Marketing research groups The NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Limited and Enterbrain today released the second Top Global Markets report, detailing the five best-selling video games in the US, UK and Japan between July and September 2008:

1. Madden NFL 09 (EA Tiburon / PS2, PS3, 360, Wii, NDS, PSP) - 2.99M
   (2.95M US, 25K UK, 1K Japan)
2. Wii Fit (Wii / Nintendo) - 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 (DS / Game Freak) - 1.48M
   (1.48M Japan, Not Yet Released in the UK or US)
5. Mario Kart Wii (Wii / Nintendo) - 1.46M
   (856K US, 394K UK, 218K Japan)

In all, the "three largest game markets" grew an average 1% in the three months between July and September 2008. The UK was up 15%, though the report noted this is "skewed" as console software saw a 26% gain while portable software was down 1%. During the same time last year, the UK saw a 34% overall growth.

"Taking into consideration the marked differences between the 3 territories, the UK market in particular is gearing up for a best-ever Q4 performance overall, even under the well-documented financial climate," noted GfK Chart-Track... Read more

Sales-tracking firms NPD, Chart-Track and Enterbrain today announced that they will be releasing a monthly Top Global Markets Report, which will provide a glimpse of the retail game sales in the US, UK and Japan.

The report is said to be "a single source for sales data" for the "the largest games markets in the world."

Below are the results of the first report, detailing sales from January to July:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, 360 / Rockstar North) - 6.29M
   (4.71M US, 1.58M UK, Not yet released in Japan)
2. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii / Nintendo) - 5.43M
   (3.53M US, 213K UK, 1.68M Japan)
3. Mario Kart Wii (Wii / Nintendo) - 4.69M
   (2.4M US, 687K UK, 1.6M Japan)
4. Wii Fit (Wii / Nintendo) - 3.6M
   (1.43M US, 624K UK, 1.54M Japan)
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock * - 3.47M
   (3.03M US, 412K UK, 26K Japan)

While Grand Theft Auto IV publisher Take-Two claimed the game had sold 8.5 million units, and shipped 11 million back in June, NPD analyst David Riley explained Top Global's missing 2.21M as a result of sales outside the US and UK.

"To be clear, [the report] is not a global product. It covers only the top global markets--US, UK and Japan," he explained. "Global is coming but let's not put the cart before the horse."

*(PS2, PS3, 360, Wii / Budcat, Neversoft, Vicarious Visions)