US game retail industry tanks in January - NPD

Yeah let's release all the best games in december so they can kill each other off. Then we can complain over why people won't buy all the mediocre bull that get released the rest of the year.

I'm surprised that SWTOR wasn't on the top 10 sales for January. A bit worrying that 1 month after release they're being that much outsold by older releases.

After the massive sales of December a decline in January is rational, expected. I don't see the need for alarm.

CoD1 pic = Subtle gamespot joke?

have to admit i lolzd at the vid

Well considering that everyone cashed in on the holiday launches and basically no releases in January,this is expected

well if your hardware fails so much than yea demand is gonna be high for new ones

Bobby Kotick must be extremely happy much to my dismay.

Putting a screenshot of COD1 for MW3 is a massive disgrace to COD1.

Who the hell keeps buying all of the Just Dance games....

Shocking. All you have to do is review the new releases for January to figure out what happened. In other news.. Publishers and game developers are not surprised at all. They did not expect blockbuster sales in January since they had nothing rolling out to drive their sales.

OMG MUST BE PIRACY!!! QUICK INSTITUTE MOAR DRM!!!!!!! NAAAAOOO!!!!!!

Captain Foley and Sergeant Moody FTW. :D

Question: How do they compare to LAST JANUARY? Sales falling 34% from December is just a seasonal thing, there's two things: 1, it's after Christmas people are broke and 2, No great games have released in January. Does the game industry really expect strong sells every damn day of the year?

Can't wait till march for Ninja Gaiden 3 :D

What does the game industry expect? Everyone is broke after Christmas. Although there are a few cool games coming up.

who keeps buying all these just dances seriously???

Why do you write these stories every january? Games are not released in january thats why business is slow.

its time for next gen... all the devs keep making the same games over and over with each 1 getting worse... its time for better hardware so the devs can add something new

There is no news here.

ok...sorry...have to follow up with: people play games because they are fun. But those experiences can last for very long periods of time. Honestly, buying a game like Skyrim gives one HOURS of fun at the cost of a higher electricity bill. The industry must hate games like that because they take whole swaths of the market away from them for extended periods of time. I guarantee that more will happen to the consumer (us) as more players with plenty of money begin entering the market. We will have amazing innovation, and enjoy every minute of it, but there will be a lot of games that fail simply because we wont buy them. It's a HUGE risk. And all game companies around are going to try and find ways to hedge against that risk. Online passes are an example of this, as are ideas involving games with no past-use resale value.

@john1486 I think the industry is experiencing a business fluctuation. Games are showing potential as money-making machines, and there are a lot of yield hungry investors out their looking for just that. The best games are by nature creative interactive experiences that succeed only if there is enough enthusiasm behind the end product. But that interest is contingent upon whether the consumer-gamer is even interested in a NEW game at that time. The fluctuations in the market must be huge as gamers get their big-season game fix and let the experience marinate over the course of a few months or more. They'll try and find ways of innovating that will grab more people (and there are plenty of markets out there...), but they'll dilute the experiences for US and stop us from buying games every time they release the next "installment"

Top Game Sales for January 2011?? Half of those games weren't even out then!!! MW3, BF3, Skyrim, etc, etc.

Are these figures compared to December or January '11? Because comparing to last year's January would make a whole lot more sense than comparing it to holiday driven sales in December.

very much surprised on the top 10 games list... Zumba Fitness 2!?!

Look at that EA stock plunging! Proof that every single action count! -10% in 5 days!

What were those thin silver things with those pictures on the front? I dont remember.

Oh, those good old days with Call Of Duty 1 were the s***.

Weird. I got two new games this month, but I can see why. I mean the biggest spending of the year just got over.

I don't like to think of myself as a negative person but I don't like the way the industry has been going in the past few years. This has been the most creative and prosperous generation video game have ever seen but with oversaturation and lack of IP innovation of late I see the real possibility of a collapse similar to the 1980's though perhaps not as bad. I don't ever see console going away but there is so much out there it concerns that me that when the dust settles we may only be left with a few generic money makers and very few original ideas. (you know who you are) I only hope games like COD which I don't hate, just have become numb to, will innovate and reinvigerate before they become just another guitar hero and tony hawk and drive the rest into oblivion. Just my 2 cents....

So I got 3 games from that list. Call of Duty - Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3 and Saints Row: The Third

@Vodoo First of all, these are US sales alone, not worldwide. It is well known that consoles are stronger in the US, UK and Japan. But in the rest of the world, PC gaming is as big as consoles, if not bigger. And yes, these numbers don't include digital distribution sales, which are huge in the PC market. Just ask Valve on their sales, or why EA and Activision are lately saying that digital distribution is the future (albeit I won't be buying anything from EA's Origin service, after all their lies they told us costumers).

These numbers clearly show how the pc is pocket change in the overall game sales industry.... Non-PC software: $355.9 million, Total software: $379.6 million. That means PC SOFTWARE IS ONLY $23.7 MILLION!!! And this is an uber bad month. In a good month of games the difference would be even greater. The numbers are clear as day, right in front of everyone to see. So either the pc market is just abysmal or most pc gamers are pirates that don't like to pay for their games. Either way, the incentive for developers to make games for the pc just isn't there. And for those in denial, we'll come back to this topic when March's NPD sales come out. Then we'll see what a good month looks like. Oh... and before anyone says that this doesn't include digital sales, the digital sales number they ESTIMATE (with no real proof of anything) includes add-ons, casual games from social networking sites (which is the real bread winner), subscriptions and rentals, in addition to full game downloads (which is probably 1/20th of the figure they gave).

This article makes an implication that digital sales are killing physical sales, but has not figures on digital sales. I would like to know what the digital sales are when you get the chance Mr. Magrino.

Hard to compare month over month sales since the releases can vary so widely year to year. Probably a better comparison will be the quarter to quarter numbers but again it's all dependent on the release schedule.

Another article, another example of Microsoft getting things right.

GO XBOX360! GO!!

Not a startling revelation here.....nothing worth buying came out last month so of course the profits tanked..... Here's a nickel's worth of free obvious information.....do nothing and nothing you will receive.....

The heavies came out before the end of the year and people spend their money at the end of the year. This should not be a surprise to anyone.

But these numbers don't include digital distribution sales. I'm sure that the picture would have been much better if they added Steam sales numbers, etc.

What a pointless report. No quality blockbuster games came out in January. Why don't we report the NFL ratings dropping in after the Superbowl. Jeez something must be wrong with the NFL! LOL

Its kind of obvious, no must have games came out in january..so of course it would be lackluster. Wait till march...there will be a...mass effect..on the game industry...pun intended.

For me there was the part where I bought four new games from October to the end of November and hadn't finished with any of them by the time January rolled around. Didn't need something new.

Bad economy = bad sales. Games are a luxury, and one of the first things to fall. For me though, I'm just waiting for the sales drops, because there's about 6 or 7 games I've been waiting for. I am saddened to see AC: Revelations out of the top 10. Especially when just dance is at #2. My god... we are doomed

Terrible hardware and software sales for January. Good to see NBA 2K12 still in the top 10. With no b-ball game from EA to interfere, 2K Sports owns the NBA basketball genre. Sony pulled out a couple of years ago. Can believe people are buying Skylanders and Zumba Fitness. Where's Uncharted 3, Assassin's Creed: Revelations & Star Wars: The Old Republic?

No releases. Soul Calibur 5 and FF 13-2 are in next months NPD numbers. Who would want to release anything right now anyway? My back log of games is still substantial and Mass Effect 3 comes out in 1 month. Beyond that and the Witcher 2 in April I don't see much to pull me away from Skyrim, Zelda, Dark Souls, and BF3

Not counting digital games is so useful... I bought Genkibowl VII, Q.U.B.E, Dustforce, Sonic CD, Oil Rush.

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lol that video was hilarious

It makes me cry inside that Just Dance 3 beat out Skyrim.