US game sales dip 11% in Q3

US consumers spent an estimated $4.2bn on video games in Q3 overall – a year-on-year drop of 11 per cent.

That figure represents money spent on hardware, content and accessories, according to the Q3 2011 US Games Market Dynamics report from The NPD Group.

Buyers spent $1.3bn on new physical console and PC games. On top of this, $1.6bn was amassed from sales of used games, rentals, subscriptions, downloads, social network titles, DLC and mobile games.

"New physical retail sales had a rough third quarter,” said NPD Group industry analyst Anita Frazier.

Increases in sales from some of these other monetisation methods, and full game and add-on digital downloads in particular, only partially offset the decline seen in the new physical retail channel.

We are already seeing some dynamic changes in the marketplace in Q4 and we are seeing interesting geographic differences from the expansion of our coverage in the UK, France and Germany. Q4 2012 results from both the US and Europe will be issued in March, 2012."

US retail game sales generated $3bn in November.