Videogame revenue below $1 billion in May
PHYSICAL: NPD Group blames tough comparison to last year
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 6/11/2009
JUNE 11 | PHYSICAL: The videogame industry in May slipped below $1 billion for the first time since August 2007, according to NPD Group.
Total hardware, software and accessories business dropped 23% from May 2008 to $863.3 million. Hardware alone fell 30% to $302.5 million; software, down 17% to $448.9 million; and accessories, down 25% to $112 million.
Year-to-date through May, the entire videogames industry is off 7% to $6.1 billion.
NPD mostly blamed the month’s relatively weak release slate compared to last year. Much of the sales for hot release Grand Theft Auto IV came in May 2008. This May’s Top 10 games sold 2.6 million units, versus last year when the Top 10 sold 3.7 million units, according to NPD.
“The videogame industry continues to struggle with difficult comparisons to last year,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. However, she added, “May is typically one of the lowest revenue-generating months in any given year for the industry in general.”
Similar to April, the normally dominant Wii softened in May, dropping 57% to 289,500 units sold. Handheld Nintendo DS was the month’s top hardware performer, selling 633,500 units. Runners-up in the category were Xbox 360 at 175,000 units sold, PlayStation 3 at 131,000, PlayStation 2 at 117,000 and PlayStation Portable at 100,400.
However, NPD is optimistic for videogames going forward with high-profile June releases.
“Looking ahead to June, there are some promising games coming out this month between Sims 3 (for the PC), Prototype, Red Faction, Virtua Tennis, Ghostbusters, Transformers and Tiger Woods, to name a few,” said Frazier. “At E3, it was notable how many games were targeted to the tween girl demographic, and this June will see a number of games introduced for girls as well. June comparisons are still likely to be tough, but the wide variety of new content could help reinvigorate things somewhat.”
May 2009’s top titles were UFC 2009 Undisputed (Xbox 360), selling 679,600 units; Wii Fit, 352,800 units; EA Sports Active Bundle (Wii), 345,800; UFC 2009 Undisputed (PS3), 334,400; and Infamous (PS3), 175,900.
