Video Games Are Outperforming the Economy

Ars Technica reports: September's NPD numbers on game sales were the focus of a lot of speculation, as everyone was looking for answers to two questions: will the gaming industry continue to perform well in the face of a struggling US economy, and will the Xbox 360's price drop rocket it ahead of the pack in sales. We now have answers to both.

In terms of sales, this month saw a drop from last year, but the major contributor to that dip had nothing to do with bank bailouts: Halo 3. "This is the first true monthly decline the industry has experienced since March of 2006," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.  "It's important to keep in mind, however, that this month's 7 percent decline is against a month (September 2007)  that itself was up 75 percent from the prior September. Last year, Halo 3 released in September 2007 and that game had a huge impact on hardware and software sales."

This September had nothing that could compete with the juggernaut of Halo 3, but consumers continued to buy games and systems. Let's see how well everyone did.

Microsoft 

The 360 did see a spike, but it's not quite as large as many were expecting. The system sold 347,200 units in September. In August the system had sold 195,200 units, so the price cuts did get people into stores; with the $20 offer on a 20GB hard drive for use in Arcade models, we should see this trend continue next month. The PS3 has many big releases coming up, but Sony simply refuses to fight on price, and it's hurting the company. Microsoft is now mixing power with a compelling price point, and consumers are responding.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was a big winner this month, selling 1.16 million copies across three platforms.

September also proves, yet again, that the 360 pushes games like no other platform. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed took the number one sales slot with 610,000 copies sold, and the 360-exclusive Rock Band 2 came in third with 363,000 copies sold. While em>Rock Band 2 will soon be on other consoles, the limited exclusive seemed to have worked: the game sold like gang busters on the 360. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames took the sixth slot with 297,000 copies sold, and Madden NFL '09 came in eighth with 223,000 units sold.

Sony 

While it racked up unspectacular sales for any individual platform, Sony has the advantage of offering three product lines that all sell in decent numbers. The PS3 sold 232,400 units, the PS2 sold 173,500 units, and the PSP sold 238,100 units. While no single system outsold the 360, Sony is selling lots of hardware to three different markets. That's no small accomplishment, and we expect to see a sales boost when the PSP 3000 is released.

On the software side the PS3 version of The Force Unleashed sold 325,000 unit, coming in fifth place. The PS2 version of Madden '09 came in tenth place with 158,000 units sold.

With no hardware price drop in the cards for the holiday season, Sony is focusing on games like Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet to push the PlayStation 3. The company enjoys a wonderful lineup of games, but its console sells at a relatively high price compared to its direct competitors. That's a tough position to be in, especially now. People may continue to buy gaming equipment, but price is likely to play an increasingly large role in their decisions.

Nintendo 

As always, Nintendo is up in the clouds, playing its own games, unconcerned with the petty Sony/Microsoft competition. The Wii sold 687,000 units, the Nintendo DS sold 536,800 units, and no one is close to touching either of those numbers.

Nintendo also did very well with software. Wii Fit took the number two place with 518,000 units sold, Mario Kart Wii took the fourth slot with 353,000 sold, and Wii Play came in seventh with 243,000 units sold. The Wii version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed came in ninth place at 223,000 sold.

Frazier said that, "although PC games sales are not included in these numbers, there were two that should be pointed out. Spore realized sales of 406K units and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning sold 274,000, which would put them both in the top 10 list of combined console, portable and PC games sales for the month." While the hardcore community may be up in arms over Spore's DRM, it certainly doesn't seem to be slowing down sales.

There are not many surprises this month, and these general trends seem likely to continue into the holidays, with total sales simply rising in
proportion to existing numbers.

by Ben Kuchera

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