3DS defies trend as US gaming sales figures fall for 8th straight month

The New York-based research firm NPD group painted a bleak picture for the sales of traditional gaming software and hardware in the United States.

For the eighth straight month, sales have declined overall with retail sales of video game software, hardware, and accessories declined 20 per cent in July.

Hardware sales were hit the worst by this downturn, falling 32 per cent from where they were in July 2011. Given the age of the current consoles on the market, this decline is not entirely unexpected.

An exception to this sales slump was found in sales of the Nintendo DS and 3DS, both of which enjoyed the most sales growth in July compared to their performance in the same month last summer.

NPD predicts that the next four months will see strong sales for software and hardware as pre-holiday release of several major titles will generate increased sales across the board.

Even still, NPD predicted that full-year sales for game hardware and software would hit $14.5 billion, down from 14 per cent from last year’s sales of $17 billion.

By contrast, digital game sales – a term which encapsulates all game content sold in digital format, including DLCs and mobile titles- were up 17 per cent in the second quarter of 2012 compared to the same quarter in 2011.