NPD January: X360 #1 270k, 49% share, PS3 > Wii = 281k Combined

[Zlejedi]

Petrae said:

amaral_slb said:

 But at the same time I understand some doubting, just from a 3DS stand point. Don´t you think that a brand "new" console, should not suffer this much when it comes to sales in January? We can´t blame bad sales on old hardware and see 3Ds doing some mediocre numbers.

At the same time ioi said earlier they have no intention in making any adjustments to January data based on this, so, he knows something we don´t, so maybe questioning NPD numbers might be legit.

I posit that there are several potential factors in the pullback in 3DS unit sales. 

First, no new software tends to hurt consumer interest. There was next to nothing (for ALL platforms, of course), so consumers aren't driven to retail to spend money if there's nothing new to see. Secondly, I think that Vita *may* be a wild card. With the release so close, it's possible that some consumers are still on the fence about whether to go 3DS or Vita. Next, weather patterns in the USA were generally mild for January, leading to more outside activity and less sedentary activity. Lastly, I think that consumers pulled back on spending overall as they paid down holiday debt and awaited potential disposable income via tax refunds for Feb/Mar. 

That's my $.02, anyway.

What time do tax refunds arrive in US ? Is it end of February/early March ? I wonder if Sony had that in mind when setting release date