Not a good month for videogames

Jun 12, 2009 20:31 GMT  ·  By

The NPD Group has offered the data for sales of videogame hardware and software in the United States for the month of May and it's not looking too good. Year over year, the videogames industry actually registered a slump in sales of 23%, the worst seen this year. Of course, part of this is because of the strong May 2008 sales, which were bolstered by GTA IV and Wii Fit. The economic crisis, which forces consumers to spend less, is also to blame.

The overall value of the market was 863.3 million dollars in May, marking the first time since August 2007 when it dipped below 1 billion. The game hardware segment was hit hardest, with sales dipping by about 30% to only reach 302.5 million dollars.

The Nintendo DS continues to sell very well in North America, with no less than 633,000 units sold in one month, some of it on the strength of the release of the new and improved DSi hardware version. Nintendo manages to get the first and second spot, with the Wii home gaming console also shipping 289,500 units.

As seen during this year, the Xbox 360 managed to outsell the PlayStation 3 from Sony, with 175,000 to 131,000. Still, the bright spot for the PS3 is that it sold more than its older sibling, the PlayStation 2, which stands at 117,000 after a recent price cut. The PlayStation Portable is bringing up the rear with sales of a little over 100,000 units for the month of May. Sony can safely claim that the PlayStation family is outselling the Xbox family (for now).

It's interesting to note that Sony is still not committed to announcing a price cut for the PS3, even if the latest numbers show that it is needed if it wishes the main console of the company to sell more than the Xbox 360. The NPD Group also points out that the value of sales went down quicker than the number of consoles sold, mainly because average prices for videogame hardware went down between May 2008 and May 2009.