The much-anticipated NPD software sales for June 2009 have finally been released, but while it's easy to be overwhelmed by the numbers in the thousands, they are, actually, underwhelming.

In fact, the analysts have been proven right in their prediction that it will see the fourth consecutive sales decline -- and more. The newly-released sales numbers are now described as the "largest drop in nine years."

Industry players and watchers no doubt trickled sweat in the days leading up to the release of the data. The past several months have not shown a good trend in the industry, and several companies have already been bit hard by the economy-busting bug, either laying off people or closing shop for good.

For the month of June, the year-over-year sales saw a 38% drop in hardware sales, while software got slashed by 31%. The last time we saw disastrous numbers this big was in September of 2000, with an overall decline of 41%.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier weighs in on these figures:

This is one of the first months where I think the impact of the economy is clearly reflected in the sales numbers. The decline could also point to consumers deferring limited discretionary spending until a big event (must-have new title, hardware price cut) compels them to spend.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has said that the announcement of price cuts on hardware will definitely depend on how good or bad the NPD results for June will be. Well, we now have it, and we've seen how bad it actually is. Now let the announcements begin.

The June 2009 NPD results follow below. You'll see that the Xbox 360 has settled itself nicely in the middle of the charts, below the Nintendo consoles. The PlayStation brand continues to lag behind with the PSP, PS3 and PS2 settling in the lower half of the sales chart.

Meanwhile, Activision Blizzard's Prototype for the Xbox 360 takes the top spot with over 400,000 copies sold. But that does not necessarily mean Alex Mercer got beat by Cole McGrath per se. inFamous outranks the PS3 version of Prototype by two spots, with Alex Mercer making it to the last spot of the top ten software sales. Cole, on the other hand, had to settle for #13.

Nonetheless, it's clear that EEDAR hit it spot on that Prototype will be outselling inFamous over-all. Now let's see what other predictions related to the NPD results do come true.

Hardware:

• Nintendo DS - 766,500
• Wii - 361,700
• Xbox 360 - 240,000
• PSP - 163,500
• PS3 - 164, 700
• PS2 - 152,700

Software Top 20:

• Prototype (360) - 419,900
• UFC 2009: Undisputed (360) - 338,300
• EA Sports Active Bundle (Wii) - 289,100
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (Wii) - 272,400
• Wii Fit (Wii) - 271,600
• Fight Night Round 4 (360) - 260,800
• Fight Night Round 4 (PS3) - 210,300
• Mario Kart (Wii) - 202,100
• Red Faction: Guerrilla (360) - 199,400
• Infamous (PS3) - 192,700
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game (360)
• UFC 2009 Undisputed (PS3)
• Prototype (PS3)
• Pokemon Platinum (DS)
• Punch-Out!! (Wii)
• Wii Play (Wii)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (360)
• Mario Kart DS (DS)
• The Legendary Starfy (DS)
• New Super Mario Bros. (DS)

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