Gaming industry thriving despite economic downturn

by Stevie Smith - Sep 12 2008, 12:55

With the consumer popularity of low-cost laptops helping the computer market successfully dodge the current U.S. economic slump, it’s now the turn of the videogame industry to show that consumer dollars are still flowing in the technology sector.

Specifically, new monthly hardware and software sales figures released by the number crunchers at NPD Group indicate a nine percent increase in August to $994.8 million USD.

While growth is showing signs of slowing, the industry continues to move forward, with the U.S. market spending some $384.6 million USD on hardware, which is a year-on-year increase of three percent.

In terms of main-player performance in the hardware arena, Nintendo led the way in August with 518,300 unit sales of its hugely popular DS handheld platform, while its motion-sensing Wii came a close second with 453,000 unit sales.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 rounded out the top three consoles with an August sales tally of 195,200 units, while Sony’s PlayStation 3 managed 185,400 units.

According to Redmond-based Microsoft, retail sales of its Xbox 360 console have “surged” after the software company introduced a hardware price reduction across all of its models on September 05.

Though not prepared to divulge specific numbers, Microsoft has enthused that retailers are “reporting over 100 percent sales lift for all Xbox 360 models compared to the previous weekend.”

Microsoft’s aggressive price slashes brought the cheapest Arcade version of the Xbox 360 console below the coveted $200 USD mark, making Microsoft the first hardware manufacturer this generation to do so.

The Xbox 360 Arcade, which comes without an onboard hard drive, received an $80 USD cut and now costs $199 USD, which sees it fall significantly lower than the Nintendo Wii’s previously lowest price of $249 USD.

By comparison, Sony’s cheapest PlayStation 3 costs $299 USD but does come complete with a 40GB hard drive and a built-in Blu-ray player as standard.

From a software standpoint, August’s figures rose 13 percent to $489.1 million on the back of popular new releases such as Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL 09, and persistent best-sellers such as Wii Fit and Mario Kart.

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