July NPD: US Gaming Business Suffers Worst Month Since 2006

NCAA Football 13

Yeah, not much happens during the summer.

But even less is happening in the gaming industry this summer. According to the July NPD tally, the US game business came in at $548.4 million, which is a 20% drop-off compared to July 2011. It's also the single worst month for the gaming industry in this country since October 2006.

The top seller for the barren month was EA's NCAA Football 13; it was also the only new release to crack the top 10. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes was #2 on the list, and that was followed by The Amazing Spider-Man, Just Dance 3, and Batman: Arkham City. As for hardware, the numbers were down 32% to $150.7 million, but at least accessories showed a minor improvement, up 8% to $136 million. Subscription cards and those unbelievably popular Skylanders action figure packs helped that number, apparently.

So will the industry rebound in the fall? Well, probably, but maybe not to the extent some believe. NPD analyst Anita Frazier had this to say about the end of the year:

"Based on year to date sales, and taking into account the release slate for the back five months of the year as well as the anticipated launch of the Wii U, annual sales for the new physical channel should come in around $14.5 billion for the year."

If that prediction comes true, it would be a 15% decline when compared to 2011's total retail haul of just over $17 billion. See, too many big titles got pushed out of this year, which makes the first quarter of 2013 awfully interesting but still doesn't do 2012 any favors.

Tags: npd, npd sales, july npd, gaming industry, video game sales

8/9/2012 8:16:52 PM John Shepard

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