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June NPD: Hardware Sales Rise, Software Sales Tank As Red Dead Stays On Top
Video game sales data from the month of June has arrived courtesy of NPD, and it's not a pretty picture. Though hardware sales went up this month, software is down, and very few new games have managed to break into the top 10 list.
Looking at software first, the number one spot is held by the Xbox 360 SKU of Red Dead Redemption for the second month in a row. Super Mario Galaxy 2 and the PS3 version of Red Dead follow in second and third, making the top three the exact same as May's numbers but in a slightly different order. These numbers put Super Mario Galaxy 2 well over one million units sold and add nearly another million to Red Dead's total.
The middle of the chart is taken up by long-term residents New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Just Dance, and Wii Fit Plus, while UFC 2010: Undisputed continues strong in the eighth and tenth positions from its debut last month.
As far as new releases from June, only two games got positions in the top 10: the Wii version of Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and the DS version of Toy Story 3.
It seems like Activision had a particularly rough month. Transformers: War For Cybertron, which came out June 22, failed to make the top 10 despite a lot of buzz and positive reviews. Similar news for Singularity, which was only out for a couple of days in June, but then, so was Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4. Another notable absence is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the latest entry in Konami's franchise and one of the biggest PSP releases this year.
NPD analyst Anita Frazier also notes that Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 also failed to make the top 10 and sold a mere 32 percent of what its 2009 iteration sold in its first month.
Here's the full list:
1. Red Dead Redemption (360) - 582,900 units sold
2. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) - 548,400 units sold
3. Red Dead Redemption (PS3) - 380,300 units sold
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 200,900 units sold
5. Just Dance (Wii) - 174,800 units sold
6. Wii Fit Plus (with Balance Board) (Wii)
7. Toy Story 3 (DS)
8. UFC 2010: Undisputed (360)
9. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Wii)
10. UFC 2010: Undisputed (PS3)
So that's a lot of incredibly depressing data, but let's look on the (slightly) brighter side: Hardware sales are improving. Sales on all consoles are up considerably from May. This is the second largest non-holiday month ever for the Xbox 360, and it's the 11th consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases for the PlayStation 3. Here's the numbers:
1. Nintendo DS - 510,700 units sold
2. Xbox 360 - 451,700
3. Wii - 422,500
4. PlayStation 3 - 304,800
5. PSP - 121,000
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