Okay, so we were wrong. Last month I predicted that September would be a strong month for games, but it turns out that the whole industry saw its first decline in sales since early 2006. Even still, video games are more popular than ever, and this September’s sales are up over last year’s by 75%.
September was a software month. Sales of all consoles were down. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was the star of the month, selling 610,000 copies on the Xbox 360, 325,000 on the PS3, and 223,000 on the Wii. It managed to take 3 of the top 10 spots on the charts. Other titles like Wii Fit, Wii Play, and Mario Kart Wii pushed down Madden NFL 09, while Mercenaries 2: World in Flames managed to work its way into the middle.
The hardware is pretty by-the-book in September, with the Wii and the DS still on top, despite decreased sales overall. The Xbox 360 had a decent month in September, with 347,200 units sold. Sony’s three systems take the bottom three console spots, with the PS3 coming in at number 5 with 232,400.
Prediction for October: As you know, October has been another software month. I think Dead Space will make an impact. LittleBigPlanet was pushed back, so I don’t know how big of a mark it will make on October. I’m also guessing that the PSP-3000 won’t sell as well as Sony hopes it will.
