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January NPD: PS3 and PS2 top 360, everyone down for the month

Christopher Grant
Updated ·2 min read

After the ridiculous flurry of green arrows we saw in our December NPD numbers post, it's a little disheartening to see all these red arrows. Sure, every month can't have a Consumermas in it (we know, we've asked) so consider that when comparing this month's console sales to the same period last year. Though NPD's sales of $1.18 billion for January are actually down 6% from last year, when considered on a weekly basis (as our pals at GameDaily BIZ wisely point out, NPD tracked five weeks in January of '07, and only four for January '08) sales were actually up 18%. See, not so depressing.

Breaking down those console sales, most notable is the Xbox 360's nosedive thanks in no small part to those retail shortages they preemptively helpfully pointed out this morning. Meanwhile the PlayStation 3 seems to have really benefitted from the Blu-ray format's massive coup – and the CES press-storm that surrounded it – in early January. (Okay, and we imagine being on store shelves doesn't hurt.) The other figures are rather self-explanatory, though we'd like to single out the elderly PS2 for a gentle pat on the back. Now, really, these red arrows are killing us ... moving on to software sales after the break.

- Wii: 274K

1.08m (80%)
- PS3: 269K

528K (66%)
- PS2: 264K

836K (76%)
- DS Lite: 251K

2.22m (90%)
- PSP: 230K

830K (78%)
- Xbox 360: 230K

1.03m (82%)



Software sales were up 11% regardless of the silly weeks distinction, thanks to pricey packages like Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3 shredding up the listings. Call of Duty IV held onto the top spot while previous runner-up, Super Mario Galaxy, took a warp pipe all the way down to sixth place. The newly released Burnout Paradise made a strong showing, coming in seventh -- not bad being released at the tail end of January.

January Software

  1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) -- 330.9K

  2. Wii Play w/ Remote (Wii) -- 298.1K

  3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii) -- 239.6K

  4. Rock Band special edition bundle (Xbox 360) -- 183.8K

  5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360) -- 182.7K

  6. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) -- 172K

  7. Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360) -- 144.1K

  8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3) -- 140K

  9. Mario Party (DS) -- 138.5K

  10. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS) -- 133K