NPD: Hardware suffers sharp dip

Mirroring the overall decline seen in the US video games market in May, hardware sales for the period suffered a sharp fall – year-on-year sales of consoles dropped 30 per cent, hitting $302,500.

Software was on the decline, too, albeit by a lesser extent. Compared to May 2008 total software revenue was down 17 per cent at $448,900.

Still, some things don’t change, and it’s Nintendo that continues to dominate both the handheld and console markets. The DS sold a whopping 634,000 units in the month, far ahead of any of its competitors.

Wii was next up with 290,000 sales, followed by Xbox 360 (175,000), PS3 (131,000), PS2 (117,000) and PSP (100,400).

THQ’s fighting title UFC 2009 is proving as big a hit Stateside as it is in the UK, with combined sales of the Xbox 360 and PS3 version passing 1m units. Fitness was also a big hit in the US in May, with Wii Fit (353,000 units sold) and EA Sports Active (346,000) performing strongly.

Other titles charting in the monthly listings include inFamous (176,000), Pokemon Platinum (169,000), Punch Out (157,000) and X-Men Origins Wolverine.