NewsDude
09-12-2008, 05:50 PM
Stockings are expected to overflow with video games this year, researchers say. As the 2008 holiday season approaches, the gaming industry is gearing to get under the tree and analysts are predicting August's single-digit sales growth is no indication of what to expect for the holiday season.
Analysts predicted the gaming industry would begin to slow down during the summer months and they did, according to NPD Group, a research firm based in New York. But that will not hurt the bottom line.
The gaming industry's massive double-digits growth over the year had to slow eventually. August saw an increase of only 9 percent in video-game sales from August 2007, but analysts say single-digit growth in August is okay.
Summer Slowdown
"It's not a big deal," said David Riley, a spokesperson for NPD Group. "The summer months are historically the slowest months in the industry in terms of sales. The industry historically has followed the seasonality trends."
In the summer months consumers are busy doing other things like vacationing and playing outdoors and are not normally in front of the television, according to Riley.
Retailers in the U.S. cashed in on $1.08 billion in video-game sales for August, compared to $995 million the same month in 2007.
"Why have we seen continued growth in this industry even though we are in a recession?" Riley asked. "{Software games} are going to be under the tree because they won't fit in the stockings," he quipped. "I don't think the industry is going to be suffering."
In fact, NPD analysts say the industry will do well because during the holidays and in the last three calendar months, the industry generally makes 50 percent of annual sales.
Despite a slow month, companies are expected to hit their annual revenue target of $22 billion to $24 billion because year-over-year numbers are still...
More... (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61830)
Analysts predicted the gaming industry would begin to slow down during the summer months and they did, according to NPD Group, a research firm based in New York. But that will not hurt the bottom line.
The gaming industry's massive double-digits growth over the year had to slow eventually. August saw an increase of only 9 percent in video-game sales from August 2007, but analysts say single-digit growth in August is okay.
Summer Slowdown
"It's not a big deal," said David Riley, a spokesperson for NPD Group. "The summer months are historically the slowest months in the industry in terms of sales. The industry historically has followed the seasonality trends."
In the summer months consumers are busy doing other things like vacationing and playing outdoors and are not normally in front of the television, according to Riley.
Retailers in the U.S. cashed in on $1.08 billion in video-game sales for August, compared to $995 million the same month in 2007.
"Why have we seen continued growth in this industry even though we are in a recession?" Riley asked. "{Software games} are going to be under the tree because they won't fit in the stockings," he quipped. "I don't think the industry is going to be suffering."
In fact, NPD analysts say the industry will do well because during the holidays and in the last three calendar months, the industry generally makes 50 percent of annual sales.
Despite a slow month, companies are expected to hit their annual revenue target of $22 billion to $24 billion because year-over-year numbers are still...
More... (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61830)