Consumer jitters about the economy, combined with a lackluster slate of game releases, led to a 38% drop in sales of game consoles such as Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and Nintendo Co.'s Wii and DS in June. Hardware sales fell to $383.6 million last month, from $617.3 million in June 2008.
Games took a slightly smaller tumble, falling 29% to $625.8 million in June, down from $875.8 million in the same month a year ago.
For the first half of the year, the industry's overall sales in the U.S. were down 12% to $7.3 billion.
