Winners and Losers for July

The July sales numbers from the NPD Group are in. While the videogame industry as a whole performed well, not every game publisher had a great month. Electronic Arts had a great month thanks to strong sales of "NCAA Football 07" across all platforms to the tune of 1 million units and the release of "Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth II" for Xbox 360, which topped 100,000 units and likely paved the way for a new genre for next generation systems--real-time strategy games. "FIFA World Cup 2006" also continued strong summer sales in the U.S., along with catalog titles like "Black," "The Godfather," "Fight Night Round 3," and "Madden NFL 06." EA game sales were up 50 percent compared to June and up 29 percent compared to last July.

Midway games saw a 67 percent increase in July sales compared to last year thanks mostly to sales of catalog titles. "The Ant Bully" sold just 30,000 units, which is not good for a Hollywood license. The film failed to generate huge box office, as well. July sales were down 30 percent compared to last month.

THQ rode the success of "Cars" to a positive 27 percent increase over last July, although June to July sales for this year were down 24 percent. Although down 35 percent from last month, "Cars" sold 200,000 units in July, which is a great second month tally and a sign of strength for the licensed game. THQ will ship next generation "Cars" games this fall.

Take-Two Interactive saw "Prey" sell 150,000 units to help the publisher to a 34 percent increase in sales over last July. There was an 18 percent drop from June to July, although "GTA Liberty City Stories" sold a combined 250,000 units on PS2 and PSP for the month. Strong sales of its exclusive baseball license also helped the company.

Atari's new "Super Dragon Ball Z" sold under 50,000 units in its debut. The company saw a 27 percent jump from last July's sales, but a 5 percent drop compared to last month. "Driver: Parallel Lines" sold strongly as a value-piced catalog title.

With its Hollywood-licensed movies "Over the Hedge" and "X-Men 3" out of theaters, Activision saw a 34 percent drop from June and an 11 percent fall from last July. The company continued to see solid sales from franchises like "Call of Duty," Tony Hawk and "Spider-Man."

Majesco suffered a 45 percent drop from June to July of this year. The company did see a 10 percent increase over last July, thanks to sales of games like "Jaws Unleashed," "Infected" and "Teen Titans."