US games retail sales plunge in January
The US retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories plunged 34% to $751m in January from a year earlier, according to market researcher NPD Group.
Hardware sales decreased 38% to $200m, while accessories sales fell 18% to $195m. Sales were down because of the success of Microsoft's Kinect motion controller a year ago, reported AP.
Sales of titles released before the holidays fell 31% in January, while sales of console and portable software - the video games themselves - declined 38% to $356m.
NPD analyst Liam Callahan said the dearth of new games likely resulted in fewer people going to stores and buying other recent releases on impulse.
"Shoppers were not drawn to stores due to new launch activity," Callahan said.
NPD said retail sales of packaged video games have fallen sharply in 2011 as shoppers purchased games for play on smartphones and social networks such as Facebook.
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