Nintendo big part of industry growth, NPD reports

For the first time in a while, the gaming industry experienced a 1% growth year over year, and a big contributing factor was the Nintendo 3DS.

The NPD, which provides market information across a wide spectrum of industries, reported that while hardware sales went down 40 %, software sales increased 21 % year over year. The 3DS turns out, was the top-selling console in August, and has been at the top of the list for the past four consecutive months.

In light of these figures, Nintendo released a list containing sales numbers for some of their most popular games, which also combined physical and retail sales, reinforcing the 3DS’ dominant position among gaming devices.

1. Mario and Luigi: Dream Team – 190,000

2. Pikmin 3 – 115,000

3. New Super Luigi U – 120,000

4. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon – 863,000

5. Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 739,000

6. New Super Mario Bros 2 – 406,000 for the year, 1.85 million lifetime

7. Fire Emblem Awakening – 390,000

8. Mario Kart 7 – 352,000 for the year, 2.84 million lifetime

9. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity – 298,000

10. Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D – 268,000

11. Super Mario 3D Land – 265,000 for the year, 2.86 million total

12. LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins – 264,000

Other top selling titles spanning across all platforms (unless indicated otherwise) are as follows:

1. Madden 25

2. Saints Row IV

3. Disney Infinity

4. Splinter Cell: Blacklist

5. Minecraft for Xbox 360

6. Mario and Luigi: Dream Team

7. NCAA Football 14

8. Payday 2

9. Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn

10. Pikmin 3

According to NPD analyst Liam Callahan, Xbox 360 and PlayStation software sales were surprisingly strong, growing an impressive 50%, and added the “incredible” stat comes as a shocker, considering the next generation of consoles are just around the corner.

Source: NeoGAF