Cowen & Company industry watcher believes brawler the only new release to sell more than 250k units in April; industry expected to turn positive beginning in August with Madden.

NetherRealm’s DC Comics brawler Injustice: Gods Among Us sold around 424,000 units in the United States last month, according to research firm Cowen & Company. The financial services company believes the game was April’s only new release to sell more than 250,000 units.

Other high-profile titles launching to retail in April included Defiance, Dead Island: Riptide, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Research firm NPD Group will release April US industry sales after market close Thursday and it’s expected to be another month of declines, according to Cowen & Company.

The firm believes year-over-year software sales will slide 14 percent, due in part to a negative impact by Easter falling in March this year. Overall, total packaged game sales are expected to fall 13 percent, Cowen & Company believes.

The major publishers will all see declines, with the exception of take-Two Interactive, Cowen & Company said. Activision (-25 percent) and Electronic Arts (-32 percent) will suffer, while Take-Two is expected to be up 51 percent year-over-year thanks to “continued solid sales” of BioShock Infinite, which released in March.

The industry may be hurting right now, but Cowen & Company believes the trend will turn positive beginning in August with Madden NFL 25. Growth will then began to balloon in September and October thanks to high-profile blockbusters Grand Theft Auto V and Battlefield 4.

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