video game sales WAY down in April... are we looking at a crash?

[WCP]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain...ging-consoles/

Wow... This is pretty shocking. Looking at the NPD numbers for April 2012, things are looking very bleak for video gaming. In April 2011, consumers spent 503 million on video games. This April ? 292 million. A 42 percent drop, year over year. The Number 1 selling game in April was Prototype 2, but get this... it sold less than 236,000, possibly considerably less than 236K. And it was the No.1 game on the list! Microsoft sold 236,000 Xbox 360 systems. Down 20.5 percent.

I know that Sony and Microsoft were both planning on waiting till at least November 2013, but I don't know.... Only 24 days left before the first press conference, so too late in the game to make such a huge change of plans, but I'm now thinking that we are going to see either Sony or MS launch their console next spring if this sales slump continues to drag on.

[wingzrow]

and people said it would never crash, well at least we're getting a recession and hopefully we come out better because of it.

BURN baby BURN!

[Press_Start]

Well, I wouldn't read into it too much. Remember what came out exactly right now (April) last year.....Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, Crysis 2 and a new handheld 3DS release in US.

Also, consider a numeral other factors like the lack of pig-budget AAA titles, controversy from Mass Effect 3 and TekkenXCapcom spilling over, and people saving up for the Diablo and Max Payne in May this month.

[Smashed Brother]

Also, consider a numeral other factors like the lack of pig-budget AAA titles

Is that because of pork barrel spending?

[YoshiM]

"Are we looking at a crash?"

Um, no.

Prototype 2 came out at the end of April and its sales for that short length of time and sold slightly more than half of what the original Prototype took in back in June of 2009 (419,900 units sold). It took until March 2012 to reach 2.1 million sold worldwide. So being top game in a month with not a lot of competition is nothing to be surprised about. Just another doom and gloom, bring out the next gen to get your eyeballs news bit.

Makes me wonder-what came out last April that had such sales? I know Portal 2 came out, what else rolled out that month that could account for such sales?

[Press_Start]

Makes me wonder-what came out last April that had such sales? I know Portal 2 came out, what else rolled out that month that could account for such sales?

April 2011
Mortal Kombat (360/PS3) = 1.22 mill
Portal 2 (PC/360/PS3) = 1.11 mill
Crysis 2 (PC/360/PS3) = 260k
SOCOM 4 (PS3) = 270k
and a boatload of new 3DS titles

April 2012
Kinect Star Wars (360) = 670k
Witcher 2 (360/PC) = 287k
Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) = 220k
Prototype 2 (360/PS3/PC) = 460k

[heybtbm]

April 2011
Mortal Kombat (360/PS3) = 1.22 mill
Portal 2 (PC/360/PS3) = 1.11 mill
Crysis 2 (PC/360/PS3) = 260k
SOCOM 4 (PS3) = 270k
and a boatload of new 3DS titles

April 2012
Kinect Star Wars (360) = 670k
Witcher 2 (360/PC) = 287k
Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) = 220k
Prototype 2 (360/PS3/PC) = 460k

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner!

Personally, I held off buying new games to clear my schedule for Diablo III.

[Gamevet]

I've held off on buying many new games, because I have a decent sized backlog of current gen games I need to play through. I'm still hoping to play Mass Effect 3, but I've had MS2 sitting around for quite a long time. And I just finished up Uncharted 3, that I've had since January.

[WCP]

Look, I know that a video game crash like back in the early 80's is pretty much impossible, but things could get a bit sketchy. What if the Wii U comes out, and nobody but the core Nintendo faithful buy it? Sure, it will have impressive sales over Xmas, because there are enough Nintendo faithful that will buy it sight unseen, but after that the sales could fall off a cliff. I'm not sure that's how it's going to go down, but stranger things have happened. Then if MS and Sony bring out their consoles, and again, only the hardcore faithful by them, and after that the sales fall off a cliff again?

What if the only thing people are buying is the 99 cents iPhone type games and handful of triple A blockbusters? The economy and high gas prices and lack of job security seems to be making people a bit skittish, and maybe buying a new high priced console (anything above $199) is going to be a hard sell. Things could get really sketchy. I'm hoping for the best, but I can definitely see a bumpy video game road unless we get a real gaming breakthrough that rejuvenates the industry.

[Sunnyvale]

I wouldn't be surprised if many were saving up to stand in line to buy the next console. Give them something to jump at, they'll drop cash. But with shovelware on the $60 shelves and the next gen just moments away...

[Bojay1997]

Look, I know that a video game crash like back in the early 80's is pretty much impossible, but things could get a bit sketchy. What if the Wii U comes out, and nobody but the core Nintendo faithful buy it? Sure, it will have impressive sales over Xmas, because there are enough Nintendo faithful that will buy it sight unseen, but after that the sales could fall off a cliff. I'm not sure that's how it's going to go down, but stranger things have happened. Then if MS and Sony bring out their consoles, and again, only the hardcore faithful by them, and after that the sales fall off a cliff again?

What if the only thing people are buying is the 99 cents iPhone type games and handful of triple A blockbusters? The economy and high gas prices and lack of job security seems to be making people a bit skittish, and maybe buying a new high priced console (anything above $199) is going to be a hard sell. Things could get really sketchy. I'm hoping for the best, but I can definitely see a bumpy video game road unless we get a real gaming breakthrough that rejuvenates the industry.

I disagree. This is just a normal slow-down at the end of a generation of consoles. It's also a really slow month with far fewer must own titles than this time a year ago as several others have pointed out. The economy was far worse last year at this time, so it's certainly not the dominant factor in this year to year drop. The industry doesn't need some amazing breakthrough. Great games and well made reasonably priced new consoles will keep things going for a good long while.

[duffmanth]

I disagree. This is just a normal slow-down at the end of a generation of consoles. It's also a really slow month with far fewer must own titles than this time a year ago as several others have pointed out. The economy was far worse last year at this time, so it's certainly not the dominant factor in this year to year drop. The industry doesn't need some amazing breakthrough. Great games and well made reasonably priced new consoles will keep things going for a good long while.

I agree, this is just one those weird times when one console generation is nearing its end and another is on the horizon. There weren't many AAA games released last month, so that's probably the biggest factor for a lackluster April.

[The 1 2 P]

but I'm now thinking that we are going to see either Sony or MS launch their console next spring if this sales slump continues to drag on.

Don't think too hard because thats not going to happen. Both Sony and Microsoft have already stated that there will be no next gen announcements at E3 this year and I can guarantee you Microsoft won't be making any announcements this year because they are still rolling out more new content(not just games) for the 360 and have a pretty big release this year with some game about a ring or something.

So no we aren't looking at a crash. What we are looking at with each new NPD report is the fact that retail is no longer the only purchase indicator that matters. People also spend lots of money on digital titles and used games. So these monthly reports only represent a part of a bigger whole and are really no cause for alarm. Nintendo is only launching the Wii U this year because Wii sales have been pretty dead the last two years, but thats to be expected based on how many consoles they have already sold.

[G-Boobie]

Ah yes, the monthly ill-considered, un-researched, reactionary "OMG ANOTHER VIDEO GAMES CRASH" post.

Jesus Christ, DP.

[AceAerosmith]

Meh, I say, meh.

[Greg2600]

As long as you don't have invalids running the companies like Atari did 30 years ago, there will be no crash.

[G-Boobie]

Thing is the ones you listed are mostly shooters/GTA-oneoffs that have already saturated the market in one form or another, which's no problem if you're the guy making serious coin off them, unless developers are getting sick and tired of them too.

Sounds like all genres of video games ever. Space Invaders clones, Pac Man clones, and Pong clones in the arcade days, mascot platformers and shmups on the 8 and 16 bit era, fighting games, Japanese RPGs, RTS games, FPS titles on both PC and console, sandbox games, World of Warcraft style MMOs were rampant for a while, there are something like seven or eight DOTA clones out there now with more on the way, every game has a horde mode now for some reason, there isn't a number large enough to count the number of Farmville clones available on every platform ever, and that goes double for tower defense... Innovation tends to come through iteration of safe, provably profitable foundations. And when a game DOES do something new and exciting and popular, everyone copies them. Since the dawn of time, and throughout all media; not just games.

And so what of it? I get tired of people whining that all that comes out anymore are Call of Duty clones and GTA clones, because not only is that bullshit, but the nostalgia that usually lurks behind the sentiment is a view of the past through the rosiest of glasses. In fifteen years we'll have to listen to the CoD generation whine about the exact same thing, defaming whatever is popular and reminiscing about how better everything was back in their day. Nostalgia is as dangerous a drug as anything that's out there. It's one thing to fondly remember an era you were in love with; its entirely another to allow that to warp your perception of the present.

[jonebone]

Glad to see that people already made the point of April 2012 just being a slack month in terms of good games. If you think the game industry is crashing, wait until you see the Diablo III sales numbers, lol. Probably record highs across the board, so I fully expect a "OMG, The Game Industry is Stronger than EVER BEFORE!" post shortly thereafter.

And Red Dead Redemption was not a new IP series on this generation, it's the sequel to Red Dead Revolved from PS2 / Xbox, which is last generation.

However, RDR is one of the best games I've played on the 360, they did everything right. You can argue it's just a GTA clone, but I'd much rather play RDR than GTA anyday. It was a phenomenal game.

[Griking]

Glad to see that people already made the point of April 2012 just being a slack month in terms of good games. If you think the game industry is crashing, wait until you see the Diablo III sales numbers, lol. Probably record highs across the board, so I fully expect a "OMG, The Game Industry is Stronger than EVER BEFORE!" post shortly thereafter.

lol they'll probably think that D3 was a disappointment because digital download sales won't be included for some asinine reason.

[Lady Jaye]

It's like the sales figures for Xenoblade Chronicles: many people bought the European version instead before NoA changed its mind and decided to release it here after all. Also, I was in Boston when the game came out and visited a Gamestop there, and you'd never know that Nintendo had a new game out, since nothing in the store really cried out "new Nintendo game out!".