NPD: January console-game revenues flat

Today, NPD Funworld reported January sales figures for console and handheld games. The research group said retailers sold $377 million worth of software last month, just $1 million less than the same month a year ago. However, that figure is a 78 percent decline from December 2004's $1.69 billion. (Note: NPD figures are based on a survey of approximately 60 percent of all retail outlets in the US. The group then projects figures to 100 percent.)

At the top of the best-seller heap was LucasArts' Pandemic Studios-developed action game Mercenaries, which moved a total of 383,000 units for Xbox and PlayStation 2. Next up was Resident Evil 4 from Capcom, which sold 319,000 copies despite being available solely for the GameCube. Other top titles were Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PlayStation 2), which sold 241,000 units, and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Game Boy Advance), which sold almost 217,000 copies.

Eleven games sold more than 100,000 units each during the month, compared to eight a year ago. The average selling price of a console game across all platforms dropped five percent to $29.43, down from $31.04 in January 2004. Ironically, total unit sales for the month were up five percent, according to NPD.

The number crunchers at Wedbush Morgan Securities tallied the following figures for the game publishers it covers. Dollar amounts are revenues for consoles and handheld software sales for the month ended January 29, 2005, and are as follows:

Activision: $27 million (vs. $20 million in 2004)
Atari: $11 million (vs. $15 million)
Electronic Arts: $71 million (vs. $99 million)
Majesco: $3 million (vs. $1 million)
Midway Games: $5 million (vs. $5 million)
Take-Two Interactive: $24 million (vs. $24 million)
THQ: $29 million (vs. $21 million)