Video game sales plunged 20% in February

L.A. Times Archives

March 9, 2012 12 AM PT

February video game sales suffered another double-digit monthly decline, plunging 20% to $1.06 billion, down from $1.33 billion in February 2011.

Sales of software titles struggled the most, dropping 24.4% to $464.4 million last month, down from $601.4 million for the same period last year.

Sales of the PlayStation Vita, Sony’s Corp.’s latest portable game console — introduced in the U.S. on Feb. 22 — helped to cushion the overall decline in hardware sales last month, but not enough to prevent an 18% decline in sales of consoles, including the Nintendo Wii.

Sales of the top 10 titles listed below accounted for 78% of total game sales in terms of units.

Top 10 selling U.S. video games in February

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard)

2. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Square Enix)

3. UFC Undisputed 3 (THQ)

4. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (38Studios / Electronic Arts)

5. Just Dance 3 (Ubisoft)

6. NBA 2K12 (Take-Two Interactive Software)

7. Soul Calibur V (Namco Bandai)

8. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Softworks)

9. Twisted Metal 2012 (Sony)

10. Battlefield 3 (Electronic Arts)