The May 2008 NPD numbers have been recently released, and by the looks of it, the numbers overall were below people's expectations, with hardware and software numbers decreasing since last month. Many thanks for sonycowboy at NeoGAF and the NPD Group for making the numbers available. The tracking period was a four week period, from May 4th to May 31st.

May only saw one major release: the ever-popular Wii Fit from Nintendo. The focus this month came on Grand Theft Auto IV, Mario Kart Wii and the aforementioned Wii Fit.

On the hardware front, the PS3 and the DS were the only two systems to increase from April, while there are no PS2 numbers this month from the NPD, for reasons unknown.

Hardware LTDs:
PS3: 4,450,000
PSP: 11,657,100
360: 10,270,000
WII: 10,180,000
NDS: 19,994,300

The Wii comes up short in its bid to overtake the 360 in America, but it should pass it with June's numbers, being behind by approximately 90,000 units. Also with next month's numbers, the Nintendo DS will pass 20 million in the US alone.

Software-wise, the 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV leads the month once again with 871.3k units, while the PS3 version lands in 4th with 442.9k units sold. Mario Kart Wii keeps its second-place position with 767.4k units sold, while the supply-constrained Wii Fit comes in third at 687.7k. Five of the remaining six games in the top ten software are familiar to the list: Wii Play (WII - #5 - 294.6k), Super Smash Bros. Brawl (WII - #6 - 171.1k), Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (WII - #8 - 116.8k), Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (NDS - #9 - 107k) and Explorers of Time (NDS - #10 - 102k). Sega's Iron Man (PS2 - #7 - 130.6k) rounds out the top ten. The NPD also noted that Namco Bandai's We Ski was #12.

Some software LTDs:
Wii Play (Wii) - 5,760,000
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 3,190,000
Guitar Hero III (Wii) - 2,200,000
Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 1,907,000
Grand Theft Auto IV (360) - 2,721,000
Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) - 1,442,000

Industry-wide, total sales dropped from April, while hardware and accessories essentially held serve, software sales dropped by around $100 million. There is a still a good increase from this point in time last year.

Things to look for in June:

Metal Gear Solid 4 and the PS3. With all of the hype the game has been getting, it's just a question of where it will break the charts and how it will impact the PS3.

Wii Fit was supply-constrained since launch, and will probably remain like that for the rest of June. Whether or not the US received more units this month, I'm not sure.

Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden II also was a new release in June, but I don't expect it to make any impact in sales.

Stay tuned, for this article will be updated with links to a corresponding Neoseeker News Article and a brand new Neoseeker Games Industry Roundtable Discussion, where you can put in your two cents on this month's NPD and the state of the industry on the Neoseeker forums.

[April 2008 NPD]