I think what's depressing was the lack of interesting titles released in January.
If it wasn't for the Move Mayhem sale I wouldn't have bought anything in January.
Just checked my library from this gen, here are the games that were released in January:
2012: Haunt (XBLA), Quarrel (XBLA), Mutant Mudds (3DSWare)
2011: Lost in Shadow (Wii), ilomilo (XBLA), NightSky (PC), Mindjack (360), Ares (PC), Kaptain Brawe (PC), Magicka (PC),
Dead Space 2 (360)
2010:
Darksiders (360), VVVVVV (PC), Plucky's 3d Adventure (XBLIG), Glory of Heracles (DS), Vandal Hearts (XBLA),
Mass Effect 2 (360), No More Heroes 2 (Wii), KrissX (XBLA), Toki Tori (PC)
2009: Big Bang Mini (DS), Elebits 2 (DS), Caster (PC), Cuboid (PSN), Moon (DS), The Maw (XBLA), Another Code R (Wii)
2008: GTA Classics (PC),
Burnout Paradise (360), Endless Ocean (Wii), Advance Wars DoR (DS),
No More Heroes (Wii), The Wonderful End of the World (PC)
2007: Phoenix Wright JFA (DS), Hotel Dusk (DS), Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
2006: Electroplankton (DS), Marble Blast Ultra (XBLA)
So I basically feel like it's always been pretty slim and mainly digital. I bolded home console releases that I thought were actually /significant/ in some way. When you take into account that I buy a lot of older stuff, the fact that the previous years have more games doesn't really surprise me, I suspect January 2012 will end up looking pretty on par with the other years by the time I've done some bargain basement shopping later in the year.