NPD: Video Game Industry Up Almost 50% in May
via gamedaily
In what should come as little shock to you by now, Nintendo dominated the U.S. video game industry for another month. Pokemon led the software charts and the DS topped all hardware, followed by the Wii. Get the details... [Update: Wii sells 338K, PS3 sells just 81K]
Following an April in which software sales were slightly down, in May the video game industry in the U.S. bounced back nicely. Console software was up 31 percent to more than $274 million, and total video game industry sales soared 49 percent to $815.5 million. Year-to-date, video game sales have reached $5 billion, a 47 percent increase over last year's $3.4 billion. A record breaking year would almost seem guaranteed for 2007.
Console hardware was a real driver of growth in May as sales climbed 79 percent to $221.4 million. Overall in hardware, the Nintendo DS (at this point, not surprisingly) took top honors... again. Nintendo sold through 423K units during the month. This was followed by Wii, PSP, PS2, Xbox 360, and then PS3. Unfortunately, NPD could not provide a complete hardware sales breakdown as of press time, but directionally it is interesting to see the PSP outselling the PS2, 360 and PS3.
On the software side, Nintendo's Pokemon Diamond for the DS once again led all titles. The game sold an additional 331.2K units, bringing total sales of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl in the U.S. to well over 2 million thus far. Diamond and Pearl have already sold over 5 million copies in Japan, and the entire Pokemon franchise has sold over 155 million.
Here's the complete top ten list (ranked by units), as provided by NPD.
Pokemon Diamond—DS—Nintendo
Mario Party 8—Wii—Nintendo
Spider-Man 3—PS2—Activision
Pokemon Pearl—DS—Nintendo
Wii Play w/remote—Wii—Nintendo
Forza Motorsport 2—Xbox 360—Microsoft
Guitar Hero II w/guitar—Xbox 360—Activision
Spider-Man 3—Xbox 360—Activision
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars—Xbox 360—Electronic Arts
Guitar Hero II w/guitar—PS2—Activision
Note: NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier was not available for comment on this month's data.
[UPDATE] More hardware sales numbers are coming in, thanks to Bloomberg. The Wii sold 338K units in May, while the 360 sold a disappointing 155K. The PS3 meanwhile dropped from 82K last month to just 81K sold (81,604 units to be exact, according to SCEA). At least the PSP sold a healthy 221,120 units, according to SCEA. We also found out (via Sony ironically) that the GBA sold 80,554 units and the GameCube sold 10,728 units.
SCEA's Sr. Director, Corporate Communications, Dave Karraker issued us the following statement: "According to NPD data, May 2007 showed a 27.5% increase in total retail dollars generated year-over-year by the PlayStation brand in North America with total sales of $284 million. During the month, sales of PS3 were flat at 81,604 units. PSP witnessed a 39% increase in year-over-year sales thanks in part to the April price drop to $169, as well as our new marketing efforts with the 'Dude Get Your Own' campaign. PSP unit sales for May totaled 221,120. The PS2 also continued to be a strong performer during the month with unit sales of 187,765."
