January NPD: Sales Drop, Sony Looks Forward To February
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3No new hardware and few new games typically results in a big fall. It's inevitable.
And that's what happened in January 2012 in the US. The NPD numbers are in for last month, and total industry sales fell 34% to $750.6 million; NPD analyst Anita Frazier attributed the decline to "the lack of new launches." In January 2011, new launches represented 13% of sales and new launch performance dropped 99% in January 2012. Well, that tells you everything you need to know, doesn't it?
Don't forget that hot titles like LittleBigPlanet 2, Dead Space 2, and DC Universe Online hit in January 2011. Also, the lone huge release of January 2012 - Final Fantasy XIII-2 - didn't hit store shelves until the last day of the month. Overall, new software sales fell 37% to $379.6 million and as an indication of the slow period, Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 took the top software spot. ...lots of gift cards went to that game, huh?
In fact, the top 5 games were the same as they were in December; after MW3 comes Just Dance 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, NBA 2K12, and Battlefield 3. Hardware fell as well; it dropped 38% to $199.5 million. As for Sony, here's their monthly statement from SCEA Sr. Director of Corporate Communications Patrick Seybold:
"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."
Tags: npd sales, january npd, game industry, video game sales
2/9/2012 9:04:52 PM Ben Dutka
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Comments (13 posts)
Looking Glass
Friday, February 10, 2012 @ 3:31:21 AM
1 up, 0 down
Cpt_Geez
Friday, February 10, 2012 @ 9:38:59 AM
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BikerSaint
Thursday, February 09, 2012 @ 10:02:38 PM
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Just curious, would you know if this now includes Walmart's sales figures into the NPD figures yet, since they've finally agreed to start doing so????
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johnld
Thursday, February 09, 2012 @ 11:27:32 PM
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i dont see much games i want right away. all i'm looking at is hyperdimension neptunia mk2, tales of graces f, and maybe ni no kuni. everything else like ff13-2, mass effect 3, and kingdoms of amalur can wait till much later when they reach $20 or lower(in ff13-2's case). for others like ninja gaiden sigma 3, i can just let my bro buy them since i'm letting him use my fat ps3. he already bought skyrim and mw3 so i dont have to waste money on those, especially mw3. i just want to finish the damn story.
since i'm looking at a gaming drought for me, i decided to buy hyperdimension neptunia, atelier rorona, and atelier totori. turn based gaming marathon, GAME ON!
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Excelsior1
Friday, February 10, 2012 @ 12:00:00 AM
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Noticed on VGchartz that the PS3 version of FF13-2 is outelling the 360 version by a significant margain which should come to nobody's surprise except for our friend Mr. Aaron Greenburg over at MS who once boasted the 360 version of FF13 would outsell the PS3 version here in NA. That did not happen. The margain is even wider regarding FF13-2. 430,000 for the PS3 and 146,000 on the 360.
2 up, 0 down
Pandacastro
Friday, February 10, 2012 @ 12:56:10 AM
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maxpontiac
Friday, February 10, 2012 @ 10:06:23 AM
I believe the "glory days" of the industry are coming to end as evident by the decline in sales numbers.
The cost of commodities has become to great and gaming unfortunately is not a necessity. This is a bummer.
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___________
Friday, February 10, 2012 @ 2:16:57 AM
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barely anything came out last month, and this months so full allot of people are saving their coin for then.
im more worried about this.
http://au.ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1218351p1.html
ive got allot of faith in kaz, BUT that said not even him can resurrect the titanic!
im starting to wonder if $ony would be better off rushing in new systems and trying to put this gen behind them.
certainly has not been kind to them!
from king of the industry, to stone cold dead last!
amazing how you can go from becoming the manufacture who has the highest selling product, ps2 was a freaking phenomenon!
to struggling to compete with, even ailing competition.
lets face it, ninty and M$ are not exactly in the best position now!
and their STILL kicking the sh*t out of $ony!
1 up, 1 down
Fane1024
Friday, February 10, 2012 @ 7:33:17 AM
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Last edited by Fane1024 on 2/10/2012 7:34:32 AM
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Fane1024
Saturday, February 11, 2012 @ 3:24:47 AM
Last edited by Fane1024 on 2/11/2012 3:27:21 AM
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Dustinwp
Friday, February 10, 2012 @ 8:39:03 AM
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I really think the Vita will sell well in Europe and the United States come Feb. 22. I'm really quite stoked for the damn thing!
Last edited by Dustinwp on 2/10/2012 8:40:50 AM
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Cpt_Geez
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Thursday, February 09, 2012 @ 9:53:40 PM