Canadian game sales up in May

May was another strong month for gaming north of the border, as the industry tracking NPD Group today released its Canadian retail sales figures, showing growth across the board.

The research firm's figures show Canadian gaming retail sales for May topped C$72 million ($67.5 million), an 83 percent jump over May 2006's tally of just over C$39.3 million ($36.8 million). Hardware sales experienced the most growth, up 149 percent to C$32.5 million ($30.5 million), easily besting the previous May's C$13 million ($12.2 million). Game sales were up a slimmer 42 percent to C$30.9 million ($29 million), while accessories soared 87 percent to C$8.7 million ($8.2 million).

Nintendo again earned bragging rights for the month, with the Wii and DS first and second in hardware sales, respectively. The Wii moved more than 37,300 systems for the month, with the DS close behind at 35,900. The PlayStation 2 was the next best-selling piece of hardware with a little more than half the sales of the DS, nearly reaching 18,200 units moved. The rest of the pack was rounded out by the PlayStation Portable (15,000), Xbox 360 (12,300), PlayStation 3 (6,500), and Game Boy Advance (6,100).

Canadian consumers also shelled out for Wii accessories, with 24,600 Wii Nunchuks sold at retail, and 22,900 Wii Remotes, according to the NPD Group. The third best-selling accessory of the month, a Wii points card, lagged and couldn't keep up with the controllers, notching 6,800 purchased in May.

Nintendo also claimed the top four spots in the software charts for the month, with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl for the DS backed up by Wii games Mario Party 8 and Wii Play, in that order. Activision's Spider-Man 3 for the PS2 snapped Nintendo's streak by snagging fifth place on the charts. The rest of the NPD Group's Canadian top 10 follows below.

NPD Group Canadian console software sales for May 2007 (game--system--publisher--copies sold, rounded to hundreds):

Pokemon Diamond--DS--Nintendo--24,900
Pokemon Pearl--DS--Nintendo--19,500
Mario Party 8--Wii--Nintendo--17,700
Wii Play w/ Wii Remote--Wii--Nintendo--16,000
Spider-Man 3--PS2--Activision--14,500
Forza Motorsport 2--Xbox 360--Microsoft--12,600
Super Paper Mario--Wii--Nintendo--10,000
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars--Xbox 360--Electronic Arts--9,500
Spider-Man 3--Xbox 360--Activision--9,200
Guitar Hero II--Xbox 360--Activision--9,000