Despite an excellent set of results for December 2009, which saw a 4% year-over-year increase in revenue and the best ever results in a single month, overall US retail console game industry revenues for 2009 were down by 8%, falling to $19.66 billion from the record-setting $21.4 billion in 2008.

This was an expected decline, says Entertainment Software Association president Michael D. Gallagher, in light of a tough overall economic year:

“Clearly, 2009 was tough year for consumers and the national economy,” said Gallagher in a statement. “However, the bigger picture is one that underscores the industry’s strength; 2009 and 2008 were the highest grossing years in our industry’s history.

“Our industry’s structure is solid, and I anticipate a strong 2010 with a pipeline full of highly-anticipated titles.”

While console hardware sales in the US decreased by 13%, console software sales decreased by 10% and portable software sales decreased by 10%, portable hardware sales increased by 6% - the only segment of the industry to do so.

Looking forward to 2010, and taking into consideration the maturity and current and growing installed base of this generation of console hardware, NPD’s Anita Frazier expects software sales to account for an increase in revenue:

“Hopefully, the big increase in the overall install base of hardware systems will bring good things for software sales in 2010 especially with the incredible line-up of content coming out early in the year.”

Software sales for 2009 in the US were no doubt dominated by Nintendo titles, as seven of the top ten games were published and made by Nintendo, but top honours went to the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, as the PS3 version popped in at No. 8. Halo 3: ODST landed itself a position at No. 9.

Anita Frazier also shared a keen bit of trivia regarding the Call of Duty franchise:

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become the fourth best-selling game of all time. In fact, 3 of the top 10 games of all time are Call of Duty games.”

The list of top-selling console titles in the US for 2009 follows below:

• 1.) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward, Activision, Xbox 360)
• 2.) Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, Wii)
• 3.) New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo, Wii)
• 4.) Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii)
• 5.) Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo, Wii)
• 6.) Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii)
• 7.) Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii)
• 8.) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward, Activision, PlayStation 3)
• 9.) Halo 3: ODST (Bungie, Microsoft, Xbox 360)
• 10.) Pokemon Platinum Version (Nintendo, NDS)

See what Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have to say about December 2009’s NPD results.