14 DAY TRIAL // In May, no videogame release managed to sell more than 1 million units in the United States and this number alone manages to offer a quick, simple view at the overall state of the videogaming industry. The NPD Group numbers for the month of May paint a picture of an industry that lost 23% of the value of its sales year over year and that is failing to release blockbusters that make players pick up both software and gaming hardware.
Anita Frazier, who is analyst for the NPD Group, stated that “While there were some very strong new releases this month along with continued strong sales of evergreen games, this month's top 10 games sold 2.6 million units combined, whereas last year the top 10 sold 3.7 million units. Again, this illustrates how tough the comparisons are to last year.”
The best performer of May was UFC 2009: Undisputed from THQ, which sold well on the Xbox 360, where it moved more than 679,000 units, and on the PlayStation 3, where it moved about half of that. The game topped the chart even if the release date was May 19, meaning that it had less than two weeks to prove its worth.
Second place in the chart was taken by the evergreen Wii Fit, which made a big splash one year ago. It sold about 352,000 units, only edging out another fitness videogame, EA Sports Active, which managed to sell 345,000 on the Nintendo Wii. Sony's inFamous, telling the story of an electricity-charged superhero, is at number five, with just 175,900 copies sold in May, and Pokemon Platinum for the Nintendo DS is in sixth place.
Mario Kart Wii and the new Punch Out! are in seventh and eight places, while X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged is at number nine. The top ten ends with Wii Play, which sold a little over 109,000 units.