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U.S. Game Sales Slip Marginally
Thanks to ZDNet/Reuters for their article stating that sales of game software for June dropped 9 percent in the U.S. compared to the previous year, "..reflecting fewer hit titles and a year-earlier tally that was helped by sharp price cuts on game consoles." Hardware sales also fell, and analyst Edward Williams suggests that "..the rate of sell-through suggests that a platform price cut this fall is increasingly likely as the hardware companies try to achieve targeted year-end installed bases." Elsewhere in the article, it's also suggested the hardware manufacturers may "..discount [hardware] more aggressively in order to boost sales of the more lucrative games."
The economy is bad, so people are a bit more concerned into investing a big amount of money into recreation. Why would video games be spared ?
Wait until Fall/Winter, when a bunch of highly anticipated titles are going to float out.
Doom III (PC),
Half-Life 2 (PC),
Fable (X-Box),
FF:Crystal Chronicles (GC)
This is the video game industry's chance to get on the "blame everything on P2P" bandwagon, but instead they're talking about hit titles and price cuts. This is one step removed from accepting the blame in their own drop in revenue. Haven't they learned how to play the victim from the other entertainment sectors yet? :)
The last PC game I purchased was Tribes 2. I only bought it because all of us bought it in order to play together.
The last console game I bought was Final Fantasy VI (III in the US) for the Super Nintendo.
Now, allow me to make three points:
1. Most "new" games just don't interest me. Sure, they look entertaining, but they're just not worth the money. I'd like to play them, but I have better things on which to spend my money. $40 buys a lot of pizza.
2. I'm in college. If any one of my friends buys a new game or system, I can play it for free pretty-much whenever I want. Between all of my friends, I've got access to everything but X-Box games. One purchase satisfies 20 people, so only one purchase is made, instead of 20.
3. Most newer games, while they may be entertaining, are usually only thus so the first time through. There's no replay-value. Ergo, when we all leave college and lose access to all those games, we have no desire to acquire them on our own.
Also, having lost access to free games, people tend to either give up on gaming altogether (just not worth the money) or stay a step behind the curve, picking them up at steep discounts in the bargain bin.
Zelda 2 was worth the $50 I paid for it back in the day, considering that I -still- play (and greatly enjoy) it from time to time.
[end_rant]
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