NPD: Industry sees growth of 6% in March

The US games industry grew 6 per cent in March, according to the latest NPD figures.

In line with predictions, revenue increased to $1.52 billion, with a busy month of software releases leading to a rise in software sales of 10 per cent on last March to $875.3 million.

Hardware sales were down 4 per cent on last year to $440.5 million, however hardware prices declined by 16 per cent over the year.

Accessories sales increased 11 per cent to $206.8 million.

According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, March saw the first non-holiday year-on-year increase of sales since February 2009, and the month was the third best non-holiday month ever recorded.

Nintendo led the way with hardware sales, with its systems accounting for 59 per cent of all that was sold in March.

The DS was the best selling console with over 700,000 units sold, while the Wii followed behind with sales of 557,500.

The achievement prompted a buoyant response from Nintendo's Cammie Dunaway, who said: "Demand for Nintendo fun continues unabated. We're glad so many people are able to get their hands on our systems as we prepare for the May launches of Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Wii and Picross 3D for our Nintendo DS systems."

Hardware retail sales were as follow:

• Nintendo DS - 700,800
• Nintendo Wii - 557,500
• Xbox 360 - 338,400
• PlayStation 3 - 313,900
• Sony PSP - 119,900
• PlayStation 2 - 118,300