Video game sales slump continues for third straight month

You'd think that gaming would be the perfect tonic for a deep recession, but the spreadsheets don't lie—and indeed, according to the latest numbers, gaming revenue hasn't been this low in almost two years. That said, if you're a Ultimate Fighting fan, May was your month.

The NPD Group just released its gaming figures for last month, and once again, they're not so hot. NPD analyst Anita Frazier notes that overall gaming sales for May slipped below the $1 billion mark for the first time since August 2007, and that the gaming industry as a whole "continues to struggle" along with the U.S. economy.

Both gaming hardware and software sales were down last month—30 percent and 17 percent down, respectively, compared to May 2008. The only bright spot last month was in portable gaming hardware, as the Nintendo DS (both Lite and DSi models) moved a whopping 633,500 units. Overall, though, the gaming industry is looking down the barrel of another month—the third straight, in fact—of slumping revenue.

On the console side, the Wii is still on top with 289,500 units sold—impressive, but well shy of the 500-600K numbers we were seeing last year. Following the Wii is (per usual) the Xbox 360, which rung up 175,000 beige and black boxes, with the PlayStation 3 and PS2 bringing up the rear with 131,000 and 117,000, respectively.

As far as games go, there's the usual mix of Wii titles (Wii Fit, the new EA Sports Active Bundle, Mario Kart), along with Infamous, the well-reviewed, open-world PS3 exclusive. Conspicuously absent: a blockbuster title like Grand Theft Auto IV, which gave gaming sales a jolt of adrenaline last April and May.

Then again, never underestimate the power of mixed martial arts, as UFC 2009 Undisputed took down the competition in May, racking up nearly 680,000 units for the Xbox 360 (almost double the total of Wii Fit, the No. 2 game for the month) and 334,000 discs for the PS3 version.

Also, the gaming picture looks to brighten later this year—especially come fall, once we get such big titles as Halo: ODST, MAG, the Left 4 Dead sequel, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Modern Warfare 2 … the list goes on.

So, quick survey: Are you spending less on games due to the recession?