The video game sales results for December 2011 are now in for the US and in a new Microsoft blog entry, the company said that it sold over 1.7 million units for the last month of 2011 in the US. Microsoft also said that the Xbox 360 console was the best selling in the US for the entire year of 2011, beating out the unnamed second place game console by more than 2.7 million units.
The total amount of money spent on Xbox 360 consoles, games and accessories for December 2011 came in at $1.5 billion, which amounted to 46 percent of the total current generation console market. For the entire year of 2011, Microsoft said people in the US spent $6.7 billion on Xbox 360 products; $2.1 billion on consoles and $4.6 billion on games and accessories. Microsoft said that Xbox 360 related purchases amounted to 49 percent of the total current game console market for the past year.
Sony declined to offer up specific US sales numbers for its various game consoles for December 2011. In a statement to IndustryGamers.com it said, "PlayStation 3 closed out a banner 2011 with a bang, showing increases in hardware, software and peripherals year to date. As we reported earlier this week, consumers flocked to PlayStation consoles and handhelds this holiday season with more than 6.5 million units sold worldwide."
While Xbox 360 sales were solid, IndustryGamers.com reports that the entire video game industry saw sales drop by 21 percent in December 2011 in the US compared to the same time period a year ago. The NPD Group stated that for the entire calendar year of 2011, video game sales came in at $17.02 billion, down eight percent from 2010. The numbers are for retail game sales only and do not include revenue from other sources including downloadable game sales, micro-transactions and subscriptions.
The top three best selling games for December 2011 in the US just happen to be the three best selling games for the entire year. IndustryGamers.com reports that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 got the top spot in both lists, followed by Just Dance 3 and The Elder Scrolls V Skryim.