WASHINGTON (AFP) -
US videogame sales declined by 23 percent in May from a year ago, falling below one billion dollars for the first time since August 2007, market research firm NPD Group reported on Thursday.
NPD said sales of videogame hardware, software and accessories dropped to 863.3 million dollars in May from 1.12 billion dollars in May of last year.
Hardware sales fell 30 percent to 302.5 million dollars while software sales fell 17 percent to 448.9 million dollars. Sales of accessories were 25 percent lower at 112 million dollars.
"The video games industry continues to struggle with difficult comparisons to last year," NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier said, although she added that "May is typically one of the lowest revenue-generating months."
"Every category declined versus a year ago with the exception of portable hardware sales which was bolstered by the continued strong sales of the Nintendo DS including both the DSi and the Lite," she said.
Nintendo's Wii remained the top-selling game platform in May on sales of 289,500 units followed by Microsoft's Xbox 360 on sales of 175,000 units, Sony's PlayStation 3 on sales of 131,000 units and Sony's PlayStation 2 on sales of 117,000 units.
Nintendo's DS was the top-selling handheld on sales of 633,500 units. Sony's PSP sold 100,400 units.
"There is a lot of new DS content coming to market this month for a wide variety of gamers, so we should see strong hardware sales continue," Frazier said.
Among game titles, the top-seller in May was UFC 2009 Undisputed on sales of 679,600 units for the Xbox 360 and 334,400 units for the PS3.
Wii Fit With Balance Board was next on sales of 352,800 units followed by EA Sports Active Bundle for the Wii on sales of 345,800 units.
