Modern Warfare 3, Just Dance top January US chart
NPD reports "steep declines" in software and hardware sales.
Yet again, Modern Warfare 3 was the best selling game of the month in the US.
According to NPD data for the month of January, Activision's shooter beat out Just Dance 3 to the top spot.
Skyrim finished third, NBA 2K12 fourth and Battlefield 3 fifth. There were no new entries in the top 10.
Here's the full chart:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Just Dance 3
- The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
- NBA 2K12
- Battlefield 3
- Madden NFL 12
- Mario Kart 7
- Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
- Zumba Fitness 2
- Saints Row: The Third
The Xbox 360 was the best-selling console of the month, selling 270,000 units. Neither Nintendo nor Sony had issued figures for its systems at the time of writing.
"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," commented NPD analyst Liam 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 per cent of dollar sales and new launch performance dropped 99 per cent 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 per cent in units compared to Q4'10 launches in Jan'11. As shoppers were not drawn to stores due to new launch activity, this potentially impacted additional software purchases made on impulse."