Video Game Sales Down 34% in January

9 Feb, 2012 By: Billy Gil

---

The NPD Group reported that total video game sales were $750.6 million in January, down 34% from $1.14 billion in January of 2011.

Both hardware and software sales were down 38% in January — hardware at $199.5 million from $324 million a year prior, while software sales were at $355.9 million, compared with $576 million a year prior. NPD analyst Liam Callahan said the steep declines were due to a lack of software launches and a poor comparison to Xbox Kinect’s successful launch in January 2011.

“Outside of new physical retail sales, we estimate that the consumer spend on other ways to acquire content, including used games, full game and add-on content downloads, social network games, mobile games, rentals and subscriptions accounted for an additional $350 to $400 million in sales,” Callahan said.

The top games for the month were Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC), followed by Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360, PS3) and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360, PS3, PC). Xbox 360 was the top-selling hardware platform for the sixth straight month.

 

Bookmark it: