In all, Americans spent nearly $1.2 billion on video game systems, software and accessories during the month, market researcher NPD Group said Thursday.
Software sales fell 12 percent from the same month a year earlier, to $597.9 million.
January does not tend to be a big month for video games, which sell heavily during the holidays, though it is when many people trade in the gift cards they got for Christmas.
The month's best-selling title was Nintendo's "New Super Mario Bros.," followed by "Mass Effect 2" from Electronic Arts Inc., which launched Jan. 26. Other games such as Activision Blizzard Inc.'s "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" and Nintendo's "Wii Fit Plus" also did well.
January hardware sales tumbled 21 percent from a year earlier to $353.7 million. In December, hardware sales hit nearly $2.2 billion and were up from a year earlier.
NPD said Thursday the Wii kept its spot as the month's best selling console with 465,800 units sold, followed by the handheld DS with 422,200.
Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 was in third place with 332,800 units, tailed by Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 with 276,900.
Sales of accessories climbed 2 percent to $217 million.
Peter Dille, senior vice president at Sony, said there has been a lot of pent-up demand for the PlayStation 3 and he expects supplies to be tight "for another month or two."
