Official: Videogames are vulnerable to the recession

by Stevie Smith - Apr 17 2009, 16:15

Despite month upon month of robust performance in a technology market increasingly crushed by the weight of recession, new NPD figures suggest the videogames industry has perhaps begun to show the first signs of cracking under the strain.

Specifically, NPD’s numbers for March show that sales of hardware, software and accessories fell by a substantial 17 percent to $1.43 billion USD when compared to March of 2008, and, more pointedly, the industry’s first quarter return of $4.25 billion USD registers as flat year-on-year.

In terms of performance breakdown, sales of home and portable gaming hardware in March dropped by 18 percent to $455.6 million USD, while software sales across existing platforms dipped by 17 percent to $792.8 million USD, and accessories and peripherals fell by 15 percent to $185.7 million USD.

However, NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier has said the gloomy horizon presented by March’s figures is likely only a blip for an otherwise healthy industry with strong, persistent momentum.

According to Frazier, the shift of the Easter holiday to April was partially responsible for the drop in sales, while a shortage of major releases during March also contributed to the downturn.

March of 2008 was bolstered by Nintendo’s hugely successful Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the motion-sensing Wii, which went on to become one of the year’s best-selling releases.

While Nintendo’s consoles remained the hottest hardware property in the U.S. market with a monthly haul of 601,000 unit sales for the Wii and 563,000 for the Nintendo DS, only Microsoft’s Xbox 360 managed to post improved year-on-year sales thanks to a monthly turnover of 330,000 units.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 remained a distant third with 218,000 unit sales.

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