[UPDATE] Estimates place system sales for the month down 38 percent from original Wii during same point.

[UPDATE] Following the publication of this story, GameSpot sister site CNET heard from a source with knowledge of NPD data that the Wii U sold 57,000 units in the United States during January.

The original story follows below

A person with access to NPD data has told Gamasutra that Wii U sales for January 2013 in the United States were "well under" 100,000 units. And according to the site's own estimates, sales for the month were between 45,000 and 59,000 units.

The NPD Group does not provide specific sales figures for hardware, but a representative from the research group told the site that Wii U sales for its first three months are down 38 percent from the original Wii during the same point in time.

By comparison, the seven-year-old Xbox 360 sold 281,000 units during January in the US.

The research group also does not share exact software sales data. However, the NPD's top 10 software chart (below) shows that in the case where a title was released for Wii and Wii U (Just Dance 4, NBA 2K13, Madden NFL 13, Skylanders Giants, and FIFA Soccer 13) the Wii version sold better in every instance.

January 2013 Top 10 US Titles

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (X360, PS3, Wii U, PC) - Activision Blizzard
2. Far Cry 3 (X360, PS3, PC) - Ubisoft
3. Just Dance 4 (Wii, X360, PS3, Wii U) - Ubisoft
4. NBA 2K13 (X360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC) - Take-Two Interactive
5. Madden NFL 13 (X360, PS3, Wii, PS Vita, Wii U) - Electronic Arts
6. DmC: Devil May Cry (PS3, X360) - Capcom
7. Halo 4 (X360) - Microsoft
8. Assassin's Creed III (X360, PS3, Wii U, PC) - Ubisoft
9. Skylanders Giants (Wii, X360, PS3, 3DS, Wii U) - Activision Blizzard
10. FIFA Soccer 13 (PS3, X360, PS Vita, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, PSP) - Electronic Arts

The Wii U has officially sold 3 million hardware units and 11 million pieces of software across the world since launch. Nintendo has cut its sales expectation for the system by 27 percent from 5.5 million to 4 million for its current financial year.

Activision CEO Robert Kotick said during an investor call last week that he was "somewhat disappointed" with the system's launch. Separately, GameStop Chief Financial Officer Rob Lloyd said this week that the Wii U has not lived up to expectation due to a lack of blockbuster first-party titles.

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