Sales Slide For the Sixth Straight Month

Game sales in the US declined for the sixth month in a row in August, according to sales numbers released by the NPD Group.

Things didn’t get any better in August for the slumping sales the games industry has seen in 2009. According to the sales numbers for last year compiled by research firm the NPD Group, last month saw the sixth straight month in a row of year-to-year decline for sales, down 16% from last year with $909 million.

Hardware numbers dropped 25%, but showed some signs of life thanks to the price cuts implemented by Microsoft and Sony. Despite the decline from 2008, hardware showed a 72% boost from July numbers. “The price cuts implemented on the PS3 and 360 hardware already made an impact on unit sales, despite having been executed fairly late in the month,” the NPD’s Anita Frazier said. “It will be interesting to see the full impact of the new price points on September sales.”

PlayStation 2 105.9K
PlayStation 3 210.0K
PSP 140.3K
Xbox 360 215.4K
Wii 277.4K
Nintendo DS 552.9K

On the software side, Madden NFL 10 led the charge, which should be no big surprise to anyone. Batman: Arkham Asylum made a strong showing with close-to-even sales across both the PS3 and 360. And seemingly out of nowhere is a DS title called Fossil Fighters which I’ve never even heard of. Is this the new thing the kids are into these days? I thought that was Bakugan.

MADDEN NFL 10 (360) 928,000
WII SPORTS RESORT W/ WII MOTION PLUS (WII) 754,000
MADDEN NFL 10 (PS3) 665,000
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM* (360) 303,000
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM* PS3) 290,000
MADDEN NFL 10 (PS2) 160,000
DISSIDIA: FINAL FANTASY (PSP) 130,000
WII FIT* (WII) 128,000
MARIO KART W/WHEEL (WII) 120,000
FOSSIL FIGHTERS (NDS) 92,000

With the year’s biggest games coming out in the next couple months, I’d expect things to start picking up a bit, but like Frazier cautions, we shouldn’t be expecting anything amazing. “The back four months of the year would have to be up 14% in aggregate for 2009 to come in flat in comparison to 2008 sales,” she said. Man, to be back in 2008. The Dark Knight, healthy videogame sales, no pig flu. Good times.