October proved to be a difficult month for the video game industry, despite some historical sales and events. What is uncertain, however, is whether or not this will become a trend that affects the video game holiday season.
According to The NPD Group, a market research firm, video game industry sales dropped nearly 19% through October 31st. This was broken down into a 23% fall in hardware sales and a 19% percent drop in software sales. Considering this loss, industry figures equated to roughly $1.07 billion. Nintendo jumped back into the number one spot with nearly 507,000 consoles sold, followed by Playstation 3 with 321,000 consoles, and Xbox 360 with 250,000 consoles. The battle for 2nd and 3rd place in this scenario may seem a bit unusual since the Playstation 3 still costs more than the most basic version of the Xbox 360, but that suggests that there are more complexities to customer's purchasing patterns going into the holiday shopping season.
Still, the most obvious factor that has probably contributed to this overall fall in video game sales is the economy and people's willingness to selectively spend on their tighter budgets. Since the console market has been reaching a broader audience, we can expect to see different spending trends based on demographics. Families may more readily dismiss video games as a worthy gift this holiday season due to their price range, though many family-friendly titles, especially on the Nintendo Wii, having been pushing strong marketing campaigns that boast more fun and quality time.
Adult gamers will most likely be the least affected by economic conditions and the drop in video game industry sales. With so many advertsed deals through Black Friday, pre-order campaigns, or bundles such as Steam's wildly popular "4-pack" for many new multiplayer titles, its getting easier to find good prices on desirable games that aren't already years old.
New titles such as the recently released Modern Warfare 2, have proven that gamers aren't afraid to spend their hard earned money on great quality games – and more influencial titles are already on the way. Just today, Nintendo released the New Super Mario Bros. Wii which will most definitely be a desirable hit with gamers of all ages. Expect to see this and Modern Warfare 2 remain big selling points throughout the holiday season.
Even the consoles themselves are ridiculously priced before the holidays. The Nintendo Wii has been bumped to $199, a savings of $50. This is on par with the Xbox 360 Arcade, which has 512MB of internal memory, but no harddrive. The Playstation 3 has been marketed at $299 for the past several weeks, and Sony has recently announced that it has released an upgraded PS3 with a 250GB harddrive instead of the standard 120GB. With a retail price of $349, it gives gamers additional options to buy the system of their choice, with less strain due to cost.
With sharp discounts on games and newly reduces console costs, the video game industry is putting forth a strong effort to remain competitve this holiday season and despite some recent drops in sales, it appears that buyers are still very intent on finding great deals to make their holiday digitally jolly.
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Modern Warfare 2 Launches The Video Game Holiday Season
Black Friday Deals Forget PC Fans
Games Mentioned In This Article:
| Modern Warfare 2 (PC) | Modern Warfare 2 (PlayStation 3) | Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) |
| New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) |
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