US charts: Jan market sinks 13%

The US game market in January fell an anticipated 13 percent year-on-year, NPD figures reveal.

Software at retailers made $598 million for the first month of the year, down some 12 per cent on the $683 taken last January.

Hardware was down further, falling 21 per cent from $447 million to $354 million.

With sales of peripherals taken into account, the three retail segments reflected an overall 13 per cent decline from $1.34 billion to $1.17 billion.