U.S. Video Games Sales grows 6% in March: NPD Group

By Satish Kumar
The video game market has increased 6% in the month of March compared to the same month in 2009, making it the fastest increase ever recorded excluding holiday period of years. The report was concluded by NPD group and was release on Friday.

Sales were down 13% and 14% in January and February respectively. However, software revenue sales were up due to higher demand for video games and accessories in March but the revenues from hardware has seen a drop in sales.

The industry as a whole posted $1.52 billion in March 2010, up 6% from 1.44 billion dollars in March 2009. The software industry recorded $875.3 million that was an increase 10% compared to $795 million in the same period in last year. Hardware sales were down by 4% from same period in prior year posting $ 440.5 million sales in the month of March.

Sony Corp.’s “God of War III” and new “Pokemon” titles for Nintendo Co.’s DS were the driving factor in in the higher sales in March . Nintendo’s Wii is still leading the race in the console market followed by Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3.