US Games Industry Sales Down 26% In April

Market research group NPD has released figures which show US hardware and software sales tumbling 26% in April.

Software sales fell 22% to $398.5 million USD, while hardware fared even worse dipping 37% to $249.3 million USD.

According to NPD, the US games industry is down 11% this year (up to and including April.)

Though it seems nobody in the US had a particularly happy April, the Wii topped the home console sales, with the Xbox 360 and PS3 following suit in second and third place.

Ubisoft can raise a smile at least, as Splinter Cell: Conviction was the best-selling title of the month, shifting close to 500,000 copies.

With the US economy still suffering, publishers may intensify campaigns against the second-hand games market in an attempt to claw back revenue.

On 11 May this year, Blitz Games Studios’ Andrew Oliver told Develop he considered used game trading to be a “bigger problem than piracy on the main consoles.”

On the same day, EA Sports introduced an Online Pass system to make second-hand sales less attractive to buyers.