Videogame sales stall in January

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 2/15/2008

FEB. 15 | Videogame hardware and software sales totaled $1.18 billion in January, which marked a 6% decline from the same month in 2007, according to the NPD Group.

Although that slide represents a departure from the record-breaking game revenue earned in 2007, NPD said January 2008 sales were mostly hurt by comparison with last year’s five-week frame. Looking at unit sales on an equal-week basis, hardware sales are off by just 2%. Software sales were up an average of 18% per week.

But on a pure month-to-month comparison, game hardware slipped 25% to $377.8 million. Software fell 11% to $610.6 million.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier also blames likely inventory shortages in January, after brisk holiday shopping during the end of 2007.

Among individual systems, PlayStation 3, at 269,000 units sold, continues to trail arch rival Nintendo Wii, with 274,000 units in the month. PS3 did manage to trump the Xbox 360, which sold 230,000 units.

Among the handhelds, Nintendo DS sold 251,000 units, and PlayStation Portable sold 230,000 units.