Video Game Sales Drop 21% In December

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Video game sales took a nosedive in December dropping 21 percent compared to the same time last year. Hardware sales took an even bigger hit, dropping close to thirty percent. :eek:

The results are "not entirely surprising given that we are at the back end of the current console lifecycle," said NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier. However, the tally was clearly a disappointment. Frazier said the month's poor performance was unexpected given the quality of new games including "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3," which was the top-seller, and "Just Dance 3," which placed second.
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I'm still playing catch up to Steam's summer sales.I haven't even downloaded most of them.
 
Yeah, given our current economic situation and the fact that games are now $60.00 opposed to originally $49.99 on release day... It's a bit high. I want to get Skyrim, MW3, BF3, and SWTOR this past couple months, but because those 4 games right there is almost $250.00 I really could only afford to buy one game.

I guess I'll have to wait until prices drops this summer.
 
wgm3446 said:
Yeah, given our current economic situation and the fact that games are now $60.00 opposed to originally $49.99 on release day... It's a bit high. I want to get Skyrim, MW3, BF3, and SWTOR this past couple months, but because those 4 games right there is almost $250.00 I really could only afford to buy one game.

I guess I'll have to wait until prices drops this summer.
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You need to watch Steam for their sales...;) Between Christmas and New Years' (well, Jan 2nd, actually) I bought Skyrim for $40.19 on sale. Definitely a fair price.

The CBS article wasn't very good, btw. I was surprised that the main article on CBS had no external source links at NPD. The way the CBS article was written it very much looked as if PC sales, both software and hardware, were not included in the count. If so, the entire article and its conclusion is questionable...
 
Like NPD, that does not count any digital, and almost no online sales, really has any real idea of sales numbers.

"Game sales at the large retail chains is down by 21%", is a more accurate headline. Games are going digital.
 
ubergeek14 said:
TIME TO BLAME PIRACY

YOU KNOW, ALL THOSE PIRATED HARDWARES
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Yarrrgh, thar bee two manny pyrates owt thare!

But yeah, the industry usually points la finger at the pirates and doesn't look at the overpriced, crapfest-o-stuff out there. Even when Call of Duty 666 comes out. :D
 
CBS said:
U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories fell 21 percent in December from a year ago to $3.99 billion as players bought fewer games for their aging consoles, according to market researcher NPD Group.
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Yeah I haven't bought any physical gaming goods in a few years either. I wonder where the hundreds of dollars I spent on digital goods factored into those numbers. Oh wait, they didn't.
 
Steam however is doing better than ever, more than a 100% improvement this year over last.
 
AmberClad said:
Yeah I haven't bought any physical gaming goods in a few years either. I wonder where the hundreds of dollars I spent on digital goods factored into those numbers. Oh wait, they didn't.
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Digital distribution is still mostly the domain for PCs, at least for complete games but at the same time without counting DLCs I wonder how much these numbers are off.
 
Frazier said the month's poor performance was unexpected given the quality of new games including "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3," which was the top-seller, and "Just Dance 3," which placed second.
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MW3 was #1 in sales? I think I found your problem.
 
Ashbringer said:
MW3 was #1 in sales? I think I found your problem.
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Quite right as the top sellers [fps] are basically map pacs offering nothing new , while @ the same time they [game co's] are f&^%$ing what worked ie: mod tools and dedicated server files for pc . I've avidly gamed since the early '90s on pc exclusively and can attest that it is the Game Companies greed that's totally at fault . Last game I played for more than a year was BF2 and before that SoF2 & Q3 , we/I played for almost 5 yrs each , all three were played more due to the mod ability & gaming communities that were solidly based around them . I continue to buy games that I'm sick of in a couple months , guess the bean counters did their jobs correctly as your/I'm buying more games because they are designed to be trashed quicker & hopefully they'll get ya with their next trumped up disgrace called a game .
 
When Just Dance 3 is your number 2 game that tell you everything you need to know. My wife got it for Christmas so i have some basis here, but look at the number 1 game is basically a recycle that everyone bought a month earlier and is still playing of course no one is going to buy games, not to mention the quality of games has seemed to be dropping off by each passing year.
 
It couldn't POSSIBLY have been because Battlefield 3, MW3, Skyrim and SWTOR have come out recently and people have their gaming plates full already? I would HATE to have game companies make Uhaul truck-loads of money in November selling their AAA titles and then have December be a little bit hard for them because no blockbuster games came out in December of this year.

Statistics can often be misleading without context.... Doubly so if this is in fact as one poster said retail outlet sales instead of retail + digital.
 
What do they expect. The economy is a great big turd despite what anyone says and new games with graphics and gameplay no better than games made 4 years ago, often times using the same engine and textures, costs 60 bucks. WTF do they expect. The most recent game I've bought was portal2 and even then I waited til I could pick it up for 35 bucks.
 
Could it be because the games released now are largely console ports that under utilize hardware currently available?

Also, back in December... rumors of the 7000 series being released late that quarter, early this quarter were coming in strong. Who's going to put down another $200 - $500 (or more if you're nuts/well off) for a new video card when you got a brand new architecture coming out so soon?
 
I see 2 fails that the article fails to mention.

1) WoW: Cataclysm hit last December. Like it or not, that's *big*. SWTOR may have had 2 million sales, but Cataclysm easily doubles or even triples that. When November 2012 comes around, it will surely be dwarfed by November 2011 sales simply because MW3 launched that month (unless MW4 will launch the same time next year).
2) They mentioned Modern Warfare as a quality game.
 
I haven't purchased a game in a retail store in over a year now and haven't really done much retail game shopping in general since around 2007. And I know I'm not the only one that has made the move to online purchases and digital distribution. I ended up splurging on the Steam sales this winter but none of that factors into this study. It's funny but these people need to learn that we've had a paradigm shift in content distribution. Movies, music, games... All of those are very quickly growing in non-retail markets but for some reason these people still think retail will continue to reign king indefinitely while the elephants in the corner rake in billions a year (Steam, Amazon, iTunes, and such).
 
blame in on skyrim. too much game, too little time!
where is the damn creation kit? want it NOW!
 
What else released last December besides WoW? I'm also curious how last Nov. compared, did it the holidays average out from earlier purchases this year?

I really hate when people compare months or weeks from year to year with sales numbers. I don't spend the same amount of money on movies or video games every month regardless of what came out.
 
This generation has forsaken large portions of gamers. Not everyone plays and likes First Person Shooters. I haven't paid for a PS3 or Xbox360 console or game because none have be worthy of my money.

PS1 and PS2 offered something to all gamers......a variety of good games. Final Fantasy 7 had 10 million copies sold fans of that type of game didn't just vanish and we don't accept Final Fantasy XIII its a piece of shit.

PS3 where is my Dragon Quest, Persona, Castlevainia, quality Final Fantasy, dark cloud, suikoden, Wild Arms.......Hell I'd even settle for a kingdom hearts......Demon's Souls and Dark Souls that's all you have for me. You won't see a dime from me.
 
That's because everyone bought Skyrim in November and are still playing it. :D
 
I thought the last quarter of 2011 was among the best I've ever seen for gaming, be it console or otherwise. We had so many great titles. I honestly thought I was losing my taste for gaming prior to this resurgence of good games. As it turns out I like games as much as ever, I just need games that don't suck. :D
 
NPD might as well report how many pieces of toilet paper were used in their office for all their usefulness in this day and age.

Not including ANY PC sales or digitals sales is 100% an absolute failure to correctly gauge the market. I bet that Steam made Valve more money than all 3 consoles' games sales in December 2011.
 
Money is tight. I'm well aware of the state of the general economy. To think that sales wouldn't be down is crazy.

That said, as many have said above we have to look at all the digital sales also.

I simply could not afford to buy any games at $50 or $60 a pop in December, but I did take full advantage of the Steam sales. Spent about $60 or $70 total, and got a dozen games that I've been wanting to play.

There's the facts. There's less money to spend, and it's time for the paradigm to shift a bit. Publishers should hit people for the "launch day full price" then begin to reduce price as demand wanes. Especially with digital distribution where the expensive logistics of printing and shipping boxed product no longer applies. Lots of money can be made both by developers and publishers AND the consumer can pay less per game if everyone will just accept how this is going to work going forward. The days of holding prices at boxed game levels for years, even for digital distribution, is GONE. People cannot pay those prices right now.
 
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!? Just because one game takes up most of your time does not mean you're supposed to stop buying games! Your console didn't RROD or YLOD yet!? WHO CARES!? GO BUY ANOTHER ONE.

The market can only become so saturated, I hope these analysts understand that.

I'd like to have a PS3 because I don't have a Bluray player but this late in its life it's just not worth it for the hardware I'd be paying for. Make it $150 now, SOLD.
 
December is a time for spending one's money on drinking, not video games.
 
I regret buying MW3, shortest single player storyline ever, done in 2 hours...although no one bought the last three for the storyline really.

Skyrim is on my list of games to get, and I only shelled out on a few games on the STEAM sale, probably the most games I have bought in a week right there.

I don't think the NDP gets any sales figures from STEAM still, which is bloody ridiculous since most games are digital purchases now (seeing as BB, and Game Stop are trying their damndest to kill PC gaming).
 
I haven't bought hardly any games in 6 months, simply because there's nothing I want to buy. The generic cookie cutter shooters dont interest me. I might buy Skyrim when the price drops.
 
Outamyhead said:
I regret buying MW3, shortest single player storyline ever, done in 2 hours...although no one bought the last three for the storyline really.

Skyrim is on my list of games to get, and I only shelled out on a few games on the STEAM sale, probably the most games I have bought in a week right there.

I don't think the NDP gets any sales figures from STEAM still, which is bloody ridiculous since most games are digital purchases now (seeing as BB, and Game Stop are trying their damndest to kill PC gaming).
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Thats my thoughts too. Do these stats come from Gamestops and other Brick and mortar shops or do they include digital sales? I assume it comes from physical copies sold and of course every year they are going to drop in sales because companies can sell the stuff online in digital form without the overhead of making DVDs and such.
 
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