New research from the NPD Group, reveals that sales of video games were $1.26 billion in February of this year, compared with $1.48 billion in 2009. When broken out by category, sales of hardware dropped 20 percent, from $534.2 million in 2009, to $426.4 million; software dropped 15 percent, from $736.7 million, to $624.4 million; and accessories dropped a mere 1 percent, from $206.1 million, to $204.7 million.
Nintendo DS was the best-selling hardware unit, with 613,200 units sold. Xbox 360 was next (422,000), followed by Wii (422,000), PlayStation3 (360,100), PlayStation Portable (133,400) and PlayStation2 (101,900).
Anita Frazier, NPD analyst, said in a statement regarding the figures: "The industry realized another month of decreased sales as compared to last year. In fact, for most categories, unit sales declines were greater than dollar sales. Higher average retail prices on all categories except console hardware boosted dollar sales performance somewhat."
Fraizer said, "Honestly, I had expected the industry to perform somewhat better this month. Nonetheless, strong new releases, and Easter gift-buying bodes well for industry performance in March."
The best-selling software title was BioShock2 for the Xbox 360.
In January the Xbox 360 sold 333k units, a 7 percent year-over-year gain. Last month, Microsoft sold 422k units, an 8 percent year-over-year gain, or further indication the system's making small if steady gains.
On the other hand, Sony sold 277k units in January (+36%) and 360k units in February (+30%), much larger year-over-year- gains, though you could argue that's because Sony's had nowhere but up to go after years of depressing monthly numbers.
In an email, Microsoft called February 2010 its "biggest February in Xbox 360 history" and attributed that to "a stellar portfolio of exclusive blockbuster games, a fresh pipeline of new content on Xbox LIVE and high anticipation for controller-free gaming and entertainment with 'Project Natal' for Xbox 360." Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business COO Dennis Durkin believes February's NPD results indicate 2010 will be the company's "biggest...and best...in Xbox history."
News has also emerged that Sony is considering either killing off or relaunching their new PSP Go which has been described as "the biggest failure in recent video gaming history".
