The NPD issued their report on the sales for January 2012 and it wasn't pretty for the industry. Overall video game sales during the month were down more than 33 percent to $750.6 million from $1.14 billion during January 2011.
"January retail performance experienced steep declines with a lack of software launches, and poor Hardware and Accessory performance partly related to bad comps from Kinect-related success in Jan’11,” wrote NPD analyst Liam Callahan. “Outside of new physical retail sales, we estimate that the consumer spend on other ways to acquire content including used games, full game and add-on content downloads, social network games, mobile games, rentals and subscriptions accounted for an additional $350 - $400 million in sales. Our final quarterly estimate of the Q1 2012 consumer spend in these areas will be released in our Q1 Games Market Dynamics: U.S.”
New hardware and software sales both plummeted as well, both down 38 percent over January 2011. Hardware sales were $199.5 million while software sales were $379.6 million during January 2012.
"Despite declines, the 360 was the top selling hardware platform for the 6th straight month,” noted Callahan. "One factor for the double digit declines in New Physical Software was the lack of new launches. New Launches in January '11 represented 13 percent of dollar sales and new launch performance dropped 99% in Jan'12. Games like Dead Space 2, Little Big Planet 2, and DC Universe Online ranked within the top ten last year, making for a poor comparison in January '12 where there were no major releases."
"While the lack of new launches was a major reason for software declines, games which launched in Q4'11 also performed poorly in Jan'12, down 31 percent in units compared to Q4'10 launches in Jan'11,” he noted. “As shoppers were not drawn to stores due to new launch activity, this potentially impacted additional software purchases made on impulse."
The sales of game accessories dipped as well, though it was only down 18 percent compared to January 2011. Accessory sales were $195.2 million during January 2012, compared to $237.1 million in the same period during 2011.
"Skylanders accessories continue to perform well at retail with the '1 character pack' SKU ranking highest on units for Jan'12,” said Callahan. “Collectively, Skylanders accessories represented 22 percent of total accessory unit sales."
