Chicago (IL) – Is it just a blip or the beginning of a trend? NPD’s U.S. game console shipment numbers for June showed a slight uptick in sales over the catastrophic results for the preceding two months, but it seems that both Microsoft and Sony are gaining much faster than Nintendo. The Wii dropped to its weakest competitive position since January 2008
Especially Nintendo was certain that it would be sailing through the current recession as it hoped that consumers would spend more money on home entertainment rather than going out. That expectation held up until March of this year, but saw a dramatic shift beginning in April, when U.S. game console shipments (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360
) dropped to 642,000, down from 1.149 million in March and down from 1.089 million in April 2008. The drop continued to about 596,000 in May, which represented a 24 month low, according to market research firm NPD.