Video game hardware and software sales decline in Oct.

Video game software and hardware sales in the United States took a sharp dive in October, down 19 percent in October to right around $1.07 billion, according to sales data collected by research group NPD. Console hardware sales fell 23 percent from the same period a year ago, while software sales dropped 18 percent.

Sales of video game accessories were down 2 percent. In Oct. the Wii managed to climb back up on the top of the heap ahead of the PS3 and Xbox 360, despite price cuts for both systems in Sept. The Wii sold 507K units in the U.S., followed by 457.600K units for the DS, 321K units of the PS3 and 250K of the Xbox 360. The PSP and PS2 sold 174.6K and 117.8K, respectively.

Sony’s Uncharted 2 managed to move about half a million copies in October, followed by Wii Fit Plus (441K), the Xbox 360 version of 2K Games’ Borderlands (418K), Wii Sports Resort (314K), NBA 2K10 on Xbox 360 (311K), and Halo 3 ODST (271K).

NPD to track online game sales

In an article on MCV, NPD Group revealed that it will finally start tracking sales numbers for digitally distributed games.

“It’s a about time,” said James Fudge, consumer and all-American adult male. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that online sales are a major portion of overall sales in the U.S.,” he added.

The company plans to track sales data for console, PC and mobile phone games, but how it will track all online game sales will be interesting. Obviously portal like Steam and Direct2Drive will be in the mix, but what about places like Impulse, Good old Games and GamersGate? We’ll have to see how all this is going to work.

Madden, Batman surprise in August software sales

In what can be considered a bit of a non-shocker, Madden NFL 10 managed to move 1.75 million units in August, followed by Wii Sports Resort and Batman Arkham Asylum. The Xbox 360 version of Madden raked in 928K in unit sales, while the PS3 version managed to sell through about 665K units, followed by the PS2 version which moved about 120K units.

Batman: Arkham Asylum did pretty well on the PS3 and Xbox 360; 303K units of the Xbox 360 version were sold in August followed very closely by 290K units on the PS3. No doubt hardware price cuts that kicked off in August probably helped Batman: Arkham Asylum than Madden did. Full list below:

August 2009 Software Sales:

Madden NFL 10 for Xbox 360, EA - 928,000 units

Wii Sports Resort for Wii, Nintendo - 754,000 units

Madden NFL 10 for PS3, EA - 665,000 units

Batman: Arkham Asylum for Xbox 360, Square Enix - 303,000 units

Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3, Square Enix - 290,000 units

Madden NFL 10 for PS2, EA - 160,000 units

Dissidia Final Fantasy for PSP, Square Enix - 130,000 units

Wii Fit for Wii, Nintendo - 128,000 units

Mario Kart Wii for Wii, Nintendo - 120,000 units

Fossil Fighters for DS, Nintendo - 92,000 units

Video game industry sales decline by 29 percent inJuly

According to retail sales data from NPD Group revenue for the video game industry saw a major decline, finally putting to bed the question of whether or not the sector was in fact recession proof. A certain analyst whose name I won’t mention might have said that once, but you won’t hear such utterances from him about that now. It has been the fifth month that the interactive entertainment has seen a decline, according to NPD. Total sector revenue was $848.9 million, down dramatically from $1.2 billion a year ago.

Analysts expected a 15 percent decline in game, console and accessories spending in July, but what they got was nearly double that - a 29 percent drop overall. Hardware sales were the biggest losers in July, with a major decline in Nintendo Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 sales. The Nintendo Wii saw a 54 percent drop in sales, the PS3 a 45 percent drop and the Xbox 360 was off by 10 percent. Hardware sales amounted to $280.9 million in July (a 37 percent decline), down from $447.7 million a year ago.

Analysts are saying that it is probably necessary for Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to start thinking about cutting the prices of their respective systems, but Nintendo and Sony probably won’t - or at least that is what both have been saying for quite some time. We’ll see.

WOW Dominates PC Games Chart

PC game sales for the week ending April 18 are in, showing that the WOW expansion World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King was the top selling item. But the big surprise for the week is Gas Power Games’ Demigod debuting at #3 - right behind The Sims 2 Double Deluxe. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor came in at number 4, while Empire: Total War rounded out the top five.

EA had 4 titles in this week’s top ten, followed by Blizzard Entertainment with 3 titles and the rest filled out by single titles from THQ, Sega, and Stardock. As always, these are retail numbers and do not include digital distribution sales. Full list below:

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard Entertainment, Activision)
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe (EA, Maxis)
3. Demigod (Gas Powered Games, Stardock)
4. Company Of Heroes: Tales Of Valor (Relic Entertainment, THQ)
5. Empire: Total War (The Creative Assembly, Sega)
6. Left 4 Dead (Valve Software, EA)
7. World Of Warcraft Battle Chest (Blizzard Entertainment, Activision)
8. World Of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, Activision)
9. The Sims 2: Apartment Life (EA, Maxis)
10. Spore (EA, Maxis)

Resident Evil 5 Dominates March Software Sales

Capcom’s Resident Evil 5 outsold every other video game in March, according to software and hardware sales data for the month from NPD Group. Resident Evil 5 on the Xbox 360 managed to move 938,00 units, while its PS3 counterpart did a respectable 585, 000 units. Pokémon Platinum Edition managed to move 805,000 units in March, followed by Halo Wars for Xbox 360 with 639,000 units, Wii fit with 541,000, MLB 09 with 305,000, Killzone 2 with 296,000, and Wii Play with 281,000.

1. Resident Evil 5 - Xbox 360
2. Pokémon Platinum Edition - DS
3. Halo Wars - Xbox 360
4. Resident Evil 5 - Xbox 360
5. Wii Fit - Wii
6. MLB 09: The Show - PS3
7. Killzone 2 - PS3
8. Wii Play - Wii
9. Mario Kart Wii - Wii
10. MLB 2K9 - Xbox 360

NPD group noted that video games sales for March were down by about 17 percent from the same  period last year.

March Hardware Sales Weak

While the Wii continued to sell well in North America during the month of March, it was the Xbox 360 that was up from March 2008 numbers, according to NPD Group. The Wii sold 601,000 units in March followed by the DS (563K), Xbox 360 (330K), PS3 (218K), PSP (168K), and PS2 (112K). The numbers aren’t all that shocking considering when East fell this year and take into account that the Wii had Mario Kart Wii driving sales in the same period last year. In general the entire business was down in march - from hardware to software and all stops in between.

1. Wii 601K
2. Nintendo DS 563K
3. Xbox 360 330K
4. PlayStation 3 218K
5. PSP 168K
6. PlayStation 2 112K

Video game hardware sales were $552.04 Million USD - down by 18 percent, while accessories sales were $217.55 million down by about 15 percent.

While it would be easy for some watching the game space to be concerned about this, NPD Group says that this is do more to timing, availability of killer software and other factors than it is about the economy or consumer spending. It will be interesting to see how these numbers compare to April.