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July NPD: US videogame sales down 1%, Xbox 360 claims No. 1

Written by: Oliver Snyders / 13 August 2010 / No Comments

New Xbox 360 - Small US sales tracking and research group NPD has revealed sales figures for the region’s videogame industry during the month of July 2010, and thanks to an incredible surge in Xbox 360 console sales, revenue for the month reached $846.5 million, which represents a decline of only 1% compared to the same month in 2009, when revenue reached $850.6 million.

Hardware sales then were led comfortably by the Xbox 360, ahead of perennial market leaders the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii ‒ the first time Microsoft has managed such a feat since the release of Halo 3 in September of 2007.

On the software side, NCAA Football 11 from EA was the best-selling game for July, although interestingly enough, Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II on the PC outsold EA’s title, but due to the nature of NPD’s reporting (i.e. not comparing PC and console software data), StarCraft II has to celebrate its victory alone.

Software Sales

Software sales in the US for the month of July 2010 saw a decline of 8% to $403.3 million, down from $438 million in July last year.

The best-selling title for the month was the Xbox 360 version of NCAA Football 11 with 368 000 units, while the PS3 version came in second with 298 000 units. Third place goes to Crackdown 2 on Xbox 360 with 208 800 copies sold.

Combined, NCAA Football 11 is the overall top-seller for July, while LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1 ‒ 4 is second best with combined sales of 401 000 across all platforms ‒ better even than the title’s first month on sale, which saw 355 000 units leave store shelves.

As mentioned, StarCraft II was in fact the overall best-selling videogame in July, with an impressive 721 000 units sold, but because NPD only charts console sales data, this title isn’t represented in the listing.

NPD’s Anita Frazier noted:

“While video game retail sales show a very slight decline versus last July, we have to consider the success of StarCraft II this month, which helped the PC games category to realize a 103 percent increase in dollars over last July.

“PC games and video game industry sales combined for an increase of 4 percent in revenues as compared to July ‘09.”

Top Ten Software Sales for July 2010

1.) NCAA Football 11 (Electronic Arts, Xbox 360) ‒ 368 000
2.) NCAA Football 11 (Electronic Arts, PS3) ‒ 298 000
3.) Crackdown 2 (Microsoft, Xbox 360) ‒ 208 800
4.) Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo, Wii) ‒ 193 000
5.) Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Warner Bros Interactive, NDS) ‒ 141 700
6.) Red Dead Redemption (Take-Two Interactive, Xbox 360)
7.) Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Warner Bros Interactive, Wii)
8.) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo, DS)
9.) New Super Mario Bros Wii (Nintendo, Wii)
10.) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard, Xbox 360)

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

Hardware Sales

Software sales in the US for the month of July 2010 saw an increase of 12% to $313.8 million compared to July 2009, when revenue stood at $281.1 million. This is mainly thanks to the fantastic sales results of the revised Xbox 360 250 GB, which dominated the hardware chart with 443 500 units sold during the month.

All other consoles (save for the PSP) performed admirably, and as the industry tumbles closer towards the all-important holiday season with a steady increase in important and exciting software releases, these numbers are sure to swell even further (although next month’s NPD results for August will most likely be very dull indeed).

Top Five Hardware Sales for July 2010