NPD, a U.S. market research firm report states that June 2012 had lower sales, but so far it is better than last month’s terrible performance.

This monthly report on US retail sales tracks only traditional retail it doesn’t track digital sales, subscriptions, mobiles, rentals, DLC and other online purchase.

According to NPD sales figures, The Last of Us is ‘the second highest first-month sales of a PS3 first-party game’, a record still held by God of War 3 set in March 2010.

1. The Last Of Us (PS3)
2. Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)
3. Minecraft (360)
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
5. NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC)
6. Injustice: Gods Among Us (360, PS3, Wii U)
7. Donkey Kong Country Returns (3DS, Wii U)
8. Deadpool (360, PS3)
9. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)
10. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)

“The Last of Us was also the third highest game to launch during the month of June since NPD began tracking sales in 1995.”

“Animal Crossing: New Leaf also sold well in the context of first-party games for the 3DS, having the third highest first-month sales next to two launches from holiday 2011: Mario Kart 7, and Super Mario 3D Land,” said NPD Group’s Liam Callahan.

Rounding out June’s top-three was Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. “Minecraft’s successful foray into physical retail shows that digital products can reach a new market when launching a physical disc,” commented Callahan.

“While many have downloaded the game, these sales indicate that there are plenty of consumers willing to buy a physical disc who are either not connected to the internet, don’t have a credit card to purchase digital games online, or simply prefer the physical disk over digital copies.”

June 2013 saw a drop in spend by 15% from June 2012′s $700.6 million to just $593.3 million. It’s an improvement on May’s $386.3 million. Software sales dropped 14% to $313.8 million. Accessories dropped 9% from $170.3 million to $155.2 million.

Hardware dropped 30% to $142 million from June 2012′s $201.5 million; probably due to announcement of upcoming eighth generation consoles, these does not include next-gen pre-orders.

Microsoft sold 140,000 Xbox 360 consoles, up from 114,000 last month, but down from 257,000 units during the same period last year. June 2011 to June 2012 saw a 49% drop. This year is even worse, with a 54% plummet.

Total video game sales are down 15% year-over-year from $700.6 million to $593.3 million. This is an improvement over last month’s abysmal performance of $386.3 million.

Hardware is down 30% year-over-year from $201.5 million to $142 million. Console software is down only 10% from $328.8 million to $296.1 million, with PC software sales (already a small slice of purchases) only accounting for an additional $17.7 million. Accessories are once again down, this time 9% from $170.3 million to $155.2 million.