July 2009 NPD confirms further decline in monthly industry sales

Industry analysts have already painted a fairly weak picture for July prior to yesterday's release of the NPD Group's monthly console hardware and software sales report. NPD's July sales figures confirmed the video game industry saw a year-on-year decline in sales for the fifth consecutive month this calendar year. Total industry sales rang in at $849 million USD, a 29 percent drop from July 2008. Console software and hardware sales dropped by 26 and 37 percent, respectively.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier warns that the industry will need to post year-on-year sales growth of at least 11 percent during the final five months of 2009 in order to avoid an annual decline compared to 2008. On the other hand, Frazier believes the worst of 2009 "should be behind us". August will once again officially be Madden month, and still more titles down the road (like The Beatles: Rock Band and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) may lead to sorely needed growth in sales.

July 2009 Industry Summary
Total: $849 million USD
Console software: $437 million USD
Console hardware: $280.94 million USD
Console accessories: $131.06 million USD

Though Nintendo's hardware remain top sellers during July, the Wii suffers an incredible drop in year-on-year sales making last month its worst yet. The console's momentum was much stronger during the previous year, despite last month's launch of the well-received Wii Sports Resort. Double-digit sales drops would plague the remaining consoles and handhelds, with the notable exception being the Xbox 360. Microsoft certainly took note of that, boasting that the console's performance was the "industry's sole bright spot in 2009." The company cites the console's 17 percent growth in unit sales over the first seven months of 2009, despite the very slight year-on-year decline seen last month.

Nintendo and Electronic Arts dominate the software charts; in fact they were the only game in town when it came to last month's top ten. While Wii Sports Resort reaffirms the appeal of Nintendo's Wii franchise, the combined unit sales of EA's NCAA Football 10 would actually outpace the top selling title. With Madden NFL 10 now upon us, EA Sports just might enjoy another bona fide month come NPD's report time for August. Nintendo also saw the benefit of older titles making their way into the software top ten, particularly for the DS.