Game sales buck the recession with 13% growth in January
Market research firm NPD Group reported that software and hardware combined reached $1.33 billion in revenue for the month, a 13 percent jump over $1.18 billion in January 2008. Nintendo continues to dominate with Xbox 360 making a very impressive showing.
January Software Statistics:
1.
Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) - 777K
2. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) - 415K
3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) - 292K
4. Left 4 Dead (Valve/EA, Xbox 360) - 243K
5. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch/Activision, Xbox 360) - 235K
6. Skate 2 (EA Black Box/EA, Xbox 360) - 199K
7. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Neversoft/Activision, Wii) - 155K
8. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo, NDS) - 135K
9. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo, NDS) - 132K
10. Lord of the Rings: Conquest (Pandemic/EA, Xbox 360) - 113K
January Hardware Statistics:
Wii - 679.2K
Nintendo DS - 510.8K
Xbox 360 - 309.0K
PlayStation 3 - 203.2K
PSP - 172.3K
PlayStation 2 - 101.2K
I would argue that this trend can continue for a while--none of the consoles have full market penetration and games remain a (relatively) cheap form of entertainment.
Dave Rosenberg dishes up "Software, Interrupted" with nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs to open-source enterprise software companies. He is co-founder of MuleSource and currently serves as the general manager of Hardy Way. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can contact Dave via e-mail at softwareinterrupted@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @daveofdoom. 
