NPD: Video Game Industry Down 17% in April 09 Despite DS Surge
Hardware:
Software:
Hardware:
- NDS - 1.04M
- Wii - 340K
- 360 - 175K
- PS2 - 172K
- PS3 - 127K
- PSP - 116K
Software:
- Wii Fit - 471K
- NDS - Pokemon Platinum - 433K
- Wii - Mario Kart - 210K
- Wii Play – 170K
- 360 - The Godfather II – 155K
- 360 - Resident Evil 5 – 122K*
- NDS - New Super Mario Bros. – 119K
- NDS - Mario Kart DS - 112K
- 360 - Guitar Hero: Aerosmith – 110K
- PS3 - The Godfather II – 91K
We also asked Frazier about the state of the industry, given that there have been two straight down months. She responded, "I think everyone is looking for signs of softness because it seems a little unbelievable how well the industry has done during this economic crisis. I really think that it comes down to one primary factor and that is that the industry doesn't have a comparable slate of mega-hits early in the year the way it did last year. So I think it's really a content slate story for the short term. Our monthly economy studies still show that video games is the category that consumers say they are planning on the least amount of spending cuts as compared to other categories like dining out. So there might be a few more months of comparison issues against last year, but we've seen two of the hardest months already."
Frazier added, "I think it's tempting to look at the year-over-year comparisons and assume the worst. Once you take a closer look, two things really jump out. First, the industry was down only 5% despite these tough software comps on a unit sales basis and the rest of the dollar sales decline was due to a decrease in selling prices. Second, April 2009 is now the second best-selling April for the industry, ever, losing out of course to last April, but besting April 2007 by 26%. So it's important to look at the 'why's' behind the 'what's' to really understand what is going on."
One area we personally enjoy following is the music genre. Some feel that it's becoming an over-saturated market. Frazier doesn't agree, however. "The Music/Dance game genre realized a unit sales increase of 55% this month as compared to last April so the genre as a whole is doing great. There are more games in this space now than there used to be so it's more fragmented, GH Metallica and GH Aerosmith were the third and fourth best games for the month when you combine sales of all SKUs and platforms."
Frazier added, "I think it's tempting to look at the year-over-year comparisons and assume the worst. Once you take a closer look, two things really jump out. First, the industry was down only 5% despite these tough software comps on a unit sales basis and the rest of the dollar sales decline was due to a decrease in selling prices. Second, April 2009 is now the second best-selling April for the industry, ever, losing out of course to last April, but besting April 2007 by 26%. So it's important to look at the 'why's' behind the 'what's' to really understand what is going on."
One area we personally enjoy following is the music genre. Some feel that it's becoming an over-saturated market. Frazier doesn't agree, however. "The Music/Dance game genre realized a unit sales increase of 55% this month as compared to last April so the genre as a whole is doing great. There are more games in this space now than there used to be so it's more fragmented, GH Metallica and GH Aerosmith were the third and fourth best games for the month when you combine sales of all SKUs and platforms."
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