Starcraft II, Xbox 360 shine in flat month at US retail
Software still down year-on-year but Microsoft hardware tops sales for first time since Halo 3 launch
Activision Blizzard's StarCraft II and Microsoft's Xbox 360 have shown success at US retail during July, although overall market sales were down 1 per cent and software sales down 8 per cent compared to last year.
Revenues for combined hardware, software and accessories in July were $846.5 million, down from $850.6 million a year earlier. Console software sales fell to $403.3 million from $438 million and hardware was up 12 per cent on last year to $313.8 million.
StarCraft II sold 721,000 boxed copies during July, although The NPD Group which collates the figures does not include PC sales in its monthly data.
The top sellers on home consoles were EA's NCAA Football 11 with 692,000 units on all formats, and LucasArts' multiformat LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 which hit 401,000 units with a strong showing on Nintendo consoles.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the best-selling hardware in the region for the first time since the launch of Halo 3 in September 2007, with 443,500 units sold.
Sony's PlayStation 3 sold 214,500 units and the PSP 84,000 units. Nintendo's Wii shifted 253,900 units and the DS 398,400 units.
Top ten US software in July:
- NCAA Football 11 (360) – 368,000
- NCAA Football 11 (PS3) – 298,800
- Crackdown 2 (360) – 208,800
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) – 193,000
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (DS) – 141,700
- Red Dead Redemption (360)
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Wii)
- Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (DS)
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
- Call of Duty: modern Warfare 2 (360)