The Right Click: Sales Drop!
Michael Pachter is, to quote, “baffled” by the poor sales in April this year for games in the US, with the sales percentages lower than that of May 2007 and the weakest since 2005.
Our top man who predicts everything under the sun when it comes to the games industry can’t quite figure out why people aren’t still rushing out to spend lots of money on the newest and brightest games coming out this month. He’s stumped and put it down as a “fluke.” Hell, even Nostradamus got it wrong every once in a while.
Allow me to hazard a guess then, your humble writer who doesn’t have any psychic skills (as yet). Perhaps it could be the most simple thing of all; we’ve all ran out of money! The constant surge of games this first quarter has bled the consumer dry as they attempt to budget and buy the top games they’re interested in. Even i’ve had to be picky about what games to pick up, knowing perfectly well that I might be missing a true gem out there in the consumer ether. To put it bluntly, we’re out of money, doc.
Surely this is a risk the industry must have realised would happen when everyone decided to shift there game into either the 1st or 2nd quarter of this year? First of all, the 1st quarter isn’t Christmas, and since our game stores don’t believe in giving sales for the newest games coming out we have to pay full price. Doing this week after week is extremely expensive; this week for instance saw Alan Wake come out, next week it’ll be Red Dead Redemption, the week after that it’s Alpha Protocol! That’s in folding money £120 spent in 1 month. Now take said month and add in the months that a similar rate of games have been coming out and it probably equals around £500 spent this 1st quarter, and that’s only considering top games in the 360/PS3 market. Are you getting the picture yet Pachter?
Second of all, in case nobody has noticed (and the way the games industry is acting when it comes to money it looks like nobody has noticed. Yes, i’m talking about you Bungie) we’re in a recession, a time of economic strife that hits all of us, including the avid gamer. We may have got away with spending for our favourites game earlier this year, but things are becoming more difficult now. All our government’s are talking about cuts, savings and budgets, and this can effect the psychology of even your humble player of games. We can’t afford to rush out and spend friviously on the newest games (stay tuned next week and the week after for an Alan Wake and Red Dead Redemption review!!).
Third of all, April was a slow month. Splinter Cell Conviction was the top game that came out during that period, so there wasn’t much gaming out there. Those who have been spending to try keep up with the games coming out prior months may have decided to take a breather this month to get ready for the conferences and the future choices of entertainment coming in the Summer and Autumn periods. The gamer has simply slowed down. That and Splinter Cell Conviction isn’t in everybodies tastes despite being a drastically changed game (see our review).
So is it a fluke? No, more of a period of rest. This month will likely see things back to normal slightly as more top games come out, but if anything I wouldn’t write the April sales figures off. These figures are a sign of the consumers starting to come under pressure when it comes to trying to spend while maintaining a budget. Publishers who are going to be releasing games in the summer period should perhaps start to worry about this, as it could be a sign of things going sour later on.
As for Pachter, you’re supposed to be an analyst man! Why I gotta do your work?
Categories: The Right Click
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