NPD: October hardware revenues fall 26%

[wraggster]

NPD's latest sales releases for the month of October show a significant decline in hardware sales over the same month in 2009, with a 26 per cent fall in revenues - and a 30 per cent drop in unit sales.

The Nintendo DS once again topped the sales list, although only the Xbox 360 platform actually increased its unit sales over last year - ahead of the Kinect launch, which has apparently boosted the console hugely this month.

Additionally, although PlayStation 3 sales were up by about 15 per cent over the previous month - helped by the launch of Move - they too were down year-on-year.

In total hardware accounted for $280 million in sales across the month, compared to $381 million last October.

Meanwhile, software fared better, showing 6 per cent growth year-on-year and taking $605 million in total - with NPD analyst Anita Frazier warning that overall numbers likely only accounted for around 70 per cent of the total market spend, once digital revenues were taken into account.

The top-selling list was headed by 2K Sports' NBA 2K11, followed by Fallout: New Vegas - which sold 679,000 units on the Xbox 360 alone - and Medal of Honor.

Two Xbox 360 platform exclusive made the top ten, with Fable III in fourth and Halo: Reach in sixth, while the only Nintendo exclusive was Ubisoft's Just Dance 2 in seventh.

The accessories market was also a bright point in the overall sales picture - continuing the trend throughout the year - showing an 18 per cent increase over 2009 to $142 million.

While year-to-date hardware and software numbers are currently down by 15 per cent and 7 per cent respectively, accessories is up by 6 per cent overall.

Although physical product sales have suffered throughout 2010, all eyes will be on November's numbers to see the impact of the Kinect and Call of Duty releases.

The full software top ten was as follows:

1. NBA 2K11 (2K Games)
2. Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda Softworks)
3. Medal of Honor (Electronic Arts)
4. Fable III (Microsoft)
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (LucasArts)
6. Halo: Reach (Microsoft)
7. Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft)
8. FIFA 11 (Electronic Arts)
9. Madden NFL 11 (Electronic Arts)
10. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 (THQ)

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...all-26-percent

[Krisando]

Hmm I wonder why..

1. NBA 2K11 (2K Games) (Crap)
2. Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda Softworks) (Great)
3. Medal of Honor (Electronic Arts) (Average)
4. Fable III (Microsoft) (Gay)
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (LucasArts) (Crap)
6. Halo: Reach (Microsoft) (Crap)
7. Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft) (Crap)
8. FIFA 11 (Electronic Arts) (Crap)
9. Madden NFL 11 (Electronic Arts) (Crap)
10. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 (THQ) (Gay)