For the third month in a row, U.S. video game sales were significantly lower than the same period last year.
Total game-related revenue dropped 23 percent compared to May 2008, according to The NPD Group. All consoles sold less, and the best-selling game, UFC Undisputed, moved 679,600 units. That pales in comparison to last year's 871,000 and 787,000 sales of Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360 and Mario Kart Wii, respectively. The popular Wii Fit also debuted in May 2008.
It's easy to assume that the games industry is finally succumbing to the recession, but NPD analyst Anita Frazier has repeatedly suggested that gaming did exceedingly well last year. In April, she said that 2008 sales for that month were 50 percent higher than the year before.
There is a takeaway here: Video games just haven't done anything mind-blowing this year. We're smack in the middle of a traditional console cycle, when all the biggest blockbusters hyped since the last generation, such as Grand Theft Auto IV are out of the way. Plus, Nintendo's game-changing Wii has been stagnant. There's no new hardware, like last May's Wii Fit, nor are any Wii games sweeping the nation (Punch-Out!! wasn't an overnight hit).
In the short-term, perhaps the Wii MotionPlus will boost sales in the coming months, but even then, I don't see it sweeping the nation like the Wii Fit or the console itself. Beyond that, we'll see if Microsoft's and Sony's motion controllers can tap the non-gamer market in 2010.
