U.S. May Sales Show Pokemon, Star Wars-Obsessed Market

North American video game sales statistics for May 2005 are now available, and topping the NPD-calculated list was Pokemon Emerald, released on the first of the month, with more than 882,000 units moved, and a net retail income of over $30 million. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith occupied the next two slots, with the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions selling 490,000 and 378,000 units respectively. In fourth place, and significantly down from the big sales of the top three, is Microsoft Game Studios’ Forza Motorsport, with over 184,000 units, beating out the 150,000 unit-selling Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition for the racing crown. The top handheld titles, Pokemon dominance aside, were Star Wars Episode III and Lego Star Wars on the GBA, with 87,000 and roughly 71,000 units moved each. Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee grabbed the top slot for PSP, with almost 50,000 units, and the familiar face Star Wars Episode III was the top Nintendo DS seller, with over 43,000 units moved. The entire market reached $319 million for the month, up 30% from a year ago, and the market share for each software company reflected the dominant products, with Nintendo grabbing over 16% of the overall sales for the period, followed by LucasArts with just over 15%, and Electronic Arts with just under 11%, thanks to sales from multiple products that individually failed to penetrate the top ten. Finally, hardware sales particular surged in the handheld sector, with a near-100 percent increase in sales over the previous year for the PSP, DS, and Game Boy Advance combined, though Xbox sales were down almost 40 percent compared to a small rise for PlayStation 2, likely due to supply problems and audience anticipation as Microsoft prepares for the Xbox 360 launch later this year.