14 DAY TRIAL // The NPD Group has released the data for both hardware and software sales that took place in the month of August in North America, the most important market for the videogaming industry. And, as numerous voices predicted, it's not a pretty sight to look at. Overall sales are at 908.72 million dollars, which is 16% lower than in the same month of 2008. There are some signs that September might signal the beginning of a rally in sales but the industry still has some way to go before reaching the same sales levels as in the previous year.
Hardware has been the worst hit by the continued slump, with overall sales down a whooping 25% to a value of just 297.6 million dollars for August. The Nintendo DS continues to be the best sold gaming device, at 552,9000 units, followed by the Wii, which managed to move 277,400 consoles. It's a lower number than in 2008 for the Nintendo home console but it still manages to beat its closest rivals.
The Xbox 360 from Microsoft sits at 215,400 in sales, closely followed by the PlayStation 3, which reached 210,000. Sales of the PlayStation Portable are rather disappointing at 140,300, while the PS2 still manages to move around 106,000 console in a month, ten years after it first appeared on the market.
It's worth noting that the PlayStation 3 received a price cut in the third week of August, while the Xbox 360 got one near the end of the month, so their full impact will likely be felt only when the numbers for September come out. It's possible to see the PS3 rise over the Microsoft console.
Anita Frazier, who is an analyst with the NPD Group, stated that “There is a lot of speculation about Wii and whether Nintendo will take a price cut as sales comps to last year show declines. I do think it's interesting to note that the Wii is still selling at levels comparable to what the PS2 was doing at about this point in its lifecycle.”
In other words, Nintendo is still the leader, it's making money with each console sold and is in line with sales of the leader of the last generation of consoles, so there's little pressure on it to really take another 50 dollars off the price of its gaming device.