Sales for Video Games Plunging

The Sales for Video Games in the United States are plunging for the second consecutive month. Software sales fell 23 percent while sales for hardware dropped 8 percent. It would have been worse if it wasn’t for the recent release of the Nintendo new DSi handheld gaming device.

“This is the second consecutive month in which overall sales have fallen sharply compared with a year ago, suggesting further that the industry is not recession-proof as it had hoped.

But NPD, the research group, continues to insist that the sky isn’t falling, or is even in danger of doing so.”

“While April sales might appear soft on the surface, it’s important to remember that April is being compared against a month (April 2008) that realized nearly 50 percent growth over April 2007,” said Anita Frazier, an NPD analyst, in a company release. “This year’s performance still represents the second-best performance for the industry in the month of April.”

But it also represents a sharp drop-off, despite the inclusion in this April of Easter. Sales of major consoles have been falling month after month. In February, Nintendo sold 753,000 Wii machines, but it sold only 601,000 in March and 340,000 in April. Microsoft sold 391,000 Xbox 360s in February, 330,000 in March and 175,000 in April, while Sony sold 276,000 PlayStation 3 consoles in February, 218,000 in March and 127,000 in April.

Source : NYtimes