Analysis
With a total of 948 points, this month is 52 points down from December's vote, but 31 points up from the same vote done last year. This is promising, as it suggests that this feature may grow a bit in 2014.
The leading platform of January 2014 was the Wii U with 283 points, or about 30% of the point total. Although this is a drop from last month, 283 points is FAR more impressive than the mere 99 points the Wii U and Wii combined got this time last year. The difference is nearly three-fold! This major increase is in no doubt due to games announced and shown extensively starting at E3 2013. X, Super Smash Bros 4, Mario Kart 8, and Donkey kong Country: Tropical Freeze form the bulk of the Wii U's success this month. X in particular was the leading game or sku this month by a fair margin, and all four of those games were in the top 7 games, even combining platforms. That said, the Wii U has two major weaknesses: 3rd party support and number of skus. There simply aren't that many 3rd party games in the works for the Wii U, with the only notable exception being the multiplatform Watch Dogs. Furthermore, Nintendo seems to simply be unable to develop/publish enough games to compensate for this.
The second most points went to the PS4, which was under 25 points behind the Wii U. Whereas the Wii U had 11 skus to work with, the PS4 had 24. Even though these PS4 skus averaged much lower, their sheer number made them a force to be reckoned with. Major PS4 titles included Infamous: Second Son, Final Fantasy 15, and Metal Gear Solid 5. However, other than these three games, there were a lack of "huge" PS4 titles this month. This is due to several factors, including a general fall in points, the launch lineup's release in November, and very few announcements of new games for a while now.
The PS3 was in a solid 3rd place, with just under 200 points, putting it in the same region as the Wii U and PS4. It was bolstered by the newly announced Persona 5, a PS3 exclusive. Beyond that, notable PS3 games included other RPG's like Dark Souls 2, Tales of Xilia 2, and Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD. These four JRPG titles made up the majority of PS3 points.
Combined, the PS3 and PS4 had a total of 455 points, slightly higher than 2013's 420 points for the PS3 alone. Seeing as no PS4 game had been announced at that date and the point total has increased YoY, this is a roughly stable amount for PlayStation consoles.
The Xbox family got a total of 54 points this month, compared to last year's 90. This major decrease was largely due to multi-platform games people planned on getting for the 360 in 2013, as last year's 360 points were mostly due to GTA5, Tomb Raider, and Bioshock Infinite. This year, on the other hand, was "dominated" by exclusives, including Halo and Titanfall.
The PC had half as many points this year as it did this time last year. This was due to a combination of factors, including the release of PC exclusives like Heart of the Swarm, the popularity of certain multiplat games on PC such as Bioshock Infinite, and the simply lower number of PC skus currently scoring.
In my mind, the biggest drop YoY is that of the handheld market. In January 2013, the handhelds combined had 171 points. Now, the 3DS and Vita combined have a mere 97. Worse, a majority of these current points belong to Bravely Default, a game coming out fairly soon. Last year, in contrast, people were anticipating games such as Fire Emblem: Awakening, Soul Sacrifice, and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon. Unless a major announcement is made soon, the handhelds will fall further behind in the February edition, as Pokemon X/Y was release almost a year ago.
Looking at the changes in publishers in early 2013 and early 2014, there have been some huge changes. Sony has gone from the #1 spot with over 240 points to the #3 spot with under 120. Take-Two, which had over 150 points last year, has NO GAMES scoring this month! Nintendo, meanwhile, has had a roughly 200 point boost, thanks to their Wii U lineup. Square Enix has grown slightly YoY thanks to Final Fantasy 15's name change, Namco Bandai remains roughly in the same place, and Konami and Atlus are both doing signigficantly better than last year.
