July NPD: Xbox 360 Leads all Platforms for First Time Since Sept. '07, NCAA Football Tops Consoles

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The NPD Group have released sales date for the month of July, revealing the Xbox 360 has taken over the top spot versus all video game platforms. The last time the Xbox 360 led all platforms was in September 2007, following the release of Halo 3.

Although video game retail sales were slightly lower over July 2009, one major standout was StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, which sold 721K units during the month. The release was a major contributing factor to the 103% growth the PC category saw versus last year. (The game does not appear on the NPD list, as NPD only tracks console sales.)

EA's NCAA Football 11 combined for sales of 692K across the Xbox 360 and PS3, while last month's leader Red Dead Redemption fell to sixth place on the list, only appearing on the Xbox 360 platform.

    Top Ten U.S. Console Games - Reporting July 4 to July 31, 2010
  1. NCAA Football 11 (Xbox 360) - 368.0K
  2. NCAA Football 11 (PS) - 298.8K
  3. Crackdown 2 (Xbox 360) - 208.8K
  4. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) - 193.0K
  5. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (NDS) - 141.7K
  6. Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360)
  7. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Wii)
  8. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (NDS)
  9. New Super Mario Bros Wii (Wii)
  10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)

    U.S. Hardware Sales - Reporting July 4 to July 31, 2010
  1. Xbox 360: 443.5K (down 8.2K)
  2. Nintendo DS: 398.4K (down 112.3K)
  3. Nintendo Wii: 253.9K (down 168.6K)
  4. PS3: 214.5K (down 90.3K)
  5. PSP: 84.0K (down 37K)

Overall video game industry sales were down to $846.5m (a 1% difference versus $850.6m). While software sales were down 8%, overall hardware sales saw an increase of 12% thanks to the Xbox 360's continued strong showing following the release of the Xbox 360 "S Model."

Xav de Matos was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 12, 2010 4:37 PM

    What are the GLOBAL sales totals for the 360 and PS3? And I mean sales, not units shipped to stores.

    • reply
      August 12, 2010 5:01 PM

      I think the latest figures for 360 were something like 42M, where PS3 wasn't far behind in the mid-high 30's.

      • reply
        August 12, 2010 6:40 PM

        Those numbers are based on shipments as reported by MS and Sony. There isn't any global tracking of sales to consumers (in the way that NPD does for the US) that I'm aware of.

    • reply
      August 12, 2010 7:57 PM

      Not really sure if all the 360 sales were due to the slim because all the older consoles were discounted. Will be interest for August with the launch oh Arcade slim.

      • reply
        August 12, 2010 8:35 PM

        I think everyone expected a bump from the slim. It happened with the PS3 too. Keep in mind the slim offers more value (wifi built in) in addition to not being the same old design that had the red ring reputation. It will be hard to tell going forward though with Halo Reach coming, which will likely influence sales positively as well.

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