Video game software sales fell 23 percent in April, year over year, while hardware sales declined 8 percent, as players set aside their game controllers in order to save cash in the midst of a recession, according to research company NPD Group. Microsoft, Sony and other major IT companies have seen their bottom lines affected by the decline.Sales of video game software declined 23 percent in April from the same
period in 2008, while video game hardware sales declined around 8 percent,
according to research company NPD Group.
Even though those numbers indicate that players are setting aside their Wii
controllers and letting their "Rock Band" instruments gather dust in
order to battle the real-life monsters of a global recession, NPD Group
analysts said they feel that the data isn't entirely negative.
"While April sales might appear soft on the surface, it's important to
remember that April is being compared against a month [April 2008] that
realized nearly 50 percent growth over April 2007," Anita Frazier, an
analyst with the NPD Group, wrote in a statement accompanying the data.
"This year's performance still represents the second-best performance for
the industry in the month of April, besting April 2007, which is the previous
second-place holder, by 26 percent."
Click here to read about Microsoft's planned acquisition of interactive online game developer BigPark.
Another bright spot was the release of the portable video game unit, the
Nintendo DSi, which contributed about 31 percent of the total industry unit
sales across all categories for April. The lowering of the price point for the
Sony PlayStation 2, another hardware system, led to a doubling in its sales
rate when compared with March 2009.
"Overall weakness in hardware sales other than the DS and PS2 platforms
is likely to capture a lot of attention this month, particularly year-over-year
decline of Wii sales," Frazier wrote. "It is important to remember
that last April, Wii sales were fueled by two huge new titles: 'Super Smash
Bros. Brawl' and 'Mario Kart.'"
In April 2008, the blockbuster release of "Grand Theft Auto IV"
also set a high bar for subsequent sales comparisons.
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