Video Game Industry Drops 23% In May

14th Jun, 2009 | No Comment | Posted in Games, News
Posted by Mike Leach

May was a tough month for the video game industry according to the analysts at NPD. While there are a host of reasons for the drop off from May of 08, the fact remains that monthly revenue was 23% off, marking the first sub billion dollar month since August 07. While NPD blames the poor economy and shaken consumer confidence for the abysmal May numbers, it’s probably worth mentioning that demand for the wii has plateaued and there were no 5 star spring releases this year whereas 08 gave us Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Wii Fit contributed to the poor numbers as well. NPD analyst Anita Frazier indicated that direct comparisons from spring 08 to spring 09 wouldn’t be fair even if economic conditions had been similar given the number of uncharacteristically high profile releases last spring.

So what lies ahead for the video game industry in these times of economic uncertainty? Was this an anomalous phenomenon caused by game developers not hitting the 07 Christmas season and backing high profile releases into Q1 of 08, or have hard times hit the gaming business? Only time will tell I suppose, and in all likelihood the truth lies in the middle. Here are NPD’s estimates of the top selling hardware and software, ranked by unit.

NPD’s top US games for May 2009, ranked by units:

1. UFC 2009 Undisputed, Xbox 360: 679,600
2. Wii Fit w/ Balance Board, Wii: 352,800
3. EA Sports Active Bundle, Wii: 345,800
4. UFC 2009 Undisputed, PS3: 334,400
5. inFamous, PS3: 175,900
6. Pokemon Platinum Version, Wii: 168,900
7. Mario Kart w/ wheel, Wii: 158,300
8. Punch Out!!, Wii: 156,900
9. X-Men Origins Wolverine Uncaged edition, Xbox 360: 120,700
10. Wii Play w/ remote, Wii: 109,800

US game software sales for May 2009, ranked by units:
1. Nintendo DS+DSi: 633,500 (last month: 827,000)
2. Nintendo Wii: 289,500 (last month: 340,000)
3. Microsoft Xbox 360: 175,000 (last month: 175,000)
4. Sony Playstation 3: 131,000 (last month: 127,000)
5. Sony Playstation 2: 117,000 (last month: 172,000)
6. Sony Playstation Portable: 100,400 (last month: 116,000)

Will Ghostbusters, Tiger Woods 2010, and Wii Motion + bring the numbers back in line? Stay tuned.

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