The NPD Group released video game sales data for the month of January and total industry sales hit $1.18 billion. Despite the final figure being down 6% this year, software sales rose by 11% to $610.6 million.
Contributing to the rise of software sales were game price increases; NPD analyst Anita Frazier, said the following regarding prices, "Pricing again plays into the great performance of software. The average retail price of games is up 19% from last January and much of that can be attributed to Rock Band and Guitar Hero. In fact, 360 Rock Band was the top-selling game in dollar terms, bringing in $30 million in sales for the month."
Hardware sales were down 25% this month with $377.8 million and accessory sales were down 4% this month with $191 million. According to the NPD Group, the best selling accessory in January was the Wii Nunchuk Controller, which sold 375,000 units.
The best selling console in January was the Wii (274,000 units sold), followed in second by the PS3 (269,000 units sold, surprising!), followed in third place by the PS2 (264,000 units sold), then followed by the DS (251,000 units sold), the Xbox 360 in fifth place (230,000 units sold) and last by the PSP (230,000 units sold).
Lastly, here are the top 10 best selling games in January:
1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Xbox 360 – 330,900 units sold
2. Wii Play with remote – Wii – 298,100 units sold
3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – Wii – 239,600 units sold
4. Rock Band Special Edition Bundle – Xbox 360 – 183,800 units sold
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – Xbox 360 – 182,700 units sold
6. Super Mario Galaxy – Wii – 172,000 units sold
7. Burnout Paradise – Xbox 360 – 144,100 units sold
8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – 140,000 units sold
9. Mario Party – DS – 138,500 units sold
10. Mario and Sonic: Olympic Games – DS – 133,000
[Via GameDaily]
