U.S. video game industry sales were down 26% in July compared to the same period last year according to new data published by The NPD Group. Hardware sales were down 29% year-over-year to $223 million, video game software sales dipped 17% to $336.2 million and sales of video game accessories were down 8% to $127.8 million. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was the best-selling console in the U.S. for the seventh consecutive month with unit sales of 277,000, though July marked the first time the Xbox saw a year-on-year decline since December 2009. “There is no getting around the fact that video game sales in the new physical retail channel suffered its lowest month since October 2006,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement. “Despite the very rough month, new physical retail sales are down just 4% year-to-date and based on seasonality trends observed over the last 10 years, which have been remarkably stable year-in, year-out, industry sales in this particular channel are poised to land in the flat to -2% range once the total year is completed.” NPD’s top-10 list of video game software title sales in the month of July follows below.
Image source: Kristen Lanae
| NCAA Football 12 (360, PS3) | 1 | Electronic Arts |
| Cars 2 (NDS, Wii, 360, PS3, PC) | 2 | |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, NDS, Wii, PC) | 3 | Activision Blizzard |
| Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Wii, NDS, 360, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC) | 4 | |
| Just Dance 2 (Wii) | 5 | Ubisoft |
| Major League Baseball 2K11 (360, Wii, NDS, PS3, PS2, PSP, PC) | 6 | Take 2 Interactive |
| Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Wii, 360, PS3) | 7 | Majesco |
| Fallout: New Vegas (360, PS3, PC) | 8 | Bethesda Softworks |
| New Super Mario Bros DS (NDS) | 9 | Nintendo |
| Mortal Kombat 2011 (360, PS3) | 10 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
