Analyst: The Last of Us sales hit 700,000 in US

The Last of Us sold 700,000 units in June in the United States, while Animal Crossing: New Leaf shifted 500,000 copies, according to a note released today from Cowen & Company's Doug Creutz.

No other new release sold more than 100,000 units during the month, he said.

Sony announced earlier this month that The Last of Us had shipped 3.4 million copies worldwide since its launch on June 14. Sales of that level make the game the fastest-selling new software franchise in the history of the PlayStation and the fastest-selling PlayStation 3 title of 2013 thus far.

Creutz's note to investors comes two days before the NPD Group releases sales data for June. The analyst predicted total software sales will slide 23 percent for the month. All major publishers will post negative comparable figures for the month, he said, including Activision Blizzard (-42 percent), Electronic Arts (-26 percent), and Take-Two (-41 percent).

These double-digit declines will continue through July, before turning positive beginning in August thanks to the early release of Madden NFL 25, Creutz argued. Further growth is expected to be posted in September and October, due in part to high-profile releases like Grand Theft Auto V (September 17) and Battlefield 4 (October 29).

"We are getting increasingly positive on the potential for software sales to finish the year in positive territory due to obviously robust demand for next-gen consoles and what should be robust initial software attach rates, as well as the potential for Nintendo's comps to get 'less bad' due to a torrent of product coming out between August and December," Creutz said.