NPD: LA Noire nears 1m in US

Rockstar’s LA Noire was the best selling game in the US in May, selling 889,000 units across Xbox 360 and PS3, according to Giant Bomb.

However, its success was not enough to stop a 19 per cent year-on-year slump in the US software market, which hit a value of $375.8m.

The only machine to see a year-on-year games sales rise was Xbox 360, which crawled up by one per cent.

"This month’s story really is about a light new release schedule as compared to last year," NPD analyst Anita Frazier stated. "There were 42 new SKU’s introduced in May as compared to 58 last May, and 72 in 2009.

"As a result of a lighter release slate, promotional activity at retail and in circulars was reduced as well, which undoubtedly affected not only planned but impulse purchases.

"Keep in mind that purchases of content are increasingly occurring in digital format, and May saw a notable digital release in the second map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops which was titled Escalation. Undoubtedly, this shifted some dollars that might have been spent on new physical content at retail."

The top ten games for the month are as follows:
1. LA Noire (Rockstar)
2. Brink (Bethesda)
3. LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney)
4. Portal 2 (EA)
5. Mortal Kombat (Warner)
6. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision)
7. Zumba Fitness (Majesco)
8. NBA 2K11 (2K Games)
9. Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft)
10. LEGO Star Wars III (LucasArts)

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