NPD numbers for June are in, painting a somber picture. Although up from the always-sluggish month of May, sales were down 31 percent compared to last year’s figures.

On a year-over-year basis, all platforms incurred a hit in unit sales over last June with the exception of Xbox 360. Despite this, Nintendo still dominated the charts, shifting a combined total of 766,500 DS and DSi systems, in addition to a respectable 361,700 Wii units.

While sales took a considerable dive over the previous year, by and large the hardware landscape remained the same as previous months, with Nintendo leading and Sony still riding in the backseat at third place.

On the software side of the spectrum, Prototype on Xbox 360 shifted 419,000 units in June, pulling ahead of both UFC 2009 and EA Sports Active. Interestingly, the PS3 edition of Prototype fell short of making the top ten. See the full breakdown of numbers after the break.

Is the dismal economic climate to blame for a significant dip in industry sales? NPD analyst Anita Frazier believes so, noting that consumers may be holding off on big-ticket items, such as hardware purchases, until a must-have title launches.

“This is one of the first months where I think the impact of the economy is clearly reflected in the sales numbers. While the aggregate of content may not be as strong as what we saw in the first half of last year, and while the consumer base willing to spend dollars on hardware at the current price points may be thinning, the size of the decliine could also point to consumers deferring limited discretionary spending until a big event (must-have new title, hardware price cut) compels them to spend.”

Hardware Units

PlayStation 2 152.7K
PlayStation 3 164.7K
PSP 163.5K
Xbox 360 240.6K
Wii 361.7K
Nintendo DS 766.5K

Top 10 VG Console/Portable SKU’s June 2009

Title Platform Publisher Release Date Units Rank
PROTOTYPE 360* ACTIVISION BLIZZARD* June-09 419.9K 1
UFC 2009:UNDISPUTED 360* THQ* May-09 338.3K 2
EA SPORTS ACTIVE BUNDLE WII* ELECTRONIC ARTS May-09 289.1K 3
TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 10* WII* ELECTRONIC ARTS June-09 272.4K 4
WII FIT WII* NINTENDO OF AMERICA May-08 271.6K 5
FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4 360* ELECTRONIC ARTS June-09 260.8K 6
FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4 PS3* ELECTRONIC ARTS June-09 210.3K 7
MARIO KART W/WHEEL WII* NINTENDO OF AMERICA April-08 202.1K 8
RED FACTION:GUERRILLA 360* THQ* June-09 199.4K 9
INFAMOUS PS3* SONY* May-09 192.7K 10

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