First half 2010 US game content sales exceed $6.3 billion - NPD

Yesterday, The NPD Group offered a look at the retail market in terms of new game hardware, software, and accessory sales in the US during September. The clear winners for the month were Microsoft and its former subsidiary Bungie, with system exclusive Halo: Reach selling 3.3 million units, driving Xbox 360 sales of 484,000 units. The industry itself, though, saw substantial losses, as total sales slipped 8 percent to $1.22 billion.

Today, the stat-tracking organization has returned with more metrics to determine the performance of the game industry; this time as it pertained to alternative revenue streams for the first half of 2010. Having previously reported new console, handheld, and PC software sales of $3.7 billion from January-June 2010, NPD said today that the total game software and content spend for the six-month period was $6.3 billion to $6.6 billion.

NPD's upward revision of $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion can be attributed to the stat-tracking organization's recent initiative to provide a more comprehensive look at US game industry revenue. As such, today's figure includes alternative revenue streams such as used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile game apps.

All said, NPD noted that total dollars spent on hardware, content, and accessories through June stood at $9.5 billion to $9.7 billion.

"While the new physical retail channel still generates the majority of industry sales, our expanded research coverage allows us to assess the total consumer spend across the growing number of ways to acquire and experience gaming, including social networks," commented NPD analyst Anita Frazier. NPD also noted that total consumer spend on the game industry is 40 percent larger than what's generated through retail channels alone.

NPD offered its first public look at alternative revenue sources in June, when it revealed that total US software and content sales in 2009 hit $15 billion to $15.25 billion. However, unlike today's figure, that number did not include social networking platforms.

NPD gathered its data through a variety of means, including point-of-sale tracking and industry research tools such as the Games Acquisition Monitor, Video Game & PC Game Subscriptions Tracker, and Consumer Purchase Tracker. It also uses sales estimates provided by retailers and publishers.