Videogame revenue down 29% in July
PHYSICAL: Industry suffers fifth straight month of declines
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 8/13/2009
AUG. 13 | PHYSICAL: The videogames industry suffered its fifth straight month of declines in July, with combined software, hardware and accessories revenue dropping 29% from the same month last year to $848.9 million, according to NPD Group.
Breaking down the results, software slipped 26% to $436.99 million; hardware, down 37% to $280.9 million; and accessories, off 12% to $130.97 million.
Year-to-date the entire games business has decreased 14% to $8.16 billion.
A lack of mega hit titles is contributing to weakening industry performance, notes NPD. A succession of high-profile upcoming releases should help dig the category out of its hole, but the heavyweights on deck, including Halo 3: ODST, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band do have their work cut out from them. In order for the industry to wind up flat to slightly up for 2009, that last half of the year needs to generate 11% more revenue than the same frame in 2008.
“While year-to-date results are weak, there are some big titles set to be released over the next several months, including Madden [NFL 10] this month, which should help spur sales,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “The worst comps should be behind us, and looking beyond August, we have The Beatles: Rock Band, Halo 3: ODST and, of course, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to look forward to.”
Impacted by the ongoing recession, new hardware purchases are softening as well. The Xbox 360, selling 202,900 units in July, is the only game console showing a year-to-date increase. Looking at others for the month, the Nintendo Wii moved 252,500 units and the PlayStation 3 sold 121,800 units. Among the handhelds, Nintendo DS was the clear winner at 538,900 units sold to the PlayStation Portable’s 122,800 units sold.
Software victories were split between Wii Sports Resort, as the top single SKU with 508,200 units sold, and NCAA Football 10 as the top title with 689,000 units sold across its different platform configurations.
