Even gamers have been hit by the recession: NPD Group
released numbers indicating that sales of video games are continuing to slide. The July figures show sales of
video games and consoles were down 29 percent from last year, to $848.8 million, marking the fifth consecutive month of decline. Year-to-date sales were down 14 percent at the end of July, totaling $8.16 billion.
Nintendo's Sports Resort game for the Wii was the top-selling video game, at 508,000 copies, NPD said. The Wii video game console also outsold its competitors but, at 250,000, that's less than half the Wii consoles sold last July.
NPD noted that the rest of the year could bring better news for the industry, as a number of big-name games are on the docket for release in the coming weeks, including the latest in the ever-popular Madden series. Although last year saw the debut of hot-selling video games such as Wii Fit, the first six months of this year saw no blockbuster release.
Reports have surfaced lately indicating price cuts for some gaming hardware, most recently predicting a large reduction for the Microsoft 360 Elite. Video game makers have voiced support for such cuts, noting that the cuts could spur sales of the software. Ironically, NPD said analysts attribute much of the slowdown in hardware sales to those anticipated price cuts for the gaming consoles.
