The NPD Group today released sales figures for the first six months of 2005. According to the numbers, sales topped $4.1 billion between January 1 and June 30, as compared to $3.4 billion in the same period last year--an increase of 21 percent.
The two newest handheld systems, Nintendo"s DS and Sony"s PSP, helped increase unit sales for the entire industry 11 percent from last year. Portable software, hardware, and accessories sales were up 74, 181, and 81 percent, respectively.
Console hardware sales did fall 6 percent, but software and accessories sales were slightly up at three and six percent, respectively. PC software sales, on the other hand, continued to tumble, falling 10.5 percent from last year. Even with PC games trailing and console software only marginally increasing, overall software sales reached $2.8 billion, up 9.2 percent from 2004"s tally of $2.5 billion.