US video game sales are continuing their downward spiral in terms of new retail store sales. Gamesindustry International reports that, according to the latest numbers from the NPD Group, the total amount of revenue from new game software, hardware and peripherals was $1.1 billion in March 2012, down 25 percent compared to the same period a year ago.
It hasn"t been a good quarter for retail game sales, with NPD already reporting that January 2012 sales were down 33 percent while February 2012 sales clocked in 20 percent behind the numbers from a year ago. NPD estimated that $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion of additional revenues were generated from non-retail game sales, including digital downloads of games, subscriptions, rental and used games and more.
Software sales for console and PC games were down 26 percent to $585.1 million while console hardware sales were down 35 percent to $323.5 million. As expected, Mass Effect 3 from BioWare and Electronic Arts was the number one best selling game in March, followed by Capcom"s Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and Sony"s MLB 12: The Show.
Microsoft tried to spin this news in its favor. The official Microsoft blog said that the Xbox 360 console was the top selling game console in March, selling 371,000 units in the US.