NPD: Lost Planet leads strong January game sales
January's not usually a month for big numbers in the game industry, but the first month of 2007 was a whopper any way you slice it. NPD recently announced $549 million in non-PC software sales for the month, up an impressive 22 percent when compared week-on-week to last January. Add in $505 million in hardware sales and almost $200 million in accessories and the industry as a whole recorded a huge $1.25 billion in overall sales for the five weeks ending Feb. 3.
The Wii dominated hardware sales, as previously reported, but software was spread out among all the major systems. The Xbox 360's Lost Planet: Extreme Condition led the pack, with system-compatriots Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas close behind at No 3 and No. 9, respectively. But it was a PS2 game, Guitar Hero II, that maintained the second-place showing from December and took the No. 2 spot. Both versions of Twilight Princess joined Wario Ware in representing Nintendo consoles in the top 10, while Resistance: Fall of Man was the only PS3 title on the list, coming in at No. 8.
When combined with the healthy January reported by British retailers, we could be witnessing the beginning of the end of the traditional January lull. While it's hard to match the holiday season in terms of sheer sales volume, these January numbers show that good games can still sell just after the Christmas rush.
Complete sales rankings, as reported by Gamespot after the jump.
TOP 10 GAMES: December 31, 2006-February 3, 2007: (sales numbers are approximate)
1) Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Xbox 360, Capcom, Jan. 2007) -- 329,000 copies
2) Guitar Hero II (with Guitar Controller) (PS2, Activision, Nov. 2006) -- 224,000 copies
3) Gears of War (Xbox 360, Microsoft, Nov. 2006) -- 212,000 copies
4) WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii, Nintendo, Jan. 2007) -- 201,000 copies
5) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, Nintendo, Nov. 2006) -- 189,000 copies
6) Madden NFL 07 (PS2, Electronic Arts, Aug. 2006)
7) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GameCube, Nintendo, Nov. 2006) -- 144,000 copies
8) Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3, SCEA, Nov. 2006) -- 144,000 copies
9) Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360, Ubisoft, Nov. 2006)
10) New Super Mario Bros. (DS, Nintendo, May 2006)
