Recession Finally Smacks Gaming Industry

[exfileme]

The latest numbers from research group NPD report that U.S. sales of video games actually fell 17-percent in the month of April compared to April 2008.

Recession Finally Smacks Gaming Industry : Read more

 

[pile]

it seems to me that there haven't been that many great games being released right now. I would say that would contribute to lower sales figures.

 

[skit75]

I'm sure it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the lack of quality games on the market.

 

[IronRyan21]

When Blizzard finally releases Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3. IMO, PC sales should rise.

 

[deltatux]

I don't see how sales will pick up, there's no good games out. All the games that have come out this April were mediocre at best.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

On the whole things like games usually do pretty well in a recession since its cheaper to buy a game a play at home rather than go out. Hardware sales can drop as people don't want to spend as much on graphics cards and the games that do come out could reflect the slower growth in consumer graphics hardware advancement but actual software sales shouldn't be affected too bad. Slight rise in piracy maybe but not a big deal imo.

The fact that sales are down from April last year is nothing when combined with the fact that its the second best year of all time. As others have mentioned, its probably due to a lack of any newly released blockbuster or even semi-blockbuster games.

 

[Sicundercover]

Well there is Fallout 3. But Im having a hard time thinking of another Im looking forward too.

 

[cruiseoveride]

Recession my ass. Just more n00bs know how to download and play the cracked versions now.

 

[baracubra]

This article is interesting, but I don't think completley accurate. Console sales are likely to drop, seeing as more people have them already...Also, the amount and type of games released this April is nowhere compared to last year's April, so its natural to assume that sales will be down...

 

[doomhammr]

90% of the games I've bought since the recession began have been used. Why pay for new when I can get the same thing used for less?

 

[skittle]

I thought it was because of the pirates?

 

[the associate]

5 reasons to last years sales figures...

1) Grand Theft Auto 4 came out April 29th
2) Gran Turismo 5 Prologue came out April 15th
3) Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out the month before
4) Mario Kart Wii came out April 27th
5) Assassin's Creed for pc came out April 8th

I will bet those 5 games had a decent impact on last year's sales figures.
All we had this year for april was "The Godfather II" and wellll...nothing?

 

[powerbaselx]

Where the hell is Diablo 3 ???
There are tons of people waiting years to buy it!

 

[jerreece]

It's all about game releases and game quality. Like most folks above stated. Nothing good has been released, so why should sales do anything BUT go down? This isn't necessarily a recession issue. It's a lack of creativity issue.

 

[Raidur]

Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 are going to be massive... Everyone I know in person 'RL' (that games on PC) is buying both of those games, and we all pirate.

Blizzard is to cash in once again!

 

[demonhorde665]

figures are skewed as these figures dont take into account resale on games (both console and pc games). the recession fears are stupid really sure things will get rough , some "fat" will get cut perhaps this may means we'll only see 100+ games per console in the futrture instead of 300+ .. but well teh 200 optehr pecentage is really jsut a lot of mediocre to crappy gmes any way .

 

[demonhorde665]

also keep in mind , i've gone to buying used games myself , also i currently been playign mroe games on console (used) than pc lately because all teh companoes are relaly holdign back on pc reelases or theya re bundling thier pc games with securom. so i just ahvent seen any thign compelling to buy on pc this year. alst pc games i got were on x-mas (left 4 dead (steam version), mass effect (steam version) , fall out 3 (steam version) , tomb raider underworld (reatail , and thank god edios has NO stupid drm scheme )

 

[matt87_50]

could this in any way be due to the fact that every body just has all the "next-gen" that they need? a year on more ppl would have bought all the wiis/ps3s/xboxes that they wanted. could it just mean that "next-gen" has become "current-gen"? i mean its not like the "new" overpriced DSi did badly? this may at least be some of the reason, i know the recession would be somewhat to blame.

 

[trinix]

It's not a car, it's not a TV, it's not even a computer, it's a game. Just like movies. Why did movies get a good month? Because they had Xmen, Star trek and another one I don't remember. If the movies are bad, you can't compare it to last years releases, because why would anyone go to a movie they don't want to see.

Same goes for games. If a game is bad, why would anyone buy it. The games have gone from being good to being really really bad. We are stuck with games that don't last a day, we've got games that are too easy, too many continues and no game over, too boring, too old that the graphics would look great 10 years ago.

I'm sorry, but games aren't improving at all. I don't buy games, I have my MMO and I'll keep playing that, as the other things on the market are junk.

I don't participially like Blizzards marketing strategy, others love the cashcow model, but I prefer more releases, but that's their strat and it's working for them. I'm looking out to Diablo 3 and well I'll have a look at SC2 too I guess, but I'm not so much into strategy games anyway.

I don't expect it to recover soon, not until we see a good game again. Comparing to other years only works when you expect 10 good games to release and you had 10 good releases the year before.

 

[Guest]

The only reason why their sales were as good as they were this year was due to Hannah Montana holding them up. They should be grateful for what they got IMO. :3