The US video game market declined in year-on-year in January by 4% as a result of lower hardware and software sales. The chief blame is put on the diminished sales of old-gen hardware, but new-gen hardware was also down from last January. Perhaps most importantly January saw no major new releases, with only Lego Marvel Avengers releasing at the very end of the month. Last year Dying Light had a good showing outselling this year's new release Lego Marvel Avengers by 239%.
One thing that is very interesting is sales of Grand Theft Auto V. While analysts noted some softness in the sales of Q4 releases this January compared to last year (down 19% year-on-year), GTAV is a sales phenom that defies explanation. This January marks the third in a row where GTAV ranked in the top 5 selling games. In 2014 it was fifth, in 2015 it was third, and now it was second only to Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.
Sony claimed victory in the hardware race over Xbox One as it continues to dominate sales. Last year Microsoft only managed to beat Sony for two months (April and October) in terms of hardware sales. Remains to be seen if perhaps Quantum Break (April) can allow for a repeat.
Of course, as always it should be noted that the NPD group only accounts for physical retail sales and does not factor in digital sales.
Top 10 US Software Chart (January) (note that the platforms are in best-selling order, games bundled with consoles aren't counted)
Software
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
2. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
3. NBA 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
4. Star Wars: Battlefront (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
5. Fallout 4 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
6. Minecraft (360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3)
7. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
8. Madden NFL 16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
9. Lego: Marvel Avengers (PS4, Xbox One, 360, Wii U, PS3, 3DS, Vita)
10. FIFA 16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
Thanks, Venturebeat.