Industry Outlook: Hardware Sales Down 39%

[David]

The NPD Groupss August findings paint a somber picture of the gaming industry. Total retail sales fell 20% year over year, while non-PC hardware in particular tanked nearly 40%. This downward trend is similar to the findings published about the month of July. The rest of report is detailed below...

AUGUST 2012 US GAME SALES

The following represent the overall sales in U.S. dollars.

[*]Total retail sales: $515.6 million (-20%)

[*]Non-PC hardware: $150.6 million (-39%)

[*]Non-PC software: $237.7 million (-9%)

[*]Accessories: $127.3 million (-7%)

[*]Total software: $252.8 million (-11%)

TOP 10 GAMES FOR AUGUST 2012

Title (Platforms) - Publisher

1. Darksiders II (X360, PS3, PC) - THQ

2. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) - Nintendo

3. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS) - Square Enix

4. NCAA Football 13 (X360, PS3) - Electronic Arts

5. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (X360, Wii, 3DS, DS, PS3, PS Vita, PC) - Warner Bros. Interactive

6. Sleeping Dogs (X360, PS3) - Square Enix

7. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (X360, PS3) - Activision Blizzard

8. Batman: Arkham City (X360, PS3, PC) - Warner Bros. Interactive

9. Call of Duty: Black Ops (X360, PS3, PC, DS, Wii) - Activision Blizzard

10. The Amazing Spider-Man (X360, PS3, DS, 3DS, Wii) - Activision Blizzard

The console wars continue with the Xbox 360 leading the sales pack with 193,000 units; a figure that has slowed as consumers begin to anticipate the next generation of gaming consoles.

Click here to view the article

[David]

@Squishy I deleted your comment trying to quote it. But anyways, BLOPS of all things is even in the top 10 again. Even MW3 isn't.

[Jake]

@Squishy I deleted your comment trying to quote it.

But anyways, BLOPS of all things is even in the top 10 again. Even MW3 isn't.

I'm fine with that. Accidents happen.

Also, I actually enjoyed Black Ops quite a bit. I certainly didn't love it, but Treyarch knows what they're doing. I'm glad to see it's outselling Modern Warfare 3, which was a rehash of Modern Warfare 2, which was a piece of crap to begin with.

[CarnivalofSoulz]

wooo darksiders 2 looks good. ill be getting it

[Snuggles]

The console wars continue with the Xbox 360 leading the sales pack with 193,000 units; a figure that has slowed as consumers begin to anticipate the next generation of gaming consoles.

I'd like to know where this figure was taken. Last time I checked the combined sales of the Xbox and the PS3 did not even come close to comparing to the sales of the Wii.

[David]

I'd like to know where this figure was taken. Last time I checked the combined sales of the Xbox and the PS3 did not even come close to comparing to the sales of the Wii.

Gamespot's report. I actually didn't include it at first because it wasn't in the NPD report but figured it might be a discussion topic.

Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's director of programming, said the Xbox 360 led the slowing home console race for the 20th consecutive month by moving 193,000 units.

The Wii was hot for awhile, but it's the type of thing everyone buys and then never uses. Now that the "omg Wii" has been over for a couple years I wouldn't be surprised if it's dead in the water. Nintendo has also announced it's successor already, so there's that.

[Snuggles]

Gamespot's report. I actually didn't include it at first because it wasn't in the NPD report but figured it might be a discussion topic.The Wii was hot for awhile, but it's the type of thing everyone buys and then never uses. Now that the "omg Wii" has been over for a couple years I wouldn't be surprised if it's dead in the water. Nintendo has also announced it's successor already, so there's that.

I misread, I thought it was talking about total sales. I didn't realize it meant sales this year. Which would make sense, since I'm sure about 50k-70k Xboxs a year break and a new one must be bought.