NPD released its November 2005 sales numbers for the game industry. The company released figures showed a staggering 18 percent year-on-year drop in November game sales, despite an average game-price increase of 2 percent. The falloff was steeper than what the majority of analysts had feared, with the most dire estimates maxing out at around 16 percent.

The NPD numbers showed that Microsoft sold only 326,000 units of Xbox 360 during its first five days on the market. By contrast, the original Xbox sold more than 550,000 units in its first week of release in 2001. Sony’s PSP, which launched in the US and Canada on March 24 of this year, sold around 602,000 units during its first seven days in stores. Analysts blamed the low figure on “limited quantities of Xbox 360 hardware.”

During the four weeks from October 30 to November 26, only $696 million worth of game software was sold, way down from $849 million during the same period in 2004. The lack of blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2, and Metal Gear Solid 3 were also cited as a factor by analysts. “The fall was due to a tough comparison against Halo 2 last year and a slowdown in sales ahead of the Xbox 360 launch,” said UBS analyst Michael P. Wallace.

Another factor in the November numbers was falling sales of current-generation hardware. As might be expected with the 360 going on sale, the Xbox saw the biggest decline, some 75 percent. Far behind it was the new slim-line PlayStation 2 at 21 percent, with the GameCube falling off just 19 percent.