Video Game Sales Plunged 26% in July
Posted on September 5, 2011
Video game sales plunged in July. A report from the NPD Group found sales in July 2011 ($707.7 million) were 26% lower than in July 2010 ($961.3). The category does not include app downloads, which could be starting to steal some marketshare from video games.
A USA Today story cites Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter as saying big June releases - L.A. Noire, Duke Nukem Forever and Infamous 2 - did not have legs.
Gamasutra found one bright spot in the sales data - EA's NCAA Football franchise is doing well.
There are some big releases coming up, such as Gears of War 3 (September 20, 2011) and Battlefield 3 (October 25, 2011), which could help the video game industry recover from July. Madden NFL 12 was also just released and it usually garners big sales.
NPD Group also released a list of the bestselling video games in 2010. Here is the list:
- NCAA Football 12 (Electronic Arts, PS3, Xbox 360, PS3)
- Cars 2 (Disney Interactive Studios, Nintendo DS, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision Blizzard, NDS, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC)
- Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Disney, 3DS, NDS, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC)
- Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft, Wii)
- Major League Baseball 2K11 (Take 2 Interactive, NDS, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC)
- Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Majesco, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)
- Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda Softworks, PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
- New Super Mario Bros DS (Nintendo, NDS)
- Mortal Kombat 2011 (Warner Bros. Interactive, PS3, Xbox 360)
- Nintendo Adds SpongeBob SquarePants: The Patrick Star Game
- Helldivers 2 Top Selling Game in February
- Reports: Switch 2 Coming in Q1 2025
- 2K23 Launches MyTeam Season Four with Lunar New Year and Flight School Packs
- Netflix Opens Games Studio in Helsinki
- Chinese State Media Calls Video Games 'Spiritual Opium'