U.S. video gamers spent less on games, hardware and accessories in May compared with a year ago, a sign that this year’s release schedule couldn’t compete with Take Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto IV last spring. The NPD Group said Thursday that spending fell 23 percent from last May to $863 million. It was the first monthly tally below $1 billion since August 2007 and the third month in a row of declines.

The best-selling title this May was THQ’s UFC 2009 Undisputed, which sold 679,600 units for the Xbox 360, and 334,400 for the PlayStation 3, for a total of just over 1 million. In comparison, GTA IV sold 1.3 million units last May on both platforms.

Nintendo’s Wii Fit sold 352,800 units this May for the No. 2 spot, down from 687,700 a year ago. Games for the Wii took five of the month’s top 10 titles. All 10 sold a combined 2.6 million units, compared with 3.7 million a year ago.

Hardware sales plunged 30 percent to $303 million while software sales were down 17 percent to $449 million. Accessories sales fell 25 percent $112 million. During the month, Nintendo sold 633,500 DS portable consoles and 289,500 Wii systems, while Sony sold 131,000 PlayStation 3 systems, 117,000 PlayStation 2 consoles and 100,400 PSP portable devices. Microsoft sold 175,000 Xbox 360 units.

One proposed theory for the decline, however, is that last year’s blockbuster release of GTA IV skewed the results, and that the perceived decline is due to a lack of truly stellar titles this past spring.

Source: AP