USA Charts: San Andreas tops December sales, but market shrinks overall

The videogames market in the United States saw a year on year decline in December, according to the latest figures from NPD Funworld, with the shortfall tipping the market into negative growth for the full year.

What had promised to be an exceptionally strong holiday period after the industry reported healthy growth of 15 per cent in October was crushed by shortages of Xbox and PlayStation 2 hardware which dropped the growth figure to two per cent in November, and then down to a nine per cent decline in December.

That leaves the industry on negative growth of one per cent for the calendar year, and even considering software alone, December still saw negative growth of five per cent and brought the calendar year growth figure down to seven per cent.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas reclaimed its place at the top of the charts in December after ceding it to Halo 2 in November, with Rockstar's critically acclaimed crime title selling over 1.5 million units during the month.

It was followed by the PS2 version of EA's Need for Speed Underground 2, which sold over a million units, and then by the PS2 version of Madden NFL 2005 - whose cheap price point, down in the $25 range, saw it adding over 900,000 units to its tally for the year.

Halo 2 dropped down to number four in the ranking, while other titles making it into the top ten included Activision's Call of Duty: Finest Hour (No.5), Konami's Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (No.8), Nintendo's Mario Party 6 (No.9, and the only Cube title in the chart) and Lucasarts' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II (No.10).

Need for Speed Underground 2 has been a major success for EA, with the title selling 11 per cent ahead of last year's version, but overall the company's performance was poor - with dollar sales down 19 per cent year on year, thanks largely to the lower selling prices for its sports titles.