The industry experienced a hefty blow to video game software sales last month, dropping 15% from June 2009 sales and only totaling $531 million (down from $627 last June).

The Hardware

In fact, overall sales and software slid while accessories saw 6% growth and were worth $169.6 million and hardware saw a 5% increase for a total of $401.7 million according to The NPD Group US video game sales numbers for June 2010.

The drop is most likely due to lower prices and while sales of console units were up 54%, roughly 1,179,000 units for the month, handhelds fell 32% and sold only 631,700. The top of the hardware charts was the Nintendo DS (all SKUs) while the Xbox 360 took the second spot, edging out the Wii by 30,000 units. The PS 3 sold just over 300,000 units and the PSP sales were a miserable 121,000.

"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, and the PS3 has now garnered 11 consecutive months of year-over-year unit sales increases," said NPD industry analyst, Anita Frazier.

Dollar Sales
	Jun-09	Jun-10	CHG		YTD June ’09	YTD June ’10	CHG
Video Games	$1.17B	$1.10B	-6%		$7.33B	$6.66B	-9%
Video Games Hardware	$382.8M	$401.7M	5%		$2.52B	$2.11B	-16%
Video Games Software	$627.0M	$531.3M	-15%		$3.80B	$3.51B	-8%
Video Game Accessories	$159.4M	$169.6M	6%		$1.01B	$1.04B	3%

Overall sales were $1.10 billion, 6% off last year’s $1.17 billion. Hardware showed a 5% increase to $401.7 million while software lost almost $100 million (15%) showing only $531.3 million in sales.

Top Ten Games

The top games for the month were a mixed bag but Wii titles clearly dominated with five of the top ten spots. However, Red Dead Redemption for the Xbox 360 took number one and sold 582,900 units, clearing Super Mario Galaxy 2 by almost 34,500 units. The game also took third on the PS3 with another 380,300 units. Both New Super Mario Bros Wii and Just Dance showed remarkable staying power having been released back in November 2009 and coming in fourth and fifth for the month. The only other 2009 release in the top ten was Wii Fit Plus with the Balance Board in 6th, released back in October 2009.

Top 10 VG Console/Portable SKU’s June 2010
Title	Platform	Publisher	Release Date	Units	Rank
RED DEAD REDEMPTION	360	TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE	May-10	582.9K	1
SUPER MARIO GALAXY 2	WII	NINTENDO	May-10	548.4K	2
RED DEAD REDEMPTION	PS3	TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE	May-10	380.3K	3
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII	WII	NINTENDO	Nov-09	200.9K	4
JUST DANCE	WII	UBISOFT	Nov-09	174.8K	5
WII FIT PLUS W/ BALANCE BOARD*	WII	NINTENDO	Oct-09		6
TOY STORY 3	NDS	DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS	Jun-10		7
UFC 2010: UNDISPUTED	360	THQ	May-10		8
LEGO HARRY POTTER: YEARS 1-4	WII	WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE	Jun-10		9
UFC 2010: UNDISPUTED	PS3	THQ	May-10		10

Year to Date

For the entire year total sales are down 9% and have totaled $6.66 billion. That is most likely driven by flagging hardware sales which are down 16% or roughly, half a billion dollars. Software is down 8% while accessories have managed to show growth of 3%.

Number and graphs courtesy of the NPD Group.