Game Sales Slide for Sixth Straight Month

According to the sales numbers for last year compiled by research firm the NPD Group, last month saw the sixth straight month in a row of year-to-year decline for sales, down 16% from last year with $909 million. The drop in sales has been attributed to the global recession and the fact that most gamers are saving thier money for the big releases for Winter and Q1 2010

Hardware numbers dropped 25%, but where saved from a complete loss due to price cuts from both Sony and Microsoft. Despite the decline from 2008, hardware showed a 72% boost from July numbers.

    PlayStation 2 105.9K
    PlayStation 3 210.0K
    PSP 140.3K
    Xbox 360 215.4K
    Wii 277.4K
    Nintendo DS 552.9K

    MADDEN NFL 10 (360) 928,000
    WII SPORTS RESORT W/ WII MOTION PLUS (WII) 754,000
    MADDEN NFL 10 (PS3) 665,000
    BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM* (360) 303,000
    BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM* PS3) 290,000
    MADDEN NFL 10 (PS2) 160,000
    DISSIDIA: FINAL FANTASY (PSP) 130,000
    WII FIT* (WII) 128,000
    MARIO KART W/WHEEL (WII) 120,000
    FOSSIL FIGHTERS (NDS) 92,000

Doesn't surprise me, the past few months have been dead for gaming.

Lack of titles are probably a big reason for this, the amount of games being held over till next year could make it a record breaking one. 

" Doesn't surprise me, the past few months have been dead for gaming. "

No surprise there. This year compared to last year has been lacking. It's pretty much been a drought for the gaming industry, but hopefully the holiday season will bring in more money.

September will be much better then previous moths with the PS3 Slim, price drops and Beatles: Rock Band. I think that it might even better then September last year.

The drop in sales has been attributed to the global recession and the fact that most gamers are saving their money for the big releases for Winter and Q1 2010

Wii hardware has taken the biggest dive.  I wonder if you put Wii units back up to where they were before, if we'd be positive this year.  360 and PS3 are selling more, but I wonder if software is down or up overall.
 
The price cuts didn't take effect on PS3 until the last 2-3 days of this NPD.  I don't know if 360 cuts effected this NPD at all.  Either way, next month will have 360 and PS3 up even more.

I'm guessing that's fairly normal. The middle months of the year are always fairly dry, so I'd guess it usually drops around then. It'll start to pick up again soon.

What does surprise me, however, is how low the Nintendo Wii sales are. I think this month we might actually see the PS3/360 overtake the Wii, especially with ODST coming out and the price drops.

I thought Batman: Arkham Asylum sold two million copies? Is this just a few days before the end of the month? If so, maybe it didn't reach that number until a week or two in. Nonetheless, I think there are still a lot of good games out at the moment and this season is usually somewhat dry for releases. Too bad people couldn't get free copies of Wolfenstein. XD

" I thought Batman: Arkham Asylum sold two million copies? Is this just a few days before the end of the month? If so, maybe it didn't reach that number until a week or two in.