The NPD Group, the top game-industry research firm has released figures of the total amount spent on video game products in the United States during July. The company has revealed that US consumers shelled out $846.5 million on games, hardware and accessories over the course of the month.
July sales saw a minor 2% drop in Xbox units while every other console suffered double digit drops. This earned the Xbox 360 the rare opportunity to overtake the Nintendo DS as the best-selling piece of video game hardware last month. To put things in perspective, NPD analyst Anita Frazier notes, "It"s the first time since September "07 (Halo 3 launch) that the 360 was the top-selling hardware platform."
NPD Group listed the following totals of hardware sales for July 2010:
- Xbox 360 - 443,500
- Nintendo DS - 398,400
- Wii - 253,900
- PlayStation 3 - 214,500
- PlayStation Portable - 84,000
While the list of software sales only covers console and portable hardware, one other game that deserves to be mentioned is StarCraft II. Despite just five days on the market in July, the much-anticipated RTS sold an impressive 721,000 units at retail in July. Of course the figure is even higher when digital and global sales are included.
NPD Group listed the following totals of software sales for July 2010:
- NCAA Football 11 (Electronic Arts, Xbox 360), 368,000
- NCAA Football 11 (Electronic Arts, PlayStation 3), 298,000
- Crackdown 2 (Microsoft, Xbox 360), 208,800
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo, Wii), 193,000
- Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Warner Bros Interactive, Nintendo DS), 141,700
- Red Dead Redemption (Take-Two Interactive, Xbox 360)
- Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Warner Bros Interactive, Wii)
- Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo, Nintnedo DS)
- New Super Mario Bros Wii (Nintendo, Wii)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard, Xbox 360)
Image Credit: Customers Rock