US sales of video games consoles fell by more than a quarter during 2003, according to industry figures to be published on Monday. The decline reflects waning enthusiasm among consumers for the current generation of hardware and the reluctance of Sony and Microsoft to make deep price cuts.

Annual sales of consoles such as the Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation2 and Nintendo GameCube slid 27 per cent to $2.2bn in 2003, according to NPD, the market research company. Unit sales fell 15 per cent.

While hardware sales were disappointing, games software sales remained strong.