The World's Top Five Selling Games of Q3

Buried amongst the latest data on industry sales trends for the third-quarter, we find the five best selling games worldwide. Care for some Football anyone?

Videogame sales from July to September in the world's three largest gaming markets (U.S., Europe, and Japan) show only a one-percent overall growth, according to the latest data from the NPD Group. Still, gamers spoke with their wallets, and those wallets screamed "Madden!"

EA's Madden franchise clearly dominated worldwide game sales for the third-quarter. Madden NFL 09 came in first among the top five best selling games at 2.994 million units sold between the three major markets. Nintendo's Wii Fit came in second with 2.089 million units sold. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed placed third in sales with 1.738 million units. The Japan-only Pokemon Platinum made fourth by moving 1.482 million units. Last and least, Mario Kart Wii sold 1.468 million copies.

In most cases, U.S. sales accounted for a substantial number of each game's total sale in the three markets. Madden NFL 09 moved 2.958 units in the U.S. - the bulk of the copies sold in the U.S. Wii Fit and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed sold well more than half of their total units in the U.S. and Mario Kart didn't do too bad either.

Given the glut of awesome games flooding the market in the annual bustle leading up to the holidays, it should be interesting to see what titles will come out on top for the fourth-quarter. Any predictions?