Also, Xbox 360 remains on top of Hardware.



The NPD Group has released its monthly US sales report, showing that the retail industry is again down year-on-year.

The NPD Group is back with is monthly report on US sales figures.

Overall, total industry spend came in at $548.4 million, a 20% decrease on July 2011′s $686.3 million. It’s the eighth consecutive month of downturn.

Both hardware and software figures showed downturns, with only accessories posting an increase of 8% to $136.9 million, thanks again to the continues success of Activision’s Skylanders property – over 25 million individual Skylanders figures have been sold through at retail in the US since October 2011.
- Software.

Software sales fell by 23 percent to $260.7 million from $338.5 million a year ago.

Here's the top ten:



1. NCAA Football 13 (360, PS3)
2. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Wii, 360, DS, PS3, 3DS, Vita, PC)
3. The Amazing Spider-Man (360, PS3, 3DS, DS, Wii)
4. Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360, PS3)
5. Batman Arkham City (360, PS3, PC)
6. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, DS, Wii, PC)
7. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (360, PS3, PC)
8. NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, PC)
9. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC)
10. Dead Island (360, PS3, PC)
- Hardware.

Hardware sales came in at $150.7 million, a 32% year-on-year decline from $221.4 million.

Only the 3DS managed a year on year unit sales increase. And while the NPD doesn't release numbers, here are some estimates based on PR info and media reports:

- Xbox 360: 203K (-26.7%)
- Nintendo 3DS: Above 124k
- Nintendo DS: Above 120K
At the time of this writing, Sony didn't released any info. However, according to some unofficial reports the PS Vita sold below 50k units last month.

And finally, here is the PR from Microsoft, which was the only company to release official info regarding last month sales:

Xbox 360 maintains its lead in the U.S. console market, marking 19 months as the top-selling current-generation console in the U.S.

July 2012 U.S. NPD highlights:

· Xbox 360 sold 203,000 units in July, more units than any gaming hardware, and held 49 percent share of current-generation console sales in the U.S. This marks the 17th consecutive month that Xbox 360 has held more than a 40 percent share of current-generation console sales in the U.S. (Source: NPD Group, July 2012)

· Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in July (hardware, software and accessories) reached $218 million; consumers spent more on Xbox 360 products in July than they spent on the other two current-generation consoles combined. (Source: NPD Group, July 2012)

· During the month of July, Xbox 360 held six of the top 10 U.S. console game titles including: “NCAA Football 13,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes” “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations” and “Batman: Arkham City.” (Source: NPD Group, July 2012)

There has never been a better time to own an Xbox 360. Coming this holiday:

· The year’s hottest blockbuster games including “Halo 4,” “Forza Horizon,” “Dance Central 3” and “Fable: The Journey.”
· A whole new way to interact with your TV with breakthrough experiences for the whole family such as “Kinect Sesame Street TV,” “Kinect Nat Geo TV” and “Nike+ Kinect Training.”
· A suite of new Xbox LIVE and entertainment experiences including Internet Explorer for Xbox 360 alongside bringing Xbox games to Windows 8.
· Xbox SmartGlass, which enables all the devices you own to work together, making your games and entertainment even better.
NEWS SOURCE #1: Forum Thread #486239 (via) NeoGAF
NEWS SOURCE #2: NPD July NCAA top total spend down for eighth consecutive month (via) VG247

Our thanks to 'Gauss' for this news item!