System and game sales for January 2010 in the USA
January’s American video game sales data from the NPD is in, and like almost any month the past year, it shows an unchanged result: A Nintendo system on top, with the Wii and DS outselling the other console systems.
Overall retail industry sales were drastically down for January, with a 13% drop which is much more than expected by analysts. Additionally, hardware sales were down 21% from last year.
The Wii outsold everything else with the DS following, although sales of the two systems were also down year-on-year. Leading growth was the PlayStation 3, although the Xbox 360 still managed to outsell Sony’s system. Microsoft also claimed an 8 million unit life-to-date sales lead in the United States over the PS3.
Video game hardware overview:
1. Nintendo Wii: 465,800
2. Nintendo DS: 422,200
3. Xbox 360: 332,800
4. PlayStation 3: 276,900
5. PSP: 100,100
6. PlayStation 2: 41,600
On the software side, sales were down 12% year-over-year to $597.9 million for the month of January, which is a huge drop off that is much larger than predicted by Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, who forecast only a 4 percent drop.
The top selling game for January was once again New Super Mario Bros. Wii which outsold BioWare and EA’s Mass Effect 2 at 656,700 units, with Mass Effect 2 selling 572,100. Although it is worth noting that digitally purchased and downloaded versions of Mass Effect 2 are NOT tracked by the NPD. Sadly the retail PC version of Mass Effect 2 did not even crack the PC top ten list.
Video game software overview top 10, January 2010 (includes special editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware):
1. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) -656,700
2. Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360) – 572,100
3. Wii Fit Plus w/Balance Board (Wii) – 555,700
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) – 326,700
5. Mario Kart Wii w/Wheel (Wii) – 310,900
6. Wii Sports Resort w/Wii MotionPlus (Wii) – 297,600
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) – 259,000
8. Army of Two: The 40th Day (Xbox 360) – 246,500
9. Just Dance (Wii) – 191,900
10. Darksiders (Xbox 360) – 171,200
The only category to see growth was the video game accessories category, which rose a very modest 2 percent to $217 million for the month, NPD said.
Data courtesy of Neogaf
Yay! It’s my birthday! That means it’s my day off to go out & of course do lots of gaming! 
