The sky is falling. Ok, not really.
Game Politics has write up about how May 2011 is one of the lowest sales months on record according to NPD with the following, somewhat important, caveat:
“Keeping in mind that these sales figures represent just the new physical portion of the market for video game hardware, software, and accessories and not the growing portion of the industry that is comprised of digital format content distribution, May 2011 was the lowest month of sales for the industry since October 2006,” said Frazier. “A light slate of new releases is at the heart of this month’s performance.”
So….in other words your data doesn’t mean a hell of a lot. Until we can get a look at the whole picture, I don’t know what purpose NPD serves anymore. Brink was the #2 seller for May behind LA Noire — not bad considering the early press and that doesn’t even count PC download sales.