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U.S. June gaming sales drop sharply, shock analysts

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Dela @ Jul 16, 2009 23:36 | 9 comments

Sales of videogame hardware and software have been dropping each month (compared to the same months of 2008) largely due to a stellar sales performance all around early last year. Still, with analysts predicting a 20 percent drop in sales of (non-PC) gaming hardware, software and accessories in June, a reported 31 percent decline compared to June 2008 surprised the industry. June 2009 was the worst monthly performance for the industry since September 2000.

Sales of gaming hardware dropped 38 percent to $382 million, compared to $617.25 million in June 2008, according to figures from NPD. The Nintendo DS platform led the month with a still-strong 766,500 units, following by the Wii console at 361,700 units. Microsoft's Xbox 360 console moved 240,600 units while the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) sold 164,700 units, a difference of just 12,000 units compared to the PlayStation 2's 152,700 tally. The PSP handheld moved 163,500 units.

Sales of gaming software declined 29 percent to $625.79 million, with Activision's Prototype topping the charts with 419,900 units sold. THQ's UFC 2009 Undisputed title took second place with 338,300 units sold, while the EA Sports Active title for the Wii came in third with 289,100 sales.

"The video games industry realized a significant decline when compared to June 2008, the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year declines," said NPD analyst Anita Fraizer in a statement. "The first half of the year has been tough largely due to comparisons against a stellar first half performance last year, but still, this level of decline is certainly going to cause some pain and reflection in the industry."

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Comments

Comment by: DXR88 (Jul 17, 2009 00:28)

People are getting tight with there money, Necessity's come first leisures will always come last.

an example. Utility are steadily going up but are pay is staying the same.

Comment by: ooZEROoo (Jul 17, 2009 01:36)

Here in the U.S. the minimum wage rate increased to $7.15 per hour. Even with the wages being raised it is still not helping our economy. Small businesses are going out of business because of lack of money to pay employees, thus losing more jobs. The whole electronics industry is suffering because our money is basically becoming worth nothing so they wonder why the economy is falling in the hole. Heavy industry has suffered greatly. So this sales drop you can blame the banks and Wall Street financiers that don't care what industry, or single individual suffer as long as they get paid at the end of the day.

Comment by: ZeusAV (Jul 17, 2009 03:07)

One must also consider that last year Metal Gear Solid 4 was released in June. Prototype isn't anywhere near the blockbuster title that was. In fact other than Prototype there wasn't really anything decent released in June.

Comment by: asilay328 (Jul 17, 2009 07:08)

I would expect unit sales for gaming consoles to decrease due to the economy, but the drop in sales for games could be exactly what zuesAV was saying, lets look at the sales numbers when EA releases Madden 09....

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Jul 17, 2009 09:00)

I was going to say I have not heard of any big name titles being released of late, those are your true sale markers, month to month sales run more on trends and fads and can become rather random.

A real shocking drop would be 60% or more of monthly consumption, but 10% or 20% or even 30% is nothing really and frankly with how consumers consume random spikes to 50% lows should not be to shocking either.

Comment by: Gnawnivek (Jul 17, 2009 13:28)

Well, I did buy BlazBlue in June if that helps. But yeah, i rented the rest (maybe Infamous, TRU is going to have a sale this Sunday). Honestly, I'm expecting a higher electric, gas and water bill this month. Not too much loose change (just paid car insurance too). My pay check? Same as a year and half ago... My workload? Eh, doubled (so even if i can buy a game in a month, i don't have time to play it). Paying more for less, working more for less, playing less and less :(

Comment by: Dela (Jul 17, 2009 13:45)

Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
I was going to say I have not heard of any big name titles being released of late, those are your true sale markers, month to month sales run more on trends and fads and can become rather random.

A real shocking drop would be 60% or more of monthly consumption, but 10% or 20% or even 30% is nothing really and frankly with how consumers consume random spikes to 50% lows should not be to shocking either.

Actually 31 percent is very sharp. Up until a few months ago, the industry saw growth since early 2006, now we see the biggest drop in almost 9 years. The problem here is now the drop is getting "progressively" worse, and for an industry that seemed to weather the start of the recession very well. Analysts aren't always right obviously, but usually you'll find a few who get it right. This time however, the "gloomy" predictions, were a 20% drop overall, and it ended up far worse, here we're talking about analysts considered gloomy to miss the mark by $170 million in a month ($1.7 billion figure last year).

Comment by: keith1993 (Jul 17, 2009 15:01)

I think a key part of this may be the Wii/wii fit last year they were the must have thing and everyone's dad was buying them. Since then everyone owns them and are bored of the crappy games on them.

Another thing is the massive market that is the knobs who sit playing Xbox live all day haven't had anything to shoot things randomly on so far this year.

Most people have bought there current gen consoles so the Hardware will decline till the things start to break/companies start mixing things up I'm thinking PS3 Slim.

Comment by: TheFro (Jul 19, 2009 09:04)

If analysts aren't happy now then see then when every fat person in the world wakes up to them selves and go'z on a diet and stays outdoors more.