Latest NPD Stories

Michael Harper for RedOrbit.com If Apple’s numbers have anything to do with it, the tablet market stands to grow exponentially. You may remember Apple’s 11.8 million iPads sold in their first quarter of 2012; three million of which were sold during launch weekend alone. All told, Apple has been able to sell 67 million iPads since they were first launched in 2010. Some of Apple’s largest competitors have even turned their attention to the tablet market, though they have yet to...

NPD Group reports that video game sales saw a decline in January, partly due to a lack new games and an upcoming Sony device. The group said stores sold $1.14 billion worth of games over the month of January, which was down 34 percent on the previous year. The consumer data company also said that hardware sales were down 38 percent.  NPD also said accessories faced an 18 percent decline in January at $195 million. According to the report, "Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty: Modern...

Declining demand for the latest video game hardware and software is responsible for an industry-wide 4 percent decrease in sales for October, market research group NPD said on Tuesday.While software sales were actually up 6 percent to $605 million last month, system sales plummeted. Hardware sales figures fell by more than 25-percent, from $381 million to $280 million, versus October 2009.Overall, the gaming industry sales dropped from $1.11 billion in October 2009 to $1.07 billion in October...

Industry tracker NPD reported Thursday that sales of video game hardware and software plunged 26 percent in April, one of the largest declines over the past decade. The research group said sales in the U.S. fell to $766.2 million. Software sales dropped 22 percent, while hardware sales tumbled 37 percent. NPD said the overall decline was the fourth largest since September 2000. Nintendo's Wii still held the top selling console in April, although it reported a decline in sales compared to a...

U.S. retail sales of video game software, hardware and accessories saw a rise in sales in March after a rocky 2009 followed by two months of double digit declines. Market researcher NPD group said Thursday that video game sales rose 6 percent from the same month a year earlier, to $1.52 billion.  Nintendo's gaming systems, new "Pokemon" games and Sony Corp.'s "God of War III" helped to boosts strong sales. Software sales rose to $875.3 million, 10 percent, which is...

After ending 2009 with an eight percent drop in video game sales, the US videogame market saw another 12 percent drop in sales in January, when compared to figures from the same month a year earlier, according to market-tracker group NPD. Videogame sales in January totaled nearly $598 million in the US, compared to $683 million last year at the same time. Videogame hardware sales also plunged from $447 million last January, to $354 million this year. Analysts are being optimistic that as the...

The US video game industry appears to remain resilient in the face of the recession, as it reported a 10 percent increase in game sales and an 11 percent rise in hardware sales during February, according to research group NPD on Thursday.Overall, US video game sales reached $1.47 billion last month. Game software sales rose to $733.5 million and hardware sales jumped $532.7 million, NPD said. Nintendo Co.'s Wii console led the pack with 753,000 units sold. Its Wii Fit exercise video game was...

Online videogames increased from 19 percent of the gaming market in early 2008 to 25 percent this year, according to market research firm NPD.Online gamers aged 13-17 increased from 17 percent to 22 percent, but the percent dropped slightly among gamers ages 35-54."Online gaming is enjoyed by a diverse group of players," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst with NPD. "The sheer variety of content and ease of access makes online gaming attractive to a much larger demographic...

After Apple's announcement earlier this month that it would offer select songs from the iTunes catalogue for 69 cents instead of the 99 cents, some are questioning whether the change will actually benefit customers.In all likelihood, record companies will reap most of the financial benefits. Even though some songs will be 30 cents cheaper, popular songs will be marked up to $1.29. In fact, it is a clever move to prepare consumers for a new strategy by labels to bundle songs, videos and other...

According to research group NPD, the Xbox 360's strong performance on Black Friday was not enough to help Microsoft close the sales gap with rival Nintendo in the gaming console market.Nintendo's Wii system outsold the Xbox 360 by almost 3 to 1 in November.  During the month, Wii shipments totaled 2.04 million, while Xbox shipments came in at 836,000.  Sony's PlayStation 3 was ranked at a distant third, with shipments of just 378,000 units, according to NPD.In the handheld gaming...