January 2011 NPD Results

Getting numbers from the NPD is like pulling teeth. It's difficult to do when the NPD won't open their collective mouth. Since now little in the way of numbers are revealed, and all SKUs are now bundled into one amalgamation, it's hard to be interested in sales results. The NPD group is just throwing scraps now. Well, we'll work with what we get. Numbers courtesy of NeoGAF.

4-week reporting period: 1/2/11 through 1/29/2011

Software (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC)
01. Call of Duty: Black Ops* (360, PS3, WII, NDS, PC) Activision Blizzard
02. Just Dance 2 (WII) Ubisoft
03. Dead Space 2* (360, PS3, PC) Electronic Arts - 452K
04. Little Big Planet 2* (PS3) Sony - 353K
05. Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (WII, 360, PS3) Majesco
06. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PSP, WII, PS2, PC) Take 2 Interactive
07. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood* (360, PS3) Ubisoft
08. Dance Central (360) MTV Games
09. Michael Jackson The Experience* (WII, DS, PSP) Ubisoft
10. DC Universe Online: The Next Legend Is You* (PS3, PC) Sony - 195K

*NPD's monthly point-of-sale data reports on U.S. Games Industry Sales occurring from new physical purchases at retail which is the largest channel for games sales, but it does not represent 100% of industry sales; it does not account for consumer purchases made via digital distribution, used game sales, subscriptions, mobile game apps, rentals, or social network games.

Hardware:

Xbox 360 - 381,000 (+15%) [Only console platform to see year over year growth]
Wii - 319,000 (-32%)
PS3 - 267,000 (-3.6%)

The Xbox 360 wins another month. In my jaded opinion, it's a combination of new Kinect users and people rebuying a 360 for the third time thanks to shoddy hardware production. The Wii sold 319,000 (all numbers are obviously rounded) which is a year-to-year drop of -32%. Meanwhile, the PS3 still struggles to get a footing in North America even with two exclusives making it on the top ten chart for the month (LittleBigPlanet 2 and DC Universe Online).

Call of Duty: Black Ops reigns supreme (it only has, like, eighty different SKUs, so that's no surprise). Just Dance 2 grooves its way into second place which is impressive seeing as it is an exclusive game. Dance Central proves Kinect buyers are buying at least something in the wasteland known as Kinect software, and Michael Jackson lives on through gaming with his experience hitting the number eight spot. Perhaps overweight housewives are buying dance games to shrug some pounds off from the holidays? What is surprising this month to me is that no first-party Nintendo games are to be seen on this list. I would have thought Disney Epic Mickey or Donkey Kong Country Returns would have made the bottom half of the top ten sales chart. With that, there goes a ho-hum month of sales.