Top Selling Games for 2009 – Bookie Pays Out Early For Modern Warfare 2

NPD has released the top 10 selling games by console for 2009 through November in the United States.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) brings in the most dough, holding down the number one spot with a staggering 4.2 million in sales.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, after listing the odds for MW2 back in October, has started paying out early.

“Three out of every four bets placed on the Christmas number one videogame were backing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,” the bookmaker said in a statement. “With this level of support I don’t think we’re taking too much of a risk by paying out early.” Paddy Power will pay out over $17,600 to bettors who put their hard earned cash down on the game.

According to the figures below, they were right. Nothing is going to beat out Modern Warfare 2. Nintendo, however, collectively raked in over 13.5 million in sales with four of their titles making it into the top five positions.

Below is the list, with the title’s release month and units sold including both collector’s editions and bundles.

1 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) – November 2009 – 4.2 million
2 – Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (Wii) – May 2008 – 3.5 million
3 – Wii Sports Resort w/ Wii Motion Plus (Wii)- July 2009 – 2.4 million
4 – Wii Mario Kart w/ wheel (Wii) – April 2008 – 2.2 million
5 – Wii Play w/ Remote (Wii) – February 2007 – 2.1 million
6 – Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360) – September 2009 – 2 million
7 – Pokemon Platinum Version (DS) – March 2009 – 1.9 million
8 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PlayStation 3) – November 2009 – 1.9 million
9 – Madden NFL 10 – August 2009 (Xbox 360) – 1.5 million
10 – New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) – November 2009 – 1.4 million

Despite the figures, NPD also claims that video game sales are down 7.6 percent in November according to a press release last Thursday. NPD analyst Anita Frazier remarked that last years numbers are going to be a hard target to hit this upcoming holiday season.

“Breaking even seems more out of reach. In order to break even to last year, December sales would have to be up 36 percent over December 2008.”

Still, both Microsoft and Sony seem to be happy with their progress. Console sales for the Xbox 360 are reported to be up 5 percent this month, while Sony’s PS3 sales continue to exceed their expectations.