Home » News » System and game sales for May 2007 in the USA are huge for DS & Wii, PS3 $100 price cut expected

System and game sales for May 2007 in the USA are huge for DS & Wii, PS3 $100 price cut expected

May’s American video game sales data from NPD is in, and like any month the past half year, it shows a clear pattern: people are eating up the Nintendo DS and Wii. Compared to May 2006, this May the total video game sales increased from $548 million by 48.7% to $815 million. At the same time total hardware sales increased from $191 million by 67.2% to $319 million.

Video game hardware overview:
* Nintendo DS: 423,150
* Nintendo Wii: 338,278
* Sony PSP: 221,120
* Sony PlayStation 2: 187,765
* Microsoft Xbox 360: 154,932
* Sony PlayStation 3: 81,604
* GameBoy Advance: 80,554
* Nintendo GameCube: 10,728

Video game software overview:
* Pokémon Diamond (DS): 331,000
* Mario Party 8 (Wii): 314,000
* Spider-Man 3 (PS2): 249,000
* Pokémon Pearl (DS): 238,000
* Wii Play w/remote (Wii): 227,000
* Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360): 217,000
* Guitar Hero II w/guitar (Xbox 360): 184,000
* Spider-Man 3 (Xbox 360): 140,000
* Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Xbox 360): 138,000
* Guitar Hero II w/guitar (PS2): 131,000

The Financial Times expects Sony’s games division to lose $488 million this year as PS3 sales have been lacklustre in Japan and the US, owing to its high price of about $600, and a small selection of software titles.

Howard Stringer, the chairman and chief executive of Sony, said they were trying to “refine” how much it could afford to cut the price of PlayStation 3 gaming consoles, saying there was “no question” consumers wanted the price to be lower. Some analysts expect Sony to cut prices by $100, down to $500, before the crucial Christmas sales period.