Videogame Retail Sales Sink 25 Percent in April

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Videogame Retail Sales Sink 25 Percent in April


Sales of hardware, software and accessories are way down as the world awaits new consoles from Sony and Microsoft.

It's hardly a surprise, but April wasn't the most bang-up month ever for the videogame industry, as retail sales tanked across the board. Hardware sales were down a whopping 42 percent compared to April 2012, according to NPD figures, to $109.5 million. Microsoft said it sold 130,000 Xbox 360 consoles over the month, a slide of 45 percent compared to the 236,000 units that were moved the previous year; Nintendo and Sony typically don't release monthly sales numbers.

Retail software sales were down as well but not nearly as precipitously, declining 17 percent to $254.3 million. Total spending on videogame hardware and software in the U.S. was $802 million, split roughly evenly between physical and digital sales.

Videogame sales have been declining for some time now - analyst Michael Pachter said there hasn't been a full month of week-over-week growth since November 2011 - but the obvious and essentially insurmountable problem facing the industry now is that both Sony and Microsoft have new consoles ready for release in the relatively near future, and nobody wants to sink money into current systems that are still relatively expensive but will be old news by the end of the year. The Wii U, meanwhile, the one new console that's already on the market, continues to grossly underperform.

While the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft are both expected to be available for the 2013 holiday season, Pachter said that he doesn't expect to see sustained growth in the industry until sometime next year.

Source: Bloomberg [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-16/u-s-video-games-retail-sales-fall-25-in-april-npd-says.html]


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Terminate421

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Jul 21, 2010
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And on the 21st we'll see a Great Schism.

People will be picking either side and the console wars will continue
 

Tradjus

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Apr 25, 2011
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Better get cracking on those consoles guys, you'll see sales dip a lot lower than this if you stall.
Also, I think a price cut for both PS3 and the 360 in order of a hundred bucks each is due.
 

Toilet

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Feb 22, 2012
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The crash won't come with a crash but with the slow erosion of wills, hope and sales figures.
 

Aramis Night

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Mar 31, 2013
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Retail across the board is pretty much in freefall and has been dropping for some time. It isn't just in video games but in almost all elective purchases. People just aren't spending money like they used to. I suspect because people just don't have the money to spend. The cost of necessities has increased by a lot the last few years leaving people with little money for anything else but basic survival. I don't see any end to this in sight. Companies are just going to have to scale back their sales projections.
 

AzrealMaximillion

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Jan 20, 2010
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Its funny because people in forums for other articles were saying that they should wait another 3 years to release new consoles. I don't think they get that this is already the longest console generation ever and that we're pushing the tolerance of it.