Xbox Holds the Lead as Top-Selling Console in July But Unit Sales Drop by More than 150,000

A drop in hardware sales led a 26 percent decline in overall U.S. videogame industry sales for July to $707 million from that month last year. Videogame sales suffered their lowest month since October 2006, according to NPD sales data. Hardware sales fell 29 percent to $223 million as the average selling price for consoles remained flat. Videogame software sales for consoles and portables tumbled 17 percent to $336 million, while sales of videogame accessories slipped 8 percent to $127 million, NPD said. Total videogame software sales were down 30 percent to $357 million, including PC games, it said.

Xbox 360 remained the top-selling console for the fifth straight month, selling more units in the U.S. than any other console for 13 of the past 14 months and holding 45 percent of current-generation console sales, NPD said. But Xbox 360 unit sales fell to 277,000 units from July last year, when about 443,500 units shipped, according the data. Although console and software sales have slowed across the industry, Xbox 360 remains on track to have its biggest year in the sixth year of its lifecycle, NPD said.

PS3 sales fell 33 percent in July to about 143,700, from the same month in 2010, according to an industry source who receives NPD’s hardware sales data. Wii sales dropped 26 percent from roughly 253,900 units to 187,800 units, the source said.

Despite the “very rough month,” retail sales are down only 4 percent year-to-date, said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. Citing seasonality trends over the past 10 years, industry sales are poised to land in the “flat to minus two percent range” for the year, she said. Hardware, software and accessories accounted for 69 percent of the total consumer spending in the category in Q1, with growth coming from digital sales of full games and add-on content, mobile games, and social network gaming, Frazier said. Acceleration in these areas, combined with a “flat to modest decline” in physical sales, should result in 2011 showing growth over 2010, she said.

Among platforms, Xbox 360 and PS3 contributed a larger portion of retail dollar sales in hardware, software and accessories last month versus July 2010, NPD said. This July was the first month where the Xbox 360 saw a year-over-year decline since December 2009. Frazier said that was a reflection of “robust” sales in July 2010, when a slimmed-down Kinect-ready model launched.

The other platforms all declined in their contribution to sales compared with last July, following a typical year-to-date pattern, Frazier said. Unit sales of all hardware platforms fell from July 2010 and also declined on an average sales per week basis from June 2011, Frazier said. Combined unit sales of the 3DS and the DS were about flat compared to last year, she said.

PlayStation peripheral sales grew 18 percent year-over-year, “demonstrating a strong consumer interest in PlayStation Move and the Sharp Shooter,” Sony said. This fall the company will release Resistance3, a shooter game that combines 3D with Move and the Sharp Shooter, it said.

Unit software sales declined 10 percent year over year due to “substantially fewer” new releases and underperforming top-selling games, NPD said. Across PC, console and portable game sales, 19 titles sold more than 100,000 units last July, while only eight titles hit that mark last month, Frazier said. Seventeen new games released in July 2011 compared with 29 last July, she said. Not counting top-selling NCAA Football 12, the average sales per new release this July were up 42 percent in units vs. July 2010, she said. EA’s NCAA saw a 15 percent sales boost over NCAA 11. Those sales increases “could have been fueled by ardent football fans who have to wait a little longer to get their hands on Madden this year,” Frazier said. The Madden 2012 game will not release until Aug. 30, which will bump the title to the September reporting period. Last August, Madden 2011 comprised 28 percent of physical retail software sales, so the impact of the shift to September “is very real,” she said.

Rounding out the top-10 games for July were Cars 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, Just Dance 2, Major League Baseball 2K11, Zumbo Fitness: Join the Party, Fallout: New Vegas, New Super Mario Bros DS and Mortal Kombat 2011, NPD said. Just Dance 2, a Wii exclusive, sold more than 120,000 units in July and has sold five million units total, according to NPD data.