Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2009/07/17/us_games_sales_june_09_npd/

Xbox 360 reverses plunging console sales trend

Poor month for rivals

By Tony Smith

Posted in Personal Tech, 17th July 2009 10:04 GMT

Games console sales in the US fell 38 per cent last month when compared to June 2008, market watcher NPD's latest numbers show.

Microsoft alone can take some solace. It was the only console maker to shift more units in June 2009 than in June 2008.

Back then, it sold 219,000 Xbox 360s. In June 2009, some 240,600 were sold.

Xbox arch-rival the Sony PlayStation 3 accounted for 164,700 units in June - well down on the 405,500 PS3 sold in June 2008.

The Nintendo Wii was also a loser, with June sales falling from 666,700 in 2008 to 361,700 in 2009.

Nintendo's handheld, the DS, experienced a much smaller year-on-year decline - 783,000 to 766,500 - but that's the result of the release of the DSi in May. Indeed, the debut of the DSi ensured that it was the only console to sell more units in the first six months of 2009 than it did in H1 2008.

June 2009 PSP sales totalled 164,500 units, down from 337,400 units in June 2008.

Overall hardware revenue totaled $382.62m for the month, down from $617.25m in June 2008.

Software sales slumped year on year, coming in 29 per cent below June 2008's figure of $875,750 to $625,790. That's the fourth monthly decline in a row.

NPD does not think games downloads have had a significant impact on the sales of physical product - which is what the company measures. This implies the sales slump reflects broader economic woes rather than a shift in games buying patterns. ®