NPD: US video game sales plunged 24% in September

NPD: US video game sales plunged 24% in SeptemberAccording to the latest statistics released by market research firm NPD Group, a 24 percent year-on-year plunge - to $848 million from $1.11 billion - was witnessed in the retail sales of software, hardware and accessories in the US in September.

With the decline marking the tenth successive month of falling video game sales in the US, NPD Group said in an emailed statement that the falloff was led by dwindling US sales of game consoles, which saw a 39 percent drop, to $211 million, during the month.

So far as the September sales of the video games themselves was concerned, the NPD data showed that video game sales - not including the titles for PC - witnessed a fall of 18 percent to $497.4 million in the reporting month. Including PC titles, software sales dropped 14 percent to $547.3 million.

The software-sales decline, excluding PC titles, reported by NPD in September was, however, not as severe as the 28 percent plunge projected by Cowen & Co. analyst Doug Creutz. Even when PC games were included, the 14 percent fall was better than Creutz's prediction of a 23 percent decline.

Meanwhile, about the projected fall in new video-game sales in October, Sterne Agee & Leach analyst Arvind Bhatia said in a recent research note that a 5 percent projected year-on-year decline will probably be the best result for the industry over the last one year.