NPD April 2013: Software Sales Up, Yet Industry Down 25%

The NPD has released its results for the industry for the month of April, revealing that software sales saw a 115 percent increase over the same time last year, however the industry on a whole continues its downward spiral, with sales across software, hardware and accessories down 25 percent to $495.2m.

Said NPD analyst Liam Callahan via email:

Despite overall declines, April title launches in 2013 fared better than games that launched in April 2012, up 118 percent in unit sales and 130 percent in dollar sales. This increase was driven by games like Injustice: Gods Among Us, Dead Island: Riptide, and Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins.

He added:

Overall declines are stemming from the performance of games launched prior to April; for example, the decrease in sales performance of March launches. Specifically, when looking at video games launching in March 2012, month 2 sales represented 25 percent of the total first two months of sales, which contracted to 17 percent for March 2013 launches.

One reason for this might be the decrease in the number of new titles, which can cause sales of a title to be ‘front loaded’ with a greater amount of sales happening in the first month of its release.

Software Results For April, 2013:

1. Injustice: Gods Among Us (PS3, Wii U, X360)
2. Dead Island: Riptide (PC, PS3, X360)
3. BioShock Infinite (PC, PS3, X360)
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (PC, PS3, Wii U, X360)
5. Defiance (PC, PS3, X360)
6. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
7. NBA 2K13 (PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, Wii U, X360)
8. Skylanders Giants (3DS, PS3, Wii, Wii U, X360)
9. Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins (3DS)
10. MLB 13: The Show (PS3, Vita)

On the hardware front only Xbox 360 numbers were released, and although the console topped the U.S. sales chart yet again with 130,000 units sold, it saw a stark drop of 44 percent year-on-year, with 236,000 units being sold the same time in 2012.  This can be attributed to the fact that most gamers are saving up for the next generation of consoles from Sony and Microsoft.

Neither Sony nor Nintendo revealed hardware numbers for their respective platforms.