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NPD has released its US retail video games report for September, revealing yet another month with sales down year-over-year.
Total industry sales were down 24 per cent YOY at $848.3m.
Hardware dipped 39 per cent to $210.9m, and software sales were down 14 per cent at $547.3m for the period. Accessories also fell 11 per cent YOY to $139.9m.
NPD industry analyst Liam Callahan reminds that the report excludes digital sales entirely and only covers about 50 per cent of the industry – adding that he believes the numbers indicate momentum heading toward the holidays.
"While year-over-year declines are present in video game software, we are seeing momentum leading up to the holidays when looking at August sales compared to September, which were up 67 percent on an average sales-per-week basis.
"These sales figures represent new physical retail sales of hardware, software and accessories, which account for roughly 50 percent of the total consumer spend on games. When you consider our preliminary estimate for other physical format sales in September such as used and rentals at $191MM, and our estimate for digital format sales including full game and add-on content downloads including microtransactions, subscriptions, mobile apps and the consumer spend on social network games at $488MM, we would estimate the total consumer spend in September to be just under $1.6B," Callahan said. "Our final assessment of the consumer spend in these areas outside of new physical retail sales will be reported in November in our Q3 Games Market Dynamics: U.S. report."
Digging deeper into the report, Xbox 360 maintained its lead in the hardware department with 270,000 units sold in the US during the month – accounting for nearly half of the market share of current-gen consoles in the process according to Major Nelson.
Nintendo also chimed in, reporting 3DS software sales were up 89 per cent YOY in September. New Super Mario Bros. 2 lead the surge with 295,000 units sold, with several other first-party titles showing increased sales figures compared to August.
As far as software performances go, Madden 13 finished ahead of the no-slouch combo of Borderlands 2 and FIFA 13. NHL 13 and NCAA Football 13 also made the list in sixth and eighth place respectively.
- Madden NFL 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV)
- Borderlands 2 (360, PS3, PC)
- FIFA Soccer 13 (360, PS3, PSV, Wii, 3DS, PSP)
- New Super Mario Bros 2 (3DS)
- Guild Wars 2 (PC)
- NHL 13 (360, PS3)
- World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (PC)
- NCAA Football 13 (360, PS3)
- LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSV, PC)
- Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)
