.

It was a massive month for both hardware and software, though. Even though the NPD Group notes the industry was down overall year-over-year, 2008 was a particular impressive year for video games and the downed economy has proven more difficult for games than expected.

Plenty of other games showed impressively in November, including:

1. 360 -- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Activision, 4.20M
2. PS3 -- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Activision, 1.87M
3. Wii -- New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Nintendo, 1.39M
4. 360 -- Assassin's Creed II, Ubisoft, 794,700
5. 360 -- Left 4 Dead 2, Electronic Arts, 744,000
6. Wii -- Wii Sports Resort, Nintendo, 720,200
7. Wii -- Wii Fit Plus, Nintendo, 679,000
8. PS3 -- Assassin' Creed II, Ubisoft, 448,400
9. 360 -- Dragon Age: Origins, Electronic Arts, 362,100
10. Wii -- Mario Kart w/ Wheel, Nintendo, 315,000

Modern Warfare 2 broke an impressive milestone, as well, achieving the highest first-month sales for a video game -- ever. The record was previously held by Microsoft's Halo 3. The sci-fi shooter sold 3.3 million copies in a single month when it was released in September 2007.

There's both good and bad news in this month's numbers, says NPD analyst Anita Fazier.

"While this year's top-selling item bested last year's by 283%, it couldn't make up for softness elsewhere," she said. "The top 50 games this year sold 5% less units than did the top 50 last year."

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