January Sales 2009

Nintendo have done it yet again, by breaking another record according to recent sales figures in North America for January 2009. The console has shipped nearly 680,000 units in a single month, which makes it the highest selling piece of video game hardware of any January in the history of the industry. The Wii now holds records for 7 of the 12 months, the other 5 held are also held by Nintendo. The DS holds sales records for 4 of them, while the Game Boy Advance holds the other.

To toot their horn ever further; they also hold the top 3 hardware and software spots for January 2009, with Wii Fit leading the charge for the latter. Compared to January 2008, where there was a close fought contest between the 3 major rivals (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft), this year shows one clear winner – Nintendo, with their ‘revolutionary’ motion sensing capabilities and dual-screen with touch pad dominating.

It doesn’t look so rosy for Sony, whose sales have been declining month by month. They also don’t have a single software title in the top 10. Surely this indicates troubling times ahead for a company who has been in the video game limelight for over 15 years. Microsoft on the other hand has seen their sales remain steady over a period of time, with the Xbox 360 still selling rather well.


January 2009 Hardware Sales

Wii - 679,200
Nintendo DS - 510,800
Xbox 360 - 309,000
PlayStation 3 - 203,200
PSP - 172,300
PlayStation 2 - 101, 200


January 2009 Software Sales

Wii Fit - Wii - 777,000  
Wii Play w/Remote - Wii - 415,000
Mario Kart Wii w/Wheel - Wii - 292,000
Left 4 Dead - 360 - 243,000
Call of Duty: World at War - 360 - 235,000
Skate 2 - 360 - 199,000
Guitar Hero: World Tour - Wii - 155,000
New Super Mario Bros. - DS - 135,000
Mario Kart DS - DS - 132,000
Lord of the Rings: Conquest - 360 - 113,000


All-time hardware sales records, month by month.

January - 679,200 - Wii - 2009
February - 587,600 - DS - 2008
March - 720,000 - Wii - 2008
April - 714,000 - Wii - 2008
May - 675,100 - Wii - 2008
June - 870,000 - GBA - 2001
July - 608,400 - DS - 2008
August - 518,300 - DS - 2008
September - 687,000 - Wii - 2008
October - 803,000 - Wii - 2008
November - 2,040,000 - Wii - 2008
December - 3,040,000 - DS - 2008

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed