Representatives from statistics firm The NPD Group have released details of the top ten selling games in the U.S. during the first half of the year. During this time, the group reports that software and accessories saw an increase of 21 percent in revenue compared to the same time last year, with overall figures rising from $3.4 million to $4.1 billion.
The introduction of the Nintendo DS and PSP were seen as the major contributors to an 11 percent increase in overall unit sales for the first half of the year, according to the firm. Console sales, however, dipped by six percent, to a final total of $594 million, down from $631.6 million last year.
All other console categories saw an improvement, though, with software up 3 percent, console accessories up six percent, portable game hardware up an impressive 181 percent, portable game software up 74 percent and portable game accessories up 81 percent.
On the other hand, the PC market showed a continued decline, with revenues down 10.5 percent to $405.4 million. But the total games software market, including home consoles, portable consoles and PC games, was up by 9.2 percent to $2.8 billion.
The top ten selling games of the last six months are obviously skewed towards titles that came out earlier in the year, although Sony’s
Gran Turismo 4 emerged as the clear market leader. There was no overall leader amongst publishers, though, with Sony, Nintendo and Rockstar all having two titles each in the top ten. Unusually, there was only one Xbox title in the top ten, below GameCube exclusive
Resident Evil 4, illustrating the dwindling first-party support for the console as Microsoft focuses its attentions on the Xbox 360.
| Rank | Title | Publisher | Format | Release Date |
| 1 | Gran Turismo 4 | Sony | PS2 | Feb '05 |
| 2 | Pokémon Emerald | Nintendo | GBA | Apr '05 |
| 3 | MVP Baseball 2005 | EA | PS2 | Feb '05 |
| 4 | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith | LucasArts | PS2 | May '05 |
| 5 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | Rockstar | PS2 | Oct '04 |
| 6 | God of War | Sony | PS2 | Mar '05 |
| 7 | The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap | Nintendo | GBA | Jan '05 |
| 8 | Resident Evil 4 | Capcom | GC | Jan '05 |
| 9 | Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition | Rockstar | PS2 | Apr '05 |
| 10 | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith | LucasArts | Xb | May '05 |
The NPD Group
