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US videogame industry falls in October

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DVDBack23 @ Nov 13, 2009 16:16 | 16 comments

After finally returning to growth in September, the US video game industry declined by 19 percent in October year-on-year, moving down to $1.07 billion from $1.32 billion.

"Based on typical industry seasonality, the industry is on track to generate full-year revenues in the range of $20-$21 billion in the US, which would put it just a bit below last year's sales of $21.3 billion," says NPD analyst Anita Frazier. However, "the continued economic turmoil, and in particular the troubling unemployment rate, is undoubtedly impacting industry sales. ... If consumers' personal outlook continues to erode, they could very well be much more conservative with their holiday shopping this year."

Also of note, the PS3 and the Xbox 360 accounted for almost the same amount of total industry sales, with the 360 accounting for 27 percent and the PS3 accounting for 26. "Total industry sales" refers to hardware, software and accessories.

The Wii was the best selling hardware of the month, with 506,900 units sold at the new, cheaper $199 price point. The PS3 was in second with 320,600 units sold and followed by the Xbox 360 at 249,700.

"Year-to-date, the hardware category has experienced the sharpest decline in the industry, with unit sales down 10 percent compared to the same time period last year," added Frazier. "Recent price cuts helped spur a one- to two-month increase in unit sales, and this month's Wii sales reflect that boost, but the other platforms have not sustained the sales momentum post price reduction."

Overall sales, via GameSpot:

US VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY - OCTOBER 2009 (Oct. 4-31)

Hardware: $380.74 million (-23%)

Software: $572.73 million (-18%)

Accessories: $118.88 million (-2%)

Total Games: $1.07 billion (-19%)

TOP-SELLING HARDWARE - OCTOBER 2009

Wii: 506,900

Nintendo DS: 457,600

PlayStation 3: 320,600

Xbox 360: 249,700

PSP: 174,600

PlayStation 2: 117,800

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Comments

Comment by: DXR88 (Nov 13, 2009 18:55)

what a shocker and here i thought everyone has $60 bucks to throw down on a game that will get you 10+ hours of enjoyment if that, i guess we all cant be the man now can we.

Comment by: Amak (Nov 13, 2009 21:05)

*Waits for the typical Piracy excuse.*

Comment by: KSib (Nov 14, 2009 00:34)

Keep waiting, it's coming lol. It can't be that much of a shocker when a lot of qualified people don't have jobs and the unemployment benefits are being extended. I don't really have a reason to buy a PS3 or a 360 because they have like...5 or 6 games I wanna play on them, each and half of those don't have much gameplay time on them. That's not worth the money they want for the systems really, but that's just one (jobless) opinion among millions lol.

@DXR88 Yeah, can we get some good games? That would probably help, thanks. This $60 for games crap I'm going ahead and blaming young console gamers for that. Thanks. Now the MW2 publisher thinks it's gonna fly on PCs as well... I don't want this becoming a trend.

All I know is my Wii is collecting dust because I'm waiting for a decent game to emerge. The last game I played was that Tiger Woods game when it first came out because I wanted to try out that motion plus accessory. I think the disc golf was actually more fun than playing the Tiger Woods portion of the game. Then I decided to just to play Frisbee golf for real :P

Comment by: lxhotboy (Nov 14, 2009 03:21)

Cant say i can argue with you guys. I own a xbox 360 and rarely buy games. I only buy the elite titles that come out such as gears of war, bioshock, call of duty, etc. Friend owns a PS3. He beat both uncharted 1 and 2 each in two days. All the hype about the graphics, gameplay, storyline and then shell out $60 to beat it the second day you bought the game isnot too great in my opinion.

I actually bought some games like Lego indiana jones for my son and i loved playing and actually had a lot more playing time than some of these other games that cost a lot more. Devs worry more on graphics and gameplay than playtime nowdays. They could put minor changes in a game and add several hours of playtime for the gamers.

Comment by: nintenut (Nov 14, 2009 03:50)

Honestly? I haven't bought a "Current-gen" console game new in a while. The last one was Arkham Asylum for the PS3, but before that I think it was the first Modern Warfare for the 360, and that was only because the store I got it at was closing down and was selling it for $25.
It's just so expensive nowadays!

The GC/PS2/XB era will remain in my mind as the last truly great one. Before all the RRODs and Blu-ray and $600 price tags and motion controls and ridiculous peripherals out the ass and "Casual" gamers and $60 games and bricking and unnecessary DLC and firmware updates and Digital Distribution andandandandandANDANDAND.
It's a frigging mess!

I'm almost ashamed to say that I'm primarily a Wii gamer as far as consoles go, if only for the Homebrew capabilities. Not that it doesn't have some truly great retail games for the system, I just play Homebrew emulators and games more often. (Do Brawl hacks count as Homebrew? You need Homebrew to do it, and I probably wouldn't be playing Brawl so much without the hacks).
The system I buy games for most is my DS. I think the most I've spent on a single game was $35, and I get just as much play time and enjoyment out of those games as I do the console games. I have upwards of fifty games since launch, which is more than my PS3 and Wii collection combined.

What I'm looking forward to, as odd as this sounds from the mouth of a gamer, is for the market to crash.
That way, hopefully, companies like UBISoft will be more wary of pumping out shit games, and we get less marketing clusterfucks like Modern Warfare 2, and prices go down. If even just a bit.
Also, I honestly hope that Bobby Kotick dies. He's one of the prime examples of why I dislike the industry today, as well as humanity in general.

Who else here hates DLC and DD?

Comment by: KSib (Nov 14, 2009 03:51)

But they never will add those changes because people will keep buying the crap that's fed to them. There's really not much (monetary) gain from pleasing anyone than the majority; which I believe to be the large group of casual gamers.

Comment by: PNutsButr (Nov 14, 2009 09:43)

Now that the new COD Modern Warfare 2 is out, I think the video game industry will have at least a slight incline! This is the most amazing display of graphic ingenuity I have ever seen! Unbelievable

Comment by: PNutsButr (Nov 14, 2009 09:46)

Originally posted by KSib:
Keep waiting, it's coming lol. It can't be that much of a shocker when a lot of qualified people don't have jobs and the unemployment benefits are being extended. I don't really have a reason to buy a PS3 or a 360 because they have like...5 or 6 games I wanna play on them, each and half of those don't have much gameplay time on them. That's not worth the money they want for the systems really, but that's just one (jobless) opinion among millions lol.

@DXR88 Yeah, can we get some good games? That would probably help, thanks. This $60 for games crap I'm going ahead and blaming young console gamers for that. Thanks. Now the MW2 publisher thinks it's gonna fly on PCs as well... I don't want this becoming a trend.

All I know is my Wii is collecting dust because I'm waiting for a decent game to emerge. The last game I played was that Tiger Woods game when it first came out because I wanted to try out that motion plus accessory. I think the disc golf was actually more fun than playing the Tiger Woods portion of the game. Then I decided to just to play Frisbee golf for real :P

real disc golf is the shiznizzle bam snap snap crack

Comment by: KSib (Nov 14, 2009 10:20)

Originally posted by PNutsButr:
Now that the new COD Modern Warfare 2 is out, I think the video game industry will have at least a slight incline! This is the most amazing display of graphic ingenuity I have ever seen! Unbelievable

This is a one example why developers focus on graphics and not gameplay, people eat it up. I can't really argue with that, people like what they like.

Comment by: jaqafter (Nov 14, 2009 19:14)

Hah, a slight, 300million dollar incline. :D

Down with sigs.

Comment by: iamgq (Nov 15, 2009 06:11)

they need to release GOD OF WAR 3 --ASAP

Comment by: Oner (Nov 15, 2009 22:33)

Originally posted by lxhotboy:
I only buy the elite titles that come out such as gears of war, bioshock, call of duty, etc. Friend owns a PS3. He beat both uncharted 1 and 2 each in two days. All the hype about the graphics, gameplay, storyline and then shell out $60 to beat it the second day you bought the game isnot too great in my opinion.

But yet all 3 of those games you posted can all be beat in 1 day (even less honestly) and you didn't complain about them?

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Comment by: KSib (Nov 15, 2009 23:34)

I didn't beat Gears of War or Bioshock in less than a day. I suppose if that's all you did in a day then yeah I could see that. For most people (like the people that are buying these games), this is like a week long (or longer) venture.

Comment by: gnovak1 (Nov 16, 2009 18:45)

Takes me about a month and a half to finish one game. I give myself time to eat and sleep.

I can't see spending $60.00 on a game and yet be so anxious to finish it in one or two days.

But just shop smart. I always wait and the prices will eventually drop when the sales decrease. I don't need to be the FIRST one to buy the game.

I like to wait for games to get to the Xbox platinum series so i can get them between $19 and $24 dollars.

Comment by: KillerBug (Nov 17, 2009 10:14)

Hardly a suprise, even franchises such as GTA have turned their backs on their own fans. The biggest release of the year didn't come out untill november, and Polyphony delayed GT5 from Oct 22 to sometime next year. How can they expect big sales when they don't release big titles?

On a side note, $60 is total BS. These games cost maybe $5 to print (including packaging and shipping). I can understand the MW2 elite package pricing with the goggles and everything, but most games are just a disk, a case, and a thin instruction manual. Their sales would skyrocket if they went back to selling games for $20 each, and they would make far more money from each title once everything was done.

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Comment by: DXR88 (Nov 17, 2009 17:43)

there hasnt been a new release on any console for 20 bucks ever. 30 dollars,yes.

but then again back in them days one had 30 bucks to spend everyday.

Now you got to scrape what you have just to get by its not what it use to be. if i ever go homeless i'm going to rob a bank.