US retail spend on games dropped to $669.9 million in August, marking a 23 percent year-on-year decline, according to market research firm NPD Group.
NPD noted that, despite increased unit sales, hardware spend fell 12 percent year-on-year. Handhelds, however, saw growth thanks to a significant rise in 3DS sales.
Meanwhile, software sales fell 37 per cent to $285.9 million, with Deus Ex: Human Revolution topping the monthly chart.
Despite the slump, NPD remains optimistic for the remainder of 2011. Analyst Anita Frazier said: "More than half of industry sales are still to be realised in the back four months of the year. Given the strong release schedule in the coming months, new physical sales could still be flat to slightly up once full-year sales are tallied."
Comments
4 comments so far...
MrMoobs on 9 Sep '11 said:
Probably due to the simple fact that there was nothing of any interest released in August... or July... or even June for that matter
stonecold77 on 9 Sep '11 said:
^^ Exactly, with the exception of Deus Ex all the top games are coming out around november time leaving summer virtually dead unless you are a bloody Zumba fanatic.
toaplan on 9 Sep '11 said:
Madden NFL was delayed and released in september instead of august this year, which explains some of the sales decline.
singhcoventry on 9 Sep '11 said:
This is a silly story - of course there going to be down
Come Q3 and 4 - they will be cashing it in