PSP World

US Video Game Industry Suffers Decline in January

January 2010 has been a slower month for the video game industry in the United States, according to monthly data released by market tracking firm the NPD Group. Total sales came in at $1.17 billion, down 13% from a year earlier, while hardware fell 21% to $353.7 million and software fell 12% to $597.9 million. Hardware makers Nintendo and Sony have said that they are having trouble supplying enough hardware to the market after the holiday rush. These factors, along with last year's hardware price cuts are responsible for the staggering decline in sales.

Despite a strong showing in December, The PlayStation 3 fell back into third place behind Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360 consoles. Sony's PSP handheld, which enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance in holiday 2009 with the launch of the smaller, sliding PSP Go, barely managed to move 100,000 units in January. Despite a lineup of quality games headed to the portable system, it appears that Sony has an uphill climb ahead of itself in the remainder of 2010.

However, based on the global numbers, it seems that everyone is having a tough start to the year.

US Hardware Sales Figures, January 2010:

Wii -- 465.8K
Nintendo DS -- 422.2K
Xbox 360 -- 332.8K
PlayStation 3 -- 276.9K
PSP -- 100.1K
PS2 -- 41.6K

US Software Sales Figures, January 2010:

1) NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII 656.7K
2) MASS EFFECT 2 Xbox 360 572.1K
3) WII FIT PLUS W/ BALANCE BOARD 555.7K
4) CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 Xbox 360 326.7K
5) MARIO KART W/ WHEEL 310.9K
6) SPORTS RESORT W/ WII MOTION PLUS 297.6K
7) CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 259.0K
8) ARMY OF TWO: THE 40TH DAY Xbox360 246.5K
9) JUST DANCE WII 191.9K
10) DARKSIDERS Xbox 360 171.2k

Mass Effect 2 was a strong seller for the Xbox 360 in January, but it wasn't enough to lift the game industry as a whole.