IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

NPD: UFC Grapples Software, But Industry Sales Drop 23% in May

Posted June 11, 2009 by James Brightman

IndustryGamers has received the NPD video game sales data for May, and it's not pretty. Following two consecutive months of decline (partially on tough comps against GTA IV), total industry sales in the U.S. for May amounted to $863.3 million, a 23 percent decline year-over-year. Year-to-date, the industry is now down seven percent. Software sales in May, as analysts forecasted, were down 17 percent to $448.9 million, while hardware sales dropped 30 percent to $302.5 million. Accessories were down 25 percent as well, at just $112,000.

"I was expecting the numbers to be soft, but I was surprised by how soft they actually were," NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier commented to IndustryGamers. " I think we've all become accustomed to sales months +1B at the total industry level.  But May is one of the lowest sales months each year."

With the exception of the DS, which likely still got a nice uptick from the DSi, hardware totals were rather meager.  The DS sold 633.5K, followed by the Wii at 289.5K, and then the Xbox 360 at just 175K.  Sony's three platforms rounded out the list:  PS3 at 131K, PS2 at 117K and PSP at 100.4K.

Frazier noted, "Hardware sales are certainly soft, except for the DS.  The primary driver of hardware sales is compelling content and as you can see from the software numbers, the aggregate of content is just not generating the same level of sales as we saw last year.  So the lull in software sales is having a ripple effect across the other categories including hardware and then accessories.  I'm sure the economy is playing a part as well but the primary factor is content."

In terms of software, THQ's UFC 2009 Undisputed took top honors. The Xbox 360 version sold nearly 680K and the PS3 SKU sold another 334K, combining for well over a million units.  THQ needed the game to be a success, so they have to be pretty pleased with its great start. The rest of the games were mostly Wii titles, including the fitness craze with Wii Fit and EA Sports Active. 

Frazier commented, "While there were some very strong new releases this month along with continued strong sales of evergreen games, this month's top 10 games sold 2.6 million units combined, whereas last year the top 10 sold 3.7 million units.  Again this illustrates how tough the comparisons are to last year."

Here are the top 10 games of May (ranked by units):

 1. UFC 2009 Undisputed - Xbox 360 - THQ - 679.6K

 2. Wii Fit w/ Balance Board - Wii - Nintendo - 352.8K

 3. EA Sports Active Bundle - Wii - EA - 345.8K

 4. UFC 2009 Undisputed - PS3 - THQ - 334.4K

 5. inFamous - PS3 - Sony - 175.9K

 6. Pokemon Platinum Version - DS - Nintendo - 168.9K

 7. Mario Kart w/ wheel - Wii - Nintendo - 158.3K

 8. Punch Out!! - Wii - Nintendo - 156.9K

 9. X-Men Origins Wolverine Uncaged edition - Xbox 360 - Activision Blizzard - 120.7K

 10. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii - Nintendo - 109.8K 

 

Despite the continued decline in the industry over the last few months, Frazier remains optimistic about 2009 breaking records. "The back half of the year typically makes up roughly 65% of total year sales, so an increase in the back half will have a greater effect in reversing the year-to-date decline.  The slate of content looks pretty strong for later in the year," she told us. 

And she's already more optimistic for June, considering the content on the way. "Looking ahead to June, there are some promising games coming out this month between Sims 3 (PC), Prototype, Red Faction, Virtua Tennis, Ghostbusters, Transformers and Tiger Woods just to name a few," she said. " At E3, it was notable how many games were targeted to the tween girl demographic, and this June will see a number of games introduced for girls as well.  June comparisons are still likely to be tough, but the wide variety of new content could help reinvigorate things somewhat."

We also asked her if it was finally time for Nintendo to cut the Wii price due to slowing demand. She responded, "There seems to be adequate Wii inventory in the channel now, so consumers who want one can readily get one.  While the hardware sales for the last two months certainly haven't been what we've become accustomed to, it's still the best-selling of the console systems.  I think it's really too soon after just two months to start talking about the need for a price cut.  The Wii has reached 20 million in install base in the U.S. in 31 months and has achieved that milestone faster than any other console system, so I think that speaks volumes about its performance and viability."  

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.