NPD Tallies May 2010 Video Game Sales in the USA Market
by Jacob Mazel, posted on 01 July 2010 / 3,646 Views
For the four weeks ending May 29, 2010 NPD says $823.5 million was spent on video games in the United States. That is drop from May 2009 when $863.3 million was spent on video games. The major culprit for the decline was hardware - which is selling at lower prices and lower rates than in 2009.
May 2009 May 2010
Games $448.9m $466.3m
Systems $302.5m $241.5m
Accessories $112m $115.7m
Total $863.3m $823.5m
These figures are line with Vgchartz expectations for the month. We had listed hardware at $246 million, and software at $550 million. However, for our figures the software total (accidentally) included Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort which are bundled with Wii Sports - an extra $30-35 million. In reality then, software should have been projected at $520 million.
NPD listed the following totals for hardware for May 2010.
DS - 383,700
Wii - 334,800
X360 - 194,600
PS3 - 154,500
PSP - 59,400
PS2 - No total given
Given the hardware total of $241.5 million we can infer PS2 hardware as well though. At average price points of $180 for DS, $200 for Wii, $220 at X360, $300 for PS3, and $180 for PSP, the PS2 sold about 40,000 units for the month. We don't know the exact pricing averages NPD has for hardware - but those figures probably are not too far off - particularly as Vgchartz and Michael Pachter had expected NPD to state that Sony had sold 40,000 PS2s for the month.
Here is how the figures compare to May 2009 and April 2010.
May 2010 April 2010 M/M May 2009 Y/Y
Wii 334,800 277,200 +20% 289,500 +16%
PS3 154,500 180,800 -15% 131,000 +18%
X360 194,600 185,400 +5% 175,000 +11%
DS 383,700 440,800 -13% 633,500 -40%
PSP 59,400 65,500 -9% 100,400 -41%
PS2 40,000? 70,000? -43% 117,000 -66%
Overall, it was a lousy month for hardware both month over month and year over year, as modest gains for Wii, PS3, and X360 were offset by huge drops for DS, PSP and PS2. NPD stopped giving figures for PS2 in March 2010 - so the 40,000 and 70,000 figures are based on inference and thus should be taken as estimates.
Lifetime to date, MIcrosoft's X360 now stands at over 20 million units in the United States. I've assembled lifetime to date and year to date totals below for hardware.
YTD LTD
DS 2.56m 41.29m
Wii 2.03m 29.15m
X360 1.47m 20.10m
PS3 1.29m 12.41m
PSP 0.48m 17.30m
PS2* 0.37m 45.50m
* PS2 figures are via NPD through March 2010, and then based on inference for April and May 2010.
As for software, the large number of big releases did not lead to a huge month.
Image: Industry Gamers & NPD
Red Dead Redemption and Super Mario Galaxy 2 combined to sell 2 million copies in May, but there was a sharp drop off from that point down. THQ has already lowered its revenue expectations because of how UFC 2010 has performed (about 400k month one), and Microsoft's Alan Wake sold less than 200,000 in its debut after spending years in development. Pokemon Soul Silver charted in the top ten, perhaps at 140,000 or so - and so the latest Pokemon twin-bill (Silver & Gold) likely came in at 250,000 or so. EA's Skate 3 barely charted. Overall, for the number of major releases in May it was a pretty quiet month. Lost Planet 2, Blur, Split Second, and Mod Nation Racing all missed the top ten, likely selling no better than 100,000-120,000 on a single platform for the month. Nintendo has in fact just announced that Soul Silver sold 141,000 units in the USA in May (citing NPD) - and so the top ten likely cut off at 120,000 or so. NSMB Wii sold 183,000, and Wii Fit Plus sold 161,000 according to a Nintendo press release.
June should be a quiet month - although X360 will see a nice lift on the Slim and clearance sales on older models. Late in the month there are also a ton of deals to move software - so the top ten may have a few surprises. PSP is also likely to perk up a bit on the release of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
Contact Vgchartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com
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