Video Games retail / e-tail sales in U.S. September 2013

These sales figures represent new physical retail sales of hardware, software and accessories, which account for roughly 50 percent of the total consumer spend on games. When taking into account our preliminary estimate for other physical format sales in September such as used and rentals at $196 million, and our estimate for digital format sales including full game and add-on content downloads including micro-transactions, subscriptions, mobile apps and the consumer spend on social network games at $645 million, the total consumer spend in September is just under $1.9 billion.

• NPDs final assessment of the consumer spend in these areas outside of new physical retail sales will be reported in November in its Q3 2013 Games Market Dynamics: U.S. report.

The launch of Grand Theft Auto V this September was a much needed shot in the arm for the industry. Overall retail sales across hardware, software and accessories were up 27% versus September 2012, lifted by software sales of Grand Theft Auto V.

NPD Group's U.S. Games Industry Sales (New Physical Sales Channel*) - September 2013

4-week month; Reporting Period 9/1/13 through 10/5/13

Hardware

The Nintendo 3DS secured the top hardware spot for the fifth consecutive month. We can expect a great October as well, thanks to the launch of the Nintendo 2DS, and Pokémon X & Y.

PS3 was the top selling console this month, breaking the 32-month streak of the Xbox 360 leading console hardware sales from January 2011 to August 2013. The PS3's success this month was largely driven by sales of the 'PS3 SYSTEM SUPER SLIM 500GB GRAND THEFT AUTO V BUNDLE' demonstrating how Grand Theft Auto V can shake things up on in hardware as well as software.

Wii U hardware sales benefitted from a price drop in September, and along with the new hardware bundle which included The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, sales were up over 100% on an average per-week basis from August 2013.

Software

Clearly, the major driver for the 52% growth in video game software sales in September 2013 was the release of Grand Theft Auto V from Take 2 Interactive, which became the highest selling game launched in any September since NPD began tracking the industry in 1995.

Grand Theft Auto represented over 50% of dollar sales in September, and had the highest first month sales than any other previous launch in the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

New software launches from the month of September combined to represent 63% of unit sales for the month. This was a big jump from what new software launches experienced last September, and caused average prices to rise by 18% for software as a greater percentage of sales stemmed from full-priced items.

There was an increase of over 50% for the combined Xbox 360 and PS3 software unit sales, which are now showing a positive trend year-to-date through September.

Accessories

Accessory sales for September 2013 were up versus September 2012 due to an astounding growth in Interactive Gaming Toys, which saw an increase of over 180% as sales from the second month of Disney Infinity items combined with Skylanders items to generate impressive results.

September 2013 sales for Video Game point and Subscription cards also increased versus 2012, making it the best September on record for these types of items - another indication of consumers' increasing comfort with digital content.