U.S. Videogame Sales Fall Despite New Consoles

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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It was a disappointing report for the video game industry on the sales of video games, even after the blockbuster releases of the Xbox One and the PS4 consoles. While console sales grew dramatically, the growth was offset by falling game sales.

Videogame sales improved this fall after Take-Two Interactive released “Grand Theft Auto V.” That followed more than a year of declines, and market researchers such as PwC say they expect the industry to grow slowly for the foreseeable future.
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About two years late, down economy, sub-par hardware that lacks the "revolutionary" aspect that unified shaders gave us last gen, massively overpriced (XBONE), more focused on home entertainment system than a gaming system, piss poor marketing (especially with XBONE), and delays on just about every game that was hyped up.

Take your pick. The list is a mile long as to why these consoles are simply a meh for consumers. It's disappointing for all parties, not just game developers and console manufacturers.
 
I think they need to give it more time, the new consoles just came out. Give it 6 months then do a report on game sales.
 
The problem with the new consoles is that there are not very many games out for them. And they both probably won't have a decent size collection until 4-6 months from now. I'm essentially in limbo right now waiting for more PS4 games.
 
I bought PS4 and there is really nothing to play on it. Only thing I purchased was AC4, and planning to get marvel heroes and battlefield 4. Would be nice if they released some nice games :)
 
It should be no surprise to anyone that game sales are down, especially during this holiday season. Let's say, conservatively, that 5 million new consoles are bought this season. At $450 per unit (on the assumption that the split breaks close to even) that means well over $2 billion (wow) less is available for people to spend on gaming.
 
Term-X said:
The problem with the new consoles is that there are not very many games out for them. And they both probably won't have a decent size collection until 4-6 months from now. I'm essentially in limbo right now waiting for more PS4 games.
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That is the underlying problem with all this. New consoles, but no new good games. They're so focused on specs, they didn't think about making a good original game for it.

Which is why I think Valve's Steam Machine might surprise people as the winner. Cause Gabe Newell isn't stupid. He's going to release that console with a big game to go with it. Something like Half Life 3 would kill Microsoft and Sony, but it doesn't have to be HL3. It could any number of games they make, cause I don't think any game they've made so far has failed.

hF81C4A32
 
Falling game sales, or just falling at brick and mortar stores? Kinda feel like its the latter.
 
The decline came despite the release of new consoles by Microsoft and Sony that were expected to spur game sales.
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Actually the decline was pretty much caused by the new consoles. Once the new systems were announced people weren't going to be buying as many games for the old systems. They would be saving for the new systems. Then both new systems launched with almost no decent titles. And even if the launch titles had been good, most people would have blown all their money just getting the systems and accessories. So it isn't really that surprising that sales are down.
 
people aren't going to sink too much in old gen because of obsolescence. but the next gen isn't generating enough interest. The next gen kills both the last gen and the next gen. Its how console gaming cycles die.
 
I'm confused, people keep saying the next generation consoles are not gaining attention, yet over 4 million units have been sold in just two months, this is way way more than the old ones, what "not gaining attention" am I missing? :confused:
 
dyzophoria said:
I'm confused, people keep saying the next generation consoles are not gaining attention, yet over 4 million units have been sold in just two months, this is way way more than the old ones, what "not gaining attention" am I missing? :confused:
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anti console crowd just spreading shit, that is it.
 
Greed. Nothing is good enough. You have to sell a console/game to everybody on the planet now, or you've failed.
 
All I hear are the silent cries of console peasants unable to afford mediocre 60 dollar games that no one cares about.

Meanwhile, the pc master race is reclining amidst back to back steam, gog.com, and amazon.com sales highlighting games that have already proven their worth time and time again.
 
dyzophoria said:
I'm confused, people keep saying the next generation consoles are not gaining attention, yet over 4 million units have been sold in just two months, this is way way more than the old ones, what "not gaining attention" am I missing? :confused:
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EA once said Dead Space 3 needs to sell 5 million copies to be a success. 5 million unit of 1 single product (not multiple products combined). This is the kind of figure the gaming industry aims for today.

The video game market today is many times larger than it was 10 years ago. Number of unit figure isn't comparable, what's important is the % market share. At least that's how it is for these big corporate. I'm sure both companies would love to see more than 2 million units sold.

That is not to say that these new gen of consoles are bad. They simply do not have the library to make them attractive to everyone at launch. Me personally, I plan to get the PS4 somewhere in the future, but not now because I cannot think of any titles I want to play that are available right now. IMO the launch titles are pretty weak.
 
Let's also not forget they keep shoveling garbage at us. I've bought so many titles on steam sales, humble bundles, and GOG that my backlog is massive. There is just no incentive for me to buy a full price title right now. Heck GOG gave away two classic fallout games this week. Why would I buy a PS4 or Xbone? So that I can play gimped PC games? My Wii U and PS3 still get plenty of use. These people need to stop treating games like a business and more like a labor of love and more money will head their way.
 
Hornet said:
EA once said Dead Space 3 needs to sell 5 million copies to be a success. 5 million unit of 1 single product (not multiple products combined). This is the kind of figure the gaming industry aims for today.

The video game market today is many times larger than it was 10 years ago. Number of unit figure isn't comparable, what's important is the % market share. .
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Actually, I think it has more to do with the ballooning development costs. Companies have to sell more games to cover the cost than ever before for AAA titles.
 
HFBallad said:
Actually, I think it has more to do with the ballooning development costs. Companies have to sell more games to cover the cost than ever before for AAA titles.
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It's hard to disagree with that. The only problem is no matter how much they spend, the games aren't getting any better. It's the independents in the industry that are making all the waves. If not for companies like Gaijin and Squad, I wouldn't be playing any computer games really.
 
It seems obvious that people would be reluctant to buy a new game, when brand new consoles are on the horizon.

I put off buying gta5 because I know I'll be ditching my 360 soon.
 
dyzophoria said:
I'm confused, people keep saying the next generation consoles are not gaining attention, yet over 4 million units have been sold in just two months, this is way way more than the old ones, what "not gaining attention" am I missing? :confused:
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It's pretty simple. Lets say you'd buy three games for your old 360 or ps3. Instead you buy the new console with one or two games. Game sales decline despite the overall increase in spending in the video game category.

Although I do have to wonder how freemium and free to play/play to win type games figure in sales numbers. They seem to be an increasing presence on MS and Sony consoles, and gaming time is not infinite, and I'm sure cell phone games are cannibalizing at least some of the time that represents the traditional console and/or pc player. Since when they say "fall" it always seems to be a dollar measurement rather than unit volume, cheaper games then equal declining sales numbers.
 
That's because people have no money left for games after buying the new consoles.
 
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