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Physical Video Game Sales Continue Downward Trend In January
Research firm The NPD Group has released their public report for January of 2013, and the news is grim as expected. With some accounting quirks accounted for, overall retail sales are down 13 percent year over year.
Because of the difficulty in lining up reporting periods against the actual calendar, every few years an extra week has to be added to a month. NPD chose January 2013 as that month, according to industry standards. Therefore this report goes from December 30 through February 2. While the absolute value of sales in this report is 9 percent higher than January 2012, normalizing it to a four-week figure results in the 13 percent drop that is more reflective of real-world purchasing trends.
Software was the roughest hit retail sector, cratering to the tune of a 19 percent year-over-year drop. Hardware was almost as bad at 17 percent down (though Xbox 360 once again led console sales). Accessories, thanks to the best-ever January for point cards and the continued domination of Skylanders figures, increased 4 percent over last year.
Ni No Kuni placed just outside the top ten at number eleven, and PS3 software overall did well by losing only 2 percent of its overall sales from January 2012.
And finally, the top ten for your viewing pleasure:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, Wii U, PC)
- Far Cry 3 (360, PS3, PC)
- Just Dance 4 (Wii, 360, PS3, Wii U)
- NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC)
- Madden NFL 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV, Wii U)
- DMC: Devil May Cry (PS3, 360)
- Halo 4 (360)
- Assassin's Creed III (360, PS3, Wii U, PC)
- Skylander Giants (Wii, 360, PS3, 3DS, Wii U)
- FIFA Soccer 13 (PS3, 360, PSV, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, PSP)
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