NPD: Diablo III tops May US game sales, but industry down 28%

Diablo III and Max Payne 3 weren't enough to lift the industry out of its retail doldrums

The NPD Group just sent its monthly sales report for the US, and following a dismal April, the retail picture didn't look much brighter in May. Total industry sales were $516.5 million, down 28 percent, while hardware plunged 39 percent to $138.9 million and software on consoles and portables dropped 32 percent to $255.4 million. Including PC, however, brings the software total $335.2 million (down 16 percent).

[KeiserSosay4788]

I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that we're nearing the end of this console generation. We live in a time where everyone wants all of their entertainment fast and/or they get bored and move on. So I believe it's apparent that excitement for gaming is down overall because most gamers, not the ones on N4G of course:), are getting bored and moving on. Everybody loves to play with new toys and these toys aren't so new anymore.

[kevnb]

moving away from consoles and retail. SO many people have consoles just sitting there while they play games on pc and mobile. The tech is there now so that even crappy devices can play the new breed of games.
In 5 years, forget about a dedicated device to play games... its just foolish.
If you look at the numbers including pc, its looking like theres a big shift already... not even counting DD which is a large piece of the pie.

[Tachyon_Nova]

I've been bored since December 2010 quite frankly, not been inspired by much since then.

[raytraceme]

Just wondering were there gaming droughts during the ps2 era?

[kevnb]

less games are getting released for consoles, which is retails bread and butter right now. Most the retail games end up losing money like crazy with short shelf life and having to compete with the 5 dollars cheaper used version..
This is why you keep reading doom and gloom articles, consoles dont seem to be adjusting fast enough to the changing market.

[Tachyon_Nova]

Not adjusting at all I would say.

[Ethereal]

Ending of console generation is keep people at bay. News of new systems need to come next year.