Gran Turismo 4 leads strong NPD six-month report

Market information provider NPD Group has reported solid retail sales for videogames in the USA for the first six months of 2005, with a 21 per cent increase in figures overall and Gran Turismo 4 leading the field in software sales.

News by Corey Brotherson Contributor

Published on July 29, 2005

The Sony racing title took the top spot on the chart, with the PS2 exclusive racer beating off strong competition from Nintendo's GBA title Pokemon Emerald and EA's MVP Baseball 2005, at numbers two and three respectively.

January 1st to June 30th saw gaming hardware, software and accessories take over $4.1 billion, compared to $3.4 billion in the same period last year. Much of the increase was attributed to the release of Sony's PlayStation Portable and Nintendo's DS, increasing unit sales 11 per cent, while portable software, hardware, and accessories sales were up 74, 181, and 81 per cent, respectively.

Console hardware saw a six per cent drop, with $594 million, compared to $631.6 million last year, but accessories and software rose six and three per cent, respectively.

PC software declined by 10.5 per cent, taking a comparatively short $405.4 million compared to $453.3 million during the same period in 2004, but software sales on a whole rose marginally with a 9.2 per cent increase; $2.8 billion total compared to 2004's $2.5.

The top ten selling games of the fist half of 2005 are as follows, with their respective format, publisher, release month and retail price.

First Half (January - June) Top Sellers