A new, slimmer Xbox boosted sales of the Microsoft console by 88 per cent in June, but video game software sales slumped 15 per cent.
The latest figures from the NPD research group on Thursday continued a disappointing trend for the industry in 2010, with overall sales down 9 per cent so far this year compared to 2009. Hardware sales rose in June by 5 per cent, helped by Microsoft’s introduction of the Xbox 360 S at the E3 trade show.
Sales of 452,000 units were 88 per cent higher than a year earlier and more than double the 195,000 sold in May.
Nintendo’s Wii sold 423,000 units, up from 335,000 in May, as a version bundled with games continued to sell well and Super Mario Galaxy 2 sold 548,000 copies as the second most popular title for the month.
Sony’s PlayStation 3 sold 305,000 units, almost double May’s 154,000, as supply constraints eased.
The best-selling game was again Take-Two’s Red Dead Redemption, which sold more than 1.5m copies at launch in May and almost 1m last month to become the top-selling game of 2010 so far.
In contrast, EA’s latest Tiger Woods release – PGA Tour 11 - sold only 32 per cent of what was sold at launch last year.
“Software sales are down, but the top 10 [titles] for the month sold comparably to what the top 10 did last June – game sales are more concentrated this year on the top-selling games,” said Anita Frazier, NPD analyst.
The industry is putting its hopes in a stronger second half, with some major titles due to be released for the holiday season and Microsoft and Sony introducing their Kinect and Move motion controllers.
