Video Game Sales Drop 17%

[BaldEagle]

Video game industry sales drop 17% in April - Los Angeles Times

Video games, once considered recession-resistant, are showing signs of economic strain.

Game prices are coming down, and so are sales. Hot titles like Guitar Hero are feeling the pressure. Even sales of Nintendo Co.'s popular Wii consoles are down.

Overall, industry sales in the U.S. stumbled 17% in April over the previous year, with console sales dropping 8% and games sliding 23%, according to a report released Thursday from tracking firm NPD Group Inc.

[Simul4ti0n]

I never thought it was recession proof.

[RKH404]

Im getting a 360 again for Forza 3, but ya, it was thought recesion proof, because much like movies in the depretion it helped people to get time to them selfs and seperate them from economoc stresses in their life. Is surprising to me...

I dgaf about the wii aka gimicky pos, hope people never buy them again...

[Sailer]

I wonder, could it be that people are starting to tire of all the army combat games? What might happen to the market if something like Starcraft 2 came out? Or maybe some of the flight sims were re-introduced, something along the lines of Red Baron, or Aces Over the Pacific, or some similar games. They did rather well years ago. Maybe with a new set of people playing them, they'd sell again. Just thoughts that go through my mind.

Oh yeah, on a different note, entertainment is one of the last things to go in a recession/depression. So if the entertainment, in this case games, is going down, maybe things aren't going as well as Washington and some Wall Street people would like us to think.

[Harvestor]

The next thing is going to be that pirating has caused this drop.

[akhilles]

I don't think the gamers are getting tired of FPS's. If you follow the video game news closely, you know the Wii is just a fad. It looks like so since their sales are flattering after the initial "shortages" (Sony used a shortage strategy on PS2 initially and it sold out) that caused the crazy sale-out's. Most hardcore gamers agree the Wii is destroying the industry with shovel-ware & non-games (How Wii Sports is a game is beyond me). Most of the top sellers belong to Nintendo. And 3rd parties think they can make a quick buck so they jump in and end up with lackluster sales.

If this trend continues, the video game economy may tank.

[arisythila]

The S14B model in Forza is after my car :-)

Forza 3 is coming out eh?

[randomizer]

Definitely wuzy's fault.

[RKH404]

The S14B model in Forza is after my car :-)

Forza 3 is coming out eh?

I can't wait for Forza 3!!! It looks freakin EPIC!

[wuzy]

Definitely wuzy's fault.

I usually rank among the top 5 users with most shared amount of data on DC++ hub at local LANs.

My Dell PERC 5/i deserves a certified sticker!

[SEAL]

$50 - $60 per game, what the hell do they expect?

[randomizer]

Or if you buy retail, $100-120

[Violet_wind]

Or if you buy from EB games... only $100 if you trade in 4 games!

[Gneisenau]

I don't know about the rest of you, but the main reason I haven't bought a game in a while is the fact there is nothing out there I want to buy right now that I don't already have. When they make something new and exciting for me, I'll pick it up.

[Eurasianman]

The Sims 3 is pretty cool. Picked it up yesterday at Best Buy for $40 before taxes.

[YMAA]

Thanks to WoW and content patches adding new dungeons and major changes to classes it's like I get a new game every few months.

And it's a good thing I've been spacing out playing other games, this way I always have a new game to play when I get bored. Just started playing Fallout 3 a few days ago. Now that I'm out of the Vault it's pretty much Oblivion with futuristic weapons and a targetting system.

Playing through the first time as a good person, and I'll try evil next time around.

[Sailer]

I don't know about the rest of you, but the main reason I haven't bought a game in a while is the fact there is nothing out there I want to buy right now that I don't already have. When they make something new and exciting for me, I'll pick it up.

+1!

Of course, the last few games I have gotten were included with video cards as well, but when I go into the store, nothing seems to reach out and grab my attention. There's a couple games promised that I might buy, but the companies have delayed release for so long that I have serious doubts that they'll ever get released (Starcraft 2?).

[randomizer]

I have TF2, Far Cry 2, HL2 Ep1 and Ep 2 (hell of alot of 2's) that I still haven't played at all yet. I don't need to buy anything.

[YMAA]

+1!

Of course, the last few games I have gotten were included with video cards as well, but when I go into the store, nothing seems to reach out and grab my attention. There's a couple games promised that I might buy, but the companies have delayed release for so long that I have serious doubts that they'll ever get released (Starcraft 2?).

SC2 is in beta I believe. No reason to suspect it won't be released, though I don't know if they'll make it by Christmas season.

[RKH404]

Or if you buy retail, $100-120

Ya thats in the land of kangaroos, over here in the land of the lazies, and fatties, its 50-60 for console games, and 40-50 for PC...