US Gaming sales down 24% compared to Last Year

[Lee H]

Yes, you've read it correctly.

Nearly a QUARTER of sales less this October than last year?
( source - http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=11089 )

I bet most of the games industry are up in arms now screaming and whinging about how broadbands made it easier for a 12 year old with even basic knowledge of google to aquire games ( it's not LEGAL, it's not GOOD so stop mmmmkay ).

But wait..... Last year was a blip as far as I'm concerned as GTA:SA was released in October and this sold and sold and sold mainly down to its violent content and "fun" aspect of rampaging round town with the boys

As stated on that page a few of the people in the game making area are saying people are being more "tight" with their cash, waiting for the Xbox360 and its games, as well as noticing that we are getting fedup with the constant drivel of sequels ( ... are you reading this EA - no more FIFA 2005 - Christmas special turbo deluxe Santa Streets edition please ), but I expect some of them will blame the takeup of "broadband" to the masses making piracy easier.

So - what do you reckon ?

Should they be worried about people getting broadband, or should they stop the "churn" of yearly revamps and sequels and bring out games with better gameplay etc to ensure that people buy more ?

[dodgybob]

Well there are hell of a lot of 'sequel' games out there that don't add much so that may be one factor.

However with new consoles on the horizon that is probably the reason. Why get a slightly better game for your console when games for the new console will look so much better? I'm sure there was a similar situation before the launch of the ps2 if i remeber correctly. Anyway aren't the vast majority of games sales for consoles? That would seem to support the theory.

Edit: With a new console to save for people will also have less to spend on games for their current console in the first place.

[BUFF]

EA are dropping some rrps by 20% from $49.99 to $39.99 ...
cause & effect

[Knoxville]

Maybe its the fact that so few good original games are coming out these days.

[smtkr]

Maybe, everyone is saving pennies for the 360. We'll see when the next quarter results come in.

[TiG]

That report is very fair if you read it through fully.

365mil for the month (last year would have been nearly 500mil)

Take out 100mil for GTA san Andreas (must have title)

and you have it being perfectly okay.

"More importantly, total industry sales are still tracking ahead of 2004 by 9 percent."
Game sales still ahead of last year by 9%, and bet that rises with x360 launch!>..

TiG

[Nick F]

I'm sure its down to young kids working out how to download games and then giving copies to all their mates.

[oralpain]

I really doubt piracy is responsible of any appreciable decline in sales over the past year.

[nimbu]

I feel there are few reasons.

1) Piracy, sorry if anyone thinks otherwise, there off their rocker. Its so easy to DL a game/app and burn it onto a disk. Also look at the prices of recording equipment. £30 will get you a decent writer and what media is 15p a go? ( I remember my first CDR, cost me £700, media was £5. Plus the SCSI controller, and the AV spec HD required...)

2) Lack of epic titles. Gaming seem to have hit a rut, there seems to be very few ground breakers. (Remember C&C folks and the hype that was around with it)

3) Costs, tbh leads back to piracy. Games are expensive, and with their limited shelf life, its difficult for some people to justify the expense for some people. I understand its a luxory item, however its more and more part of our everyday lives. Average teenager earns what on a saturday, £40? Thats near enough a whole day for a game, which chances are will last 20 hours gameplay? For example back in the day you could pickup titles for £1.99, £2.99, and at most £4.99 for my BBC. I understand that production costs are higher, but there is certain amount of leeway available to publishers/developers that they just dont seem to be prepared to work with.

IMO, for the industry to pickup, we need to seem some "good", "original" titles, and a more competetive pricing stratergy.

[specofdust]

Piracy is rarely a proven cause for downturn in sales, since most studies show that for the most part when someone downloads a game they wouldn't have bought it.

I do agree with your second two points, but a lot of research has been done into the first, and by and large it shows that piracy has a minimal effect on media sales.

[Kaine (AoD)]

3) Costs, tbh leads back to piracy. Games are expensive, and with their limited shelf life, its difficult for some people to justify the expense for some people. I understand its a luxory item, however its more and more part of our everyday lives. Average teenager earns what on a saturday, £40? Thats near enough a whole day for a game, which chances are will last 20 hours gameplay? For example back in the day you could pickup titles for £1.99, £2.99, and at most £4.99 for my BBC. I understand that production costs are higher, but there is certain amount of leeway available to publishers/developers that they just dont seem to be prepared to work with.

I totally agree on this =\ i dont think chargin £40 a go on games really 'pull in the punters'

Its the same as Micr$oft and there products, most people just go for a copy because they dont want to pay £90 for Windows Xp... if the unit itsself was maybe 40 or 50 quid them it may just be worth having a real copy for them people who dont

If they had a reasonable price on games them they would sell SO much more coz it would be worth the money to have the original game =\ Logical thinking is not something that is going to happen any time soon on this subject though, so copy games will always be around and can imagine is only going to get stronger and stronger

[OrangeAgent]

Piracy is an easy target. Producing original games that make people want to go out and buy them is much more difficult...

[dkmech]

Remember that when play.com launched most games were 17.99. Now most new titles are 24.99 or even 27.99. Admittedly they have changed thr RRP to 39.99 or even 49.99 (wtf is that about) from 29.99. I could sort of see the point of collectors edition GTA:SA going for 24.99, but look what costs that much now:

Peter Jackson's King Kong
our price: £24.99 Delivered
RRP: £34.99 You save: £10.00 (28%)

The Movies
our price: £26.99 Delivered
RRP: &#163;44.99 You save: &#163;18.00 (40%) <----------------

The Matrix: Path Of Neo
our price: &#163;24.99 Delivered
RRP: &#163;34.99 You save: &#163;10.00 (28%)

GUN
our price: &#163;24.99 Delivered
RRP: &#163;39.99 You save: &#163;15.00 (37%)

Call Of Duty 2
our price: &#163;26.99 Delivered
RRP: &#163;44.99 You save: &#163;18.00 (40%) <----------------

Age Of Empires III
our price: &#163;26.99 Delivered
RRP: &#163;34.99 You save: &#163;8.00 (22%)

Star Wars: Battlefront 2
our price: &#163;24.99 Delivered
RRP: &#163;39.99 You save: &#163;15.00 (37%)

Yes, Civ 4 is 17.99 and a couple other good games are, but not the majority.

Also with the likes of WoW i don't really have time to play any other games, so why would I be buying them.

[unreal]

I'm sure its down to young kids working out how to download games and then giving copies to all their mates.

Nah it's not piracy at all. I mean, what caused the percentage of people this quarter suddenly to go ';O omgosh lets pirate games lawl' compared to last year?

My biggest accusation would be the Xbox360, I kind of want to refrain from buying anything right now so I can save up for the 360 myself once they start coming in stock again.

[jonneymendoza]

I'm sure its down to young kids working out how to download games and then giving copies to all their mates.

or there big bro's downloading and copying games for them