Second Top Global Markets Report released: Top games for Q3 revealed

The NPD Group, Chart Track, and Enterbrain put their heads together again and released their second Top Global Markets Report. The report details videogame sales in the US, UK, and Japan and lists the top five best selling games for Q3 of this year. First place went to EA’s Madden 09 (Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, DS, PC, PS3, PS2)

The NPD Group, Chart Track, and Enterbrain put their heads together again and released their second Top Global Markets Report. The report details videogame sales in the US, UK, and Japan, which are regarded as the three largest game markets in the word. So, without further ado:

The top 5 best selling games from July until September of 2008:

1. Madden NFL 09 – 2.99M
• 2.95M US
• 25K UK
• 1K Japan
2. Wii Fit  – 2.08M
• 1.28M US
• 460K UK
• 346K Japan
3. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – 1.73M
• 1.41M US
• 321K UK
• Not Yet Released in Japan
4. Pokemon Platinum – 1.48M
• 1.48M Japan
• Not Yet Released in the UK or US
5. Mario Kart Wii  – 1.46M
• 856K US
• 394K UK
• 218K Japan

Note that Madden 09 (Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, DS, PC, PS3, PS2) took top honors with little to no help from Japan or UK sales, proving once again the kind of dominance the Madden franchise holds over the American market. I do wonder though why EA keeps saying they’re in deep financial straits given the performance of these figures.

Despite the current financial crisis, the report showed healthy figures for US and UK game sales. The United States was credited with an growth of 8% (3% more than the same time last year) and while the UK could not boast of such figures, it was predicted that they’ll be performing at an all time high next quarter.

Japan seems to have drawn the short stick with their sales growth lower than last year’s due to a lack of highly anticipated titles.

• NPD, Chart Track, Enterbrain combined global report: GTA4 on top, Wii games follow