According to the latest statistics released by industry analyst The NPD Group, overall video games business witnessed a 6 percent year-on-year rise in March, marking the first increase for this year – in January and February respectively, video industry sales had plunged 14 percent and 13 percent.

Becoming the third-best non-holiday period month on record, March saw the industry posting a total sales figure of $1.52 billion, indicating a 6 percent from $1.44 billion sales during the same month last year.

However, though software sales in March increased 10 percent year-on-year – from $795 million to $875.3 million; hardware sales during the month dropped 4 percent – from the same-month last year figures of $457.1 million to $440.5 million.

Commenting on the software and hardware sales figures for the month, NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a Thursday report that while prices of software remained flat in March, those of hardware fell 16 percent countrywide; thereby putting notable pressure on revenues.

The hardware sales were dominated by Nintendo’s Wii console, which sold 557,500 units in March; followed by Microsoft Xbox with 338,400 units sold, and Sony PlayStation 3 with 313,900 units sold.

Noting that the positive overall March results “reflect an inflection point for the industry,” game analyst Jesse Divnich, of Electronic Entertainment Design & Research, said in an e-mail: “We’re likely to see positive comparisons for the next two months.”