{"id":1178,"date":"2012-02-10T15:48:18","date_gmt":"2012-02-10T15:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cleverduckmedia.com\/media\/wordpress\/video-game-sales-slump\/"},"modified":"2012-02-10T15:48:18","modified_gmt":"2012-02-10T15:48:18","slug":"video-game-sales-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaming-awards.com\/NEWS\/video-game-sales-slump\/","title":{"rendered":"Video game sales slump"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nThe sale of Video games slumped in the US – in January<\/p>\n

NPD group said stores sold $1.14bn (\u00a3720m) worth of games over the month, down 34% on the previous year. It added that hardware sales were down 38%. <\/p>\n

The consumer data provider linked the drop to a lack of major new releases. Other analysts also pointed to worries about the economy and said this might have an impact on the upcoming launch of Sony’s PlayStation Vita console.<\/p>\n


\nBest Seller<\/p>\n

NPD said that Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the month’s best-selling title. It was followed by Just Dance 3, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and NBA 2K12. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 held onto its title as the top selling hardware platform for the sixth month running.<\/p>\n

“While the lack of new launches was a major reason for software declines, games which launched in the last three months of 2011 also performed poorly in January 2012, down 31% in units compared to fourth quarter launches in January 2011,” NPD analyst Liam Callahan added.<\/p>\n

“As shoppers were not drawn to stores due to new launch activity, this potentially impacted additional software purchases made on impulse.”<\/p>\n

The video games news website, IGN, said it had noted a similar drop-off in activity in the UK market. It said sales should pick up when Mass Effect 3 goes on sale in March, but noted that shoppers were worried.<\/p>\n

“You can’t really deny that the economy is a factor,” Keza MacDonald, the firm’s UK games editor, told reporters “The lack of big new releases is just a tiny bit of the picture. The fact people are buying less games shows up in the US, European and Japanese data.<\/p>\n

\"Please<\/a><\/p>\n

“People are just buying fewer games because they have less money to spend. The data before Christmas was also not particularly strong.”<\/p>\n

The news comes as Sony prepares the global launch of its new PlayStation Vita games console. The device goes on sale across Europe, Australia and the Americas on 22 February.<\/p>\n

Analysts at IHS Screen Digest have forecast 7 million units will be sold by the end of the year. They say that would be 25% less than what its predecessor the PlayStation Portable System achieved over its initial roll-out.<\/p>\n

“I think there is a segment of the population – potentially a narrowing segment – which is still engaged by specialist devices such as handheld consoles,” said the firm’s head of games, Piers Harding-Rolls.<\/p>\n

“But it is a very price-driven situation and part of that equation is definitely the content on offer.<\/p>\n

“Sony has hit the mark with a strong line-up at launch which should drive strong initial sales, but there’s the potential that demand will drop off quite significantly after the first few weeks.”<\/p>\n

Industry watchers note that the console will have to compete for attention with Apple’s latest iPad which the Wall Street Journal suggests will launch in March.<\/p>\n

“A lot of the market for handheld gaming was kids and that market has completely shifted to iPhones, Android phones and touchscreen tablets,” said Ms MacDonald.<\/p>\n

“The Vita is a nice bit of kit – it has gadget appeal – but I’m not sure it has mainstream appeal.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January sales down 34%<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nVideo game sales slump - iGaming Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gaming-awards.com\/NEWS\/video-game-sales-slump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Video game sales slump - iGaming Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January sales down 34%\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gaming-awards.com\/NEWS\/video-game-sales-slump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"iGaming Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-10T15:48:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@igamingpost\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@igamingpost\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gaming-awards.com\\\/NEWS\\\/video-game-sales-slump\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gaming-awards.com\\\/NEWS\\\/video-game-sales-slump\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gaming-awards.com\\\/NEWS\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/38b848f26341d94a3f6b1f5d9642234c\"},\"headline\":\"Video game sales slump\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-10T15:48:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gaming-awards.com\\\/NEWS\\\/video-game-sales-slump\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":525,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gaming-awards.com\\\/NEWS\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gaming-awards.com\\\/NEWS\\\/video-game-sales-slump\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Headlines\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gaming-awards.com\\\/NEWS\\\/video-game-sales-slump\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gaming-awards.com\\\/NEWS\\\/video-game-sales-slump\\\/\",\"name\":\"Video game sales slump - 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