NPD: Lost Planet leads strong January game sales

by Kyle Orland { Feb 21st 2007 at 5:55PM }

January's not usually a month for big numbers in the game industry, but the first month of 2007 was a whopper any way you slice it. NPD recently announced $549 million in non-PC software sales for the month, up an impressive 22 percent when compared week-on-week to last January. Add in $505 million in hardware sales and almost $200 million in accessories and the industry as a whole recorded a huge $1.25 billion in overall sales for the five weeks ending Feb. 3.

The Wii dominated hardware sales, as previously reported, but software was spread out among all the major systems. The Xbox 360's Lost Planet: Extreme Condition led the pack, with system-compatriots Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas close behind at No 3 and No. 9, respectively. But it was a PS2 game, Guitar Hero II, that maintained the second-place showing from December and took the No. 2 spot. Both versions of Twilight Princess joined Wario Ware in representing Nintendo consoles in the top 10, while Resistance: Fall of Man was the only PS3 title on the list, coming in at No. 8.

When combined with the healthy January reported by British retailers, we could be witnessing the beginning of the end of the traditional January lull. While it's hard to match the holiday season in terms of sheer sales volume, these January numbers show that good games can still sell just after the Christmas rush.

Complete sales rankings, as reported by Gamespot after the jump.

TOP 10 GAMES: December 31, 2006-February 3, 2007: (sales numbers are approximate)
1) Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Xbox 360, Capcom, Jan. 2007) -- 329,000 copies
2) Guitar Hero II (with Guitar Controller) (PS2, Activision, Nov. 2006) -- 224,000 copies
3) Gears of War (Xbox 360, Microsoft, Nov. 2006) -- 212,000 copies
4) WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii, Nintendo, Jan. 2007) -- 201,000 copies
5) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, Nintendo, Nov. 2006) -- 189,000 copies
6) Madden NFL 07 (PS2, Electronic Arts, Aug. 2006)
7) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GameCube, Nintendo, Nov. 2006) -- 144,000 copies
8) Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3, SCEA, Nov. 2006) -- 144,000 copies
9) Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360, Ubisoft, Nov. 2006)
10) New Super Mario Bros. (DS, Nintendo, May 2006)

Tags: business, game sales rank, GameSalesRank, january, lost planet, LostPlanet, NPD, sales

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

robert fern @ Feb 21st 2007 6:00PM

Dyou think this works? ma mate say you do a lovefilm trial and cancel after receiving FIRST disc on two week trial and it's free???

http://ipodsnatchers.com/?r=8877

steve @ Feb 21st 2007 5:59PM

Of course The Burning Crusade humbled any and all consoles games on that list. It sold as many copies in its first week as the Top 10 for the month did combined.

Imagine what it would have sold if PC games weren't dead.

aegies @ Feb 21st 2007 6:03PM

Good lord Gears has legs. And for some reason I figured that Lost Planet had sold more copies than that. Guitar Hero II's success in the last two months doesn't surprise me though; every time I went to a large retailer in December, I would watch dozens of people stop to watch a GH II demo and walk away with the game and an extra guitar.

http://eat-sleep-game.com/news

Kevin @ Feb 21st 2007 6:06PM

Was that even English, Robert Fern?

And also, hooray for video games selling in the "off-season." Although, good games coming out in January and around January makes waiting until birthday or Christmas to get them as gifts even harder.

Grindstone @ Feb 21st 2007 6:27PM

I guess I was also thinking that Lost Planet had a 1 million pre-order to fill? Where did I get that idea from?

Anyway, seems like `07 is off to a good start.

jp @ Feb 21st 2007 6:34PM

07 will be a great year for gaming
just enjoy your system and its games
no need to fight for who's better

ps3=wii=360
its all matter of preference

brandon @ Feb 21st 2007 6:47PM

I don't think this means a change. This year was an exception because two new systems launched, the expansion to WoW was released, and Gears of War and Lost Planet are fresh out of large marketing campaigns.

Frankie @ Feb 21st 2007 8:03PM

Gys, remember, January this year was a five week period. Substract 20% to compare it to actual YOY sales.

Rubang B @ Feb 21st 2007 8:05PM

Looks like 360's slanging the games while Wii's slanging the consoles. I wonder what Sony's selling these days, other than extra guitars.

Foil_Goon @ Feb 21st 2007 8:14PM

@9 :( Its sad but true...

Jason @ Feb 21st 2007 8:31PM

Hey Joystiq, why does aegies get to freely promote his website like some sort of signature at the end of his posts? I'm ok with people attaching URLs to their name, but shouldn't he be paying for free advertising? Or can we all sign with lame websites and glut up the comments even more? Please make him stop.

LongshotX @ Feb 21st 2007 8:49PM

I wish WoW could come to the 360. If it did imagine how many boxes would be sold.

Interstate78 @ Feb 21st 2007 9:07PM

Riddle me this: You have 100M+ ps2 owners versus 10M 360 owners and Lost Planet is rocking the charts saleswise. How can that be?

Why isn't a PS2 hit like Guitar Hero 2 still outselling it or say, Rogue Galaxy?

I'll tell you why. A lot of the PS2s are not in use anymore. Either broken or in a closet gathering dust. Of the others, you have a REALLY high percentage that's casual gamers. People who grabbed one at Wal-Mart because that's the only thing they know or heard of who buy one game a year. Then you have the hardcore, a big percentage of whom already own a 360 (and a lot of them can hardly look at a PS2 game anymore without disdain. Those pixels are fugly. Let's just say their Ps2 spending days are nearly over).

The 360 community is made up of 10M active consumers who buy games regularly, download demos, interact with one another. That's why Lost Planet is such a success.

dolemite @ Feb 21st 2007 9:21PM

Or could it be Interstate 78 that since there are so many worhtwhile games out for the PS2 that a singular title does not hold everyones attention ? MS has done a good job of spacing the games coming out. Let's take that list of NPD sales to the top 30 games. Bet there are many more PS2 games than 360 games. And yes, I have Lost Planet. Its a good game.

aegies @ Feb 21st 2007 9:22PM

I didn't realize it was against the Weblogs Inc terms and conditions for commenting for me to post links to my site at the end of comments. It isn't like I'm just going to every thread and making some non-sequitur comment and posting a link to some kind of porn spam operation. It's a video game site, and as a member of this community, I was under the impression that it was ok for us to link to our personal sites. If that's not the case, then by all means, I'd like someone to notify me.

If you're only complaining because I'm saying things you don't want to hear though, well, that's your problem, not mine.

Donald @ Feb 22nd 2007 12:04AM

In before the inevitable gift card excuse.

http://www.joystiq.com

tdp @ Feb 22nd 2007 3:30AM

Also, you have to think that a lot of consumers weren't able to pick up their new consoles during the month of December due to ridiculous shortages; thus, Wii and PS3 games might get a bump in sales (of course, this doesn't account for 360 dominating).

joystiq @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:48AM

While it didn't directly sell, as it is a packin game, it's still good to note that Wii Sports reached the grubby hands of 436000 new customers.

Here's my interesting question: Wii Play is basically a pack-in for a controller in a way similar to how Wii Sports is a pack-in for a system. Since Wii Sports isn't counted by NPD, should Wii Play be?