According to sales tracking firm NPD, the US videogame industry experienced another year-over-year decline, this time to the tune of 6%, falling to total revenues of $1.1 billion for June 2010 as compared to June 2009.

This decline was mainly due to soft performance in the software market with relatively little new releases compared to May, while the hardware market did its best to keep sales ticking over as revenues in this segment rose year-over-year thanks to impressive increases in unit sales for all consoles over last month.

In particular, the Xbox 360 outsold the Wii in the US in June, in part due to the release of the new, slimmer Microsoft console, while Red Dead Redemption and Super Mario Galaxy 2 continued to dominate software sales in the region.

Anita Frazier, the ever-upbeat NPD analyst, noted that while June 2010’s sales results for the US videogame industry may be a bit glum, the impending release of Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s Move motion control devices may “spark additional interest in gaming,” leading to a new boost in revenue:

“Given the strong slate of content still to come,” wrote Frazier, “and the release of the Move and Kinect controllers, which I believe will spark additional interest in gaming, I think we could see the total year new physical retail sales come in at $20 billion.

“We’ll also be reporting consumer reported sales of digitally distributed, rental and used games content to provide insight into those non-POS sources of game sales.”

Software Sales

Software revenue in the US videogame industry was down a whopping 15% year-over-year, from $627 million in June 2009 to $531.3 million in June 2010.

Red Dead Redemption on Xbox 360 remained at No. 1 on the software sales chart from May, selling an impressive 580 000 units for the month, followed by Super Mario Galaxy 2 with 550 000 units and Red Dead Redemption on PS3 with 380 000 units sold.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Just Dance and Wii Fit Plus followed behind, while UFC 2010 on Xbox 360 and PS3 appeared at No. 8 and No. 10 on the chart respectively. Debut titles Toy Story 3 for the DS and LEGO Harry Potter for the Wii both wrangled their way into the Top ten, charting at No. 7 and No. 8 respectively.

Top Ten Software Sales for June 2010

• 1.) Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego/Take-Two, Xbox 360) - 582 900
• 2.) Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo, Wii) - 548 400
• 3.) Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego/Take-Two, PS3) - 380 300
• 4.) New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo, Wii) - 200 900
• 5.) Just Dance (Ubisoft, Wii) - 174,800
• 6.) Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo, Wii)
• 7.) Toy Story 3 (n-Space/Disney, NDS) - 164 000
• 8.) UFC 2010: Undisputed (Yuke’s/THQ, Xbox 360)
• 9.) LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Traveller’s Tales, Warner Bros., Wii) - 136 000
• 10.) UFC 2010: Undisputed (Yuke’s/THQ, PS3)

(Note: NPD will from now on only release sales figures for the top five games in the monthly sales chart.)

Hardware Sales

Hardware revenue in the US videogame industry rose by 5%, from $382.8 million last year to $410.7 million in June 2010.

As mentioned, the Xbox 360 outsold the Wii this month in the US, with 451 000 units compared to the Wii’s 422 000… although the DS continued to dominate the sales ranking with an incredible 510 000 units sold for the month.

PlayStation 3 and PSP hardware sales were also up from May, resulting in overall unit sales increasing by 35% for the month. NPD’s Anita Frazier comments:

“Hardware sales saw a notable uptick from May on an average sales per week basis, and all three current gen console systems saw unit sales increases over last year; in particular, the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

“The Xbox 360 experienced its second largest non-holiday month after September ‘07 when Halo 3 launched,” Frazier continued, “and the PS3 has now garnered 11 consecutive months of year-over-year unit sales increases.”

Top Five Hardware Sales for June 2010

• 1.) Nintendo DS: 510 700
• 2.) Xbox 360: 451 700
• 3.) Wii: 422 500
• 4.) PlayStation 3: 304 800
• 5.) PSP: 121 000

(Note: NPD will from now on no longer report monthly sales of the PS2.)

You can see NPD’s sales report for May 2010 over here.