We have the NPD results for May and it’s a shocker. The entire industry is down by 28% with even the Xbox 360 registering huge drops and has sold 160k. Rockstar has to be disappointed with Max Payne 3’s performance as the game only sold 450k in May.
Diablo 3 topped the software charts and we know how much it sold worldwide. On the hardware front, 3DS was the only system to register a growth with a meager 117k sales. We do not have the numbers for the PS3 or Vita but that’s expected.
“All hardware platforms, save the 3DS, saw a decline in unit sales versus last year. The Nintendo DS, however, did realize a 35% lift over April 2012, catalyzed by the May 20th price reduction on the DSi and DSi XL. Even with the price drop on the DS platform, 3DS sales realized an increase of 17% over last May,” said Anita Frazier from NPD Group.
“To dig deeper into the new physical retail software performance this month, new launches generated 31% more dollars this May than they did last May, largely due to the success of Diablo III. This May, new SKU launches across console, portable and pc game software generated 188% more unit sales per SKU than they did last May. So while there were fewer new item introductions this May, they collectively generated more unit and dollar sales.
“YTD 2012, there have been 27% fewer new software title introductions into retail which we believe is a big part of the softness we’re seeing in May sales. A title obviously continues to see sales beyond its launch month, so there is a longer term impact from a narrower array of available new content. That said, we saw some exciting content at E3 that will come to market in the latter part of the year, and when great content comes to market, gamers are still showing up at the stores to buy it.”
You can check out the complete software chart below, courtesy of Neogaf.
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