Video Gaming Industry Sees Biggest Decline In 9 Years

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Written by BuckGB on July 17th, 2009

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"The video games industry realised a significant decline when compared to June 2008,) noted NPD analyst Anita Fraizer. (The first half of the year has been tough largely due to comparisons against a stellar first half performance last year, but still, this level of decline is certainly going to cause some pain and reflection in the industry.

"This is one of the first months where I think the impact of the economy is clearly reflected in the sales numbers. While the aggregate of content may not be as strong as what we saw in the first half of last year, and while the consumer base willing to spend dollars on hardware at the current price points may be thinning, the size of the decline could also point to consumers deferring limited discretionary spending until a big event (must-have new title, hardware price cut) compels them to spend."
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(Of course, that could be put further at risk if more highly anticipated titles move out of 2009 into 2010 or later," she added.

In recent weeks Take-Two has shifted the release of a number of high profile titles including BioShock 2 from 2009 to 2010, while Activision similarly delayed the launch of Singularity.

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