Hardware shortage hinders Super Mario Galaxy sales

If you've been keeping a keen eye on monthly NPD data, you might have realized that Super Mario Galaxy sales have been dipping in the U.S. And by dipping, we mean plunging.

Before you have a stroke, or perhaps get your fighting gloves on, just look at the numbers. While January'sGalaxy sales were by no means modest (172,000 for the month), they were a huge drop from December's (1.4 million) and November's before that (1.12 million). The game also fell from it's comfy position at second place, ending up in the sixth spot for January.

So, what gives? Is it just a matter of holiday madness (not to mention, other games stepping up), or is there more to it than that?

Fortunately, there are analysts around to figure out this kind of thing, so that we don't have to. Jesse Divnich from the simExchange logically reckons that the low sales for Galaxy correlate to the low sales of Wii hardware. Because Wiis have been in such short supply, people haven't been buying them, and thus haven't been buying Galaxy either.

Damn that hardware, always keeping Mario down. Hopefully once Nintendo stops diverting Wiis to Japan, we'll see Galaxy rise again. Yet, by then, there will be only one thing on the minds of Wii owners -- you guessed it, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Although Galaxy won't be able to compete with the new game, we hope there's enough room for both to succeed in the charts.

%Gallery-4735%