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[Nirolak]

Overall Industry:

Total sales (for hardware + software + accessories) dropped 34% year over year.

Sales are below 2004 levels.


Software:

1.) Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - 386K (For reference, Black Ops did 750K and MW2 did 658K. It's also now essentially flat with Black Ops since launch. This also has the added implication that every game sold pretty poorly.)


Hardware:

Xbox 360: 270K (-29%)


Press Releases: (Courtesy of jvm)

Following a strong December at retail, PlayStation continued the momentum in January through multi-retailer promotions such as 'Play Days' where we saw a 2x lift over forecast in peripheral sales and solid results for the PlayStation 3. February will be a landmark month for PlayStation and the gaming industry with the launch of PlayStation Vita on February 22. Pre-order sales for PS Vita and the launch lineup of 25 titles continue to accelerate as more consumers seek the ultimate in handheld gameplay.
--Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications at SCEA

Last week it was revealed that Xbox 360 became the number-one selling console worldwide in 2011,* closing out the biggest year in Xbox history and delivering on the bold prediction made by IEB President Don Mattrick at E3 in 2011. Kicking off 2012, Xbox 360 continues to lead the console market, turning in another month as the best-selling console in the U.S.

Historically, after several years in the console lifecycle there is a softening of demand, but Xbox 360 continues to defy that convention. Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend the lifecycle of the console by re-imagining entertainment and delivering new technologies like Kinect for Xbox 360, a new Xbox dashboard, and new entertainment content partners in 2011.

January 2012 U.S. NPD highlights:
· Xbox 360 sold more than 270,000 units in January, maintaining the number-one console spot in the U.S. This marks the thirteenth straight month Xbox 360 was the top-selling console in the U.S. (Source: NPD Group, January 2012)

· Holding 49 percent share of current-generation console sales, total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in January (hardware, software and accessories) reached $301 million, the most for any console in the U.S. This marks the eleventh consecutive month Xbox 360 has held more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share. (Source: NPD Group, January 2012)

· During the month of January, Xbox 360 held five of the top 10 U.S. console game titles including: “Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” “Battlefield 3,” “NBA 2K12” and “Just Dance 3.” (Source: NPD Group, January 2012)


In 2012, Xbox 360 will again launch blockbuster games, including additions to the famed “Halo” and “Fable” franchises. The more than 50 Xbox LIVE entertainment partners will continue to expand with many more launching this year. Xbox 360 will also launch entirely new ways to interact with favorite television shows with groundbreaking experiences like “Kinect Sesame Street TV” and “Nat Geo TV,” forever changing the way people interact with entertainment.


*(Source: Publicly disclosed financial data from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft)

Enclosed graph:

"Skylanders accessories continue to perform well at retail with the '1 character pack' SKU ranking highest on units for Jan'12. Collectively, Skylander accessories represented 22% of total accessory unit sales."

Nintendo notes that Super Mario 3D Land has now sold 1.7 million copies and Mario Kart 7 has now sold 1.3 million. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has also sold 1.3 million. On the hardware side, the 3DS has now sold more than 4.25 million units in the United States.

Source: http://games.ign.com/articles/121/1218395p1.html

Has this been posted?

Financial Times
Call of Duty takes big January hit

For anyone seeking holes in Activision’s seemingly bulletproof Call of Duty franchise, there was a chink in the armour exposed in NPD US January sales figures released late on Thursday.

Sales fell nearly 50 per cent year-on-year for the world’s best-selling video game in 2011 – that’s comparing the performance of the latest in the franchise – Modern Warfare 3 – with its predecessor, Black Ops.

The numbers are surprising because MW3 eclipsed Black Ops sales on its initial release.

Activision reported $775m in global sales of the game in its first five days of availability in November – exceeding the record of $650m set a year before by Black Ops and $550m two years ago for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

But while console sales for MW2 were 658,000 units in January 2010 and Black Ops sold 750,000 units a year ago, MW3 sold only 386,000 units in the US last month.

“As a result, MW3 sales to date are now essentially flat versus Black Ops last year,” said Cowen and Company analysts in a note.

“We now expect MW3 to sell through slightly fewer units than Black Ops across its lifetime.”

More on the site.

 

[Dabanton]

360 still trucking.

 

[Kazerei]

I'm happy for Mario Kart 7. Best game in the series.

 

[mclaren777]

I don't think I'll every understand the popularity of the COD series.

 

[Barrett2]

Cashlanders: Spyro's Wallet

 

[Troll]

Next Gen is needed soon for a healthy industry, 2012 might be a sad year for sales.

 

[Booshka]

Go Skylanders!

 

[Megadragon15]

Console sales seem to be contracting a lot.

 

[specialguy]

My post from other thread:

This should cause all to hasten next gen, but really Sony needs it the most. MS can do a price drop and keep pushing kinect to keep their flagging console alive for 1-2 more years.

Wii has Wii U coming.

But Sony just has nothing...unless they can afford yet another price drop, and we all saw their financials.

It's weird, why all the sudden the bottom drop out (at least for 2 months).

But yeah if this continues all will push next gen forward I think. Probably to 2013-ish.

Have to wonder if Europe sale reflect this as well.

 

[DarkestLight]

Good job saints row

 

[Dabanton]

I don't think I'll every understand the popularity of the COD series.

You can't like everything.

 

[Yoona]

Most boring NPD chart of all time? It looks almost the same as last month.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

New consoles please.

 

[transience]

Wow. Not a single game from this month charted.

...though if you asked me what games came out in January, I'd struggle to name any! I take it SC5 and FF13-2 weren't eligible?

 

[cw_sasuke]

Iwata was right - the market is waiting for a new home console.

 

[TheOddOne]

My post from other thread:

This should cause all to hasten next gen, but really Sony needs it the most. MS can do a price drop and keep pushing kinect to keep their flagging console alive for 1-2 more years.

What?

 

[Puppet Shadow]

Nice to see a 3DS game in there. Not sure if it will ever outsell the DS version though.

And yay, Saints Row!

 

[Pranay]

Wow. Not a single game from this month charted.

...though if you asked me what games came out in January, I'd struggle to name any! I take it SC5 and FF13-2 weren't eligible?

They released at the end of the month.

 

[linko9]

I hope we get some 3ds numbers... Mario Kart placement is promising.

 

[SolarPowered]

So what major games missed top ten this time around?

Most boring NPD chart of all time? It looks almost the same as last month.

Yeah, putting SKUs together really killed the variety of the old charts. It's still great that GAF folks can get their hands on info somehow.

 

[Kusagari]

Saints Row

 

[Baconsammy]

New consoles please.

No thanks. Quite happy with my 360.

 

[Mr Swine]

Price cuts won't help much this year. It's going to get really ugly, sales wise that is! Glad Nintendo is releasing a new console at the end of the year.

 

[Petrae]

Looks like Michael Pachter is questioning the integrity of the NPD data:

http://content.usatoday.com/communi...12/02/sales-of-video-games-fall-in-january-/1

"I don't know if the NPD is getting faulty data, but these numbers make no sense."

 

[Mpl90]

Wait. The console order for the games with multiple SKUS refers to the order of importance in sales? If so, something particular happened to Skylanders.

 

[Ramblin]

281k combined? Even if it's a 50/50 split, yikes.

 

[Kazerei]

This is actually the first time Skylanders is in the top 10. It was number 11 back in October. Is it because of supply constraints? I haven't really noticed. Or maybe it's because of word-of-mouth, or because other holiday releases dropped off, like AssCreed and Batman.

 

[akilshohen]

Spyro in the top 10 now?!

 

[Road]

The fact Zumba Fitness 2 only appeared once on Rentrak's weekly top 10, and at no. 10, while Zumba Fitness 1 appeared every 3 weeks above it seems to go against the NPD monthly top 10.

 

[olimpia84]

I wonder how Mario 3D Land and Zelda SS did

 

[user_nat]

Can't wait to see the year on year revenue drop.

If Microsoft listed those games in order, Skyrim 360 > MW 360 but not overall which is odd.

 

[SolarPowered]

MK7 is pretty amazing. It probably would have hit top three easy without SKU grouping.

Xbox 360: 270K (-29%) - 49% Console Hardware Sales Share

This means the Wii and PS3 sold 281K combined, which would be a massive drop from last year. For comparison, the Wii was at 319K and the PS3 at 267K, which comes out to 586K combined.

That has got to sting.

 

[Hiro_Kunimi_80]

Sony PR is .... just sad..

 

[SapientWolf]

I don't think I'll every understand the popularity of the COD series.

It's the Madden of FPSs.

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

Reaction to Just Dance 3 sales: (I know its popular but still)

Reaction to Saints Row 3 in 10th place:

 

[sphinx]

was it silly to expect Zelda SS in the Top 10? I haven't been following NPD the last months, maybe that's why.

 

[jman2050]

The Wii U really is late.

 

[WrikaWrek]

Damn half the hardware sales, half the top 10...

 

[Yoona]

Sony PR is .... just sad..

Is it ever not?

 

[MasterSheen]

My god, NPD numbers leading up into November are going to be sooo depressing. We need next gen consoles ASAP.

 

[filler]

Video game industry = bomba

 

[Shepard]

depressing month

 

[SolarPowered]

My post from other thread:

This should cause all to hasten next gen, but really Sony needs it the most. MS can do a price drop and keep pushing kinect to keep their flagging console alive for 1-2 more years.

What? Why?

no

 

[Infinite Justice]

Yikes @ these January numbers :O

 

[Dead Prince]

lol @ Sony's PR.

 

[GarthVaderUK]

Looks like Michael Pachter is questioning the integrity of the NPD data:

http://content.usatoday.com/communi...12/02/sales-of-video-games-fall-in-january-/1

"I don't know if the NPD is getting faulty data, but these numbers make no sense."

Worried about his "no Nextbox or PS4 until 2014" prediction? lol

 

[Toki767]

Pleasantly surprised to see Saints Row 3 hanging in the Top 10.

 

[Petrae]

Can't wait to see the year on year revenue drop.

If Microsoft listed those games in order, Skyrim 360 > MW 360 but not overall which is odd.

Down 34% from $1.14 billion in 2011 to $750.6 million this year.

 

[burgerdog]

Get used to these sort of numbers.

 

[Stoffinator]

Glad to see Saints Row The Third up there. I guess the US economy is effecting the console and software sales?