U.S. Game Hardware, Software Sales Soar During First Quarter

Officials from market information provider The NPD Group have revealed details of first quarter game hardware and software sales for January through March in the U.S., with overall sales soaring to over $2.2 billion – a 23 percent increase over the same period in 2004. During the first quarter, total unit sales increased 18 percent, with nearly 63 million units being sold. Except for console hardware and console software, all other categories tracked by NPD showed either double or triple digit growth in revenue, during a period that saw an unusually large number of high-profile releases. Despite slower growth, console software still managed to record the largest revenue of all categories, with over $1 billion sales. Console accessories, portable game software and portable game accessories saw dollar sales increases of 16 percent, 69 percent, and 23 percent, respectively. Unsurprisingly, given the recent launch of the Nintendo DS and particularly the PSP, it was the portable game hardware category which saw the greatest amount of growth with sales rising to over $293 million – representing unit growth of 72 percent and dollar growth of 162 percent. NPD also revealed the top ten grossing console games during the period with Gran Turismo 4, which has been the number one game title for both February and March, coming out on top. Capcom’s GameCube exclusive Resident Evil 4 did well to achieve a number three position, while the placing of Super Mario 64 DS at number nine also indicates that Nintendo DS software sales are not quite as weak as some analysts may have assumed.

The NPD Group/NPD Funworld