NPD Hardware: Xbox 360 Has Another Month at the Top

The NPD Group, which tracks hardware and software sales in the United States, has released its report for September, showing that the video game industry was again down when compared to the same period of last year, by about 6 percent.

When it comes to hardware the picture is even grimmer as the sales of the top consoles generated 9% less than in September 2010 in terms of revenue with 349 million dollars (about 254 million Euro), even if there's an improvement over August.

The Xbox 360 from Microsoft has again managed to be the best seller of the month, managing to move 438,000 device to gamers, which is a decrease when compared to the over 480,000 registered in September 2010.

September marks the seventh month in which the Microsoft home console has managed to account for more than 40 percent of the current generation market share.

Sony and the NPD Group did not disclose actual numbers for the PlayStation 3 but, based on the 20 percent increase suggested by the console maker, it's estimated that the PS3 sold up to 374,000 units.

The Nintendo Wii has been reported to sell 240,000 devices during the month of August, a slight decrease when compared to last year, while the Nintendo 3DS has failed to see too much of a boost after its August price cut, moving 260,000 devices to gamers with the older DS line adding another 145,000.

The problem for the hardware makers is that they have all slashed prices in the last few months, meaning that the companies have done pretty much all they can to increase sales short of giving their consoles away at a loss.

The months of October, November and December are crucial for the companies and we might see more promotions and bundles in an effort to push hardware sales up.