January was not a particularly good month for video game and gaming sales. Compared with the January 2013, total sales at brick-and-mortar video game stores fell from $835 million to $664 million, a 21% drop. Taking into account that January 2013 was a five-week month compared with a four-week month this year, sales fell only 1%. The data come from research firm NPD Group.

Software sales of new games totaled just $224 million, down 40% year-over-year, and hardware sales were up 17% to $241 million. The software sales figures include only physical sales of new games and does not count digital downloads or sales of used games.

The pre-Christmas release of the new PlayStation 4 console from Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) and the Xbox One from Microsoft Corp. (NYSE: MSFT) contributed to big holiday sales for the two companies, and sales have carried over into the new year. NPD reported that the PlayStation 4 led in overall hardware sales in January and that the Xbox One was second. No numbers were given, but a Sony source said that the PlayStation 4 outsold the Xbox One by two-to-one.

On the software side, here is how game sales shook out in January:

1. Call of Duty: Ghosts (360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, Wii U, PC)
2. NBA 2K14 (PS4, 360, Xbox One, PS3, PC)
3. Battlefield 4 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
4. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (360, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Wii U, PC)
5. Grand Theft Auto V (360, PS3)
6. Madden NFL 25 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
7. Minecraft (360)
8. FIFA 14 (PS4, Xbox One, PS3, 360, Vita)
9. Lego Marvel Super Heroes (360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, 3DS, Wii U, Vita, PC)
10. Tomb Raider (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)

The game controllers are listed in order of sales, from most to least. Microsoft has pointed out that when software sales for both the Xbox One and the Xbox 360 are combined, the company’s platforms sold 2.27 million units, taking 47% of the total software market. Sony indicates that in a comparison between just the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, software sales for the Sony console take the top spot.

NPD Group estimates that total January consumer spending for digital games, mobile games, used games, rentals, subscriptions, new games and hardware came to approximately $1.3 billion.

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