U.S.
video games sales are not immune from the ravages of the recession, as sales plunged 23 percent to $863 million in May, according to research group NPD, Reuters reported.
Monthly sales had not slumped below the $1 billion mark since August 2007, NPD Group said, according to Reuters.
Video games sales for the year to May dropped 7 percent to $6.1 billion from the year earlier period. NPD includes hardware, software, and accessories in its sales figures.
"May is typically one of the lowest revenue-generating months in any given year for the industry in general," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier, Reuters reported. "The dollar sales decline was exacerbated by a decline in average retail prices for almost all of the categories."
"This month's top 10 games sold 2.6 million units combined, whereas last year the top 10 sold 3.7 million units," Frazier said. "Again this illustrates how tough the comparisons are to last year."
For gaming hardware sales, Nintendo placed first with 633,500 "DS" portable gaming devices sold and 289,500 of its Wii platforms sold, well ahead of 175,000 Microsoft Xbox units sold.
Frazier held out for improvement in the coming months.
"At E3, it was notable how many games were targeted to the tween-girl demographic, and this June will see a number of games introduced for girls as well," Frazier said. "June comparisons are still likely to be tough, but the wide variety of new content could help reinvigorate things somewhat."
