January 2009 Video Game Sales
Wii Fit Dominates; EA and Activision Spar for Leftovers
According to the NPD Group, overall video game revenues for January were $1.33 billion, which is a 13 percent increase over January 2008.
Software Sales
January software sales held little surprise. Wii Fit took the top slot, selling more copies than any other single sku game, and Wii Play and Mario Kart occupied spots two and three respectively.
The top five was rounded out by Valve’s cooperative zombie killer Left 4 Dead, which is distributed by Electronic Arts, and Activision’s Call of Duty: World at War. Both of those games are for the Xbox 360.
The rest of the chart was shared by games from Electronic Arts and Activision. Once again no games for Sony’s PS3 or PSP made the top 10.
The numbers continue to illustrate Nintendo's dominance in the market and the growing number of non-traditional gamers entering the fray. Wii Fit set a new record for January single-sku sales with its whopping total.
Left 4 Dead taking the top slot of an non-Nintendo game was a bit of a surprise as the game's been out for more than three months. But good word of mouth has helped it gain in popularity.
Top 10
Here is the Top 10 as reported by GameSpot:
- Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (Wii) - Nintendo - 777,000 units
- Wii Play w/ Remote (Wii) - Nintendo - 415,000 units
- Mario Kart Wii w/ Wheel (Wii) - Nintendo - 292,000 units
- Left 4 Dead (360) - Electronic Arts - 243,000 units
- Call of Duty: World at War (360) - Activision - 235,000 units
- Skate 2 (360) - Electronic Arts - 199,000 units
- Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii) – Activision - 155,000 units
- New Super Mario Bros. (DS) - Nintendo - 135,000 units
- Mario Kart DS (DS) - Nintendo - 132,000 units
- Lord of the Rings: Conquest (360) - Electronic Arts -113,000 units
NPD Analyst Anita Frazier told GameSpot that the continued presence of older games is a good thing for the industry.
“Only two of the top 10 games this month were new releases," said Frazier. "The continued strength of games that have been in the market for some time clues us in to just how many new consumers are coming into the industry. This broadening of the audience for gaming will help buoy the industry through these tough economic times, provided they have enough compelling content to keep them interested."
Overall software sales totaled more than $670 million, marking a 10 percent increase of software sales last year.
Hardware Sales
On the hardware front, Nintendo continued to dominate as well, with both the Wii and DS outselling the competition nearly 2-to-1.
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 saw a decline in sales after a stellar December and Sony’s PS3 saw a 25 percent decline from sales in January 2008.
January numbers are always lower than December's but Sony's year over year decline is troubling for the company who claims they want the PS3 to have a 10-year lifespan.
The 360 is still outselling the PS3 by more than 100,000 units, but Sony seems to be remaining firm in their position against cutting the machine's price any further.
Hardware Numbers
Here are the official sales figures as reported by GameSpot:
- Wii: 679,200 units
- Nintendo DS: 510,800 units
- Xbox 360: 309,000 units
- PlayStation 3: 203,200 units
- PlayStation Portable: 172,300 units
- PlayStation 2: 101,200 units
As many have stated overall video game sales continue to buck current economic trends, laying more credibility to the claim that video games offer the best entertainment value for the dollar.
Wii Fit
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