Game Sales 2005
The last holiday season really came as a disappointment for the gaming industry because of languid sales. However, if you take the whole of last year, 2005 recorded the highest ever video games sales.
This was largely due to the growing portable gaming market. The sales of video game software and hardware crossed USD 10.5 billion which is a 6% increase over 2004's USD 9.9 billion. It crossed the record sales of 2002, the year sales topped USD 10.2 billion.
However, consoles sold much lesser this year. Shortages of MS's Xbox 360 through out the US contributed to this. The possible buyers who had been made to wait went on to decide to wait a little more and check out the upcoming consoles - Sony's PS 3 and Nintendo's Revolution.
Sales of software for the Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube went down by 12% as compared to last year.
Nationwide shortages of Microsoft's (Research) Xbox 360 hurt the home video game field, though. Consumers apparently decided to wait for the next generation rather than buying for the machines they currently own. Software sales for the original Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube were down 12 percent compared to 2004.
Anita Frazier, industry analyst for The NPD Group said;
The introduction of the Xbox 360 was a defining moment for the industry in 2005. However, it goes without saying that the full impact of next generation consoles on the consumer market won't unfold until later this year when Sony and Nintendo's video game consoles hit U.S. retail shelves.
Having said that, hand-held gaming sets did really shoot up in 2005.
This year however I think that with the PS3 coming up and we can expect the revolution to be launched too, this year will wipe off all previous records by a long, long shot.
What do you say?
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