NPD: Sales slump continues in US

Overall games sector down 10 per cent, handheld sales continue to collapse in poor August for retail

News by Matt Martin Contributor

Published on Sept. 10, 2010

Sales of videogames, hardware and related peripherals continue to slump in the US, with the worst August sales since 2006 - before the launch of the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii.

Overall sales were down 10 per cent to $818.9 million, with hardware sales slipping 5 per cent to $282.9 million and software down 14 per cent to $403.5 million.

For the full year-to-date, overall sales are down 8 per cent to $8.37 billion - with software, hardware and accessories in the handheld sector falling 25 per cent.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the biggest success in hardware, with 356,700 units sold, followed by the DS with 342,700 and the Wii's 244,300 units.

Sony's PlayStation 3 shifted 226,000 units - marking the thirteen month of consecutive growth for the home console. The PSP moved 79,400 units.

In terms of software, Electronic Arts' Madden NFL 11 was number one and two in the top ten sellers, with over 1.8 million units sold on Xbox 360 and PS3, and sales of all five SKUs up around 6 per cent.

Highlighting a significant gap, the third best seller for August was Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Wii, moving 124,600 units, although because the NPD Group does not track retail PC sales, Blizzard's StarCraft II would have made the number three spot with sales during the month of 300,000 units.

Take-Two's new release, Mafia II, managed fourth and seventh, selling 121,600 units on Xbox 360.

The top ten best-sellers for August 2010 follow: