US games revenue fall below $1 billion for May

America's tough comps got even tougher last night, as NPD announced a butt-puckering 23 percent decline in overall games revenue for May on a year-over-year basis.

Sales were down to $863.3 million from $1.12 billion in May last year, the first time the total monthly industry figure has fallen below $1 billion since August 2007.

Hardware was down to $302,500, a 30 percent drop.

Software revenue fell to $448,900, a 17 percent decrease, while peripheral sales slid 5 percent to $112,000.

"The video games industry continues to struggle with difficult comparisons to last year, and this is the first month that industry sales have dipped below $1 billion since August 2007," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

"May is typically one of the lowest revenue-generating months in any given year for the industry in general."