September game sales jump 38%, DS unit sales up 141% - NPD
Combined
monthly retail sales of game software, hardware, and accessories for the
month were $777 million, a whooping 38% increase from the $563 million
taken in during September 2005, according to NPD, reports
Gamespot. Game software sales were up 29% and DS & Xbox 360 bostted
hardware sales by 70%.
Game software retail sales totaled $446 million in September, a 29% year-on-year increase, thanks to Madden NFL 07, THQ's Saints Row, and LucasArts' Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy.
Nintendo DS software revenue nearly doubled, climbing 194% from September 2005. DS hardware units rose some 141% YoY, with more than 400,000 DS systems being sold during the month, according to NPD estimates. So far this year, the DS handheld has sold more than 6.2 million units in the US. Nintendo expects to sell 20 million DS handhelds and 82 million DS games worldwide during 2006. Xbox 360 sold more than 250,000 units in September, for a total U.S. installed base of 2.7 million.
Among the game publishers, THQ's sales increased 106%, Take-Two Interactive saw an increase of 62 YoY, while EA tallied an increase of 16% versus September 2005. Other gainers for September were Majesco (up 105%) and Atari, whose 33% year-on-year gain was credited to the release of Test Drive Unlimited. Publishers that saw annual declines in monthly revenue during the month included Activision (down 32%) and Midway (down 46%).
