Gaming industry maturing
Gone are the days when sales are boosted only during holiday seasons. Analyst found that the gaming industry has now matured with March being a month where sales are steadily hiking even without any holiday season in tow in what is called, the “perfect sales storm”.
The NPD Group’s freshly released gaming industry sales figures for the month of March handily trumped analysts’ expectations, as US retailers sold nearly $1 billion in game software, and another $551 million in hardware.
Though the numbers have barely had time to sink in, one analyst has already pulled a few lessons from the data dump. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich (formerly with the simExchange prediction market) called the month a “perfect storm” for new game releases, with something for everyone.
“Super Smash Bros. Brawl fulfilled the needs of the casual, social, and sub-13 year old markets,” Divnich said in a note to reporters. “The hardcore gamers seeking heavy action and strong multiplayer support had Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Even Army of Two played its role by attracting in consumers with its flashy marketing campaign and catchy theme song!”
The success of these games further shows that the gaming business has reached a certain level of maturity, according to Divnich.
“The industry is finally large enough to support numerous AAA titles during an off-season month,” Divnich said, “and going forward, publishers need not fear a PS3/Xbox 360 title hindering their Wii title (or vice versa). March has proven that the PS3/Xbox360 and the Wii can co-exist perfectly together.”
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