Wake, Blur, PoP fall short of 200k
Big May titles falter despite Red Dead and Mario success
Some of 2010's most anticipated new releases, including Alan Wake, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Blur, sold less than 200,000 units in their month of release, according to further analysis of the most recent NPD results.
Other titles failing to perform as hoped during their May release include Shrek Forever After, Lost Planet2 , SKATE 3 and Iron Man 2.
NPC does not reveal sales figures for titles outside the top five, but Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter established that a number of key releases had failed to reach 200,000 units. Fifth-placed title UFC 2010: Undisputed sold 192,300 copies.
Despite this, overall software revenue in May was up 4 per cent on last year.
"The May lineup was indeed stacked in favour of dramatic growth," he said. "We expect investors to remain spooked by the May results, as they are beginning to reinforce the notion that the video game industry is in a state of persistent secular decline."
Wedbush further stated that software sales for Activision Blizzard, Nintendo, Take-Two, THQ, and Ubisoft "were below our expectations," though noted that EA had exceeded their estimates.
Overall game sales were likely to remain flat for several more month, Patchter added.