NPD 2010 figures show sales downturn

There's been a lot of celebration of the NPD's recently released 2010 US sales figures, but among the cheering is a note of concern. Compared to 2009's figures, game and hardware sales were down six percent right across the board.

On the up side, that's less of a down turn than last year.

Total game sales in 2009 pulled in USD $19.7 billion, whereas 2010 petered out at USD $18.58 billion.

That six percent downturn looks nasty, but compares favourably with other entertainment industries; nobody's too worried about Hollywood as the recovering economy causes drop offs there, too.

Moreover, it's a much better performance that 2009's 8.6 percent sales drop, and December's sales largely shored up the year.

The ESA's Michael Gallagher commented that "December 2010 represented one of the strongest monthly performances the industry has ever had at retail," while 2009's holiday period only managed a 4 percent increase over the rest of the dismal year.

While hardware sales dropped 13 percent to USD $6.29 billion, peripherals rose 13 percent to USD $2.93 billion thanks to the introduction of Kinect and PlayStation Move.

Meanwhile, software sales fell by 1 percent to USD $15.4 billion - ad unfortunately, this data does include digital distribution sales for the first tie in the NPD's history.