The NPD Group has released its sales report of the videogame industry in the US for the month of September, sadly the first of its kind to not include exact unit sales.

NPD no longer reports the unit sales figures for the Top 5, neither does the Top 10 show a single title on a single platform but rather the combined sales of an individual title across all platforms.

The Top 10 software chart shows that Halo Reach outsold the competition with 3.3 million copies shifted, impressive given that the title is an Xbox 360 exclusive. Madden NFL 11 came in second with Dead Rising 2 and NHL 11 following.

FIFA Soccer 11 scored fifth place with Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep next and Mafia II occupying the number 7 spot. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions debuted at number 8 while Metroid: Other M was in ninth and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 still proving its worth at number 10.

While we may not know the precise breakdown of how the hardware did, we do know that overall hardware sales fell 19% to $383 million. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are not prohibited from sharing their sales figures for the month, but only Microsoft chose to do so, not surprising given that the Xbox 360 was tops for the month with a whopping 484 000 units sold, a 37% year-on-year increase and its highest month of unit sales for the year. So far Nintendo and Sony have remained tight-lipped.

According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, “Hardware unit sales, with the exception of the Xbox 360, are down versus last September, but a couple other platforms, specifically the PS3 and the PSP are up on an average sales per week basis as compared to last month (August 2010).”

Accessories saw a boost in sales this month, up 13% to $180 million largely due to the release of the PlayStation Move. However, the Xbox Live 1600 point card and the $20 PlayStation Network card remained the top-selling accessories for the month.

US Videogame Industry Totals for September 2010

Below is a list of the category, followed by the total and the change in brackets.

• Total - $1.22 billion (-8%)
• Non-PC total - $1.18 billion (-8%)
• Non-PC hardware - $383 million (-19%)
• Non-PC software - $614 million (-6%)
• Software - $655 million (-5%)
• Accessories - $180 million (+13%)

Top Ten Software Sales for November 2009

• Halo: Reach (360) - Microsoft
• Madden NFL 11 (360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP) - EA
• Dead Rising 2 (360, PS3, PC) - Capcom
• NHL 11 (360, PS3) - EA
• FIFA SOCCER 11 (360, PS3, PS2, PSP, NDS) - EA
• Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP) - Square Enix
• Mafia II (360, PS3, PC) - Take 2 Interactive
• Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (PS3, 360, NDS, Wii) – Activision
• Metroid: Other M (Wii) – Nintendo
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360, PS3, PC) - Activision Blizzard

Source: NPD