NPD: Call of Duty Still Tops as Game Industry Dips 5% in January
After a massive December, the U.S. games industry has come back down to post-holiday levels and sales weren't quite up to last year's results. The grand total dipped five percent to $1.16 billion, as hardware fell eight percent to $324 million and software declined five percent to $576 million. The one area to see an increase was accessories, which jumped six percent to $235.1 million. That's likely because Microsoft's hot-selling Kinect camera is tracked by NPD as an accessory.
In terms of software, two of the big holiday sellers carried their momentum over into January, as Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops controlled the top spot, while the dance category continues to be popular, as evidenced by Ubisoft's Just Dance 2 taking the second spot. You could make the argument that Ubisoft was really the big winner in January, as three of its titles made the top 10.
It's worth noting that EA's Dead Space 2, which is selling much better than the original, placed a very respectable third on the chart.
Here's the top 10 list from NPD:
