U.S. Game Sales Slip Marginally 39
Thanks to ZDNet/Reuters for their article stating that sales of game software for June dropped 9 percent in the U.S. compared to the previous year, "..reflecting fewer hit titles and a year-earlier tally that was helped by sharp price cuts on game consoles." Hardware sales also fell, and analyst Edward Williams suggests that "..the rate of sell-through suggests that a platform price cut this fall is increasingly likely as the hardware companies try to achieve targeted year-end installed bases." Elsewhere in the article, it's also suggested the hardware manufacturers may "..discount [hardware] more aggressively in order to boost sales of the more lucrative games."
Money, College, Friends (Score:4, Interesting)
The last console game I bought was Final Fantasy VI (III in the US) for the Super Nintendo.
Now, allow me to make three points:
1. Most "new" games just don't interest me. Sure, they look entertaining, but they're just not worth the money. I'd like to play them, but I have better things on which to spend my money. $40 buys a lot of pizza.
2. I'm in college. If any one of my friends buys a new game or system, I can play it for free pretty-much whenever I want. Between all of my friends, I've got access to everything but X-Box games. One purchase satisfies 20 people, so only one purchase is made, instead of 20.
3. Most newer games, while they may be entertaining, are usually only thus so the first time through. There's no replay-value. Ergo, when we all leave college and lose access to all those games, we have no desire to acquire them on our own.
Also, having lost access to free games, people tend to either give up on gaming altogether (just not worth the money) or stay a step behind the curve, picking them up at steep discounts in the bargain bin.
Zelda 2 was worth the $50 I paid for it back in the day, considering that I -still- play (and greatly enjoy) it from time to time.
[end_rant]
FUD control (Score:3, Interesting)
A nine percent drop is not that big a deal. Really. The reason being that June already is a slow month. The drop is due to several reasons (some I've already posted). The first (and biggest) is that we're right in the middle of a console development cycle, with the already existing consoles having been on the market for several years. Console sales also drive game sales. Secondly, June is right in the middle of crunch time for the AAA game titles. Everyone is holding off on buying games to get the huuuuge blockbuster games of Christmas. Thirdly, the games on the market aren't that good. Enter the Matrix is bad and Lara Croft isn't that great either.
Some people have mentioned the economy. Actually the game industry does better when the economy is bad. (More people buy games looking to escape their troubles.) If you look at past revenue figures, the gaming industry has always thrived during hard times. Just look at the past sales number of the past three years in the US. It's not piracy either. Operation Buccaneer and the recent closure of many pirate groups have put the finger in the dyke so to speak, but piracy is something the industry has lived with for twenty years. There hasn't been any discernable increase in piracy that would affect sales this much, especially when it comes to consoles.
If you really want something to gloom and doom about, I'd seriously pay attention to the SEC probes of gaming companies. That has some serious implications. Fact is come Christmas sales records will be broken and you'll forget that you ever saw this article.
Well, what do you expect when..... (Score:2, Interesting)
When games of that extreme craptitude are best-sellers, well, no wonder sales are down. Where the hell is Zelda and Ikaruga? Why is it the worst games are always the ones that sell the best?
Because the market has been saturated by non-gamers who wouldn't know a good game from a hole in the ground. If this was the early 80's there probably wouldn't be the crushed remains of 5 million E.T. 2600 carts buried in a New Mexico Landfill today.