NPD: $1.25B in US game sales kick off '07

Extended January reporting period sees $505 million in hardware, $549 million in software move in five weeks; Lost Planet, Guitar Hero II, Zelda top games.

Whatever way you cut it, the game industry got off to a great start in 2007. This week, research firm NPD Funworld reported that some $1.25 billion worth of non-PC game products were sold in the US during its January reporting period. Broken down, the five weeks between December 31, 2006, and February 3, 2007, saw $505 million in hardware, $549 million in software, and $198 million in game accessories sold domestically.

Since its January 2006 report was only for four weeks, NPD discouraged any year-on-year percentage comparisons between it and its January 2007 report. However, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter offered an adjusted comparison that showed an increase of 22 percent. Unadjusted, the difference between the two is a 53 percent increase. However, the firm repeatedly stressed to GameSpot that reports of a 53 percent year-on-year spike are not accurate due to the week difference.

As reported earlier today, the Nintendo Wii was the most popular hardware platform in the land, selling more than 435,503 units during the extended period. It was followed by the PlayStation 2 (299,352 units), the Xbox 360 (294,000 units), the PlayStation 3 (243,554 units), the Nintendo DS (239,000 units), the PSP (211,000 units), the Game Boy Advance (179,000 units), and the GameCube (24,000 units). NPD did not report sales figures for the original Xbox, further indicating the platform's demise is imminent.

But while Microsoft had to settle for the bronze in the January hardware race, an Xbox 360 game took the top software slot. That honor went to Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, which sold around 408,673 copies during the month. Behind it was Guitar Hero II (PS2, 224,000 copies), Gears of War (360, 212,000 copies), WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii, 201,000 copies), and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, 189,000 copies). The GameCube edition of Twilight Princess also did well, moving 144,000 units during the five-week period. Combined, both editions of the latest Zelda sold 333,000 copies.

The only PS3 game to crack the January top 10 was Resistance: Fall of Man, which also sold around 144,000 units. However, Pachter cited higher-than-anticipated tie ratios for the PS3 and Wii as a major factor in the robust software numbers. "We estimated $65 million in software sales for the PS3 and Wii, which was based on our expectation of a tie ratio of 1.5 units for each hardware unit sold," Pachter said in a note sent to investors this morning.

For its part, Sony proclaimed that the PS3's tie ratio has "improved by 80 percent" since the console's launch last November. The improved ratio also indicates that auction-site reselling of both the PS3 and Wii is on the wane as supplies of both consoles become steadier.

TOP 10 GAMES: December 31, 2006-February 3, 2007:
1) Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Xbox 360, Capcom, January 2007)
2) Guitar Hero II (with Guitar Controller) (PS2, Activision, November 2006)
3) Gears of War (Xbox 360, Microsoft, November 2006)
4) WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii, Nintendo, January 2007)
5) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, Nintendo, November 2006)
6) Madden NFL 07 (PS2, Electronic Arts, Aug. 2006)
7) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GameCube, Nintendo, November 2006)
8) Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3, SCEA, November 2006)
9) Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360, Ubisoft, November 2006)
10) New Super Mario Bros. (DS, Nintendo, May 2006)

195 Comments

  • RoninZaiber

    Posted Mar 8, 2007 8:13 am PT

    s3KtOr, Simply No.

    The PS2 is not "owning the salez of da XBOX360"

    If you look at the charts, the PS2 only sold a petty 5000 more then the 360. But look.. Ooh look right there it's the Top 10 most sold games. Count how many games up there are for the 360 and how many are for the Ps2. I'll give you a second. It's only 2 Ps2 games and 3 Xbox 360 games. Not to mention that the top sold game is the 360. It's true the Ps2 is still alive and kicking but that doesn't mean it is beating another system.

  • s3KtOr

    Posted Mar 6, 2007 8:43 am PT

    Lolz the salez of the PS2(I swear the PS2 is still alive) are owning the salez of da XBOX360.

  • gigabrowser12

    Posted Feb 26, 2007 3:48 pm PT

    i hope xbox kills Nintendo repeatedly until they die from it i was a heavy Nintendo fan until they pulled out of my country and stopped supplying their products we won't even be getting WII's over here i hate you Nintendo you lost a loyal fan with your traitor actions. Where? Euorope, they are in demand ALL OVER THE WORLD! It took me forever to get mine, I am in canada.

  • dmastor

    Posted Feb 26, 2007 8:00 am PT

    What country is that?

  • erikthepoes

    Posted Feb 26, 2007 2:05 am PT

    i hope xbox kills Nintendo repeatedly until they die from it i was a heavy Nintendo fan until they pulled out of my country and stopped supplying their products we won't even be getting WII's over here i hate you Nintendo you lost a loyal fan with your traitor actions

  • jedikevin2

    Posted Feb 25, 2007 5:38 pm PT

    Well the ps2 is still kickin. We got Burnout, God of war, Medal of Honor, and a couple of big titles still on the way for the system. The problem is the developers are still finishing off the ps2 so the ps3 is just sitting there in wait. Kinda reminds me how the transition of xbox and 360 went. Love that the wii is kicking. Like everyone esle says, I hope they can continue to bring good games out for it in the spans between there big games like Super smash bros and mario etc. I love the 360 but to me I seem to have some bordom in it now since its basically becoming a shooter system. Hopefully they'll kick up some awesome games in other genres soon. GBA omg, i can;t beliee that thing is still getting bought. PSP has now become one of the most versatile handhelds with the inclusion of 3.03 OE-C (Hint lol) Bothhandhelds seem to be suffergin from the hacking of their games and easy downloading of new games coming out for their systems. I hope Sony can survive this weird time of ps2/ps3 transition

  • Donnyp

    Posted Feb 25, 2007 3:13 pm PT

    For nadtheimpaler. I believe that once the games start coming out and the price for the PS3 goes down the Xbox 360 will almost be forgotten. Me and some other friends have it in good speculations that the Xbox360 will most likely go way of the Dreamcast due to crappy games not worth while. Now there are a few good games for the 360 but once the PS3 starts getting some names out then the 360 will be forgotton. well until the halo junkies get there injection of "bad game"

  • nadtheimpaler

    Posted Feb 25, 2007 7:29 am PT

    It's my belief that the two main systems duking it out now are XBOX 360 and the Wii. Despite superior tech pushing it, the PS3 I think has a lot of people saying to themselves " $600!? For something that looks like a coffin? And where are the games? Is this it?" I think soon we will see if the PS3 will make it as more exclusive games come out for each system. It's still early in the Console Wars and they have a lot of hearts out there already from the PS2 but it's time for some eye grabbing, PS3 exclusives that are going to bodily drag gamers to the store and say "Buy Me!" Some nextgen Final Fantasies {drool} for example. Those are proven to sell systems. C'mon PS3 developers: people want games! Not just games that are out for the cheaper XBOX 360 as well, but games like GTA 4 that were going to be exclusive and would surely have had fans of the series saying "I want it! I don't care what it costs."

  • NWA_31

    Posted Feb 24, 2007 8:30 am PT

    Wii FTW !!!

  • superpidge

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 6:51 pm PT

    To Illumination77: We're laughing at you, not with you. Please learn to speak English, for the sake of your future kids.

  • g-master999

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 12:35 pm PT

    The title made it look like Zelda topped them all.

  • greenleaflink

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 2:03 am PT

    check out new super mario bros!

    dang baby!

    the rest are new games but look at mario!

  • ChaosXeno

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 10:54 pm PT

    monty 4256 lol I like that one.

  • not-e-n-e

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 7:46 pm PT

    sa-aa-aa-weet!!! going play resistance rite now in fact

  • H8s2spooge

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 7:45 pm PT

    doom27nyc thats right sony fanboys hold on to the past cuz the ps3 has no future

    I like marijuana, sometimes.

  • NooBAFIED

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 5:40 pm PT

    GOO RESISTANCE thats nice

  • BloodMist

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 5:15 pm PT

    A billion in sales in one month?!That's extremely impressive, to say the least.Go gaming!!!

  • elpokemon

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 4:37 pm PT

    Go Zelda!!!

  • Illumination77

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 2:54 pm PT

    WHile I do intentionally & Deliberatly go over the top to try & get funny resposnes (And always succeed) I'm ac tually series about not liking the ps2. I ac tually don't like Japanease games at all other then Nintendo's stuff & portable final fantasies so the ps2 has nothing to offer me. I've played DMC, MGS, FFX-12 , God of war, SOTC etc and they were all pretty much garbage except ff12 rocks cause it looks & Plays exactly like a western game and GOW was intresting but bnothing I hadn't already seen a million times before. PC games OWN anything any console can come up with.

  • Poltergeist13

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 2:23 pm PT

    At least some great games are selling well. Lost Planet/GH 2/GOW/Zelda/Resistance/RS: Vegas/NSMBros.

  • taco4life

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 1:42 pm PT

    Wow Gears of War sold a lot...

  • monty_4256

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 11:03 am PT

    personally I think you can't declare a winner til closer to the end of a consoles life

    and ChaosXeno, most ppl don't wander... we know

  • lax24dmid

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 9:36 am PT

    Until a couple months after Christmas 07

  • muppen

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 9:10 am PT

    Lost Planet, wohoo!

  • Pyromaniac8705

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 9:03 am PT

    Myomer is probably the most logical person here. You can't declare a winner until Christmas 2007

  • ChaosXeno

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 8:47 am PT

    thekid23 um God of war 2 and manhunt 2 are two games just to name the few that are still being made for ps2. Oh and this list is weird because IGN shows the same news headline yet the order of those games is not in the same order. Makes you wander is Gamespot truely biased?

  • Dantes_Monkey

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 8:39 am PT

    PS2 still has legs. What a legendary console

  • Khoo1992

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 8:36 am PT

    PS2 sales even higher than PS3, that suks

  • Brainkiller05

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 8:30 am PT

    go gamecube indeed

  • twilight-X

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 8:29 am PT

    the top console are X-box 360 and the Wii not PS3

  • samusarmada

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 8:01 am PT

    go gamecube

  • Sanguis_Malus

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 7:55 am PT

    ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ............

  • rey06

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 7:32 am PT

    good job lost planet! AND zelda!

  • rizzy_boi

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 7:22 am PT

    wii will lose itz power. i no it as i own a wii and im bored da hell out of it. the games just dry out. i bought wario wares and well that died out in two days. i got a ps3 aswell and that has quite alot of games coming for it even if they are multiplatform. it will sell not only coz it is a sony brand but the games are coming.

  • doom27nyc

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 7:10 am PT

    thats right sony fanboys hold on to the past cuz the ps3 has no future

  • KORAK33

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 6:51 am PT

    I HAVE TO AGREE WITH "THE kID"...The Ps2 is bargain basement, now! It's huge sales are, probably, hurting the ps3...Sony knows they should stop supplying them to the market...BUT, ps2 is what's keeping their, overall, sales figures, above the red zone!..URN OUT!

  • Big_Will

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 6:51 am PT

    the ps2 sells for $130, and isn't in the lead. that honor goes to the wii. i still can't afford either, so i'll wait awhile longer. can't wait until i get enough $$ to buy a ps2, ds lite, and a wii.

  • TTDog

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 6:47 am PT

    Can't be ideal for Sony either that a NY marketing company is currently doing a survey as to what sort of reception/response MGS4 would get on the 360.

    Should that go multi-format, or a seperate MGS title comes to 360, you'll be able to hear all the Sony fanboys crying themselves to sleep as the one game they keep harking on about being a reason to buy a PS3 disappears into the sunset.

  • keinuveye

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 6:42 am PT

    go TP. Not toilet paper.

  • Toys_R_us_cop

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 6:34 am PT

    Ps2=100$ thats why its at the top

  • thekid23

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 6:32 am PT

    I love how all the sony nerds are taking this as a knock agaisnt Microsoft. The PS2 sells for like $100 . Most of the country is poor and just NOW finally can afford a PS2. Microsoft's nightmare is selling more XBOX's than 360's. ANd thats just what Sony is doing. They are canabalizing their own sales. Read a marketing book, u may learn somehting. They will see no value from the sales of those PS2's. No games are coming out on them and the selling price for everything is so low. Menawhile PS3's sit unused at retailers all over the country. And unlike MS, Sony has sold about 1.5 mil not 11 mill. Trust me. This NOT a good sign for SOny, so dont try and put a pretty picture on a bad scene for them.

    Just some facts

  • buzzoinks

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 6:31 am PT

    living in manhattan and i STILL can't get a wii at retail... it is selling like crizazy

  • walter09

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 6:20 am PT

    What's the worst Bill Gates' nightmare .... a PS2 six years later still crushing his consoles!!!

  • magemaximus

    Posted Feb 21, 2007 11:46 pm PT

    ps2 isnt beating MS its beating xbox360 and xbox. MS is microsoft and a console doesnt beat a company.

  • nicedude82

    Posted Feb 21, 2007 11:46 pm PT

    and yet PS2 will have to die sooner or later

  • hmsmichaelot

    Posted Feb 21, 2007 11:30 pm PT

    ps2 was the king... and is still beatin MS

  • Sam_Lowery

    Posted Feb 21, 2007 11:25 pm PT

    "Game Boy Advance (179,000 units)"
    People are still buying that? They should hold back a little longer till they can round up enough $$$ for a DS. It's great Lost Plannet did so well, Capcom is really being rewarded for getting on board the 360. I hope Hideo Kojima is paying attention.

  • eva360

    Posted Feb 21, 2007 11:17 pm PT

    Go wii60! Unstoppable~@!

  • Sig12047

    Posted Feb 21, 2007 11:09 pm PT

    The Wii is selling like crazy. I still havent played it yet, but I hear great things.

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