Gaming numbers man Matt Matthews is at it again, this time at Gamasutra, and his analysis of the latest round of official sales figures drops a bombshell on some pre-conceived notions about what really sells in the gaming industry. Based on numbers taken for every title across all platforms, four of the five top-selling games of 2008 are Nintendo-made first-party Wii exclusives: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, and Wii Play. The only non-Nintendo title in the 2008 bestseller list is Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360.
These sales trends turn traditional thoughts about game marketing on their head. None of these yearly best-sellers were released in the October-November Q4 window once thought most lucrative for game sales, and Wii Play wasn't even published this year. Common knowledge was that the average 360 user bought more games than Wii users, but the sheer numbers of Wii users out there now may be enough to push Nintendo's games into the top of the charts. That said, there is one conspicuous absence in this list: the absurdly well-reviewed Super Mario Galaxy, which I would've thought of as one of the Wii's must-owns.
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