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NPD: January Canada game sales hit $79 million

Wii sells more systems than any other platform, Lost Planet holds off WarioWare, Zelda, Gears of War, Mario DS at the top of the charts.

Gaming sales got off to a strong start in the US this year, according to NPD Group's figures for the first five weeks of 2007, and it was a similar story north of the border. The industry-tracking firm reported that Canadian retail gaming sales amounted to $79.5 million in January, a 55-percent jump over the January period from the year before. But where the US numbers covered five weeks of sales instead of the usual four, NPD's Canadian numbers only reflect sales during the calendar month of January, so year-over-year comparisons are more relevant.

The increase was driven primarily by hardware sales, which more than doubled from $15.2 million to just over $31 million. Nintendo's Wii outpaced all the competition for the month with more than 34,000 units sold. Sony had the second best-selling console of the month, but it wasn't the PlayStation 3. Instead it was the aging PlayStation 2, which posted sales of more than 27,000 units. The PS3 actually finished significantly lower, with fewer than 6,800 units sold. The Xbox 360 nestled itself in between its rivals with sales just over 14,400.

On the software side of things, Capcom's Xbox 360 bug hunt Lost Planet: Extreme Condition unified the Canada and US January 2007 sales titles, selling more than 15,400 copies. Lost Planet had a little separation from the pack, with WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii), The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), Gears of War (Xbox 360), and New Super Mario Bros. (DS) rounding out the top five in that order, each with sales between 12,000 and 13,000. The GameCube edition of Twilight Princess, the PS2 Guitar Hero 2 bundle, NHL 07 (PS2), Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360), and NHL 07 (Xbox 360) filled out the back half of the top 10.

93 Comments

  • marklovesbaseba

    Posted May 13, 2008 5:33 am GMT

    heres what is gonna happen...right now ps3 is getting kicked but since gta ps3 sales went up by 20% from the sales ive seen on the charts....this year is ps3's year...and honstly everyone i know who has a wii either doesnt play it or has traded it in....by the end of the year i see ps3 and exox tied or maybe even ps3 winning(of course wii still in first)but this year is when u see ps3's sell a lot

  • TJSpyke

    Posted Apr 19, 2007 7:03 pm GMT

    Kevdog, you do realize PS3 is failing? Hell, it just got outsold last week in Japan by a nearly 7:1 margin and at this rate the Wii will sell 3 million in Japan before PS3 even sells 1 million. Wii has outsold PS3 every week since launch in both Japan and North America (European numbers are rare).

  • maulberto3

    Posted Mar 12, 2007 2:00 pm GMT

    kevdog1976......

    you Sony comment was pathetic......

  • Kevdog1976

    Posted Mar 6, 2007 5:01 pm GMT

    There was an interesting article in the E.G.M. magazine that just recently came out where the CEO of SCEA was interviewed by E.G.M and what it boils down to is this.....for right now, all these companies are duking it out for video game supremacy, Nintendo is hanging in there with the Wii and then there's the boat anchor 360 from Microsoft. From what I understood in the article is that Sony will long be kicking long after Microsoft and Nintendo fall out of the running! Sure the PS3 has glitches, every system had glitches when it was first released. No company is perfect, but Sony sure does come damn close to that. Put that in your pipe and smoke it! Long Live Metal Gear, Long Live Sony!

  • gtimandan

    Posted Feb 28, 2007 6:12 pm GMT

    KiRuR, not to split hairs but your math is flawed, as Sony sold 27k PS2s and 6800 PS3s for a total of 33,800 between two consoles. Nintendo sold 34,000 Wiis, alone, and if memory serves, about 13,000 DSs.

    They're all great systems - check them out!

  • Elite_Evolution

    Posted Feb 28, 2007 1:25 pm GMT

    360 was made for online...It PWNS All other Systems

  • Worm1802

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 11:31 pm GMT

    I love seeing sony fans squirm at the thought of two obviously more innovative systems sell more.Sure go ahead and live in the past and continually bring up the ps2 but some of us like to live in a next gen world.The ps2 cant be sony's life support forever.

  • oscar530

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 3:31 pm GMT

    hmm i can understand the Wii winning cuz of all those little kids with there rich ass parents from Taiwan god i hate those guys sooo much so frickin spoiled

  • 00joker

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 3:10 pm GMT

    360 is way better more people is online to microsoft than sony

  • KiRuR

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 6:05 am GMT

    Nintendo winning? where? are you people blind? Sony is still winning... LOL... hellooooooo.. fine ill do the math if its THAT hard... you get PS2 the second best sale with 27,000, and add with PS3 with 14,400, how much do you get? okay heres the math: 27,000 + 14,400 = 41,400.
    I THINK that means Sony is winning.. and if you actually think about it.. its winning by far because the ps2 is a reasonable value but the ps3 is absurd.. and ofcourse the wii is cheap as hell.. so yeah sony is definetly winning.. like always.. so please stfu

  • penaneitor

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 1:30 am GMT

    Nintendo really deserves it's victory, leading a true revolution in videogaming, opening new and original ways to play games... It was about time for Nintendo to rise and show the tech geeks (Sony & Microsoft) what videogames are about...

  • ChiefHunter1

    Posted Feb 26, 2007 8:24 pm GMT

    KingPin:
    If ur calling resistance the PS3's killer, AAA game, ur out of ur mind. I own Gears of War but Ive also played Resistance and anyone who says that they are even in the same league must be on something. As for the 360 only having one "AAA" game, Halo 3 will be released this November and will blow away all other competition. In regards to the Wii, I have played Zelda on the Wii and it is an amazing game which is worthy of "AAA" status.
    Right now the PS3 doesn't have a marque game which sets it apart from either the Wii or 360. By the way, I don't think that the 360 is the PS2 of this gen, the Wii surely wins that category. Although I don't think that it can compete with advanced graphics, it appeals to a wider range of gamers and for a cheaper price will easily outsell the 360. As for the PS3, I can't think of a game that will be unique to it that is going to set it apart. (DONT SAY KILLZONE BECAUSE THOSE VIDEOS ARE NOT ACTUAL GAMEPLAY)

  • Ices100

    Posted Feb 26, 2007 11:17 am GMT

    Lol i like seeing people says oh wait 2 years then the ps3 will be doing better, and it isn't doing anything in japan right now so i doubt that it will get much better cause of 2 sub par recycled sequels.

  • TrueIori

    Posted Feb 24, 2007 11:31 pm GMT

    King_pin 87

    It not about the Triple AAA games casue those take time to come out it about those AA and A tiltles . Why get Army of two for ps3 since it be better for the 360 casue of live? why get a ps3 to play merc 2 since it also coming for 360?etc etc. So what is ps3 going to do wait till DMC4 and metal gear come out to save it system when top games like that take time to come out . What are they going to only throw a decent game every 8 months?Face it sony better do something fast or it does not have a bright future. And if u call Resistance ur killer ap well i feel sorry for sony nothing more than a average shooter.

  • theKSMM

    Posted Feb 24, 2007 6:47 am GMT

    Sony has really got to get its third-party developers on board with writing PS3 games instead of PS2 games. That's the only way they're going to sell lots of consoles to their core audience.

  • king_pin_87

    Posted Feb 24, 2007 12:31 am GMT

    ChiefHunter1:
    PS3 has only sold 1.4 mil copies!

    When more releases come for the console, it will increase greatly, like the 360 did. Both 360 and PS3 had terrible starts compared to past system launches. And besides, other than Gears of War, name one 360 exclusive that is out now that is AAA quality? In fact all 3 consoles have only one real AAA title (Zelda for Wii and Resistance for PS3, regardless of what GS says)

    As for the PS2 still selling well, I guess this is exactly what Kaz Hirai meant when he said the PS3 will have a 10 year life cycle, cause I don't see Xbox's and Gamcubes flying off the shelves right now, and the PS3 will probably repeat this in 5 years time.

    And to anyone who thinks the 360 is the PS2 of this gen, compare sales of both and well, the PS2 sold a LOT more in this amount of time, and the amount of 360's sold isn't that impressive when they had NO competition for a year in next gen consoles. I hate how most people will side with whatever system is selling well, if the PS3 starts selling well then all the sheep will say how great the console is.

    As for the chart, them Canadians sure love there snow over there, eh?

  • ChiefHunter1

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 9:09 pm GMT

    Wow stefonte, funny u should say, "What does it mean for the 360 when the PS2 is still outselling you. " because the xbox 360 ONLY sold more than 10.5 million copies and completely outdid the PS3 by selling more than double the amount of PS3s since the PS3 has been released! (by the way, PS3 has only sold 1.4 mil copies!)

  • stefonte

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 8:20 pm GMT

    I have all three systems and didnt wait in one line. And paid less than regular price. (LUCKY ME). Anyway I just want to say to all those PS3 Haters out there! Since I got my PS3 and Nintendo DS I have not played my 360 once (2 months). Resistence fall of Man on the PS3 is like HALO on steroids/crack, someone finally took the best FPS (Halo) and improved on it! Its about 3 times longer and smarter then GOW and the online play is sick. I guess you guys that own a 360 will have to pay for more upgrades soon (HDMI, Card readers, etc, Xboxlive) Have Fun. What does it mean for the 360 when the PS2 is still outselling you.

  • Nuke_trooper

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 7:20 pm GMT

    Wow Wii Nintendo aren't doing too bad are they!!

  • Kh3tt1

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 7:12 pm GMT

    Very cool to see chart reports without the latest FIFA or Need For Speed versions mentioned. I'm very interested in the poor sales of PS3s, and more importantly, the excellent sales of the Wii.

  • 2w-sephiroth

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 6:06 pm GMT

    I hope the PS3 goes well, and dont call me a fan boy I simply dont like microsoft and the wii is not going to give me RE5 and FFXIII (and I want to play my PS and PS2 collection on my PS3!)

    I dont understand why the people are wishing the ps3 to be down and destroyed, and all the people that brought the PS3 and resold it in EBAY even destroyed the marketing more!

    If the PS3 goes the same way as the Dreamcast I dont know what will happen I will go bananas.

  • comboz

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 10:13 am GMT

    yeah they do, eh

  • keinuveye

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 8:42 am GMT

    Yeah, Canadians LOVE hockey. obviously.

  • Braxen

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 7:50 am GMT

    Nice to see the NHL-games in top 10! NHL07 for X360 is just phenomenal.

    Was in New York last week, had the chance to buy a Ps3...but I really couldn´t think of a reason why I should. (have a Wii & Xbox360).

  • snoman99991

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 4:27 am GMT

    Although there aren't exactly piles of them around where I live, I have consistently been able to locate about three PS3's per major electronics store that sells them. Even Target had some here in Michigan.

    Get this though. I walked into said target, and I wasn't even looking for a Wii at the time (had no clue they even sold them there), and I saw about ten Wii's. I was going nuts! I couldn't believe I had actually found some! Well this was a couple days after christmas, and I picked one up ASAP. When I came back later (about two hours), all 9 of the other Wii's were gone. The lady who worked there told me I had just arrived right when their shipment did, and I was one lucky S.O.B.

    I couldn't agree more.

  • wiistation360

    Posted Feb 23, 2007 12:47 am GMT

    lost planet ftw

  • cenz_is

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 11:42 pm GMT

    "Sony had the second best-selling console of the month, but it wasn't the PlayStation 3. Instead it was the aging PlayStation 2, which posted sales of more than 27,000 units. The PS3 actually finished significantly lower, with fewer than 6,800 units sold. The Xbox 360 nestled itself in between its rivals with sales just over 14,400. "

    LOL!

  • mahjustin

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 11:13 pm GMT

    "For the record the ps3 is $700 in canada. It launched at $659 but as soon as the holiday season ended sony raised the price to $700."

    Sony did not raise the price. Do you not keep up with the news? Sony stated themselves that the MSRP is still at $659.99. Futureshop/Bestbuy are the idiots who decided to raise the price.

    As for the low PS3 numbers, there is a BIG question that needs to be answered before we can make judgement on how January's numbers went: HOW MANY PS3'S DID SONY ALLOCATE TO CANADA?!

    If Sony allocated only 6800 PS3's, then I'd think it did pretty damn well.

  • sacatash

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 9:18 pm GMT

    True. We have PS3 stockpiled in 4 walmart locations in Toronto. Can't find any Wii console since last week of November, that is more than 3 months or 90 days now. I still hope that PS3 succeeds since I want to upgrade my aging 5 year old PS2. Xbox 360 is doing ok. Heck, if you cant find a DS lite in the US, come up here in Canada and visit one of the walmart stores or futureshops. they have it in stock.

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 8:19 pm GMT

    We deserve our own chart!

  • Kai_88

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 8:19 pm GMT

    As a Canuck, the only thing i didn't like about that aritcle was that picture of that offensive sterotype. Couldn't he just find a pic of canadian flag or something? It's like a canadian game site releasing game sales info from the U.S. but showing a picture of one of the hillbillies from Deliverance.

  • pencilpusher69

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 8:14 pm GMT

    PS3 can hose off, eh! Wii STEAMROLLER!

  • blancobo

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 7:35 pm GMT

    Excellent news for us gamers out there... Every time I here that game sales are soaring I can only imagine the opportunities... As the gamers market expands so do prices drop. Though not a direct proportional function, the effect is evident. A larger market allows for more volumes of sales, as a larger number of developers interested in getting a chunk of the pie, as more manufacturers offering money and infrastructure to fabricate consoles at lower prices... And so the bar in game developing may be threatened by poor quality output... I stand in the optimistic side. The more, the merrier!

  • Kholdstare_fire

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 7:20 pm GMT

    True Pete.

  • lesleeee

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 7:19 pm GMT

    I FINALLY managed to find a Wii in a crap Zellers in the middle of nowhere on January 31st, so I guess I was one of that 34,000.

  • Pete5506

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 7:13 pm GMT

    LOL go canada

  • Lorick_vs_Vash

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 6:01 pm GMT

    Wow NHL07 was on the list... In Canada... NO WAY impossible!

  • brant_almighty

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 4:36 pm GMT

    its freakin impossible to find a wii up here, ive looked everywhere! all my friends have managed to get their hands on a wii, so im feelin a little left out... o well, i guess ill just have to get by with my copies of lost planet, NHL 07, Rainbow six, and Gears. Hmmm...I guess im not so bad after all...

  • DFTricks

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 4:26 pm GMT

    Interesting, i go to admit that it's easyer to find a PS3 (returned or not) then a brand new Wii. Even more, people who resell make more money of the Wii then the PS3. Nov19 I knew it was going to be bigger then Sony Ps3

  • feanorkms

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 4:11 pm GMT

    These game sales are nice to read, but they don't matter much. Give the Wii and Playstation 3 a year to come out with better variety software, and we'll have a definate outlook on what system will win. I'm rooting for the Wii, because I love their unique controller.

    I'm also a Sony fan, and although their components are expensive, you do get a good system that plays blue-ray DVDs too. I hope Sony drops their arrogant attitude, and work harder to get more exclusives on their system.

    I love my 360 and Live, but please by god come out with great games that aren't some form of shooter. I can only stand soo many headshots.

    Canada does have a good taste in games though.

  • Jaeme

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 4:08 pm GMT

    The wii is a full fledged phenomenon here in Canada. Line ups and crowds were camping out for the wii as recently as last week. I havn`t seen anything that overwhelmingly "gotta have it" since the Cabbage Patch Kids in the early `80s. Ironically, the people wanting a wii were far better behaved and polite than the people who wanted the Cabbage Patch Kids back in the day. That was the first time I had ever seen a 40+ year old woman physically beat another one. And they say videogames make you violent. As for the PS3, I could have had the first one on launch day here in town if I had wanted, but I didn`t. I took the first wii instead. I have only met one person who bought a PS3 in the first month for personal use, and they work at EB. Everyone else was trying to make a killing on Ebay, and many failed and returned their PS3s for a refund. For a while the local EB was getting more PS3s back for refunds than it was selling. The thing is Canadians know their games(heck we make how many game of the year contenders?) and the problem with the PS3 is that there aren`t any games for it. I`m not spending $800 (Can after tax) to play one game, maybe two. Potential? Great, I`ll potentially buy one after your potential price cut. And Blu Ray? I don`t want it. I may be ok with buying a new console every 5 or so years but I`m not going to do that with everything in my rack. I like DVDS, got hundreds of `em, so I`m not buying replacements. Finally, lies, bs and arrogance make me want to say no. Maybe if they figure out that we aren`t wallets with a single digit IQ I`ll think about it. In the mean time, Sony, we may not be all CEOs and geniuses, but we can work the internet and we know that the lack of rumble is because of a lawsuit, that NOONE but you thinks that the PS3 is under priced, and the "supercomputer on a chip" thing didn`t work with the PS2, what makes you think we`ll buy it this time if you tack "that could help cure cancer" on the end. Yeah, it has been said that people are more likely to believe the big lie than the small one, but the person who said that was Joseph Goebells, and that`s not good company or advice. Better luck with the PS4

  • Rypo81

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 3:59 pm GMT

    "as of Dec 23rd...best buy had PILES and PILES of ps3s"

    i'm not sure which Best Buys you are talking about, but just a quick look using their website proved that ps3s are nowhere to be found in Canadian Best Buys.

  • Chainblast

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 3:28 pm GMT

    "For the record the ps3 is $700 in canada. It launched at $659 but as soon as the holiday season ended sony raised the price to $700.

    You can still find the PS3 for $659.99 in Canada. From what I have seen it is Best Buy and Futureshop that sell for the higher price.

  • lebanese_boy

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 2:59 pm GMT

    Canada sure has some good taste in gaming .

  • Illumination77

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 2:58 pm GMT

    For the record the ps3 is $700 in canada. It launched at $659 but as soon as the holiday season ended sony raised the price to $700. The wii retails for $279.99, same as the psp value pack, the360 at $499 & 399 depending on the sku & finally ps2 at $129.99. So its no bloody wonder the sales are what they are here. Lol As soon as sony raised the ps3 price I knew they were finished here. And for the record as of December 22nd 2006 the ps3 shortages were offically OVER as Best Buy had PILES & PILES of ps3's sitting around that weren't moving.

  • vaejas

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 2:45 pm GMT

    Sadly all the pirating and modchips still resulted in a trillion dollar net loss. But in response the government is giving even more money to Ubisoft. >_>

  • anarchicgoth

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 2:27 pm GMT

    Those Canadians do like there games! and Alaindc- I completely agree!

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 2:17 pm GMT

    The PS3 doesn't seem to be doing too well in Canada. 6800 isn't that big of a number. At least the ps2 is getting sales though.

  • alaindc

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 1:41 pm GMT

    6800 PS3 ?
    it's already too much!
    great to know that the PS3 sell worst than the one years old 360, and that the Wii continue to sell. Sony is so arrogant that i want them to fail, console and blu-ray.

    arrogant things like...
    we can sell the ps3 without games and they will buy it.
    graphics on the ps3 will destroy the competition.
    the HD gaming begin when we say so.

    i hope Europe won't buy blindly the overpriced undergamed blu-ray trojan PS3(even at a higher price there).

  • luigimario_64

    Posted Feb 22, 2007 1:28 pm GMT

    Go Nintendo, Go Canada!

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