November NPD: Modern Warfare 2 sells 6 million, DS dominates hardware

The US games industry’s performance numbers are out for November and, as expected, software sales were lead dominated by Activision / Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox 360 and PS3. The game sold 4.2 million copies during the month on Microsoft’s console, while the version for Sony’s machine sold 1.9 million. Coming in an extremely strong second was New Super Mario Bros. Wii at 1.4 million copies, proving that 1) people still love the plumber and 2) if a Wii game is published by Nintendo, it sells like crazy (well, unless it also has “Wii Music” in its title).

Nintendo lead in hardware sales, with the number of DS units sold skyrocketing by 262% to 1.7 million units — that’s better than the same month last year. Wii sold over two million last November; this year it hit 1.26 million for the month, indicative of the year-long decline in sales the console’s been experiencing. Its competitors, Xbox 360 and PS3, sold 820 thousand and 710 thousand units, respectively.