The recent statistics shared by NPD Group research firm have revealed that, during the month of October, the retail sales of new video game hardware, software and accessories in the US plunged for the 11th month in a row.

According to the NPD Group statistics, the US retail sales of the video game industry in October witnessed a 25 percent fall – to $755.5 million – from the last year same month sales figures; largely on account of low sales of video game systems, which are being threatened by the growth of digital downloads and mobile gaming.

The data put forth by NPD Group clearly showed that while the sales of gaming consoles witnessed a disquieting 37 percent year-on-year drop to $187.3 million in October; the sales of gaming software fell 25 percent year-on-year to $432.6 million.

With the figures clearly revealing that both hardware and software sales dropped notably from their year-before levels for October, the only category which showed a year-on-year sales increase for the month was accessories, which witnessed a 5 percent rise in sales.

However, despite the 11th consecutive monthly fall in sales during October, it is being speculated that the forthcoming holiday shopping season will likely witness a steady increase in video game sales, especially in the wake of the fact that video game-related items are generally among the hot-selling products during Christmas!