Last Month’s Video Game Sales Close To $3 Billion
Data from market researcher NPD Group shows that Americans may be cutting back on holiday shopping, but they are still buying video games – to the tune of nearly $3 billion in November.
Boosted by strong sales of Nintendo’s Wii, Microsoft Corp’s Xbox 360 and the alien shooter game "Gears of War 2", retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories jumped 10 percent last month from the year-ago period to $2.91 billion in the U.S.
NPD analyst Anita Frazier said the availability of a broad range of games is one reason for the industry’s ongoing solid performance. Games also provide a relatively cheap form of stay-at-home entertainment.
“The industry is still on track to rack up $22 billion in U.S. sales this year,” Frazier said.
Many video game companies make the bulk of their money during the November and December holiday season.
However, sales have been weak in North America and Europe, according to Electronic Arts, the publisher of the popular "Madden" football game series.
The company said its fiscal 2009 results will fall short of the forecast it gave in October. But EA’s warning did not seem to signal a broader downturn for the industry.
Hardware sales, which include gaming consoles like the Wii as well as handheld systems like Sony’s PSP, jumped 10 percent to $1.21 billion.
Denise Kaigler, vice president of corporate affairs at Nintendo said the company enjoyed perhaps the greatest success in November, with 2 million Wiis sold – the most yet in a month. The Japanese company boosted production of the easy-to-master gaming system in July to keep up with seemingly insatiable demand. Both Best Buy’s and Wal-Mart’s Web sites were out of stock by Thursday afternoon.
Spokesman David Dennis said Around 836,000 Xbox 360 units have been sold. He said the company’s games business had "great momentum" heading into the final stretch of the holiday season. The PlayStation 3, from Sony, sold 378,000 units.
Sales of video game software grew 11 percent to $1.31 billion. Besides "Gears of War 2," which sold 1.6 million copies, "Call of Duty: World at War" by Activision Blizzard Inc. and Nintendo’s "Wii Play" and "Wii Fit" also did well. Electronic Arts zombie horror game "Left 4 Dead," was the company’s only title in the top 10.
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