US video game sales plummet in May

US video game sales plummet in May Los Angeles - US video game sales fell by 23 per cent in May to 863 million dollars - the first time since August 2007 that sales fell short of the 1 billion dollar mark.

Purchases of consoles fell 30 per cent from a year earlier, to 302.5 million dollars, while game sales dropped by 17 per cent to 449 million dollars, according to a report released Thursday from market research firm NPD Group.

Sales of the popular Nintendo Wii console plunged by more than half to 289,500 Wii consoles, while Microsoft sold 175,000 Xbox 360s and Sony sold 131,000 PlayStation 3 devices. Analysts said consumers were likely putting off purchases in the expectations of future price cuts.

"The video games industry continues to struggle with difficult comparisons to last year," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier, who blamed most of the decline on the lack of blockbuster games rather than the weak economy. The report noted that last year's sales were boosted by the launch of popular software titles such as Grand Theft Auto IV.

Nintendo's Wii Fit also was a hot commodity in 2008.(dpa)