May NPD: Diablo 3 on top, all hardware (except 3DS) down
Surprising no one based on initial sale numbers provided by Activision Blizzard, Diablo 3 managed to best all comers to establish dominance in the month of May. Blizzard's latest is the first time a PC-only title has graced the top spot on NPD's "new physical retail only" list since July 2010, when StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty launched.
Hardware sales are down compared to May 2011. Every console save for the 3DS – which saw a 17% spike in sales compared to last year – saw a decline year-over-year. Hardware saw a 39% drop, bringing in $138.9 million compared to $228.8 million in 2011. According to Microsoft, the Xbox 360 "remains the top-selling console of 2012," with 160,000 units sold.
Software sales of new physical media (see: discs you cram into your GameBox) saw less of a drop, and are down 16%, accounting for $335.2 million in sales for the month of May. This is mainly attributed to less software launches this year compared to 2011, though the performance of Diablo 3 definitely helped to soften that blow. Also, for the first time, all of this sales data includes Walmart now.
Hit the break for the full list of May's top software titles, which include a few surprises. For one, Modern Warfare 3 is not in the top three. How's that for a surprise?
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/14/ma...cept-3ds-down/
