U.S. Video Game Sales Down 10% in May 45
kukyfrope writes "After a strong 15.5% increase in U.S. video game sales in April 2006, May has gone the other way, posting sales numbers 10% below those of May 2005. Xbox 360 game sales and console sales alone slumped 37% and 25% respectively, but despite these declines, annual year-to-date game sales are only down 5%. Even so, analysts are not surprised, citing the transition from current-gen to next-gen systems as a dip in the market. 'We expect U.S. video game software dollar sales to decline 4% in 2006. We think that the transition is only partially complete, and believe that several bumps in the road [still] lie ahead,' said Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter."
SORRY (Score:5, Funny)
I will do better next month i promise
Re:SORRY (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the sales of new titles has a lot to due to WoW.
Re:SORRY (Score:1)
"The transition is only partially complete"... Duh (Score:2)
And you'd be right... strangely enough, most people will stick with their current consoles for months and years* more.
*OK, well, at least another year before upgrading for the majority of console owners, and some will not be getting the next gen until the years ahead.
Re:"The transition is only partially complete"... (Score:2)
Exactly. I didn't buy my PS2 until it had already been out for a couple years. I bought a GameCube only a few weeks ago. If I do get a PS3 it won't be until sometime after Final Fantasy XIII is out, which won't be for more than a year. I want to get a Wii, but I'll wait for at least a year. And I have no intention of getting a 360 ever...
I'm doing something I've never done.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Live Arcade is a different story, I'll probably buy a dozen of those.
By comparison, I bought around 10 to 15 Gamecube games a year over the past few years. It's hard to imagine with cheapies like me around, how Sony and MS will make alot of money on AAA titles. I'm waiting until Oblivion goes down to 30 bucks, after shipping, new, on ebay.
Re:I'm doing something I've never done.... (Score:1)
I don't own a platform, though I would play one if I did. I generally play computer games. Frankly, cost is not my biggest issue - free time is far more valuable to me. Granted, I am a Computer Engineering major, so my time is kinda limited. Many of my non-engineer friends pretty much wasted their lives away last semester on WoW.
You do have a good point though. I have many friends more interested in lower-
Re:I'm doing something I've never done.... (Score:2)
Obvious (Score:2)
Discretionary Spending (Score:4, Insightful)
Month by month? Isn't that kind of stupid? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd be very surprised if there WEREN'T monthly fluctuations.
Re:Month by month? Isn't that kind of stupid? (Score:1)
There is probably a fairly consistent monthly sales pattern in the video game industry. Also, based on the largeness of the market there are always people buying games, maybe to the point that every month coul
Re:Month by month? Isn't that kind of stupid? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd be very surprised if there WEREN'T monthly fluctuations.
Like the stock market, there will be fluctuations, but there should be an upward trend. If there isn't, you start to look at the reasons why. But even within each fluctuation, there are reasons for everything - the only question is whether or not they matter in the long-term. Usually, they don't - unless they keep coming up again and again and turn into a trend. But it is worthwhile to find out what those reasons are so you can identify trends earlier.
I do think that, when you look at the Xbox 360, which supposedly had so much pent-up demand due to shortages, and then it only sold 290-some thousand units in April when the shortage was alleviated, and then actually dropped in May, you can start to look at things and say "hmmm, that's odd." Is that a trend? Maybe, maybe not, but if it's not a trend downward, then it's not a trend upward either. Either way I think you can start to worry if you're MS.
maybe I'm stupid (Score:2)
They're actually comparing same month on a year-to year basis. Not April --> May but May 2005 --> May 2006, which has a tendency to be more accurate and account for seasonal trends. It's still trend-spotting and as a forecasting tool isn't fantastic, but it's not nearly as bad as April --> May comparisons and the like.
Re:Month by month? Isn't that kind of stupid? (Score:2)
Of course.
There are also fluctuations due to the cycle of generations of game consoles.
I'm surprised the difference isn't more than 10% TBH. There's nothing intresting going on in the industry at the moment (by which I mean stuff that you can actually buy right now). Secondly, the PS3 and Wii are starting to break into the mainstream;s attention, so we can expect to see more 'disappointing' (and entirely predictable) months as people ramp down buyin
I'm holding out for a Wii anyway. (Score:1)
The "missing" gamers are playing WoW? (Score:4, Insightful)
Well in one case.... (Score:1)
Thirty bucks per month (2 accounts) does a lot less damage to the budget than 100+ bucks a month for games that may have no more than a few hours of enjoyable playtime in it. Since I started playing MMOs regularly, I may buy only a handful of "regular" games per year instead of 2-3 per month.
Since my girlfriend likes WoW, that has become the mainstay, but I have discovered that I am more interested in MMOs than stand-alone games.
Re:The "missing" gamers are playing WoW? (Score:2)
I know the 1st couple years i played Asheron's call i bought MAYBE 4 games a year instead of 12. Spent $240 but saved over $320 and probably twice the number of hours gaming, a good deal.
When i played Motor City Online i only bought 1 other race game that year instead of several.
I wonder if sales overall dropped the month after EQ expansions came out in its heyday?
If that repeats for some percentage of WOW gamers it's got to add up.
Re:The "missing" gamers are playing WoW? (Score:1)
Re:The "missing" gamers are playing WoW? (Score:1)
Heck yes -- any videogame competes for hours (Score:2)
Re:Of course sales are down. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Of course sales are down. (Score:2)
here's an idea (Score:1)
damn pirates! (Score:1)
Maybe there haven't been any new really good games people would buy.
Maybe they're just too expensive.
Maybe people just didn't feel like to buy any games.
What kind of useful conclusions are we supposed to take from these news?
Hmmm... I guess that's why I'm not an expert or analyst or whatever they call themselves.
Re:damn pirates! (Score:1)
Re:damn pirates! (Score:1)
What came out in those months? (Score:3, Insightful)
Soon to be up in June (Score:1)
oblivion (Score:2, Insightful)
'Transition' my ass, NPD (Score:3, Interesting)
So how long is that transition, NPD? Out of the 5 year console cycle, is it one year, two year, THREE years?
In business as in the military, you have to have what is called a contigency plan. What if the decline in sales is not a transition but an actual slowdown of the video game market? NPD is not serving its customers proper information when they keep insisting it is the 'transition'.
Keep in mind that Japan's market has been slowing down significantly for the last few years. Only with the phenomenon of the DS has Japan's slump reversed. Europe's market is soon going to be surpassing America's if NPD's 'transitional period' keeps going on for several more years.
Fact: The next-gen handhelds are already released and both the DS and PSP are selling flatly.
FACT: One next-gen console, the Xbox 360, is out, in stock everywhere, and cannot outsell the PS2 in America. With the lack of significant Xbox 360 software for all of this summer, Xbox 360 may actually fall in sales just as it did this month from last month. At this same time, the Xbox (having a price reduction) was outselling the Xbox 360 by this month. At this rate, the Xbox 360 will perform, at best, on the same level as the Xbox but most likely will sell less.
FACT: The sales numbers they using for the percentage increase (and percentage decrese) is total sales dollars, not sales units. Of course, sales went up in April with the expensive $400 Xbox 360 was in stock. All the prices are going up for next generation. The DS costs more than a Gamecube. The PSP costs like $200 with $50 games. The Xbox 360 is $400 with $60 games. The PS3 is going to be a whopping $600. The only system that will be the same (or less?) price wise is the Gamecube -> Wii at $200.
Of COURSE sales numbers will go up if prices go up. But are the number of gaming customers up? Are the number of software units sold going up? The answer is no. They are dropping down. And if the Xbox 360 and the new handhelds are any indication, it is not because of the 'transition'. It is because the market is...
1) Scared by the higher prices and/or waiting for them to drop (PS2 sales went up due to a price decrease. GBA is still outselling both the DS and PSP.)
2) The number of active gamers is decreasing due to getting bored (as opposed to growing leaps and bounds as has happened).
Compare the sales numbers of the US to Japan and Europe and you'll find that US is no longer as 'big' as it used to be. 2004 was the game industry's biggest year. Since then, its been in free fall.
Re:'Transition' my ass, NPD (Score:1)
Re:'Transition' my ass, NPD (Score:1)
NPD cannot track online sales (for last year it said PC gaming was dying but PC gaming market is actually healthy with MMORPGs and even digital distribution now for many games).
NPD does not track Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys R Us. Overall, I believe NPD is only able to track a little less than half of all the retailers (someone correct me if I'm wrong). I believe NPD attempts to account for this involving intresting uses of statistics. Places like Toys R Us and Target are some of Nintendo's bi
Re:'Transition' my ass, NPD (Score:1)
I think you meant to write Gameboy Advance since the GC is in a different market and is only cheaper because it's old and saw a few price drops already.
SPEND MONEY NOW!!!! (Score:1)
Re:SPEND MONEY NOW!!!! (Score:1)
Re: SPEND MONEY NOW!!!! (Score:2)
Sounds like the terrorists have already won...
here is an idea (Score:1)