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Video game sales drop 10 percent in August

Months-long slump leads to the worst August sales figures since 2006, according to a report by The NPD Group.

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The video game industry's months-long slump continues, with retailers scoring their worst August sales figures in four years.

Revenue from the retail sales of games and consoles in the U.S. was $818.9 million in August, a drop of 10 percent compared with the year-ago period, according to a report released Thursday by The NPD Group. Year-to-date sales revenue was $8.37 billion, a drop of 8 percent compared with the same period for 2009, NPD said.

Revenue from the sale of video game software was $403.5 million, a drop of 14 percent compared with August 2009. EA's Madden NFL 11 was the No. 1 game for the month, selling more than 1.8 million units, about 6 percent higher than last year's game in its debut month.

Revenue from video game hardware sales was $828.5 million, off 5 percent in August compared with the year-ago period. Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the No. 1 game console for the third month in a row, selling 356,700 units. Meanwhile, Nintendo's Wii sold 244,300 units, its lowest sales performance since the console's introduction in November 2006.

"While all categories are down in both dollars and units, the portable portion of the industry is down to a greater extent than is the console portion," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement.