US software sales down 23 per cent in April

The NPD Group has released its videogame software sales figures for the US in the month of April 2009, showing an overall 23 per cent decline in sales over the same period in 2008.

The NPD's data, which tracked sales from April 5 to May 2, 2009, shows overall videogame sales at USD 510.74 million, down from 660.1 million in April 2008. NPD analyst Anita Frazier was quick to point out a significantly weaker software release schedule as a factor in the decline, however.

"The number of new releases this month is fairly comparable to what was introduced last April, but GTA IV (on both PS3 and the 360) sold nearly 1 million more units last April than the entire top 10 list did this year," said Frazier."

"April 2008 also featured the release of Mario Kart for Wii, which has remained a top-selling game for this past year, and is on this month's top 10 list as well. This really illustrates the impact of comparing against a month when there were several new blockbuster titles new to the market," she added.

The biggest new release in April was EA's The Godfather II, which sold a combined 246,000 units between its PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 SKUs. In comparison, Grand Theft Auto IV sold a combined 2.85 million units in April, 2008, while Mario Kart Wii sold 1.12 million.

"April would have been a great month to release a big new game because there weren't a lot of high profile new releases," Frazier noted.

The top ten software sales list follows:

• Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) - 471,000
• Pokémon Platinum Version (Nintendo, DS) - 433,000
• Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) - 210,000
• Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) - 170,000
• The Godfather II (EA, 360) - 155,000
• Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, 360) - 122,000
• New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo, DS) - 119,000
• Mario Kart DS (Nintendo, DS) - 112,000
• Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (Activision Blizzard, 360) 110,000
• The Godfather II (EA, PS3) - 91,000