DailyTech - Overall Sales for Game Industry Declined in 2009

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Gadgets Overall Sales for Game Industry Declined in 2009
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - January 18, 2010 10:23 AM

24 comment(s) - last by Hiawa23.. on Jan 19 at 10:51 AM

Only increase in the industry was for portable hardware

The poor economy in the U.S. has affected virtually all business types. The PC industry was hard hit, but stalwart categories like video game software and hardware also saw reduced sales in most months of 2009.

Market research firm The NPD Group has released its final figures for the gaming market in 2009. According to the firm, the overall video game sales for the year were 8% under last year's record setting revenue. The full year game revenues for 2009 were $19.66 billion compared to $21.4 billion in 2008.

The decline in the PC game software industry was 23% with $538 million generated in 2009. Console game software sales also slipped 11% to $11.7 billion in 2008. The only gaming category that saw growth in 2009 was portable hardware sales with a 6% increase. All other video game categories declined for the year compared to 2008.

Entertainment Software Association president and CEO Michael D. Gallagher said, "Clearly, 2009 was a tough year for consumers and the national economy. However, the bigger picture is one that underscores the industry’s strength 2009 and 2008 were the highest grossing years in our industry’s history. That said, our industry’s structure is solid, and I anticipate a strong 2010 with a pipeline full of highly anticipated titles."

There were some huge game launches in late 2009 accounting for a large portion of the sales for the year in the software industry. One of the biggest launches of the year was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which made $310 million in its first 24 hours. Assassin's Creed II also sold very well with 1.6 million units sold.

The Nintendo DS was the big contributor accounting for 17% of total money made in 2009 across all categories of the game market. The DS accounted for 3.3 million units over the year taking the second spot with the Wii in first place for the year with 3.8 million units. The PS3 was the third place device with 1.36 million sold, leaving the Xbox 360 in fourth with 1.31 million units.

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Blame WoW

By Motoman on 1/18/10, Rating: 0

RE: Blame WoW

By StevoLincolnite on 1/18/2010 11:52:51 AM , Rating: 2

You're one person, not the entire industry or consumer base.

With that said, I did purchase about 30 odd Xbox 360 games for the entire year.

I've also never played WoW, mainly because it's not my favorite genre, I don't believe in paying a monthly fee... and the graphics almost make my eyes bleed, and I have never liked any WarCraft game anyhow, StarCraft would be more up my ally... :P

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RE: Blame WoW

By Sazar on 1/18/2010 12:18:26 PM , Rating: 2

Exactly. The majority of gamers out there do NOT play WoW. There is a size-able install base for it, but most people play other games.

I think overall, considering the economy and lack of major titles and quality new ones that came out this past year, things were in pretty good shape. MW2 sold well, Halo sold well, Borderlands sold well, AC2 sold well and so forth.

New IP was relatively thin but we have a few interesting titles coming out this year, as well as AC2 being opened up to the PC platform.

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RE: Blame WoW

By bhieb on 1/18/2010 2:05:54 PM , Rating: 1

quote:
The majority of gamers out there do NOT play WoW

Kind of a short-sighted if not idiotic statement. A gamer is someone who ... wait for it ... plays games. WOW is a game, even if you don't like it, and therefore counts as a base.

The OP has a good point. 10 Million plus gamers tied to one game does decrease overall sales.

Just because your games do not hold your attention does not mean that someone that plays only one is not a potential customer. I would be curious to see if the report included the monthly fee as "sales" since it sort of is.

Like it or not Blizzard has come up with a VERY successful scheme that has paid off in spades. Much like the Wii it obviously has mass appeal, and is therefore rejected by the Leetzor gamer crowd.

I love it how usually the first person calling out WOW'ers as not being gamers, almost always quantify the statement by saying they have never played it. Interesting hypocrisy if you ask me, judging a games "gamer"ness without actually playing it for any period of time.

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RE: Blame WoW

By bhieb on 1/18/2010 2:26:07 PM , Rating: 2

To summerize my point.

There is not a game developer executive on the planet that does not want to find a way to get some of Wow's user base.

You don't see them as customers, but I can almost guarantee that the executives at the competition spend countless meetings trying to figure out how to get those users, or at least how to hold on to them as well as Blizzard.

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RE: Blame WoW

By Motoman on 1/18/2010 8:02:30 PM , Rating: 2

For the record, WoW is the only MMORPG I've ever liked. I had no interest in Warcraft or Starcraft...I bought WC3 and gave it away a couple weeks later. Not interesting to me. WoW is a totally different beast.

And the graphics work just fine for the game. And if you bought 30 XBox games over a 12 month period - that's, what, $100 a month in games? I pay ~$10 a month. And get all the gaming fun I can stand.

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RE: Blame WoW

By Digimonkey on 1/18/2010 2:53:26 PM , Rating: 2

I don't doubt there is a little truth to that, but it would only hurt PC Game sales since it's not on any other platform.

It was also a bad year for PC game releases while next year should be better with Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, and Assassins Creed 2 finally making it's way to the PC. That's a lot of 2s.

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RE: Blame WoW

By DM0407 on 1/18/2010 3:03:06 PM , Rating: 2

By playing WOW for 12 months you spend $150 on gaming. More than most people. I believe this counts toward sales.

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RE: Blame WoW

By threepac3 on 1/18/2010 3:55:19 PM , Rating: 2

Buy 3 games near or on lunch day for the Xbox or PS3 and you will be paying more then that.

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RE: Blame WoW

By Motoman on 1/18/2010 8:00:07 PM , Rating: 2

Yes, but it doesn't count as new game sales, which is what the article is about...

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RE: Blame WoW

By thesafetyisoff on 1/18/2010 4:50:49 PM , Rating: 2

Don"t forget Left 4 Dead 2!

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RE: Blame WoW

By Motoman on 1/18/2010 7:56:06 PM , Rating: 2

No, it hurts all game sales - because I'm not going to buy any additional console games either.

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RE: Blame WoW

By Schadenfroh on 1/18/2010 6:01:08 PM , Rating: 2

AFAIK, NPD does not report online sales. Since more and more gamers are buying their games through digital distribution, it is expected that retail sales will decline.

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RE: Blame WoW

By ClownPuncher on 1/18/2010 6:09:26 PM , Rating: 5

Steam releases pretty much no info to NPD. I bought about 30 games on Steam in 2009 alone

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RE: Blame WoW

By MightyAA on 1/18/2010 7:58:06 PM , Rating: 2

That's my understanding too. Steam doesn't release it's numbers. I think that also really messes up the numbers. My local stores hardly stocks any PC games. If I want a new game, I'll usually also find it through Steam.

The other that has mentioned is WoW. I don't think Blizzard's suscriptions also go into that number for sales, which I'd think should reflect how much money is spent by consumers on games.

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RE: Blame WoW

By Dribble on 1/19/2010 4:22:56 AM , Rating: 2

Agree - this says more about the inability of the NPD to correctly report sales then anything.

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crap for games

By Curelom on 1/18/2010 10:55:05 AM , Rating: 2

I think the main reason for the poor sales is there were perhaps only a few good games out this year. Most of the games were crap.

RE: crap for games

By Gravemind123 on 1/18/2010 11:19:15 AM , Rating: 2

Not just that they are crap for games, it no longer costs $45-50 for a bad game but $55-60. Increased prices, a lot of sequels and games of lower quality and a bad economy isn't going to be good for sales.

That said, I did buy a good few games this year, although mostly on Steam and when they were on sale.

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RE: crap for games

By AnnihilatorX on 1/18/2010 3:57:42 PM , Rating: 2

There was the financial crisis, not that affect game sales in consumer levels as much as people think, it affects the amount of money studio invested in making new games.

Overall there are less quality titles, less titles overall
This is hardly a surprise I'd say.

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RE: crap for games

By inperfectdarkness on 1/18/2010 7:12:57 PM , Rating: 2

i wonder if pc graphics cards sales also slumped commensurate with this decline in pc game sales.

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RE: crap for games

By christojojo on 1/19/2010 8:45:31 AM , Rating: 2

Considering that so many games now are just ports, I think that graphics card sales would slump anyway. My 9800gt runs most games quite well. Plus, I don't see many main stream PC players upgrading unless they feel the need.

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RE: crap for games

By Drag0nFire on 1/19/2010 9:56:37 AM , Rating: 2

I agree completely. It says something that 1.6 million people bought Assassin's Creed 2. It's a freaking button masher!

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RE: crap for games

By Hiawa23 on 1/19/2010 10:51:08 AM , Rating: 2

I really don't know why this is a shocker to many. It was clear with the economic downturn, companies held back alot of games, didn't have the funds, many folded completely, or reorganized, downsized, or pushed them to 2010.

We have seen reports that Capcom & UbiSoft did this, & these are considered to be the successful publishers/devs, so if they are doing this what are the little companies feeling?

Bottomline is there were less quality games, & in these tough times gamers won't just rush out & buy mediocre games, plus many saved money by getting most of their games like me from Gamefly or renting from other outlets, or just buying used.

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