| The NPD Group provided a reminder this week | | | | sixth and the DS edition of Mario Party in ninth. |
| that market growth is not guaranteed. The | | | | THIS IS THE NPD GROUP's DATA FOR US GAME |
| gaming industry in the US ended the year (2007) | | | | INDUSTRY SALES FOR JANUARY 2008 |
| with record retail sales of nearly $18 billion. | | | | Category Total Change |
| This week The NPD Group the industry-research | | | | Video Games: $1.18 billion -6% |
| firm released US retail sales data for the January | | | | Video Game Accessories: $191 million -4% |
| 2008 period. While software sales for the month | | | | Video Games Software: $550 million +11% |
| were up 11 percent to nearly $611 million, | | | | Video Games Hardware: $378 million -25% |
| hardware sales fell by a quarter to around $378 | | | | Total Sales Per Week: $295 million +18% |
| million. Combine that with a modest decline in | | | | Hardware Sales (units sold) |
| accessory sales, the industry overall was down 6 | | | | Wii: 274,000 |
| percent for the month, posting $1.18 billion | | | | PlayStation 3: 269,000 |
| compared to January 2007's $1.25 billion take. | | | | Nintendo DS: 251,000 |
| Despite this, the month contained indications that | | | | PlayStation Portable: 230,000 |
| the industry actually grew. That was because the | | | | Xbox 360: 230,000 |
| January 2007 reporting period was five weeks | | | | Game Software Top 10 (units sold) |
| long as opposed to this January's four-week span. | | | | 1) Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat (360, Activision) |
| Analyst Anita Frazier said that the numbers are | | | | - 331,000 |
| much rosier when this adjustment was taken into | | | | 2) Wii Play with Wii Remote (Wii, Nintendo) - |
| account. | | | | 298,000 |
| The big winner in the gaming market was console | | | | 3) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii, |
| software which was nearly 50 percent up when | | | | Activision) - 240,000 |
| compared to last year. | | | | 4) Rock Band (Xbox 360, MTV Games) - 184,000 |
| Hardware sales were down and a lot of this was | | | | 5) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, |
| to do with poor supply that assertion was backed | | | | Activision) - 183,000 |
| up by a statement from Microsoft saying the | | | | 6) Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo) - 172,000 |
| Xbox 360 was suffering from temporary | | | | 7) Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360, EA) - 144,000 |
| shortages. | | | | 8) Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat (PS3, |
| Nintendo's longtime lead on its competitors was | | | | Activision) - 140,000 |
| also slimmed. The Wii once again took the console | | | | 9) Mario Party DS (DS, Nintendo) - 139,000 |
| sales crown, by a narrower margin than in | | | | 10) Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS, |
| previous months. In a month that saw significant | | | | Sega) - 133,000 |
| advances for the PlayStation 3's chosen Blu-ray | | | | A statement from Electronic Arts CEO John |
| disc format, Sony's system ran nearly | | | | Riccitiello is confident the company's revenue will |
| neck-and-neck with the Wii, selling 269,000 | | | | jump to around $6 billion by the fiscal year 2011, |
| systems compared to the Nintendo's 275,000. 3rd | | | | with at least $900 million from digital revenue |
| placed Nintendo DS racked up 251,000 sales, while | | | | streams like downloadable content, in-game |
| the Xbox 360 and PlayStation Portable brought up | | | | advertising and subscription fees. That would |
| the rear, selling 230,000 units each. | | | | represent a growth of 71 percent over its 2008 |
| Familiar faces dominated the software list, with | | | | fiscal year revenue forcast, which it expected to |
| Modern Warfare and Call of Duty 4 for the Xbox | | | | hit roughly $3.5 billion. |
| 360 once again beating all challengers, notching up | | | | Other new announcements made by EA |
| 331,000 in sales. Another favourite Guitar Hero on | | | | yesterday included a release date of September |
| the Wii and Xbox 360 took third and fifth | | | | 7 for Spore (and possible PS3 and Xbox 360 |
| respectively, Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii was | | | | versions). |