US Videogame Sales Have Biggest Drop In 9 Years 310
alphadogg writes "The recession appears to have finally caught up with the video game market. Sales of video game hardware and software were down by around one-third in June compared to the same month last year. After initially showing positive growth as the US slid into recession, the latest figures mark the fourth month of declines and the largest year-on-year decline in almost 9 years. '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,' said Anita Frazier, a games analyst with NPD Group. She added, 'The size of the decline could also point to consumers deferring limited discretionary spending until a big event (must-have new title, hardware price cut) compels them to spend.' The entire video game market in the US was worth $1.2 billion in June, down 31 percent from the same period last year, according to NPD Group."
Re:No good games (Score:3, Interesting)
Just June? My GameFly queue was empty for about 4 months. June is when they started releasing games I'd play again!
Why I don't buy video games (Score:5, Interesting)
I realize that the issues are probably mostly economic (lack of capital both to produce and buy games), but here's my spiel: I just don't see the point. First of all, the games shouldn't be that expensive to produce. At >$50 a pop, if I find that I don't like it, it's just a waste of money. Maybe if prices came down, I'd experiment more. But now, I'm more than happy to buy games that are a few years old to save $20 when I know that I'm only going to play it for a month or so.
Second of all, what good games have come out recently? I realize that it's a hugely subjective topic (I recall a topic on Slashdot a few weeks ago on graphics and video games), but honestly, all I want in a game is good gameplay and a nice multiplayer environment. And all my friends play nothing but Melee, I don't see why I'd bother playing anything else. That's how it usually ends up anyways; no matter how many games I have, Ijust end up playing one over and over again while the others gather dust. So why bother buying?
And to add to the cost, so many consoles (especially the Wii) require buying extra peripherals, which will also end up going to the wayside. It's just not worth it anymore.
Still Catching Up (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm re-playing FEAR 2. I'm playing FAR CRY 2 for the first time. Need to start and finish DAMNATION. Need to finish the LOST: VIA DOMUS crap-heap. Recently beat PLANTS vs. ZOMBIES. All whilst still playing TEAM FORTRESS 2.
My laundry list for games to buy is long, but I'm waiting until I finish these! I want to play TRINE, I want to buy and re-play all those LUCASARTS games that just came out again on Steam, I want to start another MMO like the new Star Trek Online or Knight of the Old Republic MMO.
This is actually a great time for games, for me personally.
Re:Games are obviously too cheap (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, to be fair I remember paying $50 or $60 for new SNES games, and that was 15 years ago. If prices had kept up with general inflation, games would be costing $80-90 a pop today. I certainly don't complain about $60 for a game that I genuinely want, and if I'm not sure then I wait for the price to drop or rent/borrow/demo it first.
What a Game! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:No good games (Score:3, Interesting)
Same-month sales in videogames is a useless statistic.
True. Good statistical analysis has in large part - at least in popular media - yielded to sensational headlines and talking heads.
An interesting study would be to compare video game release and sales figures (FPS, RPG, online, 'thinking games' like Portal, etc.) with the development of image rendering techniques, hardware advances, and anything else with a supposed effect on video game production or sales.
Re:No good games (Score:2, Interesting)
I was just thinking lately, I worry about the future of consoles. With PC DRM, the general consensus is that PCs can't play games years later because most likely the DRM servers are unavailable. It made me wonder--and now I worry about the console even more. When MS/Sony decide to pull the plug on patch support for games on XBOX Live/PSN, we're screwed. I can still play FF 1 or Dragon Warrior on my NES almost 3 decades later. And one can still find patches or a patched PC game *somewhere*. But Oblivion or GTA4 without patches from Live/PSN? Forget it, pre-patched they're broken and non-functional. And you can only get it from one source. I'm very curious as to how Sony/MS will handle legacy hardware/games when new consoles are released. Makes you wonder. In the console world, 7 years is barely more than 1 console cycle (1 cycle is typically 5). But do you think MS/Sony will still provide patch servers in *7 years*?
Re:No good games (Score:4, Interesting)
Simply 2 things.
1. There are no new games out that sound any fun.
2. Game that are out that I want are DRM loaded and I am waiting for them to come to their senses.
That's it. Its that simple. There are games I want to buy and play but the DRM keeps me away from buying them they can thank Sony for me not wanting to install DRM crap to screw up my computer. So if you put DRM in it, to prevent piracy, you keep the honest person away not wanting the extra crap. The latest Grand Theft Auto was the first one of the GTA series I never bought. I wanted to buy it and I hate to leave that line behind but DRM, bleh.
I did buy 2 games in the month of June, they were older out of print games put up on Ebay. Why because I wanted to play those games when they came out but at that time something else was going on in my life and I have so far enjoyed those games.
Also games are becoming less fun and more just wow graphics. I still to this day play the first Age of Empires. It was very strategic and well thought out, the graphics sucked but I wasn't in it for the graphics and some of the games would take 8-10 hours to complete you had the ability to go in create new terrains and random maps was never the same terrain twice, ever, after all these years. The new AOE games, pale in comparison. They have funky cool 3d graphics but the same lands and terrains over and over again. Once you learn a terrain there is no challenge anymore. AOE 1 In the most difficult modes I can still get my ass kicked by the computer once in a while. The new AOE, within a month it is mastered and of no use, so I quit buying those lines. Supposedly there is a new Thief game coming out, and I always loved the Thief lines, this is one of my favorite lines ever. But if they put DRM in it I will not buy it.
DNAS Error -103 (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm sick of seeing games priced at $59.99. I can wait until they hit ~$30 and buy them then.
How do you work around "DNAS Error -103: This software title is not in service" once the publisher has pulled the plug on, say, a PS2 game's matchmaking servers after a year or two? Or do you stick to single-player or sofa multiplayer? And how long do you expect to wait for Nintendo's Earthbound to become affordable again?
Re:Going back to old games (Score:4, Interesting)
Sequels were developed differently back then, typically by nearly the exact same team that worked on the first. Now we have sequels being outsourced to other developers, see the Call of Duty series for a prime example, and BioShock 2 for an upcoming one.
Re:yeah... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I get a little tired of this one (Score:2, Interesting)
Street Fighter 4 is the same game it was, just a bit newer. I own it, but it's not revolutionary. It's just another Street Fighter. Fun for sure, but it gets boring with the unlock system they have, and Xbox Live matchups are retarded because it breaks all the time.
Left 4 Dead I love, but again -- that's a bit older now. It has some things that make it pretty unique, but with only 4 campaigns to play... it gets boring quickly also. There's also no fluid story to it, which would have been nice to have as well, given the fact that it's about a zombie infestation kind of like that movie, 30 days later.
Haven't played Aztaka but I'll take a look.
Command and Conquer... ever since they dropped Kari Wuhrer and her huge boobs for Tanya, I lost interest. I loved the original Red Alert though, but again -- it's a rehash of a typical RTS. I find Starcraft far more engaging to this day.
Assasin's Creed has horrendous controls on the Xbox. You need 10 fingers on each hand to play that game, I feel like I'm a contortionist. It's a nice game, has some good visuals, but all in all -- it is reminiscent of "Thief" and "Hitman", and "Max Payne", games I enjoy on their own.
Again... I want different types of games, not the same game rehashed in a new way. RTSes have been done to death. When will somebody reinvent the genre? Maybe Blizzard with Starcraft 2... FPSes have been done to death also, I've played every iteration of them and they are largely the same.
Defcon for example, is a game that was NEVER done like it was. It was totally and utterly unique. Another one was Portal, which was amazing and fun, and challenging. I'm not saying that other games aren't fun -- most games are fun for a time, but they usually encompass newer technology to show you better versions of the same old thing. I'm looking for a game that encompasses new technology to do things that you've never seen done in a game.
Starcraft 2 I'm waiting on, Mortal Online (it's a rehash of Ultima Online in 3D, or so I hope it is), and Global Agenda which is really Team Fortress MMO. Aside from that, there's nothing on the brink of release that excites me. Maybe Rage from id Software, but I don't know when that's coming out. But id's games are usually tech demos anyway.
Industry is fine, EA-style crap is finally dying (Score:4, Interesting)
All of the gamers I know play games as much as ever, and while the economy has affected many of us, gaming for the most part isn't a very expensive hobby, so very few of us are spending less for that reason. What we ARE doing is spending it in different places.
The numbers can be explained by:
1. The huge popularity of MMOs. Most people are active in an MMO put around half of their gaming time into it, at ~15 bucks/month. That means for the other half, you're more choosy as to what you're willing to buy - and it does also mean you're spending less over all. Very few $50 games are played for more than 1-2 months, but MMOs are usually good for several... a few years in some cases.
2. Webgames and Flash games becoming popular. These ARE profitable games, but there's no buying involved, as they're usually ad-supported instead. Time spent on these games is time when SALES are down, but PROFITS are not.
3. The fact that "US" is in the title. I've been seeing a lot of innovation from KOREAN MMO developers, but basically none from US ones - everything over here is yet another WoW clone, which means I've spent a grand total of 0 on US online gaming this year, and a good amount on Korean. Regular games are slightly better off, but even there, Japan seems to be making most of the games people are actually playing.
4. The fact that It's no secret that EA destroyed most of the US gaming industry, and it never really fully recovered. People were buying mediocre crap when there wasn't anything else to buy, but as translations get better and better, we're simply taking our money elsewhere. (See also: US car industry)
5. Indie gaming has become a significant part of the market... and likely not a part that's being polled for this article's numbers. Again, when the overwhelming majority of the big gaming companies suck, we don't stop gaming, we just take our business elsewhere.
The industry is doing fine, it's just a few crappy US companies that happen to be 1)Huge and 2)Failing. No one will miss them if they finally collapse, and once they do, new companies will replace them - ones that actually produce games we want to play. In the meantime, the rest of the world is supplying us just fine - as well as the US through indie and other side channels.