May U.S. Video Game Sales at Lowest Level Since 2006

L.A. Noire, Xbox 360 led the way in a slow month at retail.

A light release schedule led to the slowest month of video game sales in the U.S. since October 2006, market research firm NPD Group revealed in its May industry report. But the numbers do not include what was likely the best selling title of the month: the latest Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack, Escalation.

Total hardware and software sales at retail topped $743 million, a 14% fall compared to May of 2010, NPD reports. Software in particular slumped, with sales totaling just over $400 million, a decline of 21% compared to last year.

"This month's story really is about a light release schedule compared to last year," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement. "There were 42 new SKUs introduced in May as compared to 58 last May, and 72 in 2009."

Frazier also pointed out that the NPD Group's monthly sales report still does not include digital sales, a segment which continues to enjoy robust growth. Most notably, Activision launched its Escalation map pack for Black Ops in May, a DLC bundle that set the record for digital sales at GameStop.

The software top 10 for May:

1. LA Noire (360, PS3)
2. Brink (360, PS3, PC)
3. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (Wii, 360, DS, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC)
4. Portal 2 (360, PS3, PC)
5. Mortal Kombat (PS3, 360)
6. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, DS, PC)
7. Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Wii, 360, PS3)
8. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, PC)
9. Just Dance 2 (Wii)
10. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii, DS, 360, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC)

Microsoft's Xbox 360 once again led the way in hardware, selling more than 270,000 consoles in May, an increase of 39% compared to last year. And while the PlayStation 3 lagged far behind, NPD noted that Sony's console still managed to increase sales 14% compared to May 2010 despite the month-long outage of the PlayStation Network.

Source