Rentrak: Xbox 360 has most top titles this year
Format has eight of top 10 renters; six of top 10 sellers
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 6/1/2009
JUNE 1 | PHYSICAL: Xbox 360 video games dominate the top renting and selling titles year-to-date, according to Rentrak.
Since its launch, Nintendo Wii hardware has regularly trumped the sales of its next generation rivals, like Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. But games played on the Xbox 360 take eight of the top 10 rental rankings, and six of the top 10 sales rankings.
On the rental side, Call of Duty: World at War for Xbox 360 is the number one title. That is followed by – additionally for Xbox 360 in descending order – Gears of War 2, Resident Evil 5, Saints Row 2, Halo Wars, Fallout 3 and Fable 2.
Wii sneaks in at number eight with Mario Kart, and is the console’s only title breaking into the top 10 renters. The list is rounded out by Call of Duty: World at War for the PS3 and Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360.
However, Wii’s Fit is the video game sales king so far in 2009, according to Rentrak.
But the list is still weighted towards Xbox 360. Runners-up titles, in descending order, are Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360), Halo Wars (Xbox 360), Killzone 2 (PS3), Street Fighter IV (Xbox 360), Mario Kart (Wii), UFC 2009: Undisputed (Xbox 360), Resident Evil 5 (PS3), Guitar Hero: Metallica (Xbox 360) and Fallout 3 (Xbox 360).
In other trends, the bulk of the top renters are mature-rated titles, versus 2007 when only four of the top 10 renters were labeled mature.
At the same time, Rentrak announced that it is launching the Ad Monitor for video games. This service is a database featuring advertising circulars from major retailers, offering users automated brand space tracking information.