US Chart: Microsoft Outsells Wii U Once Again
Leap year provides some interesting statistics.
The US Video Game Chart figures for the month are in, and the results paint a deceptively positive picture. NPD Group reports that physical video game sales totaled $834.7 million in January, up 9 per cent on last year. But the Group has tracked sales from Dec 30 to Feb 2, making for a five week period instead of four.
Without this 'Leap Week', this would be a very different story. "Retail video game sales ... would be down 13 percent, instead of up 9 percent, if sales were normalized to account for the 5-week January," said NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan. It's a similar story for hardware, with the five-week period showing sales up by 4 per cent... if normalised, they would be down 17 per cent.
Either way, the stats are good for Microsoft, which saw its Xbox 360 take the prize for best-selling console for the 25th consecutive month, selling 281,000 units during January. Sony and Nintendo have yet to provide sales data, which allowed the Xbox company to beat its chest even harder.
"We feel very good about where we sit competitively compared to the next console down the food chain,” said Microsoft product manager David Dennis to GamesBeat. Modesty!
Call of Duty: Black Ops II remained the best-selling game for the month. Other notable Top 10 Software inclusions: DmC reaches #6, and Ni no Kuni debuts at #10.
Without this 'Leap Week', this would be a very different story. "Retail video game sales ... would be down 13 percent, instead of up 9 percent, if sales were normalized to account for the 5-week January," said NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan. It's a similar story for hardware, with the five-week period showing sales up by 4 per cent... if normalised, they would be down 17 per cent.
Either way, the stats are good for Microsoft, which saw its Xbox 360 take the prize for best-selling console for the 25th consecutive month, selling 281,000 units during January. Sony and Nintendo have yet to provide sales data, which allowed the Xbox company to beat its chest even harder.
"We feel very good about where we sit competitively compared to the next console down the food chain,” said Microsoft product manager David Dennis to GamesBeat. Modesty!
Call of Duty: Black Ops II remained the best-selling game for the month. Other notable Top 10 Software inclusions: DmC reaches #6, and Ni no Kuni debuts at #10.
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