Video Game Sales Drop in November

The video games industry suffered a significant drop this past month despite Thanksgiving and Black Friday kicking off the spend-thrifty holiday season.

NPD reports that video game sales fell by 7.6 percent in November when compared to the same period last year. The drop saw sales across the entire video game business fall from $2.92 billion to $2.7 billion.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier blames last year's record breaking November for the drop and says it seems unlikely sales will be able recover before the year is out. "Breaking even seems more out of reach. In order to break even to last year, December sales would have to be up 36 percent over December 2008," Frazier said, according to Reuters.

Last November saw the video game industry post its best November ever, so although last month's sales were down by more than 7 percent, November '09 is still the second best ever recorded.

Microsoft recorded the best November ever for the Xbox 360 brand, selling $838 million dollars of Xbox 360 hardware, software and related accessories last month. Sony reports that its PlayStation 3 is the only home system to register year-on-year growth in November with an 88 percent boost. The Tech Herald reports that the console also posted a 122 percent sales increase compared to October 2009. Meanwhile, Nintendo is also boasting a “record-setting month” for November with reports that the Wii pushed beyond a global sales total of some 23 million units.

Read more on the Tech Herald.