MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The Xbox 360 has started 2013 in much the same way as it ended 2012 in the US. And sadly, so did the Wii U.
NPD’s numbers for January 13 actually show a rare thing for the US games market – year-on-year gains. Nine per cent, in fact.
However, as Gamasutra points out, the way the days fall means that January this year had an extra week compared to in 2012. Once adjusted the numbers show an estimated 13 per cent annual decline, falling from $765.6m to $667.8m.
The site also spoke to an NPD who confirmed that sales of Nintendo’s Wii U are currently tracking 38 per cent behind those posted by the Wii at the same stage in its life cycle.
A source told the site that sales of the machine in January were well under” 100,000 units, whereas Gamasutra itself pins hardware unit sales at somewhere between 45,000 and 59,000 units for the month” which is lower than any of the three previous-generation home consoles sold in their worst months”.
All is roses in camp Xbox, however, with the machine leading the market yet again. It’s the 25th consecutive month that Xbox 360 has topped in the hardware pile in the country, with Microsoft saying that the console commanded 44 per cent of the market
Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II was the best selling game of the month followed by Ubisoft’s Far Cry 3 (2nd) and Just Dance 4 (3rd), 2K Sports’ NBA 2K13 (4th), EA’s Madden NFL 13 (5th) and Capcom’s DmC: Devil May Cry (6th).
