Nintendo is Fighting Fit

09/Feb/2009

Nintendo are showing no signs of over-exertion, as their fitness drive moves into a fourth consecutive week at the top of the All Formats Chart. Sales of ‘Wii Fit’ are only down 2% on last week – the lowest sales decline of any All Formats Top 10 game this week.

‘FIFA 09’ (-12%) shimmies up one place to No2, knocking Activision-Blizzard’s ‘Call of Duty: World at War’ down to No3 (-20%) – its lowest All Formats Chart position since its launch 13 weeks ago. Every game in the All Formats Top 10 loses sales and Nintendo’s ‘Mystery Case Files: Millionheir’ is the only Top 40 new release, debuting at No4, one place ahead of similar title ‘Professor Layton’ (-14%). Nintendo manage 5 games in the All Formats Top 10 with familiar favourites ‘Mario Kart Wii’ (-13%) and ‘Wii Play’ (-16%) both non-movers at No’s 6 and 7 respectively. This week last year the software market was up and there were 3 new games in the All Formats Top 10 and a new No1 with Capcom’s ‘Devil May Cry 4’. In 2009 the software market has not yet witnessed its first weekly sales increase, while Nintendo and Wii Fit’s dominance at the top in 2009 is in stark contrast to the 5 different games that were All Formats No1’s during the first six weeks of last year.

EA’s ‘Need for Speed: Undercover’ (-28%) may have dropped out of the Top 10, from No10 to No13, but the American publisher still has two Top 10 games despite a 37% drop in sales for ‘Skate 2’ – down from No5 to No8. Despite falling sales, Sega’s ‘Mario & Sonic’ (-5%) and Activision-Blizzard’s ‘Guitar Hero: World Tour’ (-18%) climb back into the Top 10, both up 3 places to No’s 9 and 10 respectively. A retailer price promotion on the Xbox 360 version of ‘Left 4 Dead’ (+32%) sees it climb 14 places to No15, while another EA title, ‘SimAnimals’ (+90%) enters the Top 40 for the first time at No22, in its second week of release.