The year 2012 has come and gone, but it ended much in the same way that it started for the video game industry: with diminishing returns. December sales were down 22 percent when compared to the same time period last year. Although the industry still pulled in more than $13 billion dollars over the course of 2013, that still turned out to be a 22 percent decline in sales over the previous year.
There are a number of possible reasons for the decline, one of which could be the fact that nearly all the major consoles are nearing the end of their lifespan. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are both expected to give way to new consoles from Sony and Microsoft later in 2013. Nintendo, meanwhile, has already moved on to new hardware with the Wii U, which it released in November 2012.
Nintendo has seen a moderately successful release of the Wii U, which sold about 890,000 units since launch. The Xbox, though, continued to lead all consoles with 1.4 million sold.
"Overall industry results are not entirely surprising given that we are on the back end of the current console lifecycle, combined with the continued digital evolution of gaming," said Anita Frazier, an analyst with The NPD Group. "Core gamers continue to be engaged and spend on established franchises across both the digital and physical format using multiple devices for different gaming occasions."
Here's the complete top 10 list for December.
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
2. Just Dance 4
3. Halo 4
4. Assassin's Creed III
5. Madden NFL 13
6. Far Cry 3 (Ubisoft)
7. NBA 2K13
8. Skylanders Giants (Activision)
9. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo)
10. FIFA Soccer 13
Additionally, here are the top 10 titles for the year.
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Activision)
2. Madden NFL 13 (Electronic Arts)
3. Halo 4 (Microsoft)
4. Assassin's Creed III (Ubisoft)
5. Just Dance 4 (Ubisoft)
6. NBA 2K13 (2K Sports)
7. Borderlands 2 (2K Games)
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision)
9. Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes (Warner Bros. Interactive)
10. FIFA Soccer 13 (Electronic Arts)
