Personal Tech Video-Game Sales Slide, But Analysts Optimistic

October 18th, 2008

Sales of the Nintendo Wii game console rose 37 percent in September, but the rest of the industry saw losses. It was the first time in more than two years that the market for consoles and games has seen an overall decline.In all, consumers purchased 687,000 Wii consoles, according to the NPD Group. That marks an increase from 501,000 in September 2007. But the industry’s total sales fell seven percent to $1.27 billion.

“Last September, the industry saw the release of Halo 3, so that’s probably affecting the numbers,” said Michael Cai, a video-game analyst at Parks Associates. The Microsoft blockbuster sold 3.3. million titles, which boosted overall industry sales 75 percent for September 2007, according to NPD Group.

“With just one month of data it’s difficult to generalize whether this is going to be a downward trend or not,” Cai said. “Even a recession is defined by two consecutive quarters of decline. So it’s difficult to make a conclusion from one month of data.”

Click here to read the rest of my story on CIOToday.

Entry Filed under: Hot off the Press